Virtual Office Resource

Admittedly, there's not much summer left in the summer travel season, but with the fall color tours about to kick up, the slower tourist seasons making prime opportunities for deal-seeking travelers, and of course the upcoming Flight of the Snowbirds (in which retirees from northern climes head south for the winter) mean there will be plenty of opportunities afoot. Plus, there's always next summer to plan for, and a new report from Agoda.com suggests there's something travelers want more than a free breakfast: free Wi-Fi.

The recently-concluded Agoda.com Travel Smarts survey showed the unexpected twist where travelers wanted to see hotels offering free wireless Internet access in greater numbers than free breakfast. Fifty-five percent of travelers ranked free Wi-Fi as a “most important” amenity, while just 45 percent said likewise of free breakfast. Interestingly, free Wi-Fi wasn't at the top of the list, as “a bigger bed” was tops on the list for 75 percent of travelers. Rounding out the study was the 25 percent of users who wanted to stretch out a bit more in the bathroom. Agoda noted that most of the properties listing room rates on the site offered either breakfast or Wi-Fi, and in many cases offered both.

It's not particularly surprising to see travelers preferring free Internet access to free breakfast; free breakfasts at hotels have often run the gamut of quality, with some believing that a toaster and a sack of bagels will do the job while others go as far as to include bacon and eggs. I once knew an older gent who, when traveling, would only stay at a hotel that included a hot breakfast; eggs were his minimum just to walk in the door. Not every hotel would offer such a breakfast, and that made finding a hotel difficult, sometimes.

But Wi-Fi, now, that's a lot more universal; while not every hotel will have good quality Wi-Fi, particularly depending on things like the number of users in the hotel at the time, most hotels should have at least a passable connection. Since most hotels these days offer cable television, it's a safe bet that most will offer cable Internet access as well, meaning that a decent connection with a good load of bandwidth should be in the offering. That's great for business travelers, but also those on vacations who want an easy way to keep up with events at home or just give the kids something to do while mom and dad get a little relaxation time in. That's not even factoring in the mobile workforce elements; for example, employees wanting a change of work scenery.

With more travelers taking devices on the road—for work or for play—it's not surprising to see a lot more travelers demanding wireless access. Breakfast, after all, can be had from a variety of local eateries, but the Internet access to download the app to tell the user where those eateries are can be a little tougher to come by.