December 27, 2014
Marriott, one of the biggest hotel chains from the World has an initiative which made Google and Microsoft furious. To resume, we should say, that the giant from the touristic business wants to forbid the usage of Wi-Fi hot spots in its interior, a decision which is seen as a very dangerous one by the two service providers mentioned above.
Both Google and Microsoft think that such a decision will oblige customers to pay for Internet services offered by the hotel even though they’re already charged on their phone bill for the possibility of using Wi-Fi from their smartphones to a laptop. The services offered by Marriott in this industry aren’t as well quite cheap, if we consider that connection rates per day start with 14.95 dollars and go up to 19.95 dollars for high speed Internet.
Marriott claim security measures
Official, the position of Marriott board regarding this situation say that they want to forbid the usage of hot spots to make sure that other users privacy isn’t put in danger and also that the Wi-Fi network of the hotels aren’t interfered by the ones used by their customers. "If a hotel is powerless to address such activities to ensure the security and reliability of its Wi-Fi network on its premises, both the hotel and its guests would suffer", Marriott said in their statement.
Microsoft is furious
Meanwhile, Microsoft also presented their position regarding this situation, stating this measure is unfair for the customers: "If a customer arrives at a hotel with her own Mi-Fi device and the hotel interferes with the customer's connection to that personal hotspot, the hotel can effectively force the customer to purchase the hotel's Wi-Fi services to gain access, even though the customer has already paid her mobile operator for personal hotspot capability".