Monday, November 13, 2006

This time, Marriott has gone too far

Are you kidding me? Placing ads in an Internet connection you’re charging me for?

I’m at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown, and until a few minutes ago, I was pleased with the hotel. I was upgraded due to my Marriott Rewards status to a nice split-level suite that overlooks an empty SkyDome. The food is good. The service is good. However, I am now disgusted with the hotel, and with Marriott in general. Here’s the story:

I noticed earlier that spam-like banner ads were showing up in my browser. I would navigate to a page that I knew had no ads, and one would appear anyway, mostly touting online poker. Curious, I clicked on over to my own blog, and the same ad showed up there (see image below).

image

I assumed I had picked up some adware. Since the laptop is new, I haven’t had a chance to install spyware/adware software, so I paid for AdAware Pro and ran it. The ads kept showing up. A little investigation determined that all these ads link to a company called Superclick. I visited their site and learned more than I wanted to, enough to get my blood boiling. Superclick provides a guest interface for hotels that includes in-room services, which is fine. But it’s also dishing up these ads. So anybody staying at a property using Superclick who visits my blog will see an ad associated with it. I would never take advertising from an online poker site, and if I did, I’d expect to get some of the revenues.

Instead, I’m paying $12.95 per day to see these ads.

That’s right; that’s what the internet connection costs.

The graphic below is from the Superclick site, listing presumably satisfied customers. Before I book a reservation at any hotel in any of these chains, I will ask if the broadband connection for which they will charge me is going to serve up any ads I don’t want to see. If the answer is yet, I’ll book elsewhere. I’ll stay at a freaking Motel 6 before I put up with this kind of crap.

image

Unbelievable. Talk about a lack of respect—even outright contempt—for your customer.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
(12) Comments • (1) Trackbacks • Permalink

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  1. I suspect that many of us could live with the ads if they were subsidizing free internet connections. But to charge - and at a really high rate - and then put the ads in is unacceptable.

    John Whiteside  on  11/13  at  08:10 PM

  2. I’ve covered this over on my Marriott blog. It’s simply bogus to place ads at the top of your browser when you’re paying.

    Inconsistent levels of service vis-a-vis the internet is a big problem in the Marriott chain.

    Rob Safuto  on  11/14  at  05:05 AM

  3. You tell them Shel! If an Internet connection is provided as a paid service then no way should you be bombarded by these ads. Even if it was a ‘free’ service their case is shaky - even then I’d want to see a clear visual distinction shown between the Hotel ads and legitimate website.

    Jed Baxter  on  11/14  at  05:12 AM

  4. I’m in a meeting room doing a workshop. Here, I pay $25 per day for the wireless connection AND THE SAME DAMN ADS SHOW UP, which means my audience—people who paid to attend the workshop—have to see them. Unbelievable. Is anybody from Marriott paying any attention at all?

    Shel Holtz  on  11/14  at  08:05 AM

  5. That is tremendous bogus, on so many levels. Over the past decade, hotels have had every opportunity to implement Internet access simply and easily for all of their guests. Why do they find so many ways to screw it up?

    Darren  on  11/14  at  12:25 PM

  6. That sucks in ways it is impossible to describe. What will be really, really interesting to see is whether someone from the Marriott organization has enough savvy to find your complaint here and dive into the comments. Alas, I doubt it. I hope someone there will disabuse me of my cynicism - but then, I’m still waiting for someone from Hilton to respond to my pissing and moaning about their pathetic customer service, almost a year since I wrote about it (http://tinyurl.com/ygosgj)

    Feh.

    Utterly wonderful to finally meet you in Toronto last night and this morning, btw.  Terrific feedback from our attendees too. Thanks once again, Shel - you were awesome.

    Michael O'Connor Clarke  on  11/15  at  08:24 PM

  7. that’s funny, I am in a Fairfield hotel in Texas and was wondering about ads popping up… my internet access is free though…

    Dave Owers  on  11/16  at  08:16 PM

  8. My understanding is that SuperClick is involved in a corporate partnership with a Canadian online poker provider.

    Even if a hotel offers internet connectivity for free I think there should be disclosure of just how much advertising will be included. I doubt very many people would object to a log-on page advertisement. A constant stream of online poker ads being crammed down a hotel guests throat is a different matter.

     on  01/12  at  02:04 AM

  9. The marriott here in atlanta charges $9.95 for wireless internet on top of the higher than average room rate for the area. I have traveled extensively for the past 5 years and even thord world countries don’t itemize a charge for internet access. Marriot service must be ‘suck your dick’ fast to justify the extra charge. Won’t stay here again…

     on  12/13  at  07:50 PM

  10. What a joke, to charge for internet and place ads. It is criminal. Soon games will be going this way. You pay for an online gaming subscription only for ads to be placed on virtual billboards etc. Terrible.

    David Murphey  on  02/13  at  04:21 PM

  11. I’m staying at a superclick hotel right now.

    It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but it is annoying.

    Greenville IT  on  03/28  at  03:01 PM

  12. First off I think charging a daily fee is a huge rip off to begin with. I mean most hotels can push wireless through the hotel fairly cheap. I have never experience the ads popping up like that. Hope I don’t have too. The point of paying for services most of the time is so you don’t have to deal with the ads. lil bit redic!

    Jet Charter  on  07/30  at  08:48 AM

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