Revealed: the world’s best and worst hotel brands for Wi-Fi
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
A new independent study has revealed the world’s best and worst hotel brands for Wi-Fi.
Hotel WiFi Test, which measures the speed and availability of Wi-Fi at hotels across the world, has released the results of a new report that ranks hotel chains in two criteria: the quality of the Wi-Fi and whether in-room WiFi is free.
Globally, Nordic Choice, the Scandinavian branch of Choice Hotels International, ranked top, with 85% of its hotels offering adequate Wi-Fi and 100% of its hotels offering free WiFi. Radisson Blu was second, followed by Renaissance, Mercure and ibis. Scandic Hotels, InterContinental, EconoLodge, Four Points by Sheraton and Marriott Hotels & Resorts completed the top 10.
At the bottom end of the table however, Hampton Inn, which forms part of the Hilton portfolio, was rated as having the worst Wi-Fi (50th place globally). Homewood Suites, Extended Stay America, Embassy Suites, NH Hotels were also in the bottom five.
“The chain to which a hotel belongs to is one of the best predictors of Wi-Fi performance,” Hotel WiFi Test said in the report. “Therefore, when travellers know how hotel chains are ranked overall, they can choose a specific hotel with better Wi-Fi, even if they don’t have information about the Wi-Fi quality in that hotel.”
Adequate Wi-Fi, as judged by the report, is a minimum download speed of 3 Mbps and an upload speed of 500 kbps, which is recommended for Skype calls.
The top chains differed by region; in Asia, InterContinental, Oberoi and Marriott Hotels & Resorts were the top three, while ibis, Favehotel and Aston were at the bottom. For Favehotel and Aston however this is a little misleading. Both brands offer free in-room Wi-Fi, but their hotels are almost entirely located in Indonesia, where Wi-Fi speeds are generally slower.
In the US, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Westin and Hyatt Hotels were the highest rated hotel brands, with Hampton Inn, Extended Stay America and Homewood Suites at the bottom. And in Europe, Nordic Choice, Radisson Blu and Hilton Hotels & Resorts held the top three places, with NH Hotels, Campanile and Steigenberger languishing at the bottom.
Comments are closed.