Why this tourist might stay home

This was the heading for this Letter to the Editor printed in today’s Dominion Post.

I’m an American tourist and businesswoman, who likes to get out of the freezing cold between January and April. Usually, my husband and I travel to Florida but, this year, decided to come to Australia and New Zealand.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our travels. But we need broadband.
Because of the computer age, we can leave our businesses in our employees’ hands, yet keep on top of things from almost anywhere.
But this requires daily wireless internet access.

Checking email from here isn’t bad. But linking up to our office network is slow and prone to sudden disconnection. This is especially disconcerting when you’re in the middle of a payroll or
banking transaction.

It’s fair to say that our experience here has caused us to decide we’re better off confining our travels to the United States, where we can work even while driving around in a car using a “mobile air card”.

New Zealand’s tourist industry needs to understand that today’s tourists wants unlimited private wireless internet. In America, most hotels and motels understand this is something that must be included – like a bathroom.

TONI FELDMANN
Skaneateles, New York State [abridged]

Having only recently returned from my trip around the East Coast, Adam agrees wholeheartedly with this letter writer. The costs of internet access in most hotels /motels are outrageous.

Adam tends to agree with Toni Feldmann that the approach taken in NZ hotels is likely to cost us tourists. Especially given that NZ hotel/motel room rates are tending to the expensive for what you actually get in a lot of places.

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