A spokesman for the British Hospitality Association recently justified the fact that some luxury hotels charge more for wi-fi by claiming that affluent guests are less likely to complain about the cost.
“It's a commercial decision, and entirely up to the hotel,” he said. “Many owners regard wi-fi charges as a legitimate revenue source, and considering the size of some hotels, it can be a very lucrative one.”
There are two things to say to that:
The person whose tweet alerted me to the article is the founder of a very successful company who was unhappy about such charges on a trip to Australia. He noticed, he complained and then he publicised the fact.
As soon as you start thinking of customers as revenue sources, you're placing the extraction of money ahead of good value service provision. Those customers will quickly notice that your priorities are diverging from theirs and they will divert their money to those of a more customer-focussed competitor.
Everything a business does is a commercial decision. The trick is to make them good ones.
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