Free Wi-Fi Reigns but Wanes as Top Hotel Amenity

Canadian travellers are just slightly more honest than their American counterparts when it comes to stealing from hotels

TORONTO, May 7, 2015 /CNW/ - Global travellers' desire for free Wi-Fi  is still the number one amenity when choosing a hotel for both leisure and business stays, but it is slowly declining according to the latest research from leading online accommodation booking service, Hotels.com™

Here are the highlights:

Staying Connected for Free

• Complimentary Wi-Fi is the top factor in choosing a hotel for leisure stays (30 percent), as compared to 34 percent in 2013. Canadian travellers ranked it slightly higher than the global average at 36 per cent; no surprise considering the country has topped the list of highest internet usage worldwide.  
  
  
• 50 percent of respondents said free Wi-Fi is their must-have when travelling for business, down from 56 percent two years ago.
  
  
  
• Free Wi-Fi is the tech amenity 60 percent of respondents wish would become standard at all hotels this year, six percent lower than in 2013.

With the increased availability of free public Wi-Fi hotspots and enhanced mobile data plans, travellers appear to have lessened their reliance on hotel Wi-Fi.

Love of Food & Beverage

• Free breakfast is once again the second must-have amenity for leisure travellers (21 percent) and third for business travellers (12 percent), who ranked proximity to mass transit, restaurants and shops ahead of a free meal.
   
  
  • The most desired breakfast items are: Fresh fruit and coffee/tea (tied at 16 percent), meats and eggs (tied at 12 percent) and bread/toast, and a nice juice selection (tied at 8 percent). While Canadian travellers were aligned with these classic menu items, there was a definite interest in healthy options for their first meal (22 per cent).
    
    
• In-room, high-end coffee makers or espresso machines are travellers' favourite modern in-room amenity (23 percent). For Canadians, this was closely followed by wired rooms and Smartphone docking stations.
  
  
• 33 percent of respondents say complimentary bottled water is the simple amenity they want in all hotel rooms.
  
  
• Complimentary breakfast is the top non-tech amenity travellers wish would become standard at all hotels today (27 percent) and refrigerators for personal use is second (15 percent). Only 3 percent of respondents said they would go without free breakfast in order to pay less for their hotel stay. Canadian travellers were most willing to ditch amenities like turndown service, bathrobes and toiletries in order to get a better hotel rate.
   
• Travellers' dream amenity is visiting a chocolate parlor to choose their own treats for turndown service.

Hotel Guests' Second & Third Loves

Global travellers also enjoy more than free Wi-Fi and breakfast:

• Free parking is the third consideration when leisure travellers book a hotel (10%). Canucks, however, were most interested in a pool or spa.
  
  
• Wired hotel rooms with one remote control for multiple functions and smart device docking stations are the second and third most favourite modern in-room amenities at 22 percent and 15 percent respectively.
  
  
• Far behind free Wi-Fi, the most desired tech items hotel guests want as standard are gadget charging stations and HD TVs (both 8 percent) and wired rooms (7 percent).

Falling Out of Love

• 24 percent of global travellers say minibars aren't worth the hype and 17 percent say they go unused. For Canadians, anything ending with "butler" wasn't a crowd favourite. These included sun, sleep and bath butlers.
  
  
• Phones get no love: bathroom phones are the most unused item (22 percent) and cordless phones only got 1 percent of the vote as the simple amenity wanted in hotel rooms.
  
  
• Intimacy and first aid kits scored just a bit higher at 3 percent each.

Sticky-Fingered Guests

When asked what they have taken (and never returned) from a hotel room, only 27 percent of Argentinian hotel guests said "nothing," followed by Singaporean and Spanish guests at 29 percent and 30 respectively. By contrast, 69 percent of Colombians and 67 percent of Norwegians, Koreans, Hongkongers and Danes indicated they have never stolen from a hotel. Canada came in 11^th place, beating their U.S. neighbours by a mere 1 per cent (48 vs. 47 per cent).

The most taken item is stationery at 20 percent, yet only one percent of respondents say it's a simple amenity they'd like to see in their rooms more often. Slippers are in second (12 percent) and key cards are third (10 percent).

Hotels.com makes it easy to book the type of accommodations with amenities travellers want through easy to use theme/type and amenities filters. Get in on the conversation with #HotelAmenities and tell us which hotel perks you prefer.

Editors Note: The survey was conducted via email in March and April 2015. Results are based on a weighted average based on a sample size of more than 4,700 respondents across 28 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and USA.

About Hotels.com
Hotels.com, L.P. operates Hotels.com (also known in Canada as Hotels.ca), a leading online accommodation booking website with approximately 510,000 properties around the world, ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites and bed & breakfasts, together with all the information needed to book the perfect stay. Special apps for mobile phones and tablets can also be downloaded enabling customers to book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals.

© 2015 Hotels.com, LP. Hotels.com, The Obvious Choice and the Hotels.com logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Hotels.com, LP in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Hotels.com

Image with caption: "Complimentary Wi-Fi and breakfast were again the most sought after amenities for Canadian travellers (CNW Group/Hotels.com)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150507_C7681_PHOTO_EN_16333.jpg

Press Contacts: Lauren Wasley, energiPR for Hotels.com, Phone: [phone] x 19, Email: [email protected], @energiPR; Taylor L. Cole, APR, Hotels.com North America, Phone: [phone], Email: [email protected], @TravelwithTLC