Forget flowers and fruits, give me free WiFi !!

What's the deal with hotels charging for wireless internet access?? Its downright highway robbery, as evidenced in the pile of prepaid cards I took a photo of.

I attended a conference (a telecomm conference some more mind you) in Bangkok recently and had to endure 4 days of no decent internet access. I stayed at Fraser Suites http://bangkok.frasershospitality.com/ which is a lovely place, but scored terrible on internet access. While they had good wireless coverage even in the rooms, access to the wireless is NOT free and also access is only tied to each laptop - meaning, if you have 3 people staying at their 2 bedroom service apartments with say 3 laptops, you have to pay three times for wireless access at USD10/= per day. Then at the Hilton Millenium where my conference was held, not only they did not provide any wireless they insisted that I purchase a prepaid card of USD10/= per hour access. All in all, my partner and I spend a total of over USD80/= (or RM270/=) worth of internet access for the 4 days. That's obscene blackmail.

What annoys me is that, the conference organisers and the hotel people don't even have a clue that access wireless on your laptop is totally different from checking your occasional email in the free internet access PCs set up in the lobby. I need the access during the conference not only to catch up with emails, but need it for messaging with my office and also to research what the conference speakers are speaking on, especially when the speaker get boring. And you can’t very well spend the whole conference being in the lobby using the free wired internet access provided. For a conference (especially an IT related one) that charges USD595/=, they should have just given everyone a free password for wireless internet access.

It's even worse when you are staying off site like what I did. Not only you have to pay for wireless internet access at your hotel room, they also make you pay for the wireless in the conference hotel. To make matters worse, even the wireless that I paid for at Fraser Suites is dismal in speed and performance. With all the sophisticated network management hardware and software that they have, its cumbersome and annoying to use. While I understand I need to pay small fee for internet access, but this is getting ridiculous, considering that the room rate is around USD100 - USD150 for a typical 5-star hotel.

In fact, forget the fresh flowers or basket of fruits in the room, just give me FREE WiFi. In fact, I think most hotels probably spend a lot more on flowers in their lobby than they do on providing decent wireless internet in their public areas. After all, it's really nothing except sticking a WiFi router to the flat rate DSL line which probably cost the hotel USD20 a month.

Here's my prediction:
Just as the advent of mobile phones which killed the hotel phone revenues, after hearing horror stories in the 70s and 80s that hotels were charging up to 10 times for making local calls on their land line. I believe one of these days those hotels who charge exorbitant prices for internet access will one day see those revenues disappear, when 3G, 4G or WiMAX roaming becomes more prevasive.

So bottom line is , next time my criteria for choosing a hotel anywhere on business or holiday would be if they can provide affordable and reasonable broadband wireless internet or better yet, Free WiFi !!

Hunting for Pleasure

I had the opportunity to meet recently with Mr. Ricky Koo, the founder of Take a Break Events. Our organisation, Technopreuers Association in Malaysia (TeAM) http://www.team.net.my/ had engaged Take A Break to organised our first TeAM ICT Treasure Hunt fund raising event. Essentially his company’s expertise is to organise treasure hunts, an event rather unique to Malaysia. Usually used as a fun and social event, teams of 2 - 4 are given maps, clues and puzzlies and questions to solve while travelling along a designated route either in car, public transport or on foot. Team that scores the highest points by solving and answering the questions will be declared winners. TAB Events role is to create the route and the challenges for the participants as the event's “clerk of course”.

Speaking with Ricky I am beginning to realise he is truly an entrepreneur living the dream. Starting off as a weekend hobby, today Ricky and his team are considered one of the premier company in the art of treasure hunting event organising. Last year his company had organised over 100+ hunts nationwide and even some overseas in China, HongKong and Taiwan. If you are a regular hunter, you will probably know his Hunters World website at http://www.geocities.com/machunter_koo/

“ Getting paid for doing something I enjoy and at same time able to enjoy driving around the country with my wife “ Ricky explained... “plus I get to travel and enjoy all the favourite foods along the way” as I spent time with him doing the reccee for our TeAM ICT Hunt route in CyberJaya. After nearly 28 years being in the advertising and printing business, in 2000 he gave it all up much to the shock of his wife, Roselyn. “ It took us a while to get used to giving up our then successful advertising business, but today we are enjoying it. “ Ricky further explained, “for first two years of TAB, it was a struggle as we tried to do too much and everything perfectly. But over the years, we manage to find a good balance of fun and revenue. “ Many people has asked Ricky to build the business bigger, but he is happy to keep it small.

So Ricky, Congrats for being a true entrepreneur and living your dream.

The Magnificent Shiny Disc Hero

One of the most funny advertisements http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyty6ebn1sI recently is the saga of the "Magnificent Shiny Disc Hero" , a character created by the Malaysia Astro satellite TV to promote their new On Demand video pay-per-view channel. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/8/11/nation/18558215&sec=nation

It reminds me of the entrepreneurial nature of why VCD or DVD sellers in Malaysia are so popular and successful. A couple of years back I had the opportunity to run a mega shopping centre and what kept the mall alive during the economic crisis were the DVD sellers. They are friendly and not demanding bunch as they would rent any space you give them and best of all, they pay cash for their rentals and on time.

Here are some other reasons :

Meeting the Market Demand - the always have the latest and best movies available. And most of the time, they rarely run out of stock of popular DVD titles. And no matter how many customers they have in the store, they can always find the right DVD using their magic 4 digit coding system.

Wide and Deep Product Line - they carry wide range of products, some even have the whole popular TV series season in a nice package. And if that's not enough, they have ample supply of accessories such as MP3 music, DVD jacket sleeves or folders.

Time to Market - most often, they will have the latest movies, at time even those currently showing currently in the cinemas. Those wanting to catch up with the latest TV series, can easily obtain the full latest season.

Close to Market / Consumers - most DVD vendors understand the concept of location location location. Find a popular "pasar malam" (night market) and the DVD sellers are there. They are in shopping malls, your favorite Starbucks or mamak stores, in your neighborhood retail area. Some DVD sellers in areas such as SS2 or SubangJaya even open till late hours to cater to the midnight supper crowd. I bet some will even deliver to your house if you are a regular enough customer. Similarly, in Beijing one can sip their latte in the favorite coffee joint while being served by the ever willing DVD peddlers, who would patiently wait for you to make your choice selections and then promptly deliver your DVDs to your table without fuss.

Prompt and Quick Service - normally manned by 2 or 3 young guys, they can whip out the shiny disc of your chosen titles in less time it takes for you to pull ringgit out of your wallet. Except for when they need to get the discs from nearby (due to the authorities crackdown) they can normally deliver 10 titles to you in less than 5 minutes. Most are run by energetic young people and ready to offer their opinion and reviews of movies

Product Knowledge - some DVD sellers even provide latest Blockbuster reviews of latest movies or recommends movies depending on what the customer enjoys watching. There are times, customers who are just browsing can ask them for recommendations and reviews.

Excellent Customer Service - DVD sellers are always a friendly lot, and if you are not happy with the discs, they will swap it for you. They will never chase you out at closing time... often patiently waiting for you to make your selections without hassling you.

Simple Effective Marketing Programmes - some have implemented frequent customer card (ala Starbucks style). If you gather 10 stamps, you are entitled to one free DVD. Their simple little card has kept customers loyal, and there is never a problem if you forgot your loyalty card as they gladly give you another. No fancy advertising, just go where people are hovering over tables in night market, chances are you will find the DVD peddlers.

Standing Behind their product - Any blurred or cam job movies, they will take it back. Some even take back movies you don't like and didn't think its up to your taste.

Piracy and politics aside, on a scale of 1 - 10, I give them a full 10 and think DVD sellers excel really well in their entrepreneurial ability and their market and customer focus. Now, if only half of the Malaysian retailers or government departments follow the principles and the spirit of entrepreneurialism of the DVD sellers... the world would be a better place for us customers, I should think....