Previous article PREVIEW: Hilton Europe Weekends 7-Day 33% Off Flash Sale For Stays Until January 31

Someone attending to a conference at the hotel found out that Marriott was jamming mobile hotspots quality inns and suites that was preventing attendees using their personal wifi networks to connect to the internet. This jamming of hotspots is illegal.
Washington, D.C. –Marriott International, Inc. and its subsidiary, Marriott Hotel Services, quality inns and suites Inc., will pay $600,000 to resolve a Federal Communications Commission investigation into whether Marriott intentionally interfered with and disabled Wi-Fi networks established by consumers in the conference facilities quality inns and suites of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, in violation of Section 333 of the Communications Act. The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s investigation revealed that Marriott employees had used containment features quality inns and suites of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland to prevent individuals from connecting to the Internet via their own personal Wi-Fi networks, while at the same time charging consumers, small businesses, and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device quality inns and suites to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network.
“Consumers who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that their personal Internet connection will be blocked by their hotel or conference center,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis quality inns and suites LeBlanc. “It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network. This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing Internet access altogether,” he added.
In March 2013, the Commission received quality inns and suites a complaint from an individual who had attended a function at the Gaylord Opryland. The complainant alleged that the Gaylord Opryland was “jamming mobile quality inns and suites hotspots so that you can’t use them in the convention space.” After conducting an investigation, the Enforcement Bureau found that employees of Marriott, which has managed the day-to-day operations of the Gaylord Opryland since 2012, had used features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord quality inns and suites Opryland to contain and/or de-authenticate guest-created Wi-Fi hotspot access points in the conference facilities. In some cases, employees sent de-authentication packets to the targeted access points, which would dissociate consumers’ devices from their own Wi-Fi hotspot access points and, thus, disrupt quality inns and suites consumers’ current Wi-Fi transmissions and prevent future transmissions. At the same time that these employees engaged in these practices, Marriott charged conference exhibitors and other attendees anywhere from $250 to $1,000 per device to use the Gaylord Wi-Fi service in the conference facilities.
Under the terms of the Consent Decree the FCC announced today, Marriott must cease the unlawful use of Wi-Fi blocking technology and take significant steps to improve how it monitors quality inns and suites and uses its Wi-Fi technology at the Gaylord Opryland. Marriott must institute a compliance plan and file compliance and usage reports with the Bureau every three months for three years, including information documenting quality inns and suites any use of access point containment features at any U.S. property that Marriott manages or owns. To resolve this matter, Marriott will pay a civil penalty of $600,000.
The amount of money that some of these hotels charge for conference wifi set ups is borderline criminal. It s not really a surprise quality inns and suites that some attendees prefer using their own mobile quality inns and suites devices to create wifi networks to access the internet, but apparently Marriott wasn t too fond of this revenue leak.
Previous article PREVIEW: Hilton Europe Weekends 7-Day 33% Off Flash Sale For Stays Until January 31, 2015 Next article Iberia Plus Promotion: 30,000 Bonus Per Two Transatlantic Segments In Business/First October 1 – December 19, 2014
$660k? That probably won t hurt them at all. I think the only way to ensure quality inns and suites that more places stop doing this is to get the word out that this is indeed happening and to publicly out the offending properties.
I think re the punitive side the question is whether Marriott must institute a compliance plan and file compliance and usage reports with the Bureau every three months for three years, including information documenting any use of access point containment features at any U.S. property that Marriott manages or owns. is actually an active, monitored program as with a parolee of concern or a honor system check-in system as with a trusted parolee the system deems of little risk.
However the Opryland still charges a mandatory nightly resort fee to guests, quality inns and suites which includes quality inns and suites Internet access and other conveniences. I don t use the services that are included in the resort fee, so why can t it be removed from my bill?
Anyone that has held a conference or convention or meeting in a hotel of *any* size has been extorted to pay exorbitant fees for poor-to-mediocre Internet access for the group and attendees. Add in convention centers (think any big city convention quality inns and suites center) and the same extortion goes on there as well.
It s bad enough that the prices that the hotels and convention centers charge outrageous fees, but generally the speed and especially the latency of the connections is so bad that it s useless many times.
Popular Categories IHG Rewards Club 691 Hilton - HHonors 498 Marriott - Marriott Rewards 427 Starwood - Starwood Preferred Guest 401 Hyatt Gold Passport 344 Accor Hotels - Le Club 316 American Airlines - AAdvantage 252 Carlson Hotels - Club Carlson 216 United Airlines - Mileage Plus 214 Travel - Other 150 US Airways - Dividend Miles 146 Delta Air Lines - SkyMiles 140 British Airways 107 Air Canada Aeroplan 99 Etihad Airways - Etihad Guest 97