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Marriott settles complaint that it forced convention goers to use hotel WiFi
Ever suspected that a hotel was forcing you to use its paid WiFi by making your mobile hotspot unusable? Apparently, your hunch has some grounding in reality. Marriott has paid a $600,000 fine to settle a complaint that it blocked third-party hotspots at a Nashville hotel to make convention attendees and exhibitors pay for the venue's commercial WiFi access -- not exactly cheap at $250 to $1,000 a pop. As the FCC explains, the hotel was effectively asking users to either pay twice for internet access or else risk going offline whenever they approached the convention center.
Marriott and MIT want to turn your hotel into a social network
If you travel often, you know that it's hard to socialize at hotels; short of a chance encounter, you'll probably end up drinking at the bar by yourself. MIT and Marriott may have a better solution in store with their Six Degrees app. The mobile software uses LinkedIn to find connections between you and other guests. You'll know if someone is a college alum, works at the same company or shares your love of scotch. Staff can organize events if there are enough people with common interests, and there's even an LED-equipped table that lights up a line between visitors when there's a match.
Onity rolling out safeguards against hotel keycard hacks, may fix some locks outright
Mozilla staffer Cody Brocious' discovery of a quick (if imperfect) hack for hotel door locks raised alarms at the prospect that thieves could slip into rooms moments after plugging in a rogue device. The keycard system's creator, Onity, suggested in August that any solutions beyond capping the data port would cost a fee, and there wasn't a definite roadmap in place. The firm has more lately been looking to make things right. Officially, it's planning to give every affected hotel the caps over the "next several weeks," free as promised. Forbes understands that Onity may be going the extra mile, however. Reportedly leaked memos from Hyatt, the InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott have the lock firm charging $11 per door to ship boards with hack-resistant firmware, but refunding that price as soon as it receives old boards, effectively offering a permanent fix for free. Some hotels outside of North America may not have to take even that last step. The only gotcha is a supposed requirement that hotels agree locks aren't hack-proof -- in short, please don't sue us. We've reached out for confirmation of this more extensive solution, but any truth to it would put the threat of keycard system hacks on ice for at least awhile.
The Virtual Whirl: More Marriott, less Microsoft
It's certainly taking time for people, organizations and businesses to learn how to obtain benefits from virtual environments, and it will take quite some time yet to figure out how to optimize those results. On the plus side, there are many hundreds of thousands of people working on that. Working out how to effectively operate and manage virtual environments for large numbers of people, well, that's actually taking a lot longer. There are far fewer people actually involved in the process, and the same wheels are being reinvented over and over – and quite often, they seem to be square ones.
Wii systems getting rooms at Marriott hotels
Nintendo has announced a new deal with Marriott, through which hotel guests will be able to opt for rooms with special Wii systems loaded with 20 games. The program is only available in six locations right now during the pilot test of the program. Currently, guests must pay an extra charge for the Wii, access to which lasts for the duration of the trip. The preloaded games include Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, and even Wii Fit, suggesting that the system comes with a Balance Board or is really boring. We're glad to see the tradition of weird hotel Nintendo systems continuing -- we've wanted to steal one of those LodgeNet controllers for years.
Washington, D.C.'s Marriott Wardman Park gets 32-inch LG plasmas
If you were impressed with the $6.2 million renovation at the Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center, you'll be blown away by the upgrades found on Washington, D.C.'s largest hotel. The Marriott Wardman Park has just underwent a whopping $100 million refreshing (a "comprehensive revitalization," as it were), which added in a 32-inch LG plasma to each and every guest room. Additionally, each PDP will be equipped with Marriott's proprietary plug-in panel, and while 64 channels of programming will be available, we aren't told how many of those will be in high-definition. Looks like the competition in the D.C. hotel market is getting even fiercer.
Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center: now with HDTVs in every room
Ever wonder what a $6.2 million renovation can do? It'll buy 284 32-inch LCD HDTVs, that's for sure. At the Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that's exactly what has been added to its guest rooms, and all eleven floors have now been refreshed with the oh-so-useful "plug-in panel" that enables patrons to sync up their travel gadgetry with the in-room flat-panel. You'll also find wireless internet and more HDTVs in the lobby downstairs, and the free on-site parking makes you feel as if you're much further away from D.C. than just a half hour.
Marriott hotels to get LCD HDTVs with digital connectivity panel
We know how it is, out on the road with choices to make in regard to which hotel you stay in the for night, but booking a room in a joint that lacks high-speed internet of the free variety just isn't going to happen. These days, however, the gadget-packed traveler demands even more connectivity options, and apparently Marriott gets it. By the year's end, Marriott International plans to have 25-percent of JW Marriott, Marriott, and Renaissance guest rooms in the US and Canada hooked up with 32-inch LCD HDTVs that boast a nifty "digital connectivity panel" to encourage gadget integration. Guests will reportedly be able to plug in laptops, camcorders, digicams, video games, and iPods (we presume DAPs / PMPs in general) into the swank set, and the built-in PIP functions will allow the business savvy to check their corporate inbox while playing back a video clip in another window. Additionally, the firm plans on throwing in a bevy of new channels to delight couch-dwellers, and the rollout is slated to hit completion by 2009. So if you just so happen to be stopping in the San Francisco area and feel like checking this out, SF's Moscone Center has officially been dubbed the first to offer such niceties in 100-percent of its rooms.[Via TGDaily]
