As I reviewed my hotel bill at Harveys Lake Tahoe recently, I noticed something unusual: Instead of charging me $11 a day for wireless Internet, they were asking for three times as much.
INTERNET
What could be more absurd than paying a surcharge for a wireless Internet connection at your hotel?
I’m writing this from the Vista Café on Deck 4 of the Disney Dream. But it’ll probably take half an eternity to post it, because the “high speed” wireless connection on the ship is significantly slower than what I’m used to on dry land.
Michael Rosenthal is promised a high-speed Internet connection when he reserves a room at the Ramada Charleston through Hotels.com. Problem is, there’s no connection in the Ramada’s rooms when he checks in. What now?
Maybe it was the appearance of the fabled Google Phone — also called the Nexus One — over the weekend. Then again, maybe it’s all this recent talk about cloud computing, and the potentially game-changing Chrome operating system.
What’s the most maddening thing about airfares? Probably the pricing. You’re offered a low “base” fare, only to have fees, taxes and surcharges tacked on to it. By the time it’s all added up, the fare has doubled. Why can’t they just quote an all-inclusive price to begin with? That’s what Stanley Gyoshev, who founded the online travel agency Lessno with Assen Vassilev, thought. So they did something about it.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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