THE PRESS CHRISTCHURCH WRITERS FESTIVAL
Here I am in the garden city where sadly it is cold and wet, not the weather the Festival organisers would have been hoping for.
I have booked into my hotel, the Heritage, where I was aghast to find that they charge $35 for a 24 hour period to use the Internet in my room. Hey, that's not on!
Last week while in Hawaii I talked of the free high speed Wi-Fi Internet connection supplied by the hotel in all rooms, and the free local telephone calls, (including to mobiles), and free telephone calls to the US mainland thousands of miles away. I'm afraid the Heritage Hotel is way out of step on this issue and I will not be using their services. Rip off is the phrase that springs to mind.
Here I am in the garden city where sadly it is cold and wet, not the weather the Festival organisers would have been hoping for.I have booked into my hotel, the Heritage, where I was aghast to find that they charge $35 for a 24 hour period to use the Internet in my room. Hey, that's not on!
Last week while in Hawaii I talked of the free high speed Wi-Fi Internet connection supplied by the hotel in all rooms, and the free local telephone calls, (including to mobiles), and free telephone calls to the US mainland thousands of miles away. I'm afraid the Heritage Hotel is way out of step on this issue and I will not be using their services. Rip off is the phrase that springs to mind.
So I took myself off to the Town Hall where most Festival events are being held because I had been assured by organisers that Wi-Fi broadband was available there. Well that proved to be the case but you have to pay Telecom for the use of it.I am here in Christchurch, at not insignificant personal cost, (airfares, hotel accomodation, meals etc), to cover the Festival on my blog for those who can't be here. And remember I do not earn any income from my blog, and now wherever I turn I am expected to pay for Internet connections!
Damn their eyes I say!
So next port of call is the wonderful Christchurch public library, leaders in the library field in NZ for their Web-savviness, they are also fellow-bloggers, fellow book lovers and fellow Writers Festival goers, and hey presto before you can say Jack Robinson I have free Wi-Fi Internet connection. The library is about a five minute walk from the Town Hall so this is where I will be blogging . They have saved my bacon!
All I have to do now is to figure out how to send and receive e-mail as the library does not provide that service.
But this is my message to the Heritage Hotel, - get wise guys, get into the 21st century, provide free Wi-Fi for your customers instead of using it as another way of extracting cash from them. And Christchurch City, the same to you, make free Wi-Fi available in that beautiful Town Hall if you want to be taken seriously as a Conference and Festival centre. You are living in the past.
But this is my message to the Heritage Hotel, - get wise guys, get into the 21st century, provide free Wi-Fi for your customers instead of using it as another way of extracting cash from them. And Christchurch City, the same to you, make free Wi-Fi available in that beautiful Town Hall if you want to be taken seriously as a Conference and Festival centre. You are living in the past.
There have already been a couple of warm up events prior to my arrival - More than a Pavlova Paradise - featuring foodies David Veart, Kate Fraser and Richard Till, all with books out this year. And The Child that Books Built featuring English writer Francis Spufford in conversation with local children's writer Bill Nagelkerke.My first outing is tonight -
Cook's Tours - an evening with Vanessa Collingridge author of Captain Cook: Obsession and Discovery who will be in conversation with Peter Elliott, presenter of the TV programme Captain's Log.
Mr Battie sir
ReplyDeleteYou might like to share with your readers the little known fact that Jane Tollerton and her wonderful Booklovers Bed and Breakfast
www.booklovers.co.nz - in Wellington provides unlimited internet/wifi as part of the deal.
She really is a treasure. Unsolicited plug? You bet. And she deserves it.
However, there is a wider point - I agree with you re the big holets internet access charges - they are almost a rort - and if a small wellington bed and breakfast can offer free internet access why can't they.
And yes - big ups to Christchurch City Libraries - would be great to see the otrher metropolitan libraries doing the same - including the free bit!!
I've never looked for free wifi in Christchurch, as I live here - but I did find when travelling in the UK last year that free internet access wasn't easy to find, with the hotel we stayed at in Scotland charging similarly outrageous rates to the Heritage.
ReplyDeleteOur hotel in Rutland did provide free internet access in the bar area only (to encourage drinking?)
In Stirling in Scotland we resorted to Burger King which gave us half an hour free as long as we spent 99p or more on burgers.
One or two b & bs offered free internet access, but most didn't
Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival
In defence of the poor Kiwis, they have an incredibly expensive system imposed on them, that's why there's so little free access. Here in France I pay Orange (not the cheapest) €30 per month for unlimited access, so I'm streaming 24/7 practically. My daughter is currently studying in Christchurch and I'm discovering the incredibly complex system they use there. She is despairing for it's simply chewing through her dollars : NZ$20 (currently €8) for 2Gb of traffic, itemized for different types of traffic and times of day. International emails are 10 TIMES the prices of domestic ones for instance, and they differentiate daytime and night-time traffic. The University, at least, does not seem to offer unlimited access at any price.
ReplyDelete