iPass, a prominent supplier of mobile services for enterprises and telecom service providers, today published its Q3 Mobile Workforce Report. The report states that mobile workers worldwide ranked hotel Wi-Fi as the second most important consideration when booking a hotel, behind only a comfortable bed. Wi-Fi has entered the realm of “must-have” for business travelers, overtaking other standard amenities including hotel restaurants, in-room mini-bars, and gym facilities. Additionally, the report indicates that the importance of Wi-Fi has increased from simple amenity to the point of directly influencing where corporate travel dollars are spent for lodging and airfare.
“Wi-Fi is a disruptive technology; it changes the way we work,” said Evan Kaplan, CEO, iPass. “This report spotlights some of the key trends driving that disruption, such as the proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled devices and access to bandwidth-hungry business applications like cloud apps, video conferencing and other unified communication tools, which demand quality internet connections and define productivity for corporate travelers around the globe.”
The report also highlighted several other points of interest regarding hotel Wi-Fi. First, 82 percent of respondents said free hotel Wi-Fi services are limited, slow, and unreliable, while over a third reported using high bandwidth cloud-based business and collaboration apps. Furthermore, 47 percent stated they intend to purchase a 7-8 inch tablet in the next six months, and 29 percent plan to purchase the full-size iPad. Next, the report goes onto say that the majority of mobile workers log onto the Internet for business while on vacation, 37 percent connecting two to five a day, and 29 percent at the time last year. Finally, 81 percent of respondents have had an unsatisfactory experience with hotel Wi-Fi in the past year.
Business travelers rely on Wi-Fi as a primary source of connectivity, a trend brought on by the wide spread use of connected devices and the enterprise applications needed to get the job done. Corporate travelers must maintain seamless connectivity and are driving the demand for hotels, and airlines to provide quality, affordable, and easy-to-use Wi-Fi no matter where they go.
For further information, please visit www.ipass.com
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