I've been wondering a lot about a certain aspect of the hotel business. Why is it that I feel like most hotels I've visited have focused on fulfilling only their customers' most basic needs and not aiming higher?

I'll give you a concrete example that's fresh in my memory. Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels. Five stars and excellent staff but some things were not quite right.

"What, you mean I have to pay for the Wi-fi?" That was my first thought when I glanced at the little leaflet on the room table. The issue of for-pay Internet access is quite possibly the single most irritating one of all when it comes to a techie like me staying in a hotel for several nights in a row.

Yes, it costs the hotel something to set up Internet access to all rooms and it's perfectly ok for them to adjust their rates accordingly. I don't have any problem with that. What pisses me off is a hotel charging anywhere between 15-30 euros per day or 5-15 euros per hour for Internet access. It. Does. Not. Cost. That. Much. To. Have. Internet. Access.

I'm pretty sure the hotel's customers would have a much better image of the hotel's services if they wouldn't feel like being ripped off in any way they can. In fact, I'd bet that the hotel would see an immediate bump in their revenue by making free wireless available to all customers. I know nothing about the hotel's customer demography but I suspect it's mostly business people who likely appreciate the ease of having the wireless connection just work instead of going through the usual hassle of asking for a room that has wireless and buying vouchers or getting the outrageously priced Internet access from a crappy website that only works with a specific shitty web browser.

Besides, the hotel would already save a ton of money by getting rid of the billing infrastructure they've built for charging their customers for the pleasure.

The same kind of ignorance towards the higher levels of Maslow's Hierarchy for Hotel Customers™ can be seen in other details, too. For example, if the hotel accommodates two people in a double room, wouldn't it make a lot of sense for the room's bathroom to feature not one but two bathrobes? I guess not. But of course! I can call the reception if I need another bathrobe. Not exactly the best service I could've imagined and certainly not much cheaper for the hotel either.

There seems to be an awful lot of local optimization happening in the hotel business...