Marriott International recently was in a little bit of hot water with the FCC. Marriott was fined $600,000 for jamming cell phone and data signals at their resorts during conventions on purpose. The reason why they did this, as the FCC claims, was to force guests in the hotel (mainly those attending conventions) to purchase the broadband internet services from Marriott International. This would, of course, seem like a good way to make money to Marriott, but has left a bad impression with consumers (like me). So, they have some ground to cover in order to attract techie guests.

Marriott has "free" WiFi - but with caveats

Marriott has also recently announced that they are offering "free" WiFi. But there are caveats: you must be a member of their loyalty program AND you must book directly with Marriott (so, no Priceline, Expedia, Booking.com, etc. bookings).

Marriott offering wireless chargers

Meanwhile, a few Marriott hotels are trying to woo techie customers with in-room wireless chargers, where you just put your mobile devices on the station for charging. So, there is no need to crawl all over the floor looking for outlets (and remembering all the charging equipment for your devices).

I must admit that I would be impressed with a device like this. And, the charging device appears to be a top-of-the-line charging device (a KS Portable from Kube Systems). It would be very convenient.

Why doesn't Marriott offer free WiFi - with no caveats?

However, what mystifies me is that Marriott has apparently figured out that their customers do carry mobile devices. But, they have not figured out that their customers also want WiFi for their mobile devices (without an additional fee, or jumping through their hoops). Otherwise - you have got to ask: what good is a newly-charged mobile device if you have no WiFi to use with it?