Photo courtesy of Hotel WiFi Test
Hotel WiFi Test, a website that aims to hold hotels accountable for different aspects of Wi-Fi, ranked hotel chains by Wi-Fi quality in a report released on Wednesday.
"The chain to which a hotel belongs is one of the best predictors of Wi-Fi performance," according to a release. "Therefore, when travelers know how hotel chains are ranked overall, they can choose a specific hotel with better Wi-Fi even if they don't have information about the Wi-Fi quality in that hotel."
Each hotel chain was rated based on how much of its portfolio delivered adequate Wi-Fi (a download speed of at least 3 Mbps and an upload speed of 500 kbps).
The result?
Drum roll please…
Nordic Choice, Radisson Blu and Renaissance take a bow, you are the top-rated hotel chains in Wi-Fi quality worldwide.
According to the Hotel WiFi Test report, 85 percent of Nordic Choice hotels offer adequate Wi-Fi. Radisson Blu and Renaissance (a Marriott brand) follow at 69 percent and 61 percent, respectively.
The top-rated hotel chains in Wi-Fi quality in the United States are, according to Hotel WiFi Test: Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Westin (courtesy of Starwood Hotels & Resorts) and Hyatt Hotels. Per the report, 47 percent of Marriott Hotels & Resorts properties offer adequate Wi-Fi, followed by Westin (46.1 percent) and Hyatt Hotels (45.7 percent).
On the other hand, it is worth noting that free Wi-Fi is offered at only 17 percent of the Marriott brand's properties, and at 20 percent of Westin properties (this makes sense, considering free Wi-Fi leads to more bandwidth usage and a greater potential to slow down Wi-Fi speeds).
Kudos to Hyatt Hotels: The brand was not only ranked third in Wi-Fi quality, but it also offers free Wi-Fi at all of its hotels.
Eight hotel chains in the U.S. offered adequate Wi-Fi across at least 40 percent of their portfolio.
In Europe, Nordic Choice, Radisson Blu and Hilton Hotels & Resorts reigned supreme (interestingly enough, Hilton Hotels & Resorts was more trustworthy in terms of Wi-Fi quality in Europe than in the U.S.).
In Asia, InterContinental, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts and Marriott Hotels & Resorts were the top three chains in Wi-Fi quality, respectively.
Note: a download speed of 3 Mbps is the Netflix recommendation for SD-quality streaming; an upload speed of 500 kbps is the Skype recommendation for high-quality non-HD video calling.
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