http://www.incentivemag.com/msg/content_display/marketing/e3i3eebab3a25f070800bc9308b6fc22cc7 By Peter P. Roosen Tatsuya Nakagawa December 27, 2006 Road-weary traveling sales professionals are among the growing number of Wi-Fi leeches, attaching to open wireless networks often without the owner's knowledge or permission in order to access the Internet. The practice has evolved from latching onto a cafe's free wireless service from a car in the parking lot, to drive-thru circling in hotel and motel parking lots. A free no-fuss way to check e-mails, confirm travel plans, obtain business information from the net and otherwise communicate efficiently is the desired result. Great for the leech, but what does it do for the host? It depends on how the host responds. Wirelsss Internet service is generally a nuisance to establish with significant costs involved is setting up and maintaining wireless routers, especially for a larger hotel or motel where multiple broadcast points are needed. There are special staff training issues and the need to have someone available who can troubleshoot problems as they occurfrequently in most installations. However, having Internet services available is no longer simply optional for most operators since many modern travelers are finding Internet services more important than having a telephone or television in the room. Some will base their decision of where to stay on the availability of quality Internet service, stating they require such service as a condition of booking into a room. The incremental cost associated with bandwidth lost to leeching is small or negligable in most cases. Most places that offer Internet service present one or more of the three common types of barriers to prevent unwanted "leeching" by people not booked in as hotel guests, or buying something from one of the cafes or other retail businesses that provide Internet access. The three common barrier types are: 1. Requiring users to pay for the service. 2. Putting in a login and password system and asking users to obtain access from the proprietor. 3. Soliciting user information prior to granting access. These barriers tend to discourage the most common types of leeching and in the cases where the systems are regional or national by chain, after a while, the people who would otherwise be leeching tend to avoid these businesses altogether. There are some businesses that have taken an entirely different approach. In a few cases, Internet access is granted without any restrictions or fuss and users can simply attach themselves quickly and easily with no cost and go about their business as they see fit. A notable example is the Best Western hotel chain, presently the largest in the world, which has many of its properties established with no-cost and no-fuss Internet access. This reduces the administrative burden of having to help each user gain access every time they book into one of the hotels. Travelers in need of Internet access begin to look for these Best Western signs along the roadways and identify them not only with the hotel brand but as a place to normally obtain hassle- and cost-free Internet access. Naturally, if someone is seeking Internet access in the early part of the day while driving along the roadways, they are not likely looking for a room and by pulling into the empty parking lot alongside the building are easily identified as Wi-Fi leeches by proprietors. Proprietors often have different views on the subject, with some being openly hostile to non-paying guests obtaining free access at their expense. Most proprietors ignore these unexpected visitors with some at the opposite end of the spectrum offering a free coffee and otherwise welcoming these travelersa more enlightened approach from a marketing perspective. Experienced travelers are often creatures of habit who are looking for consistency, ease and simplicity in many aspects of their day-to-day travel activities. This is true whether or not cost is an important aspect of the travel. There is evidence that the Best Western open access policy is resulting in increased room stays from the road-weary Internet-hungry travelers. For example, the habit of checking e-mails and messages at least once a day while on the road will have these people pulling into parking lots at various times of the day or night and for various lengths of time. In some instances, such as late in the day when seeking accommodation for the night becomes a priority or when changes in travel plans become apparent from checking messages while on line, results in them needing to book a room. Sometimes reading and writing e-mails takes longer than expected, hours on occasion, and when the task is completed driving off to another location for a hotel becomes unappealing compared to getting out of the car and booking a room on the spot. Let's face it, the Internet access worked and value was derived so that has the road warrior in a positive frame of mind when walking up to the front desk. Similarly at a cafe. What about local leeches? There are people who look for such convenient access places in their own area. Kids with laptops sneaking around to avoid parental controls or low-end hackers wanting to upload their latest trial virus across town could be among them and that is the last thing proprietors would want to be involved with. These concerns are likely exaggerated since most libraries have open access, and it has not become an insurmountable problem for them. The savvy marketer would suggest try selling them something they are willing to pay for. The internet cafe concept was built largely on this idea. Maybe a drive-thru version is what is needed. Send people back out on roller skates like in the 1950s to offer stuff to people parked there food and beverages. Better yet, the solution could be as simple as an introduction web page that promotes the business services offered through the hotel and welcomes visitors to come in for a free cup of coffee. In any event, there are not likely to be many locals wanting or needing to hang out in hotel parking lots to gain wireless internet access. However, there is still an opportunity to incorporate a drive-thru model of the Internet cafe for locals and travelers alike. Proprietors can choose to become frustrated chasing road weary traveling Wi-Fi leeches from their properties or view it as a marketing opportunity. Best Western does not appear to have advertised or publicized their widespread convenient and free Internet access. This gives a market savvy competitor a chance to capture some publicity if one of these chains was to create a branded drive-in Wi-Fi zone catered to these new aged road warriors. Install it in part of the existing parking lot, perhaps marking and marketing this special space. Welcome users who may become interested in spending a night there. Turn the leeching relationship into a symbiotic one. -=- Peter P. Roosen has an engineering background and founded numerous companies including firms involved in locomotive and plastics manufacturing, computer software and marketing. Tatsuya Nakagawa is president and CEO of Atomica Creative in Vancouver Canada, a strategic product marketing company. He has assisted numerous companies in diverse industries with their early stage deployments and product launches in North America, Europe and Asia. Atomica Creative Group is a specialized strategic product marketing firm positioned to help companies assess their R&D processes relative to market drivers and establish a marketing strategy led approach so that R&D spending can be applied rationally for greater returns on these important investments. _____________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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