Online Travel

Marriott Wi-Fi Jamming Plans Resoundingly Opposed by the Public

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Marriott International has been running into the public's opposition to the hotel chain's desire to jam bring-your-own Wi-Fi devices in its conference rooms. Pictured is the Broadway Ballroom at the New York Marriott Marquis on September 3, 2014. Marriott International

Skift Take

Marriott is claiming that its plans are misunderstood and that it merely seeks permission from the FCC to jam others' Wi-Fi in its conference rooms only. But travelers are telling the FCC that they don't want to be reliant on hotel Wi-Fi in conference rooms and other areas of the hotel.

Marriott International's hopes to jam bring-your-own Wi-Fi devices and other networks during conferences at its hotels has been resoundingly rejected by the public, including business travelers and frequent Marriott customers, in public comments to the Federal Communications Commission. In fact, all 38 comments posted by the FCC about the issue to date expressed opposition to Marriott's Wi-Fi jamming hopes, which were backed by Hilton Worldwide and the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a trade group, but opposed by Google and Microsoft. (The FCC actually posted 39 comments, and one was neutral or off-topic.) The barrage of opposition comments prompted Marriott to issue a clarifying statement on December 30:

"To set the record straight it has never been nor will it ever be Marriott's policy to limit our guests' ability to access the Internet by all available means, including through the use of personal Mi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi devices. As a matter