Hotels Using VoIP

Hotels Using VoIP

The days of expensive hotel phone bills are over, with the rise of more and more hotels offering broadband Internet service to their customer, internet telephone use is on the rise. With a broadband connection provided by the hotel, users can now use Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP to stay connected with their family, friends and office. This is especially good news to oversea travelers as the rate to call back to the United States is extremely high in most international hotels. While most hotels do have a charge to access the Internet, the charge is usually much lower than the cost of making just one 10 minute call to the US.

The Residence Inn in New Haven Conneticutt has become one of the first hotels to offer free VoIP service to their customers. Adam Dubroff of TravelGlue, the company that wired the Residence Inn for VoIP, told CNN. "Until now, hotel guests have paid a premium for the convenience of long distance service, which was appropriate when there were no cell phones and it really was a convenience."

Dubroff continued, "But as technology has developed, it has become an old business model and the prices charged have been rendered exorbitant. Now, because of VoIP, there is an opportunity to provide guests with a phone service for free and I think this will be the norm in the future."

The Wynn in Las Vegas has taken the VoIP technology to the fullest extreme offering reservations, hotel information and more right from a touch screen VoIP phone. Plus when a user accesses the broadband Internet the Wynn offers, they can use their personal VoIP service for only the cost of the Internet access.

Many VoIP providers allow users to take their service with them wherever they travel. Skype offers a free VoIP service that can be used directly with a user's computer and broadband Internet connection, allowing it to be accessed virtually anywhere and anytime. No additional equipment is needed to use Skype, but Skype users can only call other Skype customers for free. Calling regular phone numbers still result in a charge.

Vonage allows customers to travel with their phone adapter, which they can then just plug into their computer and broadband Internet, giving them the same Internet phone service that they receive at home. Vonage offers a couple of plans to choose from, with their unlimited local and long distance service coming in at under $25.00 per month.

"Communication was always an issue with expats working overseas. Satellite telephones have helped me to keep in touch with my family but the per minute cost prohibited long or chatty calls," says Thomas Drown, a geologist working in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. "Now, I can talk to anyone in the world who has either a phone or an Internet connection. Now I can call my mom in Canada from my western Mongolia field office any time of the day or night for just eight cents a minute."

Broadband phone service, offered through WiFi hot-spots and high speed internet service is the wave of the future. With voice over internet protocol now recieving main stream acceptance with the residential and business communities, look for VoIP services to start showing up in most hotel chains in the near future.

Dana www.calling-plans.com

4 Star Hotels

Everyone wants to go on a nice, relaxing, and quiet vacation every once in a while, but not everyone has the kind of money that can buy a 5-star hotel stay for the weekend. In that once every few years chance that you have saved just enough for a lush weekend trip, you have the choice to go all out on a first rate hotel and have little left for going around town, or to pick a more reasonably priced 4 star hotel and still have a good budget for seeing the best that the hotel?s surroundings has to offer.

No matter what popular tourist destination you go to, there are 4-star hotels that are more than capable of competing with the first class hotels in the same town. Despite the difference in ratings, it is possible that the only disparity that counts between 4-star hotels and their 5-star counterparts is the price range, especially if you?re one customer who is only slightly particular about the kind and range of services offered in the hotel you choose to stay in. Some 4-star hotels even offer a wider range of amenities than some 5-star hotels at a lower price. Also, some 4 star hotels are considered the best in a certain region, as a 4-star rating is the highest for the hotel grading body ruling that area.

However, notice that the prices also differ according to the hotels? respective distances from the center of the city or town; the prices reduce as the location moves farther from the center. The factor of how much of the city center you want to see should therefore play a role in planning your luxurious weekend getaway. After all, what you save in accommodations could easily turn into expenses when you need to spend more on transportation between the hotel and tourist spots you intend to visit.

Four-star hotels are also suitable for business travel, as business centers and conference halls are available in most. The business traveler can also benefit from the luxurious service a 4-star hotel offers, as the hotel can easily cater to a mix of business and pleasure. Some can even be a source of inspiration and tranquility, particularly those with extra provisions for privacy, such as soundproofed rooms, and wellness facilities, such as room massage service and a Zen garden.

Here?s a list of 4 star hotels that may be worth spending a weekend in someday: the Sofitel Paris Porte de Sevres, which also offers wireless Internet access in some rooms, 3 restaurants catering to different tastes, and the option to stay on one of its eight non-smoking floors; the Hotel Forum in Rome, with a roof-garden restaurant overlooking the Venice Square and the Colosseum; and the Elite Hotel Praha in Prague, which is located in a quiet, yet scenic part of town, and features a day bar with a small leisure garden and a grill club that showcases the best of French, Argentinian and Spanish cuisines.

Welcome to our travel Blog ! Read our great member reviews on their own travel experiences, which travel insurance, travel agent they used plus much more to help you plan your own holiday or city break. Reviews on cities and hotels in cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome plus many across all continents can be found right here. Travelcubic can help you find flights, train tickets, ferries, cruises, buses, taxis and car hire. please visit http://www.travelcubic.com

Airport Hotels - The Right Way To Start A Short Break Holiday

Unless you have the dubious pleasure of living right next door to an airport one of the biggest downsides of going on holiday is catching a flight at an ungodly hour of the day. While driving half asleep at 4.00 am, with a nagging doubt you have forgot something may be some holidaymaker's idea of fun - for most it sounds like a bad way to start your holiday. However, help is at hand in the form of Airport Hotels, where you can spend a relaxed evening - and even afford an extra hour or two in bed before leaving.

Airport hotels may not enjoy the best of reputations. In many peoples mind they are ranked alongside train station pubs - filled with chain smoking business men in cheap suits. However, while there is certainly a convincing argument to avoid train station pubs (you have to pay to get in the toilet for starters), airport hotels are a long way from their cheap and not-so-cheerful roots. These days the savvy traveller can pick up a great value deal at some excellent hotel accommodation situated close to their airport of departure.

One hotel that certainly fits this bill is the 4-star Arora International Hotel near Gatwick (http://www.gatwickairport.com). Situated a mere 8 minutes from the airport, the hotel boasts a health club, with state of the art facilities including a gym, jacuzzi, steam room and solarium. The quality of service and dining is also high with two bars, a deli and brassiere restaurant for those wishing to sample the culinary delights of this award winning hotel. For those using the hotel before they catch a flight there is every convenience with an Avis car rental desk within the hotel and an adjoining train station going directly to Gatwick.

Another big advantage of staying at airport hotels is many let you use their car park facilities - at often very reasonable rates. The Cottons Hotel and Spa situated near Manchester International Airport offers some excellent deals on up to 15 days parking for guests of their hotel. The hotel itself is also 4-star and comes equipped with pool, colour therapy sauna, steam room, gym, tennis courts and spa. While you may also be confused over what a colour therapy sauna is, you have to agree it sounds enticing and certainly beats crawling through Manchester traffic to catch an early morning flight.

If you really want to banish your negative image of airport hotels once and for all then you needn't look much further than the completely re-vitalised Sheraton Skyline near Heathrow (http://www.heathrowairport.comVisually stunning the Al Dente Ristorante is the ultimate experience of fine dining cuisine where Marco Di Tullio's menus combine tradition, creativity and flavours based on perfect cooking techniques and obsessive research of the best market and imported products available in the UK. In the past airport hotels may have meant chicken in a basket - at the Skyline this type of dish is very much confined to memory.

As the world of airport hotels is such a competitive area there are always great deals to be had for those looking for accommodation pre or post flight. Websites such as airport hotel specialists http://www.superbreak.com or http://www.hotelnet.co.uk have an excellent selection of deals and are worth looking at before planning a stay near an airport.

Overall, airport hotels have changed significantly over the past ten years and are no longer the realm of the odourly challenged. However, it is still recommended that the world of train station pubs is avoided unless on the look out for recreational drugs - or at the very least have a 50p coin to get into the toilet.

Michael's Website: Belfast