Exclusive Feature: Going on vacation is a good way get away from the stress of your day-to-day life, but some hotels take it too far by cutting off access to mobile devices as well;

While taking a break from phone, e-mail, social media, and work can do wonders for relaxation, it's frustrating to ask for the wi-fi password, only to realize that you have to pay extra if you want to stay connected to the outside world, while you enjoy your stay.

Naturally, you would think that the more you pay for the hotel, the more things it will include, but this is only half true.  In the hotel industry, paying more for a room can sometimes only guarantee that you that your sheets will have a higher thread count and that there will be more convenient service options for purchase.  The chance of your hotel having included wi-fi follows a bell curve rather than a straight line.

Budget hotels and high-end hotels are the most likely to have it; where as the accommodations falling between the two extremes probably won't.
Meanwhile, it is the mid-to-upper-level hotels that are most likely to charge extra for internet access, especially if it's a hotel hosting conventions and conferences, where the company usually foots the bill.

But while for a corporation, internet is a reasonable business expense, for an individual it can seem like asking you to pay a pillow surcharge – something the normal traveler can be incensed at having to pay.

Of course, maintaining high-speed internet access in hundreds of rooms doesn't come cheap.  On top of that, the web also cuts into some of the profits from other services.  Guests can stream movies instead of buying them and can Skype instead of using the room's phone.  In order to cover the costs, hotels often turn to an external company to sell internet through their rooms.

Then there are those hotels where access to wifi must be earned.  Different levels of internet access are wrapped into the Hilton Loyalty rewards program.  If you are one of their Diamond members, that spend two months of the year in a hotel, you can have all the wi-fi you'd like.

Still, perhaps surprisingly, it is the cheaper hotels that are more likely to offer free internet because of the customers, to whom they are catering: Millennials.  According to an STR-Global survey, this demographic is price conscious and don't like extra charges.

This group is accustomed to having their technology around, and probably reads reviews to determine which hotel to stay in and afterwards manages their booking via smartphone.  Not only is included wi-fi something they want and will seek while choosing a hotel, they can tell at a glance if their chosen accommodation has it or not.

High-end boutique hotels follow the old-money tradition of not talking about costs.  Instead of nickel and diming customers for every service, they bundle more services into the price of the room and charge for the overall experience.  Some even go beyond offering complementary wi-fi and break the ultimate hotel taboo: a free mini bar.

In the end, hotels are a business and should be turning a profit, but they are also in the business of making people feel comfortable. For the new technologically dependent customer a wi-fi charge can seem annoying and dated. There is something classier about seeing internet access included, instead of a card explaining the detailed process you need to go through to buy connection.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Angela Waters is a correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. She studied at the American University of Paris and is now working with journalists across the globe as part of international journalism organization, Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA). Since the age of four, she has been collecting stamps in her passport and finds herself torn between flying to her favorite places and taking a train headed for somewhere new.