According to the New Zealand Herald, the U.S. is losing market share as an international tourist destination (and, one could extrapolate, internationals meetings destination as well). From the article:

In a recent poll of international travellers, commissioned by Discover America Partnership, a coalition of US tourist organisations, 70 per cent of respondents said they feared US officials more than terrorists or criminals. Another 66 per cent worried they would be detained for some minor blunder, such as wrongly filling out an official form or being mistaken for a terrorist, while 55 per cent say officials are “rude.”

It also found the U.S. to be the world’s “most unfriendly” destination for foreign travelers by a 2:1 margin. Ouch.

Interestingly, the poll suggested US foreign policy was not “a significant factor” in global dissatisfaction with the US, but that US entry policies were. It is slowly dawning in Washington that, unless visitors are treated better upon arrival, the US will continue to lose hearts and minds.

There are efforts under way to make the process less onerous and a little more friendly (the Travel Industry Association of America has been working tirelessly on it, for one), but the focus of the government remains on safety, not being user-friendly, so I wouldn’t expect too many changes in the near future, except maybe in the marketing of America. I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

According to Hotel Chatter, hotels with the best WiFi service are (drumroll, please):

Residence Inn, Courtyard, Springhill Suites by Marriott
Marriott is so close to doing WiFi right. Residence Inns, SpringHill Suites, and Courtyard all have strong, free, fast, working wireless in the rooms and the lobbies.

Furthermore, the rooms at the above hotel brands will give you an ethernet cable, and a free tethered connection if the WiFi in your room is spotty or not preferred.

The lobbies at the above mentioned Marriott’s are also perfectly outfitted for meetings–meaning they offer plenty of power outlets and places to sit down and log on. The above video was shot at a Residence Inn and it shows you the mood and situation that is featured in most Residence Inn lobbies.

Finally, in our WiFi hotel testing, we have noticed that newer construction hotels, and low lying hotels, are much more apt to have strong wireless signals. Those old, multi-story buildings can be hard to optimally configure for wireless access.

What does all this mean? Marriott, you are so close. Just offer free wireless access at every Marriott property and you will be the first and only hotel brand to have a consistent free wireless policy.

And here are their picks for worst WiFi hotels.