Friday Poll: Welcome to the Hotel Gadget

CNET News Poll

Checking in to Hotel Gadget
Which gadget offering would most entice you to pick one hotel over another?

A Wii in every room
Microsoft Surface in the lobby as concierge
Free e-book readers loaded with titles
52-inch 1080p HDTV
Waterproof iPod Touches for checkout poolside

View results

(Credit: Microsoft)

Let's say you're staying at a nice hotel on vacation, and you'll have plenty of time to relax. As a reader of Crave, it's likely your relaxation has something to do with using gear. Hotels are starting to include gadgets (for free or for a nominal fee) as an incentive, and it's a great idea.

But we'd like to know which gadget offering would most entice you to choose one hotel over another next time you're on holiday. Vote in our poll. And if we missed anything, let us know in our TalkBack section below.

[seamonkey420]

thats not even hard.

52" HDTV. trust me, if you travel a lot, a nice tv is a great escape in your room. plus, most of the hdtvs have vga inputs for laptop to tv if you need :)

[tek-ed]

Actually, none of these things is really a deal breaker.
Honestly, what I want in a hotel is Free WiFi (high speed in the 20Mb or faster range please) that extends to the beach with free cabana chairs and umbrellas.
Or how about a billing display that actually shows you what your stay really costs in real-time!
But the real issue is that if you're going somewhere on vacation, why are you going to spend your time in the Hotel? I see this in Hawaii all the time! People fly dozens of hours to a remote island in the Pacific ocean and then spend $500+ per day for a hotel and then they never leave the room, or if they do, they never leave the hotel! Come on folks, there's a beautiful world out there...don't spend your vacation in your room...explore!
Ed
web/gadget guru

[birdtford]

I agree with you. Give me a good WiFi connection and I'm happy. I also agree about people going on vacation and never leaving the room or hotel. There is a world to see, get out and enjoy it. I don't select my hotels for what they offer except for a clean room, courtesy, WiFi and location to what I'm going to see, oh and price. I've stayed in hotels that charge $200+/day and ones that charge $70/day, and have seen no real big difference.

[antuan.goodwin]

How about a Microsoft Office Suite? Ba-dum dum! Is this thing on?

Seriously, I've actually stayed in a hotel in Las Vegas where you could access your charges and costs in realtime using an interface on the TV. If I grabbed something out of the mini-bar, I could check the TV for instant updates for my overall charges. I was also able to check out using the same interface without having to go stand in line at the front counter. It was pretty sweet.

Free Wifi is a must, If I wanted any portable gadgets I would just bring them with me.