As many hotels have started implementing wireless networks to
support a wide variety of business processes, others have followed
suit in order to match the competitor’s service offerings. Thus,
although the adoption of wireless technologies is in many instances
based on a bandwagon effect (Wolff, 2003), there are a number of
factors potentially influencing the decision of whether or not to
implement wireless technologies in hotel properties. This article
provides an overview of the use of this technology in the hotel
industry, identifies social, technical, and organisational factors
influencing adoption decisions, and establishes a cost-theoretic
model to analyse adoption decisions. The cost-analytic framework
extends the theoretical underpinnings by creating a decision
schedule to map the direct and indirect (non-linear) effects
surrounding the evolving trend towards introducing wireless
Internet access in hotels. The framework allows managers to
objectively trace the economic net-present-value of their
technology investment decisions. The cost-analytic model
implicates adoption thresholds related to technology costs and
setup-indirect effects that can mar direct positive effects of
technical, organisational, and social antecedents.