Analyst firm at In-Stat/MDR reports "despite the downturn in
the travel industry, hotels now perceive broadband as a necessary service offering to remain competitive in the current environment." I would second that. For a basic business trip that only requires sporadic e-mail checks, in-room broadband is more of a nicety than a necessity. However, if you're doing multimedia projects on the road, having that fat connection to upload multi-megabyte files is a must.