German Luxury Hotel Makes Disconnecting Easy With Internet Kill Switch

We've all done it. Gone on vacation to escape from work and other responsibilities, yet we still can't help ourselves from checking email and responding to messages on our smartphone and other mobile devices. One luxury hotel in Germany wants to help its guests combat this behavior, not by forcefully denying WiFi and other internet access, but by providing a single, easy to access switch that will remove the temptation. Each room at the Villa Stéphanie has a silver internet kill switch.

Located in the city of Baden-Baden, Germany, the spa resort has installed copper grids in each room. When guests activate the switch, all wireless signals are blocked. In addition, all the walls feature a special coating that the hotel says blocks 96% of WiFi signals. According to the hotel's owners, roughly half of their guests choose to activate the kill switch at some point during their stay.

Frank Marrenbach, the CEO of Oetker Collection, which runs the Villa Stéphanie, explains the reasoning behind offering such a feature: "It is not a sign of smartness to constantly look at incoming messages. Smart is to devote time when it is time to do so."

Features that outright disable internet use will become more common in the future at other hotels and resorts, Marrenbach says, as he believes more and more people in this day and age want to find peace away from being constantly connected. For those of us always checking our phones and laptops on vacation, be honest; doesn't this sound wonderful?

SOURCE Financial Times

VIA The Verge