I’m writing this blog post because I just paid $16.95 for hotel internet access. Normally, I get around the hotel internet conundrum by walking to the nearest Starbucks and drinking a cup of coffee while sending my email. Alas, I seem to be in the last zipcode in America without a Starbucks. And that’s why I ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money to get online.

And it’s not just the internet. If I decided to eat breakfast in my hotel room, I’d pay $8 for a pot of tea. Eggs with bacon and toast would set me back $22. Smoked salmon hash? $28. A bowl of Cheerios? $12, plus tax, tip, and a $4...