Yes, for most everyday use, connecting to hotel Wi-Fi is reasonably safe, as long as you stick to encrypted sites and apps and watch for a few specific tricks. The bigger risk today isn't someone reading your traffic. It's being steered to a fake network, a fake login page, or a fake software update.
The FTC now says public Wi-Fi is usually safe because most websites and apps encrypt data with HTTPS. That encryption stops other guests from reading your passwords or messages in transit. It doesn't hide everything, though. The hotel, or whoever runs its network, can still see which sites you connect to, because the site name is sent in a readable form even when the page itself is encrypted.
Where hotel networks get risky:
- Shared or no passwords. Many hotels use one password for every guest or an open network with a sign-in page, so you're on the same network as strangers.
- Targeted attacks. The DarkHotel campaign hit executives at luxury hotels in Asia for years by showing fake update prompts after they logged into hotel Wi-Fi.
- Look-alike networks. A network called "Hotel_Guest_Free" might not belong to the hotel at all.
For checking email, maps, or streaming, you're fine. Before you do banking, work logins, or anything sensitive, confirm the exact network name with the front desk, ignore pop-up update prompts, and consider a VPN such as NordVPN, which encrypts all your traffic so the hotel network only sees a connection to the VPN server. A VPN won't stop phishing or malware, so the usual caution still applies.