Buy this for travel
Complete, 2-year
$4.49/mo
Billed $121.23 for the first 27 months (includes 3 extra months). Renews at $219.48/year.
Choose Complete 2-yearA traveller's privacy guide
Privacy on hotel, cafe, and airport WiFi
Shared WiFi is convenient. It is also a network you do not control. Other guests, the hotel LAN, and cafe operators can see more of your traffic than you might think.
This is an independent guide. It is not a best-VPN list. It is not a streaming-unblock page. It covers the habits that matter on open and captive-portal WiFi, what a VPN actually does, and the NordVPN plan I would buy for travel.
Links to NordVPN are sponsored. Prices below are USD, sourced 31 August 2026 from Nord's pricing page.
Why hotel WiFi is a privacy problem
Hotel, airport, and cafe networks are built for convenience. Many people join the same access point. Some of those networks are open. Some hide behind a login page that looks official. Neither setup means the path from your laptop to the internet is private.
On a shared LAN, other devices can sometimes see unencrypted traffic. A lookalike network (an evil twin) can copy the hotel name and wait for you to connect. A captive portal is a login page, not a security check.
You still need HTTPS and two-factor authentication. A VPN is an extra layer for the hop across that untrusted network, not a substitute for either.
What to do on hotel WiFi, in order
- Use the official SSID. Ask at the desk, or check the key packet. Do not join a network that merely looks like the hotel name. Evil twins copy the name and sit nearby.
- Do not skip HTTPS. If a site is plain HTTP, leave it. The lock in the browser is still doing real work, VPN or not.
- Do not bank on a sketchy portal. Complete the hotel or cafe login first. Do not type card numbers or work passwords into a page you cannot verify.
- Turn the VPN on after you are online. You still have to get through the captive portal. Then connect the VPN before mail, banking, or work.
- Turn off auto-join. Forget the network when you leave. Your phone should not reconnect from the street or the next lobby.
What a VPN does
- Encrypts traffic from your device to a VPN server.
- Gives other guests, the hotel LAN, and cafe WiFi less to look at.
- Helps on open or captive-portal WiFi once you are past the login page.
What a VPN does not do
- It does not hide you from the hotel login page.
- It does not replace HTTPS or two-factor authentication.
- It does not make you untraceable.
- It does not fix a laptop that is already infected.
- It does not guarantee streaming.
The plan I would buy for travel
I recommend NordVPN Complete on the two-year plan. The VPN is the part you need on hotel WiFi. Complete adds extras that are useful on a trip laptop: desktop anti-malware and browsing protection, a desktop ad and tracker blocker, a password manager, and 1 TB of encrypted cloud storage. Those extras are listed on Nord's pricing page.
Complete is about $27 more than Basic for the first 27 months ($121.23 vs $94.23). Worth it if you want those desktop extras. Skip Prime. The identity insurance is US-oriented. Skip monthly. You pay $19.99 per month for the same VPN you can lock in far cheaper on two years.
Complete, from Nord's pricing page
- Secure VPN, with thousands of servers listed on the pricing page
- 10 devices at once
- Anti-malware and browsing protection (desktop)
- Ad and tracker blocker (desktop)
- Password manager
- 1 TB encrypted cloud storage
- Dark Web Monitor Pro
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Prices (USD, 31 August 2026)
Sourced from nordvpn.com/pricing. Sales tax may apply. Introductory prices for new customers. Plans auto-renew at the rates below unless you cancel. I am not inventing a discount. Check the live page before you pay.
Basic, 2-year
$3.49/mo
Billed $94.23 for the first 27 months. Renews at $139.08/year. VPN only. Fine if you only want the tunnel.
Complete, 1-year
$77.88
First 12 months. Renews at $219.48/year. Use this only if you will not commit to two years.
Complete, monthly
$19.99/mo
Skip this unless you are testing for a few weeks. The two-year Complete intro is the plan that makes sense for travellers.
After you get online
- Join the official SSID and finish the hotel or cafe portal.
- Open NordVPN and connect. Nord lists 10 devices on one account, so phone and laptop can both sit behind it.
- Then open mail, banking, and work. Keep HTTPS on. Keep two-factor on.
- When you check out, disconnect and forget the network.
If you try it and it is not for you, Nord's pricing page offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Ask them, not me, for a refund.
Who runs this
Hotel WiFi Guide is run by Ankit Rajput in Toronto. Independent. Not owned by Nord Security. No accounts on this site. Questions: hello@hotelwifiguide.com.