Yes, hotels monitor your internet activity. This isn't (in most cases) as sinister as it may sound. They need to monitor your internet traffic to make sure you're not abusing download or bandwidth quotas, for example. But they can also see what websites you visit and how long you spend on each one.

Yes, hotels can see your browsing history if you are connected to their Wi-Fi without protection. As the network administrator, the hotel’s router logs the IP addresses and domains you visit (e.g., they can see you visited "https://www.google.com/search?q=google.com" or "netflix.com"), along with the duration of your session. However, in 2026, because most websites use HTTPS encryption, the hotel generally cannot see the specific pages you view or the data you enter (like passwords or credit card numbers). To ensure total privacy, 2026 travelers are strongly advised to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which encrypts all traffic between your device and the internet, making your activity invisible to the hotel staff. Without a VPN, even "Incognito" or "Private" mode only hides history from your local browser, not from the hotel’s network logs, which are often kept for security and marketing analytics.