the hotel that i am the building engineer (read that as a euphemism for maintenace) for offers complimentary high-speed internet access in the rooms. the goal is to court business travelers coming to the area. trouble is, our network does not allow VPN. tonight alone i had 3 seperate incidents where i was called to a room to help a guest who was having trouble with his internet. all 3 needed to establish a VPN with their home office. i had to explain that there was nothing i could do about it, which really pissed them all off. i cant blame them, if i chose a hotel specifically because it offered high-speed internet i'd be pissed if i couldnt do the one thing that i actually needed it for.

this is a recurring problem here, and i've brought it to the general manager 3 times. each time, she claimed that allowing people to establish VPNs opens up a huge vulnerability in our network. im not sure i buy this for two reasons:
one - she hasnt got a clue about anything remotely computer related exept MS word to write her her visciously worded memos to employees. i dont know how she determined that this would completely destroy the network's security
two - if this presents such gaping security holes, why is it becoming the prefered way for businesses to connect?

so i ask those people here who know more about networking than i do:
is this a big issue if we allow guests to establish VPNs? can this cause major security issues? or is my GM just being her typical "ive got better things to worry about" self?