Hotels are bad news in most cases, as the phone systems are additions to modifications etc etc. They tend to be very 'noisy' and hence a slow moden speed.
Also, you must reset your modem to suit the country, assuming your using win95/98/NT you must change the 'regional settings' as in win98/NT this changes the string etc to suit the country. Again, some hotels have a digital phone system and this will blow the c**p out of your modem and even damage your laptop. Check with the hotel to see if it is a digital system, some hotels warn about this.
Whilst overseas/abroad I stongly suggest for safety and privacy you limit your exposure to email and company correspondance via the GSM network using Nokia Data suite, which is very reliable and does not involve using your notebook modem.
Good luck, best wishes