Most travel articles on the internet are written by people that don’t travel. Most articles about this-or-that to do in a destination, or lists of best restaurants, are written by people who haven’t tried any of them. Once an article gets written, plenty of writers just copy it. This is only going to get more common – copy and paste all the ’10 things to do in Bangkok’ pieces out there into ChatGPT and tell it to write a new article based on this source material (and don’t plagiarize).
You can tell when someone travels, though, and when they’ve actually been there, done that based on the kinds of specifics that they offer. Their tales resonate with other people who have spent time on the road. It’s the little things they notice.
American Airlines power outlets have been much more reliable that past few years, but I used to be careful to carry a British outlet adapter in my laptop bag. It gripped the seat power outlets better so my laptop power cord wouldn’t fall out just enough to stop charging.
For hotel rooms, some of the pet peeves are always,
- Things like rooms without enough outlets, by both sides of the bedside and by the desk at least but not only are a source of ongoing frustration
- But not as much as hotels that don’t check to be sure the alarm clock in the room isn’t off as part of their housekeeping checklist when turning over a room between guests
- And not as much as hotel front desk clerks who extend late check-out by key your room only until noon – so you return to your room only to find that your key doesn’t work and you have to go down to the front desk.
- I can’t tell you how many times lights in the room have been completely unintuitive so when bedtime comes it takes 5 minutes trying to turn the lights out.
There are little tricks you pick up along the way, too, like that if you want to close your room door almost silently behind you – rather than having it bang as it slams shut – you just use your key on the door and turn the handle before closing it. That’s great when traveling with family, and you leave the room (maybe for a coffee run or just a run) before they wake up.
I tend to think that most of the people designing rooms don’t stay in them very often (or at least my definition of often). Sometimes, though, they figure something out and it’s like a lightning bolt. Unfortunately, since other people designing rooms don’t travel often they never see these innovations and they don’t spread widely enough. That should be what hotel chains are for – not just ‘net rooms growth’.
Recently I stayed at the Andaz Scottsdale Resort and there was one little thing that made a nice difference in the room that more hotels should emulate. I’ve seen this at only a surprisingly small percentage of places I’ve stayed: When you opened the door to the room all the way, it self-latched open and stayed that way. That’s great for bringing bags in and out of the room especially!
Bellmen sometimes carry a doorstop or door wedge. It’s often made of rubber (but sometimes plastic) and is shaped like a small triangle or wedge. They place it in the door to hold it open while transporting bags. Sometimes room service staff carry these, too.
But what about a guest when they’re on their own? Self-wedging doors are brilliant, a tremendous convenience, and more hotels should emulate this.
Actually, that room has what I wish all hotel rooms had – a laminate floor, not carpet. God knows what liquids, bodily fluids, and other bad stuff has made its way into the hotel room carpet.
Don’t forget using a pants hanger or two to clip the curtains together.
Along with the oh-dark-thirty alarm clock surprise, maids who leave the bathtub drain plug in (??) so that when you run the shower to warm it up while you’re pooping, the tub begins to fill up.
Testing the iron for minerals and dirt by setting it to max heat and then puffing the steam a bunch of times while “ironing” one of the bath towels.. (This also purges grilled cheese residue left behind by culinarily creative flight attendants.)
USB outlets that make a warbling noise at a near-dog whistle pitch, just on the edge of human hearing (kinda like how Aunt Bethany felt, in the family documentary National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, when she could hear the squirrel inside the tree).
“Smart” thermostats with motion sensors that turn off a few minutes after you fall asleep- because what frequent traveler among us doesn’t love waking up at 3am sweating in the summer or freezing in the winter? (nb I’m aware of override hacks)
I often ask myself: Who are the idiots who design hotel rooms?
With that said, three thoughts:
1) Most midscale or upscale chain hotels are only required to refresh rooms every 5 to 7 years. IHG right now still has a tremendous number of Holiday Inns that haven’t been renovated since their construction in 2008 or 2010. Furniture is often expected to last longer. So, things designed to accommodate the latest technology or keep up with the latest decorative fashions fail the test of time.
2) Lights. It is beyond me that any hotel built or renovated in the last 15 years doesn’t have a central lighting control switch. I’ve given up expecting overhead lighting. At least have one switch that can turn all the lamps on and off. There’s nothing worse than having to go around a room and individually turn on five or six lamps.
3) Bring back the bathtubs. The experiment with walk-in showers is a failure. Mold and mildew occur at a higher frequency in walk-in showers than in bathtubs. Many of the walk-in shower have sliding door designs that enhance mold or mildew by making it impossible to clean.
Yes, self-wedging doors are an idea who time has come. Great idea. Another would be a little shelf on a wall just outside the door, just for placing cups of coffee when I’m bringing them to the room but still need a free hand to use the room key on the door. And still another thing is a ceiling fan, which would probably greatly reduce A/C needs when rooms seem a bit stuffy. Things I can do without are overly creative designs for shower controls … you know, the types that almost take an engineering degree or a “think-like-an-artist” approach to figure out.
Totally agree with bathtubs (who also doesn’t like a bath now and then in winter) and lighting. Sometimes the ijability to tiurn off a light baffles me.
Hooks. There is no place to hang 2 towels when traveling with a companion. Hooks. There is no place to hang the pair of pants you wore once and will wear again tomorrow. Hooks. There is no place to hang outerwear – especially rain soaked.
Totally agree with rdinsf – carpeted floors are disgusting!! I check hotel pictures and book only non-carpeted rooms whenever possible.
As someone who does work on the design of buildings… in many cases the hotel entry door is required by code to be fire rated and be self-closing. That’s always going to be the case in rooms accessed from a double loaded corridor, which is typical of most hotels.
In the photo above the door opens to the exterior, and therefore likely wasn’t required to be fire rated. That makes it possible to latch open.
Also agree on bathtubs! Even in my house I use the shower with the bathtub house more than my walk-in for that very reason that it’s so much easier for me to clean.
Great point on the people designing the rooms don’t seem like frequent hotel stayers. A lot of changes needed are pretty close to common sense but wouldn’t it be nice if hotels sought the advice of people like FNT and Gary who have been to and seen it all when going through the design process.
Agree on lack of outlets.
I prefer to take a bath over a shower. Many hotels don’t have working bathplugs. Continuing the British thing: lack of facilities to make tea. (and charging an arm and a leg for it at Starbucks in the lobby)
Lights are sometimes impossible to figure out. (Fortunately I can sleep with the light on).
Doors that slam noisily at 1.00 am.
Thermostats rarely work correctly, are too hot and cycle on and off noisily all night.
I’ve been running into a series of hotels where I need to twist up a piece of paper to plug the peephole for the lack of a cover. I wear hard contacts, so I need the sink to be able to be plugged lest it pops out and down the drain. Far too many hotels don’t have that. BTW, if you are fearful we’ll overflow a plugged sink, how about the version with a built in “screen” that can’t be plugged? I carry a universal remote as some places replace the factory model with one that doesn’t allow you to select the source. And, I need access to the HDMI port for my FireStick. After almost 35 years in my house, I have never used the bathtub. So no, please a walk-in shower stall.
I like the idea of not having carpets in the room. Whenever we travel as family or solo, we ALWAYS make sure to have slippers which are then properly put in a plastic bag upon leaving. We also carry disinfectant wipes as well. Put towels on the bathroom floor, etc. Small things make a bit difference. Finally, we always make sure to remove the bed cover as that’s where a lot of “no, no’s” happen.
@JimC2 I’ve gotten into the habit of packing a couple large binder clips to fix the curtain gap problem.
I appreciate the fire safety issue of doors not closing. I’ve seen doors with something attached to them near the bottom which you can flip down to hold the door in position; I wonder if those would be compliant?
I, too, greatly prefer a walk-in shower. But too many of them have inadequate shielding, so the bathroom floor gets wet.