Try This Viral Hotel Thermostat Hack? One Slip Could Cost You $500 [Roundup]

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Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. The most frustrating thing about “smart” thermostats is the ones that don’t allow constant fan in a hotel with poor noise insulation (and highway/exterior noise, loud elevator machinery, loud maids, loud guests…). Those thermostats come in two kinds- one with an electronic timer (that can sometimes be overridden) and the other kind with a motion sensor (which can sometimes be fooled by dangling a piece of toilet paper in front of them).

    The managers of hotels with these thermostats deserve to have their personal phone numbers doxxed so that their guests may call them at 2 in the morning to share their displeasure. (Just kidding… a bit.)

  2. You should exit the thermostat VIP mode before checking out. That is likely to avoid problems with the hotel. I just looked up the procedure to exit Limited Energy Management (VIP) mode. It differs only in the last step. Instead of pushing the up button to enable VIP mode you push the down button to disable it.

    LEM (VIP mode) can also quickly be disabled by performing the following button press
    sequence:
    1. Press and hold the DISPLAY button.
    2. Press and release the POWER button.
    3. Press and release the DOWN arrow button
    4. Release the DISPLAY button.

  3. I am running into more and more hotels that have motion detectors connected to whether/how the AC works in the hotel rooms.

    If you sleep too still, the room is more likely to end up more uncomfortable than for a restless sleeper who tosses and turns often.

    I may have to start bringing an electronic means to trigger the motion detector if this practice spreads.

  4. I guess they only have those thermostats where they keep the room warmer than most would want. I can’t recall time – in warmer-climate destinations or seasons – where the room wasn’t too cold, unless the HVAC was inop.

    Clipping-toenails-dude already wearing flip-flops, to fly. Clearly pumping a dry hole with that one.

  5. I travel frequently to Central America and all the hotels have down comforters or heavy duvets. Why? It’s hot outside and electricity isn’t cheap in
    that part of the world. So the Hiltons, Marriotts, etc. get upset when you have set the temp low enough to sleep. Doesn’t make sense.

  6. “The managers of hotels with these thermostats deserve to have their personal phone numbers doxxed so that their guests may call them at 2 in the morning to share their displeasure. (Just kidding… a bit.)”

    Get a clue dude. The “managers”‘ of any hotel with these types of thermostats have zero juice in what gets put in the rooms. All of those decisions are made a level on top of them by the management company as to what they want to pay for, and that choice is only from the limited list are vendors/options/choices that the parent brand will allow in the rooms.

    If you’re going to piss on people, at least know what you’re talking about.

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