Hotels spend time and money to figure out what their guests want the most. To find this information, they send surveys asking how the stay was and for guests to rate everything from the front desk to the room cleanliness and even the fitness room. Hotels also have their employees watch Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp! to spot bad reviews so they can try to resolve the problems (in public, so everyone can see they care).
I will save the hotels a lot of money in market research. In no specific order, here are the FIVE things I want from my hotel room.
PILLOWS
Several times, I’ve pointed out that one of my biggest pet peeves with hotels is the situation with pillows. They either give you too many pillows, so you throw them on the floor, or they give you one pillow per person. I’ll travel with my pillow for longer trips (my wife always brings hers), but if I’m only going for one or two nights, I’ll just use what they give me.
I give bonus points to Holiday Inn Express and some other hotels that give you a choice of soft or firm pillow (and label each one on the pillowcase).
POWER OUTLETS
It should be no surprise to hotels that people travel with more electronics than ever. It’s very possible that you need to charge multiple phones, tablets, laptop computers, cameras, and maybe even plug in a nightlight. We have two toothbrushes to charge in the bathroom, a nightlight, and a hairdryer the following day. This is in addition to the items already in the room, like the lights, alarm clock, TV, mini-fridge and coffee maker.
With all this in mind, and knowing darn well that hotel executives have just as many electronics as everyone else when they travel, why have I been in hotel rooms with only 1 or 2 accessible plugs? If you’re at the point where you need to start looking behind the nightstand and under the desk for whatever you can find and figuring out what light or clock you can unplug to have an open outlet, you know something is not right.
Some hotels have lamps with outlets or USB plug(s) in the base. Other hotels have installed multiple outlet connectors with USB on the nightstands. Both of these are easy fixes hotels can make to update the room to modern requirements. What’s up with those who haven’t?
NIGHTSTAND/SHELF ON EACH SIDE OF THE BED
I’ve noticed a trend where only one side of the bed gets a nightstand, table or shelf. The other side is right against a wall with just enough room to walk or has a chair and ottoman. This is usually also the side of the bed I usually sleep on.
I like to have a bottle of water by the side of the bed, and I also like to have my phone nearby to hear the alarm and check the time (now you see why I want the outlet near the bed as well).
The room with the “closet” next to the bed was the most challenging. I couldn’t even leave something on the floor next to the bed (lest you didn’t know, I’ve also become quite skilled at balancing a water bottle on the arm of a chair).
Here are two perfect examples of beds against the wall. This is usually in a room with two beds that only has a single night table, so no matter which bed you use, someone isn’t getting a table. Really? Really?
LIGHTING
Why are some hotel rooms so dark? Even with all the lights turned on, the room’s still not lit up at all. I used to blame this on hotels changing to energy-efficient light bulbs, but that excuse doesn’t cut it anymore because the newer bulbs are as bright as the old ones. It’s just a matter of not having enough lights in the proper places.
The Hampton Inn Charlotte-Belmont, NC, stands out as one of the darkest rooms we’ve had. The light behind the TV might have been helpful if it wasn’t BEHIND THE FLIPPIN’ TV!
Of course, if hotel rooms had ceiling lights, that would probably solve the problem. But we know why they usually don’t.
The other issue I have with lighting is in the bathroom. Why can’t there be a light in the shower? I hate taking a shower in the dark, and installing a light fixture in it is not difficult. Here are two classic examples of the unlit shower, or as I now call it “The Shower Cave”.
CURTAINS THAT CLOSE
One of the only things I still have to bring with me for the last 15+ years is a chip clip. Its function is to close the gap between curtains that are formed when the two sides don’t exactly fit together.
How do they design this so the light from outside the room shines through the crack all night at the exact point where your head is? Or if not that, then the sunrise peeks through the gap to say “Good Morning” at 6 AM. Kill me now.
The problem has been solved by having one curtain for the window that pulls all the way across or the novel idea of having one curtain slide behind the other by an inch or so. Geniuses came up with these solutions, but some hotels still use the old technology, and until they all learn, I’ll always have to bring a chip clip with me. (Others say they’ll use a clothes hanger from the closet for the same purpose)
I used this trick during a recent trip to Las Vegas. And while it wasn’t pretty, it got the job done.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I could have come up with more than five things, but I wanted this to be a list of problems that hotels can easily correct. If you want me to enjoy a stay at your hotel, then just get the simple things right. Don’t have me walk across the room at night to grab a drink of water while remembering not to step on my phone charging on the floor. Then don’t have me wake up at the buttcrack of dawn because the sun is streaming through the curtains, and take a shower in a lightless cave, but yet still need a flashlight to look for my clothes because the room is too dark, At this point, it’s not going to matter how large the TV screen is or what brand the toiletries are; don’t be surprised when I say on my survey that I didn’t have an extraordinary stay that surpassed my expectations.
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21 comments
[…] give away things you want. You may have read that one of my biggest travel complaints is that hotel rooms with two beds usually only have one night st…. During this trip, we stayed at two hotels where I didn’t have any table, shelf or even a […]
Love the chip clip idea. I am going to try it, since this is a pet peeve of mine as well.
However, number one for me is decent insulation/construction, so that I can not hear people in the rooms above, below and next to me, or the road outside. None of the other stuff matters much if the room is too noisy to sleep.
Great idea on the chip clip. I’d add a frosty a/c for number six.
A few more:
A real door on the bathroom. While we’re at it, no windows between room/bathroom.
A desk, or some form of reasonable workspace. Working on the bed just gets old.
Showerheads that are above your head.
Water pressure in the shower.
Tubs/showers that drain.
Thermostats that really work.
I could go on and on.
Totally with you on the bathroom design. What about this mirror placement. https://yourmileagemayvary.com/2019/03/07/what-was-this-hotel-room-designer-thinking/
Hooks and towel bars! I get that hotels want me to reuse the towels, but please make it easy for me by giving me a place to put them to dry properly.
I also have to potcake on a shower that drains and doesn’t fill up with water backlogged by the past thousand guests’ hair and grease.
Yessss! Two of them please
Air conditioning that really works. Not air conditioning that says it is 65 degrees but feels like 72 degrees. Water pressure in the shower, a shower head that’s high enough or adjustable or on a hose-not everyone is 5′ 3″, and HOT WATER! Doors that actually shut all the way-can’t believe I actually had to say that-but I’ve been to two hotels in the last month where they DID NOT shut all the way. A luggage rack in this day and age of rampant bed bugs.
No need for the chip clip. Use a hanger with clips from the closet.
Bingo! We use the pants hangar!
All the above but rarely mentioned: availability of a normal, lightweight blanket for all of the women who are forced to simmer under those “fashionable” duvet comforters!
I agree when you mentioned that nightstand are a must-have when thinking about a hotel stay. My husband and I bring a lot of devices like tablet and video cameras with us when we go on vacations so having an accessible area to put them while we are in bed would be quite convenient. Once travel restrictions become a lot less stricter, we will sure go on a vacation right away.
You think hotel rooms are bad? Try cruise ship cabins! Just came off the MSC Virtuosa which had no plugs near the night stands. We had researched the plug situation before sailing. We had to bring extension cords and magnetic hooks so my P2 could use his CPAP machine. Oh, and NEVER, EVER sail with MSC, they absolutely suck as a company!
For me….a fan that makes noise in the bathroom.
Give people some privacy.
Simplified plumbing fixtures that don’t require an engineering degree to figure out how to turn on the shower. Newer builds have actually improved in that regard, but there are a lot of older properties that still have that issue.
Lighted light switches. At least one by the entry door. If you arrive late and the light switch is not where you expect it to be, it can be a trial to find a light in a dark room. Also, in the middle of the night, trying to find the bathroom light switch.
-increasingly it seems like I have to spend ten minutes trying to figure how to turn off/on the lights and then operate the power curtains. It is getting way too complicated.
-an old person complaint. Please make the words “Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash” in big enough letters that you don’t have to wear your reading glasses in the shower.
I’ve experienced both of these and felt the same way.
Even at higher end properties like the Four Seasons, which generally are pretty good (newer ones we’ve had USB-C chargers on the nightstand), hotels often don’t provide at least two outlets on each nightstand, at nightstand level.
This is necessary insofar as you’re typically charging your phone (and watch) overnight, and using it as your alarm. And my wife uses a CPAP, so she needs an outlet close nearby.
I have mixed feelings about USB charging ports. The (older) USB-A ports typically provide meager power (some as low as 5w), which is sufficient in this day and age. Even the USB-C ports at the aforementioned Four Seasons are only 20w I believe, which is reasonably OK for phones *now*, but not so good for laptops. And after a couple of years, the ports tend to become loose and unreliable.
Everyone carries a charger. And if you don’t, the hotel should have available for purchase (at reasonable price) or freely loan (in the case of 5 star hotels) newer, up-to-date high power chargers with a plethora of USB-A and USB-C ports. It’s a fool’s errand for a hotel to add ports to nightstands, desks, or the wall that are sufficient when when they are added, only to be out-of-date and useless 2-3 years afterwards.
There also needs to be at least two outlets at tabletop/countertop level anywhere there is a horizontal surface in the room — dressers, desks, etc. It amazes me how often a desk is provided, and yet I have to get on my hands and knees and sometimes even have to move the desk to access the outlets at floor level. It amazes me still how often both outlets are already being used, by lamps, the TV, the mini fridge, etc. People carry laptops. They work on the laptops — often at the desk. Therefore, they expect to be able to charge them at the desk. This isn’t rocket science.
Curtain-wise, for 5-star properties they should be controlled by motor, full stop. It is part of the luxury experience to me, particularly in larger rooms. And sometimes they’re inconvenient to pull closed manually. We stayed at a Four Seasons where they were manually controlled in the bathroom, and you had to climb in and over the soaking tub to get to them (and don’t get me started about the soaking tub that takes up a lot of space and yet is rarely used). It’s a recipe for a ugly slip and fall.
I agree with the comment above that the plumbing controls should be easy to understand. At a minimum, put a laminated piece of paper explaining the controls, particularly when they are not your standard type of control (rotation turns on the water at full power, starting at cold, and as you rotate it gets progressively warmer), and if there is more than one shower head — I’ve seen three controls for two shower heads. Also, Five star hotels should always have a Toto washlet or equivalent … I don’t understand why this isn’t more prevalent in the US. (And Europe, particularly France — yeah, we get it, you invented the bidet. Good job! But sorry, the Japanese one-upped you with the washlet. Get with the program and change over to washlets — your rooms tend to be smaller anyway, so this would free up valuable space in the bathroom.)
And all hotels should have both ChromeCast and Apple AirPlay capability on the TVs. Both have been out forever, and everyone has an iPhone or an Android.
Wi-Fi should be free automatically or at worst require you to sign up with the hotel’s loyalty program (but not require a minimum level of status). Premium Internet should ALWAYS be an option, perhaps free if you have a certain level of status, but at least should be a paid upgrade. And if paid for, it should be for the room, not by device.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
A desk that isn’t in front of a heater/AC blasting right on you.
1. Desk
2.No window between sleeping area and bathroom.
3. No mold.