Why I Forgave The Hotel That Got Almost Everything Wrong

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I stay in hotels often enough where I have very strong opinions about the simple things they should get right. It’s not that hard to make sure a room has a nightstand or a shelf on each side of the bed or a shower head that’s at a reasonable level. It’s also not much to ask, as these things should be common sense to any designer who has stayed in a hotel room in the last five years. So let’s look at a hotel room I stayed at not long ago, that from the outside looks like it was transported from the late 1960s, and decide if it passes my ultra-simplistic design test.

Nightstand or Table & Power Outlet

As you can see, this hotel miserably failed the Nightstand & Power Outlet test. I can deal with not having a table but the location of the power outlet, located four feet off the ground, was a mystery Sharon and I never solved.

Height of Shower Head

Standing at 6 ft., I don’t view myself as exceptionally tall. I fit into almost every hotel shower that I’ve come across. However, this one was a challenge.

There’s a lot to take in from this picture. I’ll try to give some perspective, Figure that the tub/shower valve is somewhere at thigh level and the shower head is about 2 1/2 or 3 feet above that. I stood in the shower and was staring straight at the shower head, which isn’t very helpful when you want to wash your hair. As it turned out, I got a good bit of exercise working on my squats while taking a shower.

Dormitory Style Brick Wall Decor

The decor really speaks for itself. The only redeeming factor was that we did have a flat screen TV, albeit with a very limited number of channels to choose from.

Intermittent WiFi and Cell Phone Coverage

Now that we’re writing a blog, one thing we need at a hotel is a reliable internet connection. We had trouble connecting with both the hotel’s WiFi network and our cell phones from our room. We had to go to the hotel lobby to find a consistent connection, and that wasn’t even in the same building as our room.

Final Thoughts

Would you believe if I told you I paid over $200 a night for this room and was totally happy with the value I got for my money, despite all its problems? I needed to book this room ten months in advance and even then I had trouble finding availability for our whole stay.

There’s one reason why this room was worth every penny we paid for it. Why?

This was the view from our room.

and this was the view when we left the room in the morning.

I can’t describe the Grand Canyon to someone who has never seen it but our stay at Thunderbird Lodge was one of the highlights of our trip. It just goes to show that sometimes it’s not all about the amenities but the location.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary