After traveling across the US, flying across the “Pond,” or driving hundreds of miles, and touring or conducting business all day, once I’m in my hotel room, a clean comfortable bed is a great start, but in the 21st century, I need more from my hotel and my room.
At the high cost of room charges and fees at some hotels, in the world’s major cities and resorts, hotels have to give guests more for their money.
I’ve got some needs and gripes from my readers, and frequent leisure and business travelers I know. I hope hoteliers will correct these items if their hotel is among the deficient.
Many travel with their spouse, partner or a business associate. I often hear about hotel rooms that have only one luggage rack, even though two people share the room. Too often the second bag has to go on a chair or table. If the room is sold for two to use, there should be two racks.
I hear more about bathroom problems and peeves at hotels from travelers than almost anything else at hotels.
Many hotels with rooms for two outfit the bathrooms for one. They don’t have enough space to put out toilet articles for two at the sink or anywhere else in the bathroom. When guests go to their bathroom they find housekeeping’s math deficient, as three towels are found in the bathroom. I guess one towel is for sharing.
Eco-friendly shower heads can save enormous quantities of water and save hotels considerable cash, but guests can’t get enough water to wash themselves when the heads are poorly maintained.
Do you participate in hotel environmental programs to save water, by not having your towels washed daily? Many guests try to do so, but unfortunately many hotels don’t provide the hooks and bars needed to permit the towels to dry by the next time they’re required.
It would be very helpful if all hotels had night lights in the room and bathroom, so guests won’t go bump in the middle of the night, if they need to get up.
I hear complaints from travelers all the time about insufficient lighting in hotel bathrooms, and in the rooms themselves. Shaving or applying makeup requires sufficient light, as does reading or catching up with work in the room itself. Low wattage bulbs and too few lights have certainly caused me problems in hotel rooms more than once.
It’s time for hotels to finally abandon those horrible bedspreads, they don’t clean daily, or at least after each guest checks out. When I encounter them, I immediately remove them and put them in a corner. I have housekeeping remove them while I’m a guest of the hotel. You don’t know who or what’s been on them, and what they’ve left on them!
The complaint I hear most often about hotels is about the fee for Internet access, and slow or poor quality WIFI connections. One of the things constantly asked is, “How come moderate priced hotels offer free Internet and higher priced hotels charge at least $10 per day for access.” I think that’s a great question!
Personally, at least in the US, I’ve decided to tell the hotels I frequent, Internet access should be provided as part of the room cost. I don’t pay their Internet fee. I use a cellular “aircard” for my laptop, and have an unlimited data plan for my cellphone.
In the 21st century travelers use many electronic devices to enhance their travels and as essential business tools. These devices need to be plugged in and charged. Too many hotel rooms either don’t provide enough outlets, or have them poorly placed for guest use. The outlets at the room’s night tables are too often already filled, and at the desk, too often there is a single outlet. Hotels need to provide multiple outlets at the room’s desk, and empty outlets at the night tables. Outlets are needed for computers, tablets, digital cameras and smartphones, etc. Guests shouldn’t have to plug them into an outlet where they sit on the floor, vulnerable to be kicked or squashed when the guest gets up, half asleep, during the night.
I have two personal peeves I’d like to mention.
I often need to leave the hotel early in the morning for my first appointment, or to catch an early flight. I’m not the only one. Too often the hotel’s kitchen doesn’t open until 7–8am for breakfast. No wonder the nearby convenience store is doing a land office business in morning coffee, cake type noshes, and breakfast foods. Hotels need to have breakfast available by 6am.
Then there’s those resort and parking fees.
At a recent visit to San Francisco I found the typical parking fee at hotels was $45 per day or more. Those resort fees you sometimes have to pay each day, even when not at a resort, just for the privilege of printing your airline boarding pass at the end of your stay are outrageous. What’s with the “connection fee” for allowing you to call a toll-free phone number from your room’s telephone all about.
These resort and parking fees at some hotels are getting out of hand!
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
