Bonehead

I now travel with a small power strip and a giant Mophie. The Mophie guarantees that my phone won't run out of juice before the alarm goes off in the event of a power issue.

TheTravelingJ

Just don't tell the office about that...or else you lose your excuse for 'oversleeping' when you were supposed to show up.

Noise is my complaint this week. Sitting in my room, with the TV on and the AC on max, I can hear my neighbors TV, every door in the hall slamming, and echos from the pool.

Cindyinatl

Poor lighting in the bathroom. Most hotels have moved to more female friendly features. But, I swear they trying to make the lighting as bad as possible!

I don't put up with fixed shower heads at home (U.S.) and would really like to more easily rinse my privates while in a hotel! No way I'm sitting in the tub to do it! But, if the hotel insists on sticking with fixed heads, they need to have nice, strong water pressure!

nlkm9

yes--as a cpap user I have often had to borrow a 25 foot extension cord--its crazy!!

Emeraldcity

That's why I bring my own

ZZYZXROAD

Water Pressure
Thin towels
Thin walls
Slow elevators
Cheap thermostats
Dirty room carpet, stained
Toilet Paper
Cig butts Balcony
No HD Tv
Channel selection
Slow remote control when changing channels
Auto volume when turning Tv on

Just pet peeves as I am loyal Marriott LP and 200 night a year guy so I keep coming back for pain.

snwire

-The lack of outlets near bed!
-The phone call after I lay down to take a nap that wants to know if everything is ok!
- housekeeping knocking on door when you have a late checkout and do not disturb sign!
-slow wifi!
- Limit to one device on wifi!
- slow remote!

porky

This week at the Courtyard:

- Why do you claim you care about the environment when I carefully hang my bath towel for re-use in the morning, as per your instructions, and see fresh towels in the evening?
- The air conditioning does not work. At 11pm at night, after I have changed and ready for bed, I absolutely hate dressing up again and calling maintenance to come fiddle around in my room.
- Power outlets
- TVs so dim I have to turn out all lights to watch it. And of course there is no way to turn the brightness up.

louienet

Hey Folks,

Some of you may have come up with some ideas and actual inventions for dealing with your hotel pet peeves. I'm a Quirky customer, and they're accepting ideas for new inventions:

https://www.quirky.com/challenges/hotel-solutions

The product doesn't even necessarily be something for the traveling consumer to purchase. It can be something that the hotels buy to help us. Now wouldn't that be something?

Louie

kdlynn06

I echo the outlets beside the bed. And, usually the ones that are there are made as part of a lamp and a standard MacBook, and often, iPhone, charger is much too large for the space provided.

In addition, I hate thin walls, when the housekeeping doesn't follow the "Do Not Disturb" sign, and when hotel bathrooms provide soap, but no soap dish, making the soap turn into a questionable mushy substance.

BuildingMyBento

I've been wandering about central southern China until recently, and could write a tome about issues with Chinese-brand hotels. Some issues that often came to mind are:

-Check-in/out are always miserable. It's the same in any country where no one cares about queuing up...if the agent/front desk person/representative continues to serve the people who cut in line, this habit will never change. On a wider scale, I noticed that some train stations have gates where it's much more difficult to charge ahead, but those gates have to be in working order too!

-Then, there's the "foreigner" curiosity. In some of the neighborhoods in some of the cities I've visited, foreign passports are a rare breed. Since I know some Chinese, pretty much after every time I get my key card, another (Chinese) guest walks up to the front and asks what my room number is. Naturally, the info is shared. It's not that my belongings are in danger - it's more that, my door then becomes a hub of loud conversation and cigarette smoke.

-Shower doors that drain into the rest of the bathroom. Why the shower isn't completely sealed off from the tiled floor is beyond me.

-Shared a/c units. When I remember to, I try to check that the room has its own a/c. The ones that have central a/c and heating will inevitably reek of cigarettes.

-The walls and doors are thin; the bed is harder than diamond. But, the latter I'm used to these days.

-Power points that can't stand being attached to wires and screws. In other words, they are useless.

One hotel I stayed at in Hengyang, Hunan province had this get-up: the light switch for the room also controlled the power to the sole outlet in the room. So much for charging overnight. Then again, there are cheap portable chargers that everyone on the high-speed rail carried...

crowly

Lack of proper lighting. Seriously, why are all the lightbulb about 1W?
I've actually taken to carrying around a high wattage bulb and screwing it in so that I don't have to stumble around the dimly lit rooms.

Istria

I have the same problem - trying to put a huge room service tray outside, while holding the door open. I've found that if I open the door all the way and put an unfolded towel down on the floor right next to the door, the towel will hold the door open so I can get the tray out to the hallway. Most hotels put extra towels in the room, so you won't have to use your bath towel as a door stop.

Zeeb

Why not just use the door bar to prevent it from closing all the way? Or put a key in your pocket and not worry about the door shutting?

deckm00

ditto the most common complaints of the others; water pressure, lighting, outlets, noise, smells, sheets, internet, etc.

Some of my suggestions would be:
-Get rid of the duvets, they're too hot! would rather have multiple blankets.
-Extra blankets in the room in winter would be awesome so that at midnight I don't have to call down for one.
-Program the TV's so that they don't turn on with full volume (thank-you St. Julien, Boulder Co).
-Program the TV's so that the on-screen channel info matches the actual channel.
-Ditch the satellite service in favor of real cable when it's available.
-A/C units with fan constant on option for white noise to help mitigate the screaming girl's soccer team down the hall and not keep me up at night cycling on and off.
-A/C units with adjustable directional air outlets.
-A hook by the door for hanging my garment bag on while I'm getting my other stuff ready to leave with.
-Alarm clocks we can actually program ourselves.
-Heat lamps on timers in the bathrooms.
-Vent fans that actually do something other than loudly groan at 1200 rpm.
-Electrical receptacles that aren't falling out of the wall.
-Drains that drain.
-Toiletries that don't fall all over the sink the second you look at them.
BTW, do all you people actually use the cheap stuff they call shampoo etc? Why not just bring your own?
-Night light in the bathroom or just outside it please.
-Desk chairs that adjust for height and stay there.
-Windows that open, even if just a little bit.
-Pools big enough to actually take laps in.
-Hotels that are located other than right above the Interstate highway system.
-How about a decent selection of quality teas in the lobby or breakfast area for those of us who don't care for coffee? (It's why I like the Courtyards with the in-house Starbucks locations)
-While I'm at it how about putting hot water in an urn that has not been previously used for coffee?