LondonElite

I just stay in better hotels.

pinniped

Sometimes the best hotels have a lot of these room quirks. If I book a brand-new Holiday Inn Express, it'll probably have an A/C that blasts arctic air and electrical outlets everywhere I want them including on the bedside lamps and desk. It's when I book a 4* hotel in a historic building that I often find myself having to move furniture and unplug lamps to find enough outlets, or end up with suboptimal HVAC.

Proudelitist

My biggest annoyance in any hotel room is light pollution. I like to sleep in complete darkness, and yet these days there are bright lights on every device in the room. The red led on the TV to let you know it's off (????), the led on the smoke detector, the bright display on the thermostat, the led on the coffee maker, the light seeping under the door, the light seeping around the drapes, and even the light from the electrical switch in the bathroom with the breaker switch, and the clock radio display.

So i put the extra pillows infront of the crack under the door, carry a safety pin to close the gap in the blinds, cover the TV light with one of the tv pamphlets or sign stands, unplug the clock radio, cover the thermostat with a few post-it notes. Black electrical tape is also good for some small lights, including in the bathroom (But I just shut the bathroom door at night). If you can get up to the smoke detector, put some black electrical tape over it.

I also unplug the fridge, as I can usually hear the compressor and I never put anything in there anyhow.

Proudelitist

The better ones tend to have the most modern stuff inside, meaning more LED lights to annoy you and more motion sensing thermostats.

LondonElite

I just close my eyes and sleep. I find this obsession with complete darkness and annoyance of LEDs bizarre, but I guess we're all different.

emrdoc

I am with you. ^

gglave

You can usually just open the fridge door, find the knob, and turn it off.

Just need to make sure the freezer alcove isn't frosted up or you'll have a wet carpet to deal with.

gglave

1) When I arrive, the first thing I do is iron my clothes. Invariably the iron cord doesn't reach the ONE available outlet in the room, so I've taken to travelling with an extension cord.

2) I'm a Canadian who travels to the USA, and I don't have that many cellular roaming minutes, so I often use the hotel room phone. These days it's rarely on the desk (it's bed-side), so I also travel with a CAT5 extension cable so I can move the phone to the desk.

darthbimmer

Indeed, it's primarily in nicer, international standard hotels that I've had to deal with fussy controls such as key-operated lights, motion-sensitive HVAC (that shuts off while you're asleep leaving you to awaken 2 hours later sweating or shivering), and shining, flashing status LEDs everywhere. Last time I crashed in a flophouse with a mural of a naked woman in the shower and a lotion dispenser mounted on the wall next to the bed, I had none of those annoyances, just good old-fashioned wall switches to control the mood lighting overhead and a heater that gurgled steadily throughout the night. I got to sleep easily that night. The prostitute working the floor even honored my "Do Not Disturb" sign and didn't so much as knock.

tentseller

I have WIND unlimited voice. SMS, data with unlimited US roaming. They roam onto T-Mob.

gglave

Sorry, should have added that I also like to be able to actually *use* my phone.



Wind's terrible service and coverage in Vancouver may improve with their being acquired by Shaw, but presumably their prices will go up as well.

tentseller

Toronto main city core is great as well as full coverage underground in PATH and all TTC subway stops.

I heard WIND is not so great in Vancouver. As my plan is grandfathered I hope Shaw can do something good country wide.

moondog

Regarding ironing woes, my strategy is to hang my shirts in the shower and treat them to two "steam baths" (night before and morning of) before meetings commence. I clean myself in the process as well, so not a waste of water. A key point is to make sure the ventilator fan is off during these first two showers with the shirts.

milepig

I don't need complete darkness but have a real problem with those smoke detectors that blink randomly. Blink...blink blink...nothing...blink...blink blink blink...nothing...blink...blink...blink...nothing. ..blink blink...

Just shoot me!!!!

Doc Savage

To all who unplug the fridge: make sure to plug it back in. It's quite annoying to show up late in the evening with cold/frozen food for lunch tomorrow and find the fridge warm and full of water.

Use these to clip the drapes closed: