Related elevator annoyance: buildings that do not let you use the stairs to go up, even though going up one or two floors of stairs takes less time than waiting for the elevators.
Years ago I heard and internalized the phrase, "Up one, down two." As in, take the stairs if you're going up just one level or down only two. I don't apply that rule when carrying heavy or bulky objects, or when injured, but aside from that I try to. It's for both health and efficiency. But I've been flummoxed in several hotels when I've tried to use the stairs to descend 1-2 floors and found that the doors are all locked... all the way down to the ground floor, where sometimes the exit from the stairwell is not to the lobby but to the outside, next to the trash bins or something like that.