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Q: How difficult is it to set a clock?

 
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Old May 29, 2018, 4:57 pm
  #1  
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Q: How difficult is it to set a clock?

A: Very difficult.

One of the first things I do when checking into a room is look at the clock to see if the alarm is on (not as often as it used to be) and if the time is accurate. Stayed at one of our favorite properties this past weekend (Sheraton Tribeca), and although the alarm was off, the clock was exactly 2 hours fast (or was it 10 hours slow . . . ?)

I pulled out my phone and googled "How to change the time on an iHome" and found about a dozen tutorials and Youtube videos showing me how to do this. Only 2 of them referred to the model we had in the room, based on where the controls were on our clock, and . . . neither one had any affect.

2 hours exactly we could do the math and quickly know what the time really was. Did mention it when we checked out and they said they'd check it, but really, how hard is it for part of the Room cleanup service to be looking at the clock to make sure the alarm is off and the time is correct.



And how *do* you adjust the time on those things?
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Old May 29, 2018, 5:19 pm
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Originally Posted by Out of my Element
A: Very difficult.

One of the first things I do when checking into a room is look at the clock to see if the alarm is on (not as often as it used to be) and if the time is accurate. Stayed at one of our favorite properties this past weekend (Sheraton Tribeca), and although the alarm was off, the clock was exactly 2 hours fast (or was it 10 hours slow . . . ?)

I pulled out my phone and googled "How to change the time on an iHome" and found about a dozen tutorials and Youtube videos showing me how to do this. Only 2 of them referred to the model we had in the room, based on where the controls were on our clock, and . . . neither one had any affect.

2 hours exactly we could do the math and quickly know what the time really was. Did mention it when we checked out and they said they'd check it, but really, how hard is it for part of the Room cleanup service to be looking at the clock to make sure the alarm is off and the time is correct.



And how *do* you adjust the time on those things?
Personally, I never rely upon the hotel clocks and will usually unplug them or cover them with a hand towel after I confirm the alarm is off. With just about every one of them being slightly different, I'm not going to waste my time figuring them out. I agree housekeeping should be checking the clocks and making sure the alarms are off after the guest has checked out. Several times I have been walking down the hallway and heard an alarm going off. It it's still buzzing when I come back from dinner, then I will report it to the front desk, especially if I can hear it from my room.
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Old May 29, 2018, 5:30 pm
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I can't understand why hotels cannot provide simple idiotproof alarm clocks in rooms. It should be simple, quick, and obvious to set the alarm and to fix the time. Yet some clocks require a staff member to open the case to change the time and others have the frustrating feature of returning the alarm to either 6:00 or 12:00 after it has been used, so that you must re-set it every night during your stay instead of selecting the time once and just flicking the on/off button daily.
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Old May 29, 2018, 5:31 pm
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One of the first things I do is unplug the clock. I have my phone with which in the press of a button and a few spoken words the alarm is set. No worries about the clock, the alarm, the radio being on at a low volume or even the glow of the numbers.
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Old May 29, 2018, 6:03 pm
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I can't understand why hotels cannot provide simple idiotproof alarm clocks in rooms.
Which would immediately result in a long thread on how the hotel didn't provide tha most advanced iPhone-compatible clock in the room.

Whatever clock they choose will be problematic, though they're still far easier (for me) to handle than the forced-widescreen on the TVs.
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Old May 29, 2018, 6:26 pm
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I usually unplug them but sometimes forget: the newish one at the GH Erawan is a shocker, flashing blue light reminiscent of a police car/ambulance. What were they thinking?
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Old May 29, 2018, 6:28 pm
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Many clocks flash only if the power is cut or when their batteries are low.

For many clocks, if you unplug one, it will blink until the battery is gone. If you unplug the beast, this is why it blinks at you (or flashes you) with those stunning bright blue "eyes."
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Old May 29, 2018, 6:31 pm
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Which would immediately result in a long thread on how the hotel didn't provide tha most advanced iPhone-compatible clock in the room.
So a hotel has 2 choices.

Simple clock, and get grief from the hyper tech savvy.
Techie clock (a la iHome), and get grief from travelers who just want to (a) know the time, (b) enable/disable the alarm quickly and easily.

Anybody who is truly tech savvy knows not to plug personal devices into arbitrary ports, anyhow.
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Old May 29, 2018, 7:28 pm
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Originally Posted by davie355
So a hotel has 2 choices.
Third choice - no clock.
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Old May 29, 2018, 8:12 pm
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Some kind of clock is necessary for the room to feel complete.

Like artwork - most of us pay no mind to it, but if the walls were totally blank, we would notice.
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Old May 29, 2018, 8:21 pm
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Originally Posted by davie355
So a hotel has 2 choices.

Simple clock, and get grief from the hyper tech savvy.
Techie clock (a la iHome), and get grief from travelers who just want to (a) know the time, (b) enable/disable the alarm quickly and easily.

Anybody who is truly tech savvy knows not to plug personal devices into arbitrary ports, anyhow.
First, the problem with the very simple old fashion plain clocks in some hotels is they tick.

Second, while I am not tech savvy my nephews just headed to Europe with their parents. They will be staying in both AirBnBs and hotels. I explained to my nephew to not plug any devices into the wall unless the charger has a built in adapter/transformer but to charge batteries and use those to charge the device. His mom said that was overkill. Where were you two days ago?
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Old May 29, 2018, 9:18 pm
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I've been at a hotel where not only couldn't I or my wife figure out how to set the time on the room clock, but the person the front-desk sent up couldn't figure it out either, nor the maid on duty that day. It was so frustrating that it was comical...
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Old May 29, 2018, 9:22 pm
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Originally Posted by Out of my Element
A: Very difficult.

One of the first things I do when checking into a room is look at the clock to see if the alarm is on (not as often as it used to be) and if the time is accurate. Stayed at one of our favorite properties this past weekend (Sheraton Tribeca), and although the alarm was off, the clock was exactly 2 hours fast (or was it 10 hours slow . . . ?)

I pulled out my phone and googled "How to change the time on an iHome" and found about a dozen tutorials and Youtube videos showing me how to do this. Only 2 of them referred to the model we had in the room, based on where the controls were on our clock, and . . . neither one had any affect.

2 hours exactly we could do the math and quickly know what the time really was. Did mention it when we checked out and they said they'd check it, but really, how hard is it for part of the Room cleanup service to be looking at the clock to make sure the alarm is off and the time is correct.



And how *do* you adjust the time on those things?
SO glad to hear it’s not just me who can’t figure out how to adjust most hotel room clocks. It’s bad enough when the clocks don’t display the proper time. BUT it’s terrible when the alarm goes off in the middle of the night and wakes you out of a deep sleep, and you can’t figure out how to turn it off and the plug is almost unreachable behind the nightstand. I really wish housekeeping would formally check the clock’s time and alarm off settings as part of their regular routine!
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Old May 29, 2018, 10:23 pm
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Great topic and you are 100% correct.

I am a big fan of the latest Cubie clocks. Easy to understand and they provide both USB and AC recepticles in a very compact box.

Next to world peace, my biggest wish would be to have that clock in every hotel room. OK, after world peace and a new Tesla S.
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Old May 30, 2018, 2:23 am
  #15  
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One of my pet peeves is in room hotel clocks which are wrong or which have an alarm just waiting to go off in the middle of the night - like the way Hilton rolled out a consistent set of clocks years back which consistently showed a different incorrect time in every hotel room in the world. Even if you don't trust your housekeeping and quality control to set a clock, it's not like the technology to centrally set time and avoid recurring alarms has yet to be invented.

If a digital clock is showing the wrong time nowadays I'll generally unplug it so at least when I check out the staff are forced to plug it in and have a chance of trying to set it to the right time.
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