Can't resist, but that's one word

Who uses all those towels? Pretty much anyone who uses the pool or the exercise room at the hotel (even if they have towels at the facility, you usually want to shower back at the room). Or anyone arriving hot & sweaty from a long day who will shower before bed rather than climb in all sticky, and who will still take a shower the next morning (because they are morning shower people). Or anyone who uses towels as ironing board pads or to wring out some clothing you just cleaned in the sink. Or my wife, who's been known to wear up to 3 towels simultaneously.

BTW, not all hotels give you the assortment you describe.

+1. I'll generalize it to say "properly functioning windows." I want to be able to open it to get fresh air and then fully close it when I'm done. I get why high-rise hotels don't have windows you can open but it seems like half of the suburban (2-3 story) hotels I'm in have crappy windows that either don't open fully or don't close tightly.

Agreed - I like getting the bill under the door. Regarding newspapers, I do understand at a high level why so few hotels put them outside the hotel room door anymore. (I think I've received one or two this year in 25-30 nights in FS Starwoods and Marriotts.) Since I always have lounge access I can usually *find* a newspaper when I want one. But I wish they'd at least leave a small stack of them near the elevators on each floor.

Again, I know newspapers are an obsolete technology and I understand why hotels aren't buying and distributing hundreds of them per day throughout their buildings...but the hotel environment is the one place I still like to touch and feel one once in a while.

Robe hook in the bathroom!

I'll add to the general trend of limited power sockets for some hotels.

Also it's really poor form when hotels charge their guests additionally for use of Wifi.

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Totally agree with this one. I have stayed in low cost "business hotels" in Japan for under $50 a night single and they give you a choice of at least 7 pillows to choose from in addition to the default pillow. You pick them up in the lobby from a display case and all are given proper descriptions, level of softness, allergy issues and supposed health benefits.

Why can't someone do this in N America?

Wow! Although I'm not a pillow connoisseur, this sounds kind of cool!

Provide a simple, reliable alarm clock. Just that. I should be able to easily know the status of the alarm and have confidence that it's going to do what I need it to do -- wake me up when I set it, or not wake me up when the previous guest left it set for 4:00 AM. And sound a buzzer. I don't want to oversleep because it was set to some mood like 'chirping birds' or 'ocean waves'. If there is a radio integrated with it, make sure it has a decent tuner, not one of those where a slight twist of the wrist takes you across the entire FM spectrum.

So needless to say I just rely on my iPhone, which is usually on the floor about 15 feet away plugged into the nearest available outlet.

Yes, it is...they call it a pillow menu, and it is at a chain called Super Hotels...managed to find a photo of one of them. My wife and I would try out a few and see which ones we liked best...It's amazing what a good pillow can do in terms of improving how you sleep.

http://rsv.rurubu.travel/PhotoList.a...2A291000000003

I'm usually OK with the number of towels, I just wish at least one of them was a decent size. For those of us of a "larger figure" it is rare to find one which can be wrapped around the waist.

I'd also go along with the dim lights in the room. I know it's a money saving thing but sometimes it can be too dark to work or read properly.

TV remote controls. Why are they always so complicated? All I want to do it turn it on to have some CNN as background noise.

Breakfasts. I'm not a big breakfast eater so I object to paying $20 or more for two slices of toast.

WiFi in higher-end hotels. Need I say more?

Agreed. I don't want to feel like I'm living in a cave. Especially in the bathroom.

You gotta love hotels that outfit all rooms with HDTV...and then don't provide any channels actually *in* HD.

Also, I hate it when the hotel has 96 channels of TV but no little card listing the channels and numbers. Hotel remotes always work glacially slow...if you just want that CNN background noise, it can take you 10 minutes to find it.

While we're on the TV topic, it seems like U.S. hotels have the worst television offerings. I don't watch a lot of TV in hotel rooms but it seems like the selection is always quite limited. Hotels in Europe and the Middle East frequently have a much broader selection that provides something for almost any global visitor.

Disagree. I love having the AC blow across the bed. In lieu of that, I'll take a ceiling fan.

Sheets that actually fit the bed? My last two hotel stays required me to wake up in the middle of the night and put the fitted sheet back on the mattress. Spend a few extra bucks to get a fitted sheet with a little more "give" so if I sleep restlessly, I don't "unmake" the bed at the same time.

A ceiling fan in tropical locations would be awesome. ^ I've had one a handful of times...seems like the timeshare properties tend to have them more than the regular hotels.

In a regular city hotel, I just want the ability to get the temperature right...