I have to agree with most of this list, though it does not include my top 3
pet peeves:

(1) Walking a late-arriving customer with a reservation that is guaranteed by credit card (thankfully hasn't happened to me personally).

(2) Failure of front desk staff to read or acknowledge my room preferences and to assign me a mediocre room.

(3) Untrained front desk staff with ESL and no knowledge of hotel or
customer needs.

Addendum: I forgot #4 - Connecting room doors. Always seem to get unwanted noise from my "neighbors." How hard would it be to design most rooms without these unneeded features (or relegated them all to a single floor - all families with kids would end up there )

From SmarterTravel:

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/t...10528767%3A%3A

Everyone loves to gripe about air travel, but what about hotels? On a recent trip around the world (New York City-Frankfurt-Singapore-Tokyo-Los Angeles-New York City), I stayed in six different hotels of various quality, and while my flights were perfect (thanks, Singapore Airlines and United) the hotel stays weren't always so.

To their credit, you're much more likely to get a gripe resolved at a hotel than you would with an airline. Usually a word or two with the front desk and they'll take money off your bill or even eliminate that night's room charge, and I'm not shy about marching down to the front desk to get satisfaction, such as when a wake-up call didn't arrive one morning or when a hoard of raucous teenagers kept me up all night by racing past my door.

Here's what I found to carp about on my recent trip:"

[Remainder of article's text deleted to comply with FT policy on quoting copyrighted material.]

I'm with you on the radio/TV turned on by housekeeping at turndown. Sometimes, I will leaveva note asking not to turn music on. Regarding radio alarms, I bypass that and ask the hotel operator for a wake-up call.

I agree with a few of these, but many are ridiculous. He wants two doors so there is a private foyer for every room? Seriously? And who is going to standardize the design of hotel room alarm clocks... the United Nations? This guy sounds like the type that will always find something to complain about, no matter how trivial.

What the guy really wants is a hotel that is aimed at his spending level, or to be more accurate, aimed at travelers like him who pay their bills themselves. He's staying at properties that are not meant for him, I think....

Just some trivial complaints from me...

1. Too many pillows! (There are like 7 per bed in this hotel) and Pillows are too mushi!

2. Toothpaste! Might be just me, but can they not put toothpaste by default.

3. Just some (cheap) hotels attach cloth hangers to the closet. Who would steal those?

Lack of bathtubs... I used to love a hot bath after traveling, but it seems they are removing the tubs.

Overzealous bellhops.
I've carried my rolling suitcase through 3 airports, I'm perfectly capable of rolling it into the lobby and onto the elevator. I've even had bellhops come and 'steal' it while I'm at the desk checking in. Then up in the room, they proceed to show up how every light switch and remote control in the room works until you give them a tip (pay them to leave you the heck alone). This can be very awkward when you don't have small bills or haven't exchanged currency yet.

I've been in a number of hotels with this, all in Europe IIRC. Some have the bathroom door do double duty to accomplish it.

Noise (slamming doors) is my biggest peeve, but mitigated by silicone earplugs ($5 at the drugstore). Of course, should the hotel catch fire I'm toast .

Having spent almost 30 years in regular (reimbursed) travel, most involving stays in "Big City Name Brand" hotels, along with the a few annual vacation trips to Europe eating up a lot of hotel points in "US Brand" hotels in larger European cities, now, a lower level of travel, almost all for pleasure or my wife's watercolor shows/schools, plus our continued annual trips to Europe, has been an eye-opener in comparison.

In Europe, we've moved to smaller "no names" drawn from reviews and recommendations of others. I didn't realize how much fun and pleasure (and occasional pitfall, some memorable, but almost all more humorous in retrospect and hardly desperate) there were to find. From Toledo to Olomouc (and in big and little cities in between), I can send you around corners and up narrow back streets to better and more rewarding lodging than you've paid a premium to experience.

Here in the US, I find more comfortable, more "ergonomic" rooms and more pleasant and responsive staff "downscale" than I usually in the big city towers. In recent years two chains have stood out, La Quinta (as long as it's one of the "recently renovated" or new properties) and Marriott's Springhill Suites. My favorite "airport" hotel is a relatively nondescript HIX near DFW. No, they are not "Downtown", but then most of the US is not "Downtown" in a big city sense. I no longer feel the need to spend much time in fancy hotel bars (especially now that I'm surely paying for the drinks), and dinner in big hotel restaurant has become a "been there, done that!" experience.

I never realized just how much BS I put up with for so long and so often, and just how coldly impersonal so many of the big hotels are (and perhaps have to be). Now, I can quickly determine which room locations I don't want, and have no qualms in turning down a room which doesn't look or feel right. Even with late arrival, I've never been "walked", and only once recall an embarrassed desk clerk telling me that all he or I had was a choice between a handicapped bathroom or a strangely decorated and equipped "bridal" room decorated and furnished for foreplay. There's usually an amazingly varied (and admittedly often unrewarding) group of nearby dining choices, and now even beyond pizza, multiple choice "room service" delivery is often available in all but small towns.

I'm one who can claim to have been better served and lodged on the edge of Amarillo than on Pennsylvania Ave. and to have learned from having been so.

When you're a light sleeper like I am the second door can make all the difference. I can't tell you how many times I've been awakened by some loudmouth in the hall or a slamming door and been unable to fall asleep for over an hour.

Standardised alarm clocks and shower fittings would make things a lot easier. Unlikely to happen though

I also agree about the light switch issue. There's always one light that it takes forever to figure how to turn off.

My pet peeve is hotel staff disturbing me to ask whether I really mean my "do not disturb" sign. Maids pound on the door to check whether anyone is in the room or someone will call the room for the same purpose. Can't they see that it's not yet my checkout time?

the problem with alarm clocks is not specific to hotels. somewhere, some moron came up with the dumb idea of a "clock radio" and it has stuck. actual alarm clocks, with no radio, are extremely difficult to find. it's like cell phones with cameras and poor reception. the desire to add new features got in the way of making the device serve its intended purpose.

Amen brother! I just spent the weekend in a fairly high-end hotel and was awakened by housekeeping two mornings in a row despite the Do Not Disturb sign. Arrrggh!