Dcislander

As if being stuck by an elevator is not bad enough, it drive me NUTS when the elevator techs have the *DING* sound turned up to 11. The sound travels down halls, through walls and def penetrates cheap pillows into your ears. It cannot be that hard to shut the ding noise, right?

Delta767

Hearing "your room isn't available yet" when checking in in the morning.

After a long flight or trip I want nothing more to get to a hotel room, freshen up and relax for a little bit. But every single room in the hotel seems to always be occupied at the moment I check in

Christopher

Not just the "ding" noise, but sometimes hotel lifts have one of those recorded voices, and they are often set too loud. I have a couple of times listened for half the night to a voice saying, "Eleventh floor. Going up," or whatever.

compass31

Hotels not giving you what you ask for/have paid for even though the room you want is available. For example if you ask for a king size bed they'll try to put you in a twin or ask for a quiet room and you find you're between the lift and the ice machine.
For a female perspective, the lack of good lighting in the vicinity of a mirror for putting on make up is frustrating. Also, in UK hotels, electric sockets are not allowed in bathrooms so I end up crouching on the floor with the hair dryer as it's the only place I can plug it in. (Even more frustrating - when the hair dryer flex is half the distance between the socket & the mirror...)

Christopher

Lack of good lighting generally is a peeve of mine.

There's nothing much hotels in the UK can do about the "no sockets in the bathroom" thing (although it is a nonsense �.after all, one can merrily use the kettle, the food processor, the electric coffee grinder, etc, etc, over the sink in the kitchen, so why not a hair dryer over the basin in the bathroom).

Nevertheless, good hotels in the UK ought to have a reasonably placed power point somewhere in the main room, near a mirror. Mind you, I have sometimes been surprised on opening a draw looking for stationery or for somewhere to put my socks only to find a hair dryer in it!

compass31

Can't work out how to quote but your comment about the hair dryer in the drawer made me smile. Can't tell you how many times I've played hunt the hair dryer. The only place I haven't found one is the mini bar. Most annoying is the one attached to the inside of a desk drawer with an old fashioned telephone style cord. What kind of brain thought that was a good idea?

Green Dragon

My pet peeves, some of which have been covered before:

Outlets. Many of them. Near the bed. Not only do I use (like many) my iPhone as an alarm (I don't BOTHER with the alarm clock. Just unplug it and put it elsewhere). Also, my husband and I both have CPAP machines that need to be near the bed. That's at least three plugs, if not 4 (husband's iPhone as well).

Mirrors in the bathroom. Must have good lighting. And PLEASE make at least some part of the mirror accessible to get up close to. I wear glasses. I have to take these glasses off to put on eye makeup. At that point, I can't see clearly more than 1.5' in front of me. If the mirror is 3 feet back due to a huge counter, it's useless - and I have no way to put on makeup, unless it's one-handed with a hand mirror, also difficult for stuff like eyeliner.

AC: I can handle noise - if it's steady. It's the CLUNK WOOOOOSHHH CLUNK when it goes on and off throughout the night that wakes me RIGHT up. I am a light sleeper - even through earplugs, Xanax and a CPAP machine, that wakes me up.

Doors: Do not need to slam shut so loudly by default. Slam! Slam! Slam! All evening long. And shouldn't be 3 inches up off the floor, letting in hallway light.

Curtains: Have them. Make sure they are blackout curtains. Make sure the blackout curtains cover the WHOLE window, without need of the binder clips I carry with me. I was at a hotel recently where the black out curtains were fixed in the open position. What's the POINT??

Breakfasts: Not having high-protein/low-carb options. I have had stomach surgery, can only eat limited portions, and need lots of protein each day. Yes, I bring protein shakes, but would like a hot meal - and carbilicious waffles, danish, pancakes and bagels with a side of home fries doesn't cut it. Often old, congealed bacon is the only option, and a breakfast of only bacon means I feel greasy and sick most of the morning.

WiFi: What everyone else said. I noticed one of my upcoming stays (Sheraton Atlanta), while charging for WiFi, also has free WiFi in their lounge. We'll see if that is sufficient for our stay during a huge convention that takes over 5 hotels (Dragoncon).

Parking: If I were going back and forth to my car 10 times in a 3 night stay, I could understand $30 a night parking. But if I leave it for 5 days? AND am expected to tip the valet (no self-parking option, often)? That's not worth $150.

Losing my reservation: I have the printout right here. It is the correct location and dates. Stop saying you can't find it, and make another. I will give props to the Hyatt in Arlington, VA - they made everything right, and were polite to me throughout, even throwing in free breakfast.

realjd

For the socket quantity issue, I carry one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BZ10305.../dp/B0017HF3XO

The power strip above will burn up in 220V countries, but a standard 3-outlet extension cord will work fine at higher voltage and is what I use internationally.

Green Dragon

In light of reading this thread over last week, I just stayed at the Best Western Greentree, PA. They had two, yes TWO luggage racks, and the room was nice and large. Blackout curtains that covered the whole window. Tiny bathroom, but at least one set of free plugs near one bed. A pretty good job

mahohmei

My wife learned a hotel curtain trick from (Southern Living? Not sure where...):

Get one of the pants hangers off the room's clothes rack. Use the two clips to close the curtains in the middle, blocking out that strip of bright light trying to enter the room from between them.

Regarding hotel fire alarms, I've never had one sound while I'm staying at a hotel, but here's a great idea:

http://www.securitymanagement.com/ar...ode-violations

"One code-permissible configuration is called a �positive alarm sequence� (NFPA 72, 6.8.1.3), a sort of pre-signal system combined with a �dead-man�s switch.� In this arrangement, the initial alarm signals only to trained personnel, who must manually acknowledge the signal within 15 seconds of activation. Failure to acknowledge the signal causes an automatic building evacuation.

Acknowledging the signal within the allotted 15 seconds then starts a three-minute �investigation� phase, which allows the source of the alarm to be confirmed by a guard, for example. If no problems are found, the general evacuation signal can be aborted within the three minutes. A failure to abort the signal causes an automatic building evacuation alarm."

chollie

Not being able to find my reservation, even with my membership card...until I dig through my bag and present the print-out of the confirmation.

20-watt light bulbs.

Bait-and-switch - yes, I booked a king/queen/twin room for a reason, and yes, that really is what I want. Yes, I booked non-smoking, and yes, it really does have to be non-smoking, and no, it doesn't matter what the plaque on the door says, someone has been smoking like a chimney in the room, that's obvious.

WHBM

Another one I didn't mention is hotels who publicise their amenities but then turn out to have sold them to others.

UK hotels near airports are bad at this for car parking. You see the hotel has one, but get there - to find it completely full, principally because they have been selling longer-term car parking to air travellers. And so you have to go and find somewhere else, paying airport parking rates for overnight.

Meanwhile there are those places with "leisure facilities", gym, pool, etc, which you find are also sold as a local health club, who have the place overrun at 7 am or whenever you want to use it. One I was recently at had a whole kids swimming class in the pool when I tried to get in.

Hotel dining room "full up" with local diners who have made advance reservations was another annoyance, especially as we had booked the place because it had such a nice restaurant, only to check in on Friday evening and then be told they had no table slots left.

compass31

One other thing that been an annoyance. Hotels who cater towards business travellers but don't provide an in room safe big enough to put a laptop in, or don't provide a safe at all. Also hotels that deny they have safe deposit boxes when they are advertised. The insurance small print says you should lock your valuables away whenever possible. I can't do that if the reception staff are using them as their own personal safes.

CMK10

On the subject of safes, hotels (typically lower end ones) that add a safe charge to your bill and you have to ask for it to be removed later on. Typically the language that tells you about this is in tiny font and impossible to find unless you're purposefully looking for it.

Travellbugg

1) Water temperature unpredictable.
1.5) Hot Water that takes 10 minutes to reach luke-warm. Not quite consistent with the "save the earth" cards for towell replacement.
2) Leaking flapper in the toilet causing it to randomly run the water all night.
3) Air conditioning or refridgerator compressor that kicks on with a "bang".
4) Not replacing soap until it's down to a sliver.
5) 4 teeny pillows instead of 2 adult sized.
6) Thin walls causing me to overhear all sorts of unspeakable things.