nd2010

Ridiculously expensive wi-fi that is slower than my 3G connection. I stopped expensing wi-fi access and instead have the company pay for my cell phone data overage. It comes out cheaper paying $10 for 1 GB overage than paying up to $15 a day at a hotel. I usually only go over no more than 1 GB a month, and I use the Internet a lot while traveling.

There are suckers who will pay a lot for hotel wi-fi when they can use the data plan they're already paying for on their phone.

RobCH

Now my pet peeve is unstable wobbly toilet seats in hotels. You know, the ones that are so loosely bolted to the body of the toilet that they shoot sideways underneath you without warning. It does nothing for the tranquillity of what should be a contemplative private moment, and once it has happened there can be no peace of mind for any future session. It's very unsettling, in every sense of the word. Getting this right is fundamental, as far as I'm concerned...

Alles

At Treasure Island in Las Vegas, the price is $15 for first 15 minutes. The Asian restaurant does not provide free tea with meal - first time that I ever encountered that. They ask for $2.75 for tea. The Starbucks price is mid-$4 for the grande size.

gaelflyer

All of the above!

But my particular gripe is about furniture designed by interior decorators to look nice in photos rather than actually function. So you get chairs that are profoundly uncomfortable to sit on and lights that don't shed enough light to read.

Mike Rivers

I take it that's for Internet access. Outrageous, but I remember staying in a hotel in Atlantic City about 15 years ago, before Internet access in hotels was common, that charged something like 50 cents/minute after the first five minutes for local phone calls. I suspect that this was to combat people using a local dial-up number for Internet access (like me), but geez, 5 minutes (free) is barely enough time to order a pizza.

When I'm in Nashville, I stay at the Comfort Suites on Paradise. They have both WiFi and wired Ethernet in the rooms, both work great, and it's free. But they've switched to new coffee makers that make really bad coffee and are pod-based so I can't use my own coffee in them. I missed this survey, but I started a thread about those coffee makers here quite some time ago and I'm still complaining.

It's not uncommon, even in non-hotel Asian restaurants, these days. The upscale ones usually charge for tea, though more like $1.50 (so it's not unexpected that this would inflate to $2.75 at a Marriott hotel restaurant). Dim sum and pho restaurants around here nearly always charge for tea, even the homey ones,

MissRoseDarrensAngel

Some of my hotel pet peeves are:

*The internet access is not the best especially when you go to a mid range and/or high end place then make it even worse by having to pay a lot for it in some places, if I am paying $75+ a night, the wireless should be free not $10-$15 per night as an example. I remember a few times traveling with friends who bring a laptop, and they end up troubleshooting the wireless issues the place. Some of the employees at the front desk do not even have basic knowledge to help with connection issues.

*Making people pay for use of internet in "business centers" or computer rooms. I think its better to have a few computers in a room where people have to scan their key to be let into the room to avoid having non guests using the business centers.

*Having to place a key inside the room to operate the lights. Who came up with that stupid idea?

*Showers or bathtubs that do not proper drain. Had that in a hotel in Manchester, England, and they came in to fix it but still it was extremely slow.

*Showers/Bathtubs that take more technical expertise to turn on and off compared to my computer.

*Breakfast options not starting sooner on all days (especially for those who may have to be early for flights or driving long distances), and lasting until 11am (instead of 10am) on weekends for those who stay up late and get up late on Saturdays & Sundays

davidporiss

I could spend hours perusing through the marvelous, thoughtful comments and ideas from this thread. So rather than complain, let me add a few (tongue in cheek) Solutions. First, we always bring along a 25 foot industrial extention cord with a two prong adapter. Second regarding the "outrageous" $15 parking charge at the Swan and Dolphin at Disney. We found that if you drop off your luggage at the hotel, then simply drive over to the Yacht and Beach Club (tell them you are going to dinner) where you can now park for free. Then take a water taxi over to the hotel.

Third, regarding small rooms and tables at restaurants (especially the latter). When they bring us to the tiny table for two, I inquire "Do you have anything SMALLER"?

Suzatlarge

That's very common in hotels abroad. It saves energy - no lights burning and TVs running while nobody's in the room.

Dianne47

Why would receiving additional services be an annoyance (unless you want to go to bed at 6pm, in which case just put the "do not disturb" sign on your door)? Turn down service replenishes dirty towels and allows the hotel to fold up awkward bedspreads or toppers instead of sleepers wadding them in a corner. Turndown service is one of my favorite amenities at upscale hotels and on cruise ships.

RTG

I don't know what it is but I find this more frequently than you would think in hotels. Weird.

UAzip

Glass desk/tables that you can't use a computer mouse on.

Total lack of outlets where needed.
(I will say that in May at a Hampton Inn north of Boston, I saw what was the best power outlet cluster at the desk--three 3-prong outlets, oriented different directions, AND two USB power outlets. That is way, way above average.)

Ice bucket problems:
In March, in San Diego, I stayed at a place that had the smallest ice buckets ever...

Can't fit two cans in it? Who comes up with these?

In May, that was outdone in Boston by another property of the same brand that just plain did not have ice buckets. I even called the front desk and they said no ice buckets. (Can this actually be true? Was I getting the big brush?)

When the Super 8 has a better ice bucket than a "fancy" brand, that doesn't say much for the fancy brand. (The ice bucket problem places weren't Hamptons, fwiw.)

Also, poor-quality internet. At the same place that had no ice buckets, I did not have to pay for internet in the room by way of being Gold; otherwise it was some terrible price per night. The internet service was useless. Continually dropped me and reconnected--until after regular business hours. I was out from 6-9pm and when I returned, the internet worked fine. It stayed that way in the morning when I first got up, but last using it at about 10am, it once again didn't work well. Is there someone who works at the hotel who hogs bandwidth?

WHBM

The hot water in the toilet or in the cold water tap at the basin is generally a feature of rooms a long way from the centre of the hotel building, and is due to poor plumbing design where the hot and the cold water pipes have been run too close together for a significant length. The heat from the hot water pipe transfers across into the water in the cold water pipe, especially at times of low demand for cold water when it happens over time. The architect should understand this, it's covered in architectural school 1.01, but a significant number of hotel buildings do indeed seem to suffer from it. Building 500 bathrooms in a 500 room hotel is a significant part of the overall construction cost, and unfortunately over-concern for minimising plumbing fitout costs can take precedence.

Increasing the hot water temperature, which has taken place in many hotels over time to deal with the risks of Legionnaire's Disease, one of the fixes for which is to increase hot water supply temperature to over 60C/150F, has only exacerbated this.

elizadoo

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

...and charging for internet is #2.

ahvolare

All posts hit home here as well. The key card one is the case where I recently used 20,000 points to stay at a hotel, got ready to check out, discovered I was missing one bag, tried to get back in to retrieve. Imagine my disgust when key card would not work. Took 1 1/2 hrs which involved destroying the lock completely, because even the "engineer" could not get card to work. Resort fees another not so welcome charge, and all of the above posts. Thought we are their guests. I treat mine with tlc.

noiseboy

Can you tell me where you got this idea from, as I know of no-one who likes lukewarm coffee, as suggested.

Noiseboy