bzbdewd

People traveling in groups who leave their doors open (with the safety latch in the door) so their friends can go in and out of the rooms. Every time one goes in or out they let the door slam onto the latch and of course you can hear every word/screeching laughter etc. The worst of these is adult sports leagues where everyone gets drunk and scr@ws all night.

Parents who book a room for themselves and another for their kids so their kids can go wild without disturbing THEM.

Smoke polluted non-smoking rooms. Especially those that were clearly smoking rooms in the past (burn marks on furniture etc) not just smoked in by recent previous occupants. We actually had one hotel manager justify this by saying... "yes, it used to be a smoking room but no one is allowed to smoke in it now"

Inconsistent water temperature/pressure. Mr bzbdewd was literally scalded at an aLoft in Dallas when the shower went from normal to insanely hot. They knew they were having issues... but didn't bother to mention it at check in.

jspira

Thanks to everyone for the great input thusfar.

Please don't forget to take the actual Hotel Pet Peeves Survey in addition to posting or reading peeves here.

jvj1944

Where do I start:
- Hotels that provide a nice desk but then do not have an outlet close by or even available to plug in your laptop or other device
- Being charged a daily Internet fees at a hotel where I am paying $300/night when I can go to another hotel that charges me half the rate with Internet included
- Drapes that do not close completely and leave a gap that allows sunlight to stream through
- Pillows that allow your head to bounce off of the mattress when you lay down
- Towels that are so rough they leave you with brush burns when you use them
- Room entrance keys that require you to be a savant to use
- May be picky but: Alarm clocks that are unmovable making it impossible to see the time when laying down.

I could go on but that's enough for now.

Uncle Willie

1) Thick down comforters with no sheets in every nicer hotel on the planet including in the tropics. These things will keep you warm on Mt. Everest, why would you need one in a hotel room? I wake up sweating and have to shake all the down to one side and use the duvet cover as a sheet to sleep.

2) European hotels where the lights and power outlets turn off when you remove the card key from the wall. The lights going out is fine, but the power outlet going out too can kill your laptop battery if you leave it on.

djsmapping

I don't want to hear the people in nearby rooms, nor the people in the hall. Nothing disturbs my rest more than that reminder that I'm not at home. So...

* Give me walls that are thick enough and soundproofed enough so I don't have to hear tv, arguing, snoring, peeing, or bouncy-bouncy from a nearby room.

* And please give me doors that meet the carpet at the bottom -- that extra fraction of an inch of open area means I have to hear others talking, opening and closing doors, etc.

I'm tired of clock radios that are on the wrong time but are not intuitive, and not easily reset.

Twice in the last year -- bedbugs. And one of those two times, the front desk clerk who said "oh it couldn't have been our hotel..." Where did she think I slept?

Room service that doesn't pick up the trays that guests leave in the hall.

"Do not disturb" hang tags that mean nothing to hotel employees or to other guests.

156 hotel nights last year.

GrjApp

Ask for another card. Upthread someone mentioned all the various cards and pamphlets left in rooms. One place I was in Barcelona actually had one very useful card left on the desk - a reminder to ask for another card if you want to leave your stuff charging while out.

justcantwait

I prefer a glass of wine to beer or hard liqueur. Although it is improving, I find it very frustrating that my favorite hotel chain offers wine that can be purchased at a chain drugstore for $2.99 as the only wine option available.

I find this particularly insulting in the concierge lounge, which has premium beer and quality hard liqueur brands, and wine drinkers are relegated to something I would never serve to anyone I disliked. As an elite member, my revenue stream is (you would think) lifeblood to this entity, the concierge lounge is a "perk" of my dedication, and I am stuck with such poor choices? Ugh.

BuildingMyBento

Some places in China use combs (often the one that is supposed to be for you), some forget that they leave the floor attendant's key in, some have the key slot but it's just there for show.

SBFlyerUA

Those plastic magnetic door keys that lose their coding, forcing one to walk all the way back down to the lobby for a replacement. It only happens when one is on the top floor, at the end of the hallway. Or in another building.

Internet too slow to get any work done.

Electrical outlets that one cannot find, or are so loose that the plug falls out.

tdietterich

I agree that having a choice of pillows is great. But there can be too much of a good thing. Lately, I have encountered 4-5 decorative pillows in addition to "real" pillows: long pillows (full width of the bed), tiny pillows, upholstered pillows, etc. Where am I supposed to put all of these when I take them off the bed?

And of course, the housekeeping folks put them all back on the bed every day. It cracks me up every time!

Mike Rivers

1. Newfangled in-room coffee makers that don't allow me to use my own coffee and filters. And make really bad coffee. (I carry some Nescafe Classico instant as a last defense.

2. Not enough movable lamps when I have to improvise a work desk. To most hotels' credit, when there's a work desk and chair, there's usually a dedicated light thta's adequate.

3. WiFi that works fine the day before a convention, then doesn't work worth beans when the hotel is filled with a couple of hundred high tech convention attendees, then it works fine again when they all leave.

4. Clogged or weird shower heads. My defense against that is that I carry my own shower head and a pair of pliers so I can replace the existing one. Some of them are really screwed on tight, though, probably because they think a guest will steal the fancy but non-functional shower head.

5. Radios - they're as cheap and crummy as can possibly be built and in most places can't get the NPR station, only the annoying talk hosts and religious station. I use my computer to get radio now, but can't always depend on it (#3 above).

Red '74 TR6

Doors. Surely there's some sort of simple technology that all hotels could utilize that allows a door to self close without shaking the building.

Climate control. The thermostats that don't work are useless. The ones that do work often allow the maid to set it to 55° while she works and then forgets to put it back. Returning to a 55° room at 9pm is no fun.

Pitch black bathrooms. Navigating a strange room is difficult enough. Add getting up in the middle of the night for a trip to the loo (the only light you can find illuminates the room like the surface of the sun and who wants that at 3am!) and you've got the making for some bad aiming accidents. How about some permanent "soft glow" nightlights? (I now bring mine with me)

Bigruby

I don't get to travel often anymore, but I always take a nightlight and a clothespin --- use the clothespin to close the curtains that don't meet in the middle. I also take a very small wind chime to hang on the door knob; it alerts me if anyone tries to open the door.

BH62

When traveling as a couple, we usually have to request a 2nd luggage rack. It's simple: two people with at least one suitcase each, but only one rack. What to do: put 2nd suitcase on the desk or chair, or call desk & ask to have one brought up, or request a 2nd rack upon check-in. Bah!!! Just make two racks the standard number per room. A better amenity than the bathrobes hanging unused in the closet.

BH62

+1 !!!!!!!