Common Design Errors in Hotels
 

I am a Canadian architect based in Toronto. We are compiling a survey on the most common design errors in hotels that really turn the guests off. Give me your 10 complaints. In return I will e you the total survey results in May 2003.

http://www.wgaarchitects.com/survey/survey.html

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[This message has been edited by henryw (edited 05-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by henryw (edited 05-19-2002).]

Most hotels have a tub. I would rather like a shower.

Luxury hotels with Luxury prices that have rooms overlooking the roof and AC units, or the parking lot and a couple dumpsters. Lux rooms that are underground.

Elevators that are more than 50 yards away from a room.

Inadequate soundproofing.

Beachfront resort hotels built in the 19th C traditional biz city manner. Great mouldings, no windows.

For excellent examples check the Ritz Maui, Naples, or Palm Beach.

Note: You may want to get this poll asked somewhere in the Miles section of FT. There is very little "traffic" on this forum. You may try it in the various hotel forums.

Since most hotels have a tub with a shower,I don't see that as a negative (although tiny tub is useless)
Some of my thoughts (not in ant particular order):
1.No electrical outlets near the desk.
2.No soap holding area for showering,e.g. you need to keep the soap and shampoo on the side of the tub.
3.Shower spray. Many are useless.
4.Acess to the pool only through the lobby.Even some of the finer ones have people in swim suits walking through a beautiful lobby area.
5.Light switches should be easy to reach as you enter a room,including the bathroom. Groping around in the dark is no fun.
6. Inadequate water pressure,especially for flushing.
7.Not enough counter space and/or cabinets in wash rooms.
8.Too few elevators for the hotel's potential capacity.
9.No house phone on every floor.Whether an emergency or room key that doesn't work,it's always nice when there is a phone (generally by the elevators)to call the front desk.
10.Door lock. Nothing frustrates me more than having a poor lock/key system. Some you have to hold the door in as you put in your card,some you have to quickly remove,etc.This happens with new as well as old hotels.

Concur w/jabez. Not being able to find lightswitches, lack of outlets near a desk and small windows are my main complaints.

jabez:

I want a shower, not a tub with a shower!

Tub showers that have plastic curtains that cling to the body.

Showers that aren't designed properly to drain in the stall.

Sinks that don't have sufficient surround to hold toiletries.

Furniture placement such that the TV can be seen from the bed but not the chair.

Curtains that have a gap when they close, allowing light into the room.

Room air conditioners that cycle on and off. I can't sleep with a room air conditioner due to the noise; I have to turn it off.

Lack of individual temperature controls in the room.

A luggage rack with a back that does not allow a suitcase to be fully opened (such as a Samsonite 26").

Failure to have a lamp by the sofa or chair, thus making it difficult to read.

Not "design" per se, but very annoying: The endlessly multiplying number of cards, placards, signs, etc., etc., covering more and more of every horizontal surface. The first thing I do is sweep all this stuff into a drawer.

Back on-topic, see also:
Hotel Pet Peeves


[This message has been edited by cblaisd (edited 05-18-2002).]

1. Too few outlets
2. No in room coffee maker
3. Too few outlets
4. Too few outlets
5. Too few outlets

Heck, a $5 power strip by the desk could solve this.

What is wrong with a tub with a shower?

It's not a properly designed shower environment. A free-standing shower cubicle can have frameless glass and marble surround, shower column with body spray, built-in shower seat, min. 3'x3' so that your elbows wouldn't have to brush against the plastic shower curtain which never get cleaned. And most of all, it's safer. A lot of older folks slip and fall while stepping out of the tub.

Right on. American Standard 1998 Bathroom Habit Survey showed 30% Americans never take baths, and 6% never take showers. Those numbers become even more extreme when we travel. Typically women may take baths in 4-5 star hotels and up, if they have the time; but won't otherwise for hygenic reasons. Men would hardly do that at all. However, we cannot delete the tubs as they are expected equipment and the guests would complain that they are getting a cheap room. That's why the new generation of hotel rooms would have 4-piece bathroom. We see that in most new hotels in Asia where new hotel construction started 10-15 years ago when we had little activity in North America.



[This message has been edited by henryw (edited 05-19-2002).]

I've seen a few good ones in my career. I just returned from an assignment in Dongguan, China. The newest 5-star hotel in the city just opened a few months ago. It was not designed by an architect, but by an interior designer who had enough connections to get the architectural contract as well. It's a joke. The kitchen is not connected to the coffee shop but located in the basement -- a very difficult logistics problem. Pipe and duct runs all over reducing the kitchen to a 6' ceiling clearance.
Water was used as interior design theme everywhere. There is a linear reflecting pond running along the window edge of the lobby bar. The polished black granite lining the bottom of the pond created a perfect optical illusion. You'd think it's flat. Quite a few guests fell into the 3' deep pond.
The circular coffee shop has a similar water feature. a child fell into the 12" wide pond and got stuck. Fortunately the father was around to pull him out.
This hotel is a classic case study.

"American Standard 1998 Bathroom Habit Survey showed 30% Americans never take baths, and 6% never take showers."

I think I have sat next to some of them on some of my trips.o)

[This message has been edited by jabez (edited 05-19-2002).]

NOT ENOUGH LIGHT!!!!!! It's impossible to put on makeup properly or even for my honey to shave well.