random hotel pet peeves....
 

Why do hotels often have the the Elite floor not as the top floors? Example, hotel has 20 floors, the Elite member floors are 8,9,10.

Why do hotels not build the High Speed Internet connection with cords long enough to move more than 8 inches? I mean if I am working, I like to be able to watch TV or sit in bed.

Why do hotels place the TV at a 90 degree angle from the desk so you can't sit at the desk and see the TV at the same time?

Agggg......

1. Not enough wastebaskets- it's easy to fill them with a couple of the freebie newspapers after you're done reading them.

2. No space with a phone line in reasonable proximity to a free electrical outlet. Sometimes I end up disconnecting lamps so I can use the Internet and keep my battery charged.

3. Rip-off rates for local calls.

4. The maid forgetting to replenish the coffee supply for the coffeemaker- discovered as I stagger out of bed first thing in the AM. Worse than all of the above combined.

Room not ready even at the beginning of the official check-in time.

Showerhead so low I always hit my head on them - or even my shoulder.

Come on, http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif I'm NOT that tall (only 5'10")

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I Love New York -- Viva España

Well, bring your own ethernet cable.

TV? Hotel room I stay at has 2 TVs. The main one viewable fro mthe bed, and a smaller one by the desk. Nice.

* Water-saving showerheads that reduce water flow to a trickle.

* One hour limit on 800 phone calls.

* Inaccessible power outlets (behind TV, bed)


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

I definitely have to agree with the room not ready at check-in time pet peeve. Very annoying.

Also annoying:

* Bad plumbing! I've been in way too many hotels where the shower drain doesn't work properly and you end up standing in 4 inches of water during your shower. Also agree that the low-flow showerhead is annoying.

* Non-existent maid service. I've had rooms where I've been out all day, come back at 5pm, and the room still isn't made up. Then I get a phone call from housekeeping at 5:15 telling me that that is the only time they can clean the room, and am I planning on being in the room then.

* Weak lighting. Please, some of us need brighter bulbs to read!

Newspaper delivery at 4 AM, dropped flat from a height of 6 feet making a loud noise. Repeat often all the way down the hall.

Hotels with impatient or idiotic maids, the ones that totally ignore your DO NOT DISTURB sign and knock anyway. If my sign is up, it means I do not want my room disturbed for ANY reason, even if I am NOT there!!!

adding to HFLY's message----also, maids who hover around the outside of my room near check-out time waiting for their tip...

Geez, I stayed in a couple places recently with rip-off local/800 rates. I could have forgiven them if they had had even the rip-off high-speed access in these rooms, but they did not! One of them, I now can't remember which, had a half-hour limit!

People who SLAM doors late at night or early in the morning, Life conversations in the hallway at 1:00 am, Housekeeping staff who have personal conversations very loudly in the hallway, Alarm clocks that were set by the previous guest and they go off at 3:00am, People who get ice at all hours at the night, Front desk personnel who do not pick up the phone when you call. Hotels need signs posted in the hallways of each floor to remind people to be CONSIDERATE of others. Do you think I spend too much time in hotels?

* Annoyed by those pieces of cardboard placed all over the room touting room service, promo's, phone rates, etc.
I just gather them up and put them in a drawer.

* Room that has not seen housekeeping in awhile. I was at a hotel recently where there was a layer of dust on the desk and all
of the other furniture.

* A phone call from housekeeping when you have the "do not disturb" card on the door
asking when you want the room made up.

wish list....
* A recycling bin in the room or at least somewhere in the hotel. In some cities with recycling receptacles on the street I have gathered my newspapers, water bottles, cans and made a deposit or two during my trip.

Yes! Especially when they do this at 8am on the one day I don't have morning meetings.

Other peeves:
No master light switch by the bed.

Lack of reading lights or insufficient ones.

Not enough hangers (including skirt hangers).

Only one phone, located at least 10 feet from the bed.

Windows that don't open.

Ugh - the non-draining tubs/shower stalls definitely gross me out.

What really really annoys the hell out of me is how in EVERY hotel I've stayed, the air-conditioning is aimed right at you when you sit at the desk to work. I've gotten so cold I start shivering and now bring my shawl with me all the time.

Agree with the absence of electrical outlets near the bed. At least at some hotels you can unplug the floor lamp or something to get access. Once I stayed in the Hyatt Regency in Hong Kong and the lamps around the bed were all connected directly to the wall - no outlet. My electrical cord stretched accross the room and my laptop perched on the esge of the bed. Feh.

Another peeve - no clock in the room. And on that note, no alarm function. I don't trust hotel wake-up calls and prefer either a room alarm or at least an automated phone alarm system.

Hotels that don't provide room slippers or only paper slippers. I actually bring my own slippers (which I took from a nice hotel) because where they don't provide slippers or cruddy ones, you're guaranteed a cruddy carpet. Yuck.

* Loud/vibrating air conditioners

* Non-smoking rooms that have been smoked in

* Hair on the pillow that's not mine

* Shower curtains, affected by poorly placed air vents, that constantly blow in & stick to you (yeeeech!)

And from a couple of foreign hotels:

* water heater unit in shower head. Wires coming out of wall to shower head, switch on wall turns on the juice. Do I really want hot water?

* Hotel Rossia, Moscow: hall attendant (vee are vatching you) had coat hung in closet in my room, and snarled when I checked in. And, in the same hotel's dining room:

* heavy lipstick on the back of my tea cup (morning 1)

* heavy ring in cup, obviously from not being washed, discovered only after drinking tea down to that level (morning 2)

JP

Not being able to get solid directions from the airport to the hotel. You would think that if somebody worked there, he or she might actually know how to get there?

As much as I agree, why don't you obtain the directions before leaving.. from mapquest or the website for the hotel.. most hotels have directions from local airports

Oh I always get directions before I leave(it's the X chromosome). Sometimes when I travel, I prefer to stay at a smaller inn which does not have directions on its website. I have found time and time again that Mapquest and Yahoo have led me astray with bad directions due to road closures, construction, and the like. I therefore prefer to speak to a live human being on the property. I guess I expect him or her to know how to get to the property from major locations like an airport. Apparently I have high expectations.

--Some comments about room service--As a tea drinker, who cannot stand the taste of coffee, I find 2 big problems with room service.
1. The tiny pot of hot water which is good for about 1 cup of tea (while my husband gets a good-sized coffee pot)

2. When I ask for a large pot of hot water it smells of coffee. Wish hotels would designate some of those large pots as "hot water only."
Also wish that hotels would put LESS in the continental breakfast bread basket & thus, charge less. Does anyone actually eat all of that bread? When traveling with my husband, we'll order one continental breakfast and one coffee or tea a-la-carte and we still have leftover bread.

I am SOOO with you on this one! I loathe coffee, and really can't stand having my tea have residual coffee pot smell/taste.

Hidden charges...energy fees, resort fees, and the British Colonial in Nassau even charged me additional fees for "Housekeeping Gratuities", after I'd been already leaving the maids $2 a day.

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"Read my lips! No more benefit cuts!"...Gordon Bethune

Room service trays not picked up from the hallways.

Maids who talk too loudly.

lack of plugs

sticky, greasy hangers

nasty blankets

dirty carpets

a step UP into the bathroom

a step DOWN into the bathroom

no alarm clock

poor lights

Low water pressure and high telephone surcharges.

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You can go back to the place, but not the time.

Geez, you guys are a bunch of tough customers! As an ex-hotel management employee, I can understand a lot of your gripes: dirty furniture, expensive phone rates, and distrubances by other guests. I would also be upset if the front desk didn't know how to get to the airport. BUT, it upsets me greatly to read your impatience with the housekeeping staff. These people work harder than ANYONE else in the hotel. You should see the mess that some people make, it is hard, back-breaking labor to clean up even the most average room. And how dare you complain about them calling to see when you will let them in to clean. Are they supposed to read your minds? How do you expect the rooms to be ready at check-in time for the next guest when you won't let them in to clean it? If you don't want to be disturbed, call housekeeping and tell them what time you will be leaving, problem solved! These people work VERY hard for very little money. Put yourself in their shoes: the sooner they clean your room, the sooner they can go home to their families. All I ask is that you have a little patience and compassion for your fellow human being. Thanks in advance for keeping this in mind on your next hotel visit.

I'm sorry, but with this approach to customer service, I can see why you are an ex-employee!

WHBM-
No, I'm sorry.
I quit the hotel business to enjoy a less stressful and more lucrative career in marketing. Now I'm on the other side of the desk and I assure you that no one is more critical of customer service than I.
What exactly was it about my statement that you didn't like or understand? Perhaps the part about human compassion....

I am totally happy with the service I receive at hotels about 95% of the time but honestly it seems like there are never enough electrical outlets and I am not dragging around a lot of excess electronic equipment.

The 5% that really bugs me are staff who lie and don't put the customer's need first. The biggest lie is that there are no suites available. Don't they realise that the minute we leave the desk we will call and ask if there are suites available? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif

Punki-
Your points are well taken. I don't know how many times I've left a cell phone charger in a hotel room because the only place to plug it in was underneath the desk or somewhere else where I would forget about it.
Furthermore, nobody likes to be lied to. Just as I hate it when gate agents tell me there are no upgrades available on a flight that is empty in C or F, I can understand your complaint. The reasons hotels lie about suites often is because front desk agents sometimes get a comission for upselling you into a larger room, so they would rather save the suite for the next person checking in than comp upgrade you. Is this ethical? No. Are they supposed to do it? Technically, no. Does management usually turn a blind eye? Unfortunately, yes. Do you have a right to be upset? Absolutely.

You can complain, but I'm afraid that this problem will not go away. Just as in any business, hotels are most concerned about the bottom line.

I worked in hotels for many years, most recently in a Five Star international chain. I would be happy to answer any questions people may have about the hotel business.

Quote:"I worked in hotels for many years, most recently in a Five Star international chain. I would be happy to answer any questions people may have about the hotel business."

I believe this is worthy of a separate thread. Surely, many of us have questions about what goes on behind the scenes.

Thanks obscure2k-
I have posted an open forum in the Airlines, Hotels, and Car Rentals page.
Ask away....

Hotels in the States never seem to offer toothbrushes along with the shampoo which they always offer.

I guess rather than saying I do not like this about U.S. hotels, I will simply say I really like it about Asian hotels.

Mike

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[This message has been edited by mjm (edited 08-05-2002).]

Regarding the ethernet cable issue... I carry a small wireless ethernet access point with me and plug in... works like a champ and I get coverage all over the room. I figure if someone wants to do the work to break the WEP key just to share the connection, so be it. I also carry a small powerstrip with me, I KNOW I'm not gonna have enough outlets. It's thin, flat and takes up virtually no space in the suitcase. Add to that a roll-up phoneline (a 25ft retracting phone cord that fits in a cassette tape sized case... there's also an Ethernet version) and I don't have problems anymore when I stay in non-technology friendly hotels.

MY big annoyances :

* Slow roomservice : I hate it when I arrive at 12 AM, haven't had a chance to eat, and just want to get ANYTHING and go to sleep and it takes them an hour to get it up to me.

* Poor A/C : I like it cold, I also need lots of airflow to be comfortable. I HATE hotels (the Berkeley in London comes to mind) that have ancient piped ventilation systems... yes they may eventually reach a temperature that approximates what I want but the air is so still/stale in the room it drives me insane. Opening a window isn't an option in most hotels and invariably when it is there's 24 hr. traffic.

* Old and outdated furnishings : (Westin Oaks in Houston... one of the worst offenders, the Renaissance Greenway was but recently was very nicely redone) Nothing chaps me more than paying a stratospheric rack rate and checking into a room that hasn't seen a new bedspread since I was in diapers (I'm 29). I understand if it's a budget hotel or whatever but when I'm paying in the mid triple digits for a room in a property that's a prime location I expect better.

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited 08-05-2002).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif Grunchy Carpeting

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif Worn Furniture

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif Unwashed Blankets and Bedspreads

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif Lukewarm AC

and the thing I hate most,

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif Being Lied To about Amenities, Upgrades, Breakfast, Anything

The electrical outlets thing, yes that is one of my peeves too. Even new hotels do not seem to have sufficient outlets.

But my major peeve is poorly made beds or lumpy beds etc. I am moderately tall and many times the bed is not made right, the sheets do not extend to the end of the bed, or the sheets come untucked during the night, the mattress pad is lumped up, etc.

To most people this seems like a minor point (it is.) But I find it faintly disheartening and all too common.

Supposedly "nice" hotels in Europe that have phones which are hard-wired to the walls!!!!

As to the comments above referring to housekeeping...... I respect these people and want them to go home, make their lives easier, etc. I was not referring to a day when people check out, I was referring to days when I am staying that night. Once again, when the DO NOT DISTURB sign is up, it means DO NOT DISTURB. I do not have to call housekeeping because I do not want my room DISTURBED. Maybe I don't want to talk to anyone....maybe I'm ill. Maybe I am not in my room and do not want people disturbing my things.......Maybe I was out the night before and do not NEED the room cleaned. Maybe I am not in the room, but do not want something in the room disturbed - Equipment, money, valuables, whatever. THAT IS WHY THE SIGN IS ON THE DOOR!

The SYA position of smarter hotels is to leave you a message which says, "We were going to clean your room at 00:00 and you had the DO NOT DISTURB sign on your door, so we didn't DISTURB YOU, please call ext. 999 if you would like your room serviced." VEry simple really!

People who SLAM doors anytime.

People that conduct conversations in the hallways.

Parents with screaming children in hallways and say nothing to the children.

Flat sheets that pull out when preparing for sleep. MARRIOTT!!!

Flat sheets that are ahort sheeted at the foot of the bed. MARRIOTT!!!

(Even my so-so Hampton roooms of late have nice fitted sheets!)

Guests that turn up their TV volume to a deafening level.

Hotel employees that haven't a clue!

Do not Disturb signs work pretty well for me. Sometimes, too well.

I started to hang them on my door after the housekeeping staff started the habit of *lightly* tapping on the door in the morning, then barging in 2 seconds later. A little awkward if you are getting dressed or just stepping out of the shower. Not sure why they need to get int othe room so early.

Anyway, the problem is that sometimes I foget to take the sign off the door when I leave. So, when I get back to the room, its exactly the way I left it. Not made up.

So, they do exactly what I tell them to do. I have to "live" with a "dirty" room. In fact, I think I did it today. I don't think I took the do not distrub sign off the door. OH well. I have plenty of towels, and I can climb into an unmade bed.

Housekeeping staff that takes away used shower caps and body lotion bottles without replacing them, and room service breakfast that doesn't arrive anywhere near the time promised.

*It's been mentioned before but I hate when I prepare for bed and all the sheets become loose. Like I am in the mood to retuck the sheet after a 20 hour work day. Also, because the sheet is not fitted, I end up tangled in a heap of sheets by morning.

*The mattress cover is not fitted correctly. How many times is it over hanging one side by six inches and is short on the other side of the bed?

*Pillows too mushy. I know a lot of people like goose down pillows but I like a little support. Most of the time, I wake with such a crick in my neck that I am in serious need of a neck brace.

*Maids barging into your room at any given time esp when I just checked in. Um, I just checked in an hour ago and haven't a chance to muss up the room. Why are you here?

*I won't touch those inroom coffee makers. One time I saw one encrusted with dust (Hyatt). Yuck. I'd rather go hunting for a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts.

*Inadequate lighting in the tub area. Why do hotels think one light in the middle of the bathroom is enough to illuminate the tub area after the solid colored plastic and fabric shower curtains are closed?

*Hair in the bathtub or sink that isn't mine.

*Signs that say conserve water and only put towels you want replaced in the bathtub. I've tried to conserve several times and they just end up replacing them anyway. So what kind of futile exercise is this?

*Rooms that smell of smoke. I'm a smoker but there's no reason not to try and deodorize the smoking rooms. Washington D.C. and NYC are the worst offenders. In these instances, I hate the hotels whose windows don't open. I tend to carry incense, Fabreze or air freshener when I travel now.

*Stuff in drawers. Ever try to unpack and the hotel has stuff in practically every drawer?

*Getting charged for snack bar items eaten before your check-in date. Um, HELLO????