12172003

This sounds strange but no one has been able to answer it. Why do hotel house cleaning always close the drains on the tub and sink? Everytime they come through they close it so early in the morning you turn on the shower and then step into 3-4" of water.

vincom

Why not just look before you step in?

-Vincent

BlissWorld

This thread already exists - Starwood Forum

ContinentalFan

I was told that it's to keep odors down.

djk7

That makes sense, if a room was vacant for several weeks, the water could evaporate out of the trap, which would allow sewer vapors to come up through the drain.

empedocles

Because at about 6-630am I'm neither awake nor aware enough to think of that. (Others mileage may vary...)

stut

At that time in the morning, I'm also lacking the energy to make the multiple trips to the breakfast bar needed to fill the glass thimbles they supply you with...

BOH

Ah, now you have got me started.

1. Air Conditioning systems in USA hotels that are so noisy you can't sleep. Why do they have to sound like an aircraft on take-off?.
2. Baths in NA that are only about 6 inches deep. How are you supposed to lie and relax in these?
3. Room attendants that ignore the DND signs you hang on the door-handle and about every 30 minutes after about 11:00AM knock on the door. At least one was honest and told me she wanted to do my room so she could go home.
4. Signs about "saving the environment", ie, leaving the towels on the floor if you want them changed, hanging them on the rail if you don't. FFS, we all know its nothing to do with the environment, it's about saving the hotel money. Be honest.
5. Loooooonnnng check-out lines at around 8:00AM, full of guests endlessly disputing VOD charges, minibar charges, phones etc. Made worse when staff behind the front-desk insist on chatting.
6. Being charged something like $15-20 for a breakfast buffet when I only want a cup of coffee and two pieces of toast.
7. Faulty doors / keys that are the credit-card type - you lug all your luggage a huge distance, up elevators, long corridors etc and the damn key does not work as the front-desk did not program it properly.
8. Having my small lightweight bag literally grabbed off me by an enthusiastic porter / bell-boy to take it to my room and then expects a $5 tip. I'm perfectly capable of carrying this bag myself and would also prefer to.
9. Being woken up at something like 5:00AM by the alarm clock that the previous guest did not reset, nor did the room attendants check when cleaning the room. Happened too many times to remember now.
10. TV's that seem overly complicated when all you want to do is watch CNN or BBC World etc. They seem to deliberately make it difficult to select the free TV services but very easy for something you have to pay for.

Antiqantas

I've often wondered the same thing. Maybe they think it looks tidier and more presentable, conveys a cleaner, unused appearance. Actually in many hotels I've found that just dislodging the stopper by turning the knob isn't sufficient to allow the shower to flow away (in a bath that doubles as a shower). I have to physically remove it so that I'm not standing in a pool of dirty water.

Antiqantas

Ah, now you've got me started.

1 [like your #3] When I've been given a late check-out and the DND sign is on my door, being constantly called on the telephone about when I'm going to check out, because obviously my late check-out has not been properly communicated to the relevant parts of the organization.

2 [like your #7] Front desk clerks who give you a late check-out but forget to enable your room key for the extra time. (Only applicable in sweltering conditions when your room is on the 23rd floor and you're lugging a heavy and cumbersome pile of shopping. )

3. [like your #9] Not being woken up at something like 5:00AM, because the previous guest zeroed the ring volume on the telephone so your wake-up call doesn't come through, and the room staff aren't trained to check these things. (Instead I got a crashing knock on the door at 5:10AM.)

4. In-room telephones that don't display the name or phone number of the hotel so you have go looking frantically for the phone number when trying to give it to someone while talking on the phone. This is a problem in some Australian hotels, not in the U.S. or Asia in my experience.

5. Hotels that want to seat you at a desk to process your check-in (I've only seen this in Australia). Heck, I don't want to be comfortable right now, I just want you to get this over with so I can get to my room!!!

More later ...

flyrights

Very good observations... I would add:

11. When you want to make an outside phone call, and find out the front desk didn't "turn on" the phone in the room.

12. When you accidently select some pay t.v. event, and watch it for 3 seconds... and find a $15 charge on your bill, that you have to argue with the front desk staff about, when you check out at 5 AM.

13. When the only "news" channel in a foreign country is FOX News, which is filled with liars and hateful people that love Bush and love war and love death and killing and love liars and love anything any Republican could do, and hate anything any Democrat could do...

14. When you check in and the porter escorts you to your room, he, (it's sexist, it's always a "he"), spends 5 minutes IN A HEAVY ACCENT showing you where the minibar is, where the light switches are, telling me where the ice machine is, turns on the water, opens the curtains, demonstrates the a/c, tells me the hours of every restaurant, cocktail bar, gym, gift shop etc.

15. And worst of all: those minibars where there is a sign that says "if you remove any object, there is magnetic system, you will be immediately billed..." (venetian hotel, las vegas etc.).

And I ALSO hate when I empty a minibar, so I can use it for MY stuff, and the maid has restocked everything... then i take it all out again, the the next day or evening turn down service restocks it again and again.

And what about when the minibar temperature is the same as the room temperature...

And how about the $6 small bottle of Evian water in the minibar... or the $25 disposable camera for sale... or the $9 bag of cashews... or the $35 set of 3 golf balls with the hotel logo... do I really need that kind of shopping from my room?

And what about the signs with the INFLATED list of EVERYTHING for sale in the room: bathrobes, towels, sheets, lamps, stationary book, hangers, etc.

GarySAN

ROTFLMAO

agrater

I've seen this in the USA as well.

flyrights

And when they seat you at those desks, they bring over some waterey "welcome drink", with a fresh flower in it... when i just want some cold bottled water... and if you don't drink it in front of them, they sometimes ask, "you dont' like it??" and you have to deal with explaining why you didn't like it... during check in...

and at those desk check in situations, usually the same gal that checks you in shows you to your room, and you feel awkward tipping her, cause she's not really a porter...

Traveller

I open the drain when I first get to the room so that I don't have to do this at 6am.

One of my pet peeves is when the soap is thrown out everyday. I get into the shower the second morning and realize that there is no soap and I have to get out, spill water all over the floor and get a new soap. Wasn't there a story from a London hotel about this many years ago?