I only use my BB for an alarm. I do the time zone gymnastics in my head. Usually I'm right. :p

I do have a knack for waking up within 10 minutes of when I need to, no matter what. This morning I woke up, and before I could grab my phone to see what time it was, the alarm went off.

I could probably do that, but the first time was a killer and just made me mad at my BB :p Now I just use my cellphone since it automatically switches time zones (unless I'm out of NA, which is rare).

I always have at least one backup (cell phone, hotel radio, my cheap wind-up clock that the TSA stabbed with a screwdriver "for my safety") if it's vital that I be up at a particular time. And if it's the hotel clock, I set the alarm for 10 minutes from the current time to make sure it works first. Of course, that wouldn't help if you selected Radio and the station went off the air, as happened to the previous poster.

A hotel neglecting a wake-up call can be infuriating but I probably wouldn't do anything (other than report it on TripAdvisor.com) because it's their word against yours. And the Holiday Inn CP has always come through for me, true to their guarantee.

My last few cell phones have all automatically adjusted to the local time zone, and were easy to set the alarm.

If the front desk offers a wake up call when I check in I'll take it, but my cell phone alarm has never let me down and I set it so I know it's going to work.

This is me to a tee. Mobile phone, travel clock and turn the room clock radio towards me so I can see it during the night and ensure the alarm is not set from the previous occupant. Also, like previous posters I tend to wake early if I know I have to be up early

Likewise, in addition to a travel alarm clock that I take on all overnight trips. As others have said, there have been too many failed/delayed wake-up calls through the years.

I've actually been pretty lucky with hotel wakeup calls. Of course, I just jinxed myself. :p Either way, I don't entirely trust them so I set my BB alarm as well. I change the timezone on my BB so that it shows the right time to, hopefully, avoid setting it for the wrong time. Of course it doesn't always work though. Last week after changing the time I plugged it into my laptop which changed the time back to east coast time. Instead of 6am, my alarm went off at 3am. :(

I usually have a wake up call as a back up ten minutes after the clock radio's or my own wind-up... But some of these new-fangled clock radios that the hotels have started using are impossible to figure out.:td:

About 35 years ago I was in Charleston WV and asked for a 6:00am wake up call. Wound up waking up myself at about 10:00am (late night working) When I called the front desk and asked what happened to my wake up call, they said it was still buzzing.:confused::confused:
Turns out there was a quarter-sized speaker built into the wall that you could just hear if you put your ear next to it. The air conditioner probably made more noise.

. .

I too have learned to check the hotel alarm clock and disable if necessary. My redundant system for mornings when I have flights is a hotel wake-up call, backed up by the alarm on my Casio digital wristwatch (purchased in BCN in June 1999).
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13F

I use wake-up calls every day, normally, during a hotel stay, but I do NOT trust them. I use the alarm on my watch, or cell phone as a back-up.

Same here. The only time I ever missed a flight was when I mistakenly set the in-room alarm clock for pm instead of am - the one night I fail to ask for a wake-up call. :rolleyes:

I've never had a hotel fail me on a wakeup call yet, but that doesn't mean I trust em. I usually schedule the wakeup call, set the clock radio, and set my cell phone alarm, all about 10 minutes apart. At best I've got built in snoozing, and at worst I won't sleep in.

Yup same here. Usually have a mini clock of my own with me that I carry whenever I travel.

exactly right on all of the above and you pretty much can't go wrong with your cell phone (unless you forget to charge it and yes, i always plug mine in before i go to sleep ;))