For no particular reason, other than that I just made reservations for an upcoming trip, I decided to jot down some things that I wish hotels did differently…
- I've rarely been in a hotel room where I didn't wish I had a foot more of space in the bathroom even if it meant a foot less in the rest of the room.
- A promise of "High-Speed Internet Access" can mean a lot of different things, including the fact that it's there but priced way too high. It can also mean the television has some kind of WebTV add-on which lets you play some online games and read a few news and weather sites…but you can't hook up your laptop or check your e-mail. It can even mean they have High-Speed Internet Access for guests in the hotel but it's in a Business Center that's only open during limited hours. The term "High-Speed Internet Access" should mean a wired or wireless Ethernet connection in each room, and if there's a charge, it should be no more than the popular going rate of around ten bucks for 24 hours of access. There are hotels that have rates for 15 or 30 minutes of access, and that's just cruel, given that it will often take a few minutes of configuring to get and keep a proper connection.
- Hotels sometimes put up signs cautioning guests not to hang things on the fire sprinkler outlets. That's fine, but it would help if we had other places to hang things. How much would it cost to put some strong hooks up here and there around a room?
- I would much rather have a soda dispenser and a snack machine down the hall than a well-stocked mini-bar in my room. And yes, I know: The point of it is that you wouldn't pay that price for a Sprite if it came out of a vending machine. But I wonder if those little in-room, overpriced convenience stores really make that much more for the hotel, given how they cause us all to buy drinks and snacks elsewhere, or to do without.
- Have you ever tried to plug in something that you want to place on or around the bedside table? You usually find that there's one outlet on that wall and it's hidden behind the bed. You have to move the mattress and box springs to get to it and often, it's only a duplex and both slots are full. The bedside lamp is plugged into one, the clock is plugged into the other, and unless I remembered to bring an octopus adapter, I have to decide which to live without.
- Speaking of that clock: At least three times in my life, I've been prematurely awakened in a hotel because the alarm was set for some ungodly hour by the guest who had that room before me. I've learned to check this, but wouldn't it be great if hotel alarm clocks could only be set for one night at a time?
- Too many of those who design hotel rooms decide you'll watch TV from bed or not at all.
- There's such a thing as too many mirrors in a bathroom. There are things you do in there that you'd rather not have to look at yourself doing.
- I've never liked those showers-in-a-tub because the mat you have to stand on is always too slippery. Once in a hotel in Arizona, the room had something which I wish all hotels had. It was a wooden platform you could place in the bathtub. It locked into place in little brackets and you stood on that if you were showering or took it out if you were using the tub as a tub. Very efficient…but I've never seen this in any other hotel.
- Here's something I've never understood. When I go to Costco and buy in bulk, I can get normal-sized 4.5 ounce bars of soap for about forty cents each. That means a hotel probably could buy them for around a quarter each — less if the manufacturer saw a promotional value to having its product sampled by hotel guests. So if you're a hotel charging a couple hundred bucks a night for a room, why not give your guests two of those in the bathroom for their entire stay — one for the tub, one by the sink — instead of all those little micro-bars which are hard to manipulate, which have to be replaced every day, and which some of us larger folks can actually manage to lose in some crevice of our bodies while showering?
- Last one: Drapes that close. Why can't we have drapes that close? I've learned to take along a couple of those large clips that you use to close a bag of potato chips. If I forget them, I resort to makeshift fixes. You usually get one or two clothes hangers in the closet that have clips on them for pants-hanging, and I put the hangers up and use those clips to keep the damn drapes shut. But it should be easier than all this. The drapes should just close. All the way.
That's all the thoughts on this I have at the moment. Don't send me yours. I'll probably think of another bunch on my own in a day or two.