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We all want our hotel rooms to be clean, quiet, and comfortable. We want service to be prompt and friendly. We want to get more for less (give us free internet, free food, and free water!). And, when any of these wants are not met, we get irritated. That’s normal. I’ve noticed, though, that there are some very particular things about hotels that annoy me time and again. I’ve weeded out the usual complaints and narrowed down the list to my top 5 particular hotel pet peeves (in no particular order):
Abrasive toilet paper
OK, come on. You’re paying $289 per night for a room and they can’t spring for a roll or two of Charmin Ultra Soft? Did the sandpaper manufacturers give them a particularly good deal?
Towel hair
You know what its like. You turn off the shower, reach for a towel and dry your face. When you pull the towel away, you find a great big hair stuck to your face, and its clearly not yours (The hair, I mean. The face is most likely yours). Yuck.
Forgetful internet
Crappy internet is pretty much a given at most hotels, so I won’t complain about that. What irks me are the internet connections where you have to enter your name and room number not just once a day, but almost every time you open your browser. If only computers had a way of storing information…
4 a.m. clock alarm set by previous guest
Its hard enough to get a good night sleep when traveling without this happening. Every now and then, the guest who stayed before you had to get up early, really early, to catch a flight home. And, the alarm is conveniently set to go off every day at 4 am. You wish you had checked the alarm before going to bed…
In-room anti-sleep heater (or a/c)
You’re sound asleep in your hotel bed. While you sleep, the temperature in your room slowly drops until it passes a threshold noticed by the in-room heater. You are startled awake when the heater turns itself on with a loud click and a roar. Over the next few minutes, the roar continues on and becomes a soothing white noise which lulls you back to sleep. Finally, the room’s temperature satisfies the heater, which stops abruptly with a loud click. The click and the sudden silence startle you awake again. If you’re lucky, you eventually drift off again. But then the mercury drops lower…
Reader peeves
So, there you go. Above are my top 5 particular hotel peeves. I’m betting that everyone reading this has their own favorite peeves. Please comment below!
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Oh, I also LOATHE bathrooms that don’t have fans in them. What happens when you’re sharing the hotel room with someone else and they take a dump? It takes FOREVER for it to be useable again. Argh. Also hate places that don’t give you an iron.
Can’t have bathroom light on without also having fan on (until I pull the grill off and unplug the fan:-))
TV remote works on both TV’s at Residence Inn with 2 TV’s. I am watching one TV, turn it off and it accidentally turns the other TV on.
High Def TV but only Standard Def analog programming
Desk with non adjustable chair that is not on wheels
Hotels that advertise free local shuttle within X miles of hotel but the shuttle driver is unavailable when I want the ride and the hotel refuses to take a shuttle reservation for the next morning in advance.
I bring my own extension cord so the lack of outlets is no longer an issue.
Lack of A/V inputs on the TV. I loathe that I’m not allowed to bring my own entertainment in some cases. At a minimum, there should be a working HDMI port that I can plug my phone into for movies…
No mention of the curtain you cant completely close in the room that gets direct morning sun? Usually the same one with some terrible pulley chain that’s tangled up..
I have a Sound Machine that I keep in my luggage at all times. It has a “White Noise” setting that can block out hotel air conditioner noise, slamming hotel doors and hallway noise. I can sleep through it all as long as I have my Sound Machine on.
In no order
1. Missing hair drier (noticed after shower)
2. 2-3 towels when you have made the reservation for 4 in 2 double beds
3. Kleenex with only 1 left
4. Repeat- connecting doors, can hear everything
5. Repeat- bad tv picture
6. HD TV – why do they buy hd tvs but not pay for hd programming?
7. Missing Do Mot Disturb sign in the room
You missed a big “green” trend that has started in the last 10 years. Hotels in tropical or other high heat areas who think it is OK to give the central air conditioning units a little break at night. Result – you went to bed under your duvet and then wake up at 3AM sweating. Not cool! And usually it takes a few trips to the front desk to find someone smart enough that can disable this “feature” on your room. If I paid $300/night at a 5-star hotel and I want it as cold as a meat locker, please deliver.
-$20 resort fees and then say “complementary Internet”
-$30 daily parking fees
-FoodEater’s comment
False fire alarm at 4:00am!! Twice!! I know it is not common but it was very annoying!
Even worse than Ollie’s 8am room cleaning is when they knock on the door that early and wake up infants despite the do not disturb being on the door. Talking to you Sheraton Detroit Novi.
Housekeeping knocking on the door at 8:00 am to clean your room! You should be able to dictate housekeeping time–something on the reservation.
@Brent I forgot a few you mentioned. The electrical outlets are amazing. Even in new hotels. They have a million of their plugs in most outlets or hide them behind furniture. I bring my own adapter to handle a few plugs and it extends a few feet. Good for laptops, cell phones etc.
@Charlie- Thanks for the tip on the ac/heat units. That definitely makes sense. So when it is quiet you don’t get the startup noise.
Also hotels that try to be funny and give minimal soap and towels. Or minimal refills on an expensive room.
1. Resort Fees. These are a fraud and a ripoff. Very common in Vegas these days and other places. Since these are forced payments I feel they should be forced to just add that to the room night quoted. They tell you you get FREE local calls. Free Local calls that is exciting in 1980, not 2013. Everyone has a cell phone. Oh but you get free internet. Big deal. Usually the internet stinks but more important is many people have smart phones and have minimal need for internet. I do use it but in that 25.00 daily fee this is no deal. FREE NEWSPAPER- Are you kidding? MGM says Free use of gym. Oh sir not the main spa gym- we have a crappy room in the basement for you. You threw a few treadmills in there and we call that a gym. All a big scam. Steve Wynn states his customers demanded report fees. Is he kidding? In fact the old pay for 24 hours internet was a lot less than these fees anyway.
2. Hotel programs telling you the great perks you get for being Diamond, Gold, Plat etc and then you have to tell the front desk the amentities you are supposed to get. They usually don’t know, or care. So much for “status”
3.No refrigerator in the room, or it is filled with mini bar items. In a high end room I would like a space for a few drinks.
4. Towels like sandpaper, motel 6 towels, towels from that old Holiday Inn from 1975. Bleached beyond belief. Those are so stiff they will crack under use. I am talking here about premium rooms usually 200-300+ a night, some as high as $500 a night. How about some decent towels.
5. Front desk cant give you a working key. You get to your room and thing doesn’t work. Or better yet how many times did you get checked into a room that is occupied? Happens to me. Even BETTER! last year the milepoint convention-somebody is entering the room I ust checked into. With a working key. I call front desk. They have little concern.
6. Parking fees (non city hotels)Parking at city hotels is nuts, but outside a mid city location charging parking fees is a RIPOFF.
7.TVS that barely work or have a crappy picture. Room service trays that are left in the halls for many hours or even a full day.
8. Reps at the front desk (you are exhausted) They are punching like 100 keys into a computer. Hundreds of keys. Is it that complicated?
My wake up call was at midnight. I never got back to sleep and complained about it to front desk next am when they asked how it was. Got points for complaining. I think housekeeping ought to see that this doesn’t happen. It never even occurred to me that it was my responsibility.
you hit 4 of my top five–starting with the TP – I actually carry little travel-size rolls of Charmin Ultrasoft with me! My next big peeve is the constantly blimking lights on the newly installed smoke detectors in some Hampton Innn rooms …so, now, alomg with my own TP I carry a sleep mask!