Sometimes I think it’s fun to talk about and compare our various travel habits and pet peeves. I recently wrote about some of my hotel habits, and in this post thought it would be fun to share some of my hotel pet peeves.
Continue reading: 14 Of My Biggest Hotel Pet Peeves, From Decorative Pillows To Destination Fees
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Not enough hooks and bars to hang towels. I don't mind 'saving the environment' by reusing my towels, but please make it easier.
For me:
- lack of soundproofing
- lack of blackout window coverings
- worn out mattresses
- multiple electronic devices with bright or blinking indicators that light up the room at night
- HVAC activated by a motion detector, so that it shuts off in the middle of the night, resulting in a boiling or freezing room
- centrally controlled AC temperatures, so that I can’t get the room as cold as I want
- nasty floral scented bath products
So agree! Why would I want to leave my hand towel on the counter, where it will never get dry, or drip water all over the bathroom as I walk to the only towel bar? Sure, it’s clean water, but bad design. Spend 5 bucks and put a hook by the sink!
Extraneous lights or sounds in the room. For example, a loud fridge that can’t be turned off without unplugging. An alarm clock that can’t be dimmed. Smoke alarm or TV power lights that are brighter than the sun. Blackout curtains that still allow light leakage. Hallways that inexplicably play music 24/7 which bleeds into the rooms.
One of the reasons I love Japanese businessman hotels is that they have alcohol in vending machine and an onsen spa that’s open all night long. I love being able to come home for a long day of sightseeing and go soak my aching legs in a hot mineral bath before going to bed.
Western hotels with spas see them as profit centers to be used in conjunction with paid treatments and are never open past about 8 PM. So many disappointed Japanese travelers at Hawaiian hotels hoping for an after dinner soak…
I do want to thank you for giving me two of hotel habits years ago: photographing the room number and figuring out how the fakakta high design shower actually functions before going to bed so i won’t fight with it in the morning while still half asleep.
Scripted, artificial customer service - you are not going to get genuine service at a corporate owned/chain hotel.
Small, boutique and/or family run hotels is were genuine service is provided.
No way of accessing the HDMI ports for the TVs is another for me but agreed with this list overall
Genuine service is not a thing. Some people are just better at acting than others.
I don't mind scripted service because it shows they at least pretend to care. There are many hotels out there where you will not get a smile or eye contact from anyone at the front desk. I have checked in (as a well-dressed, smiling and friendly customer) at a family-run small Midwestern hotel where the receptionist never looked up from her computer, deadpanned only the words "ID and credit card," and handed me a room key envelope with zero further interaction.
Lack of Chromecast especially when overseas and the only channels in English are news (I want to relax not be depressed)
Lack of decaf coffee (bit niche I admit)
Rude staff - interestingly some of the best service I have had has been at budget hotels
Most of all I just want a room that's clean and comfortable
More:
-Parking charges for suburban hotels with a large parking lot.
-Required valet parking.
-Breakfast hours/pool/other hours creep.
-No access to stairs to bypass elevator.
-Room service trays not being picked up in a timely manner (old food in hallways).
-Parties.
-Convoluted rules/policies that get in the way of providing efficient service ("you get one hot item from the breakfast menu, but only from these three choices").
Destination fees are very annoying especially when certain Hyatt's (looking at you Hyatt Regency Phoenix) keep charging my account even though I'm a Globalist and everytime I have to stop by the front desk to have them removed!
I don't even know what purpose they serve especially like the Hyatt in Phoenix when they don't even have a decent breakfast restaurant nor a lounge!
Strong concurrence with your pet peeves, with the exception of the coffee one. I wonder, Ben, if it would be worth revisiting your earlier work on declining US tourism from abroad??
The latest data reported by Axios on international arrivals suggests your previous analysis was prescient - Canada's 25% decline is even steeper than anticipated. What strikes me is how cities like Buffalo are now scrambling with "We Love Canada" campaigns while the federal messaging remains unchanged.
The disconnect between local economic reality ($127 billion in visitor spending) and diplomatic rhetoric seems to be crystallizing into measurable behavioral shifts. When longtime allies feel "betrayed" rather than merely inconvenienced, we've moved beyond typical policy friction into something more structurally damaging to America's soft power projection.
Perhaps there's a follow-up angle here on how tourism serves as an early warning system for broader relationship deterioration? The trust erosion your piece identified appears to be accelerating faster than the policy cycle can address.
Upgrade not provided when it is clear they upgraded room available. Just checked into the Hilton Berlin and they had paid upgrades listed. They recently renovated the “premium wing” but said they could not offer a room to me despite being a long-time Diamond (after having stayed here twice already and received an upgrade both times). They said it was a “management decision” and I told them it was a horrible decision. I am also a Marriott Titanium so plan to stay at Westin Grand next time I am here.
Disappoint you and ridicule you by allowing your key to open areas you have no access to and turning you away in from of everyone.
Weak and/or slow WiFi is inexcusable. Carpeting because it’s usually stained and carries bad odors.
I agree with most of these, and many should become incorporated into AAA's standard for getting a four diamond rating (AAA's rating requirements is why shampoo is a standard amenity, but toothpaste is not). Perhaps MAHA can get behind removing those dirty throw pillows and decorative blankets upon request.
One point I disagree on is the cofffee station. I don't trust in-room coffee machines to be clean, so I just avoid using them. I sometimes bring my own mini hot water kettle -- the AmazonBasics one isn't labeled mini, but compact enough.
Hmm, this is disappointing to hear. Back in 2018, I used to get upgraded a lot at the Hilton Berlin Gendarmenmarkt while Diamond.
I can understand Ben's complaint about coffee even though I do not drink it. I am a tea drinker; if you think coffee drinkers have it bad in hotels, try being a tea drinker.
In-room coffee makers typically double as the source of hot water for tea. The end result is inevitability nasty, coffee-flavored tea. If the hotel provides coffee in the lobby or other central location, at best they will provide a very limited selection of tea bags (often only herbal teas with no caffeine) and lukewarm water.
Not only are showers often too complicated, so are thermostats. In 2011 I stayed in the Westin Chaoyang in Beijing, Neither I (with two engineering degrees) nor a fellow engineer, could determine how to adjust it. We had to get a hotel staffer to show us how.
I don't mind the no privacy bathrooms, I travel with my opposite sex friend quite a bit and it's always a bit of fun to laugh at each others ageing bodies.
One of my pet peeves is similar to the amenities checking where tissue boxes has 2 or 3 left when you check in...
Wholeheartedly agreed, often there's only space for one towel to sit out and dry.
Please ban Barn doors on the bathrooms. I don't want to hear or smell any of that!
That W Beijing bathroom is quite a choice. Kind of reminds me of the room I had at the Conrad Osaka, but at least the Conrad had solid wooden sliding doors to close off the whole bathroom area and the toilet was in an actual water closet by the front door, not in the bathroom.
In general I've found the in-room bathrooms in US and Japanese hotels to offer plenty of privacy, the worst one that I've experienced was a base room in the Hyatt Regency Kyoto with a frosted glass window from the bed area into the shower. It's far better than the all-inclusives I've been to in the Caribbean where both the toilet and shower area have actual openings with no glass or anything between them and the bed.
Looks like mine have all been covered
- Destination fees
- Lack of outlets near the bed (I have to carry an extension cord just for this reason)
- Skimped breakfast benefits (looking at you, Hilton and Marriott)
- HVAC systems that run off motion sensors, especially if they’re not placed in sight of the bed and at a level where they can detect motion
- HVAC that doesn’t allow a constant fan to run
No more annoying pet peeve for me than hotel gyms not open 24/7. I found this to be prevalent throughout hotels in Brazil, especially in the premium and luxury segments. I questioned the front desk at several of these properties about it and they said the reason is they employ gym attendants to help and assist guests so the gym can only be open when staff are available. They said the gym attendants provide personalized service to the guests and are part of the hotel's philosophy of providing great customer service and always having staff near by to help guests. Great, but I think between having a staffed gym open 8 am to 6 pm or having a non-staffed gym open 24/7 most guests would choose the latter.
I agree with the TVs being turned on; almost all luxury hotels do this (looking at you, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Park Hyatt, some FS, some independents (Hello, Shutters on the Beach), etc.). Though I will say that the music, when turned on, is usually somewhat soothing to listen to in a Zen sort of way, but can get old after about 40 times hearing it.
And screw destination fees, they are insulting and offensive and grotesque. Sorry, Las Vegas, but your business model turned into "fuck the customer." And now it's bled, seemingly, to all of the USA's major cities. Perhaps the downturn in tourist and business travel dollars will help you to stop trying to manipulate prices on search engines.
What I LOVE LOVE LOVE is the Park Hyatt Sydney's bathroom setups where one can turn on the shower heads *without being under the water.* Genius design, and if I were ever in the market for a bathroom redesign at home, I would include this feature as a non-negotiable must have.
Showers need to be operable without being under the water. Showerheads also need to be detachable. How else can one's crack be adequately cleaned?
Add these to the list:
Knocking on my door when the Do Not Disturb Sign is displayed
Small Bath Towels
Joining Room Doors
The photo of the coffee setup, with chemicals instead of dairy, reminds me that the same kind of packs with half-and-half are available (but probably for a few cents more).
Regent Hong Kong has that transparent bathroom setting where you can see everything while taking a shower.
That’s the biggest miss that I’ve ever seen in a recently renovated hotel. It’s not-very-family-oriented.
If hotels are going to have wacky shower setups, could they at least include conveniently-posted instructions?
I understand this in e.g. Manhattan, where there's a bona fide need to ration spaces.
I am decidedly less understanding out in suburbia.
All of the things you described as well as the many issues brought up in the comments! I'd like to also add that I have seen a relatively recent trend of rooms that have no drawers for clothes, or places to put your clothes in general. This is fine for a quick business trip, but for longer stays it is super inconvenient. There is also the automatic lights that turn on when you move or enter the bathroom, and can't be turned off - not very convenient if you have others in the room who don't want lights waking them in the night. Also hate the frosted glass bathroom doors which allow light in the night. And want to give extra special shout out to the bathroom privacy issue that was raised - yikes! Such a terrible trend. I was shocked by the lack of privacy at the Conrad Seoul, but there are even worse set ups. Sometimes I think the folks who design these rooms don't consider the fact that there might be more than one person staying in the room, or that this person might not be a spouse - could be a work associate, child, friend, etc.
Electrical outlets/USB ports need to be available on BOTH sides of the bed. Equal access for all parties is in my hotel bill of rights.
And a new one for me: hotels that when you leave the room, reset your thermostat to some default setting. Had this happen recently with a 6 day stay in London. Very annoying.
How about asking me if I’ve stayed at the hotel before, when they know if I’ve stayed at the hotel before? It’s nice when they say welcome back.
The disappearance of closets that are being replaced by open frame hanging systems. I stayed in a hotel room for 10 days and could not unpack as that would have been seeing my clothes hanging openly in the room throughout the stay.
The fact that in most cases, the liquid in the body wash gel bottle and shampoo bottle are one and the same.
Having worn out towels still in circulation. This I noticed at a couple of five star hotels.
Not changing bedsheets, even after a few days. In four different hotels, I stayed for a week plus and I had to instruct them to change the bedsheets after a few days. Most told me their policy was to only change the sheets at the end of the stay, even if it was a long, long stay.
I'm with you on all of these, except for showers with weak water pressure.
While there are areas of the planet where people live with abundant water resources, most of us do not. I abhor water waste, whether it's golf courses in the desert, sprinklers running in the rain, or people who can't brush their teeth without the faucet running.
Along the same lines, hotels that have shower systems that only operate at only one level of pressure (usually more than necessary) deserve all the excessive water bills they get.
This is minor, but you know how most hotels have the in-room TV turned on when you first enter the room, with some sort of music or advertisement?
For some reason, I find this cool. I like when I enter the room and the TV says "Welcome [my name]," especially when it's also displaying something useful like the weather forecast. Fortunately, I haven't encountered a hotel TV displaying obnoxious ads "a la TikTok/YouTube." But, I'm sure Marriott and Hilton, etc., might be taking notes already.
The clogged bathroom sink and shower drains that the housekeeper somehow didn’t notice.
The loose toilet seat that the housekeeper somehow didn’t notice.
Best in-room coffee setup/service we ever have experienced was at the 3 1/2-star Hotel on North in Pittsfield, MA. Forget the Folgers and say no to the Keurig machine ... how about truly fresh ground coffee, sourced from a mom-and-pop coffee bar down the street? Classy!
Oh, I forgot another one: Hotels that charge a fee to pay their bill with a credit card, sometimes including the chain’s own card. When posting a review I will always lower the review score by one star and state the reason why. If everyone did this in their reviews then the hotels might drop this stupid fee.
Amen to this list. Pretty comprehensive. The one minor thing I’d add, bizarrely complicated light fixtures controls where you struggle to turn the lights off.
Actually, one more thing comes to mind, especially in European hotels. The aircon/heating controls aren’t connected to anything to save on energy costs. When you enquire you learn that they are centrally controlled, and, despite the tropical heat in your room you cannot get the temperature down because it’s a predetermined day on the calendar where it’s off, no matter what. Came across this frequently both in the UK, Finland, Germany and a bunch of other European countries.
I understand high-end (and not so high-end) hotels using a subtle "signature scent" in the common areas, but I can't stand when they go overboard. The last time I was at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC, the lobby smelled as if an 18-wheeler stuffed to the gills with bottles of perfume had overturned. It was enough to make me not want to stay there again.
I frequently get "welcome back" at hotels I've never stayed at before. Perhaps they say it to everyone, perhaps they're just confused.
A small cc fee is the norm in Australia. Fortunately, it is always less than the 3% kickback my card gives me.
Subtle, soft night light so that at 3am I can navigate from bed to toilet without injury.
Broad generalizations. Best recent sincere, unscripted service was at Sukhothai Bangkok, an SLH Hotel. Athenée Bangkok was also sincere and impressive, notwithstanding it's a luxe factory. "Independent" does not mean "good" IME.
It is not very expensive to buy a high pressure, low flow shower head hotel owners!
@TravelCat2 Don't get me started! My Go Bag has a ziploc of my usual morning tea (Keemun) and a tea ball. I've found 5 star hotels in Asia get tea, while all hotels in USA no matter what category are grotesquely bad with tea, as if it's a matter of national pride to screw up tea. In Asia there's a coffee pod thingy and a kettle, but rarely a teapot. Maybe I should just stay home LOL
360 nights a year in hotels and I concur with all of these. Especially the water pressure.
My other pet-peeve is air-conditioning. Especially in woke Europe, absolutely does my head in when the hotel sets the minimum temperature. I like it particularly cool, circa 18-19c ( 66 - 68F ). When they set them to 23-24c ( 76-78F ) I always make them get an engineeer to come to my room and change it in the duct in the room. There are also ways of over-riding this penny-pinching by the hotels so I try those first.
Or when they have it set to fan only with no refrigeration and when you complain, they treat you like an imbecile.
The other thing that does my head in, also air-condtioning, when the air blows straight on the other place where the pillows are on the bed. I don't know how many times I have woken up in the morning with a head cold, all because the damn air blows straight onto the pillow area. I have even been known to relocate the mattress to the floor.
my pet peeve is hotel rooms where it is impossible to turn off all the lights in the room - some sort of pesky nite light seems to stay on or there is a light on a timer, in one instance i had to call housekeeping for insturctions & their response was to use an eye mask... argh
Have you considered getting a life and a home? Spending 360 nights a year you obviously do not have an intimate partner and that could be the cause of your aggression which is a huge turnoff for women.
Steve didn't say he doesn't like animals. He said he doesn't like hotels that allow them. Animals do in fact shed and increase the wear and tear, not to mention create issues for human guests who may be allergic.
I also feel very strongly, for the sake of the animals, that frequent travelers do NOT own pets. Why own a pet just to send one to boarding/dogsitting/etc. all the time?
The "no access to stairs to bypass elevator" would be a serious fire code violation, ... at least it would be in the United States.
Would it be worse if the person under the bed was deceased or alive ?
(Asking for a friend..) lol
Not sure how much much water low pressure saves when you have to take a much longer shower (as Ben mentioned). It's seems like another "feel good" program that makes some happy about themselves, despite the reality I do agree about not using sprinlers in the rain, and on the whole time whie brushing teeth. But, the low flow shower heads are nonsense and it takes so much longer to get soap off.
Most of mine are covered already but two to add:
1) Motion sensor lights for the bathroom and/or under the bed, with no manual override or way to turn off. I get up in the middle of night to use the facilities I do not light on for 10 minutes after I lay back down, nor do I need my partner woken up by unnecessary light.
2) Furniture placed at the end of the bed. Why? Just why? I'm tall, and often times my feet hang off the end of the bed. I also like to untuck the blankets/sheet.
YES, ABSOLUTELY THIS! Europe and some parts of Asia have very warm hotel rooms and it’s absolutely frustrating. I also don’t often have the opportunity to wait around for them to send the “engineer” down, cause that would just munch about 2 hours of my day away between incompetent front desk staff and a slow maintenance department, and I really do not have that amount of time to spend, or trust people coming into my room if I have not yet set up my safety protocols while I’m not in the room.
So, instead, particularly for my leisure holidays, I would always have my travel advisor check with the hotel if the AC is going to be working well. If it isn’t, I’ll go with something else.
They ask this because there is a chance you might have stayed there before but the room wasn’t registered to your loyalty program, either because it was registered under another profile or was not linked at all. Especially for legacy hotels where you might have stayed as a kid with your family and returning as an adult.
Agree about the turned-on TV. I (obviously) switch it off immediately, but nothing is more annoying than a hotel with paper thin walls, where your next door guest lets that thing go all night.
Decorative pillows- disgusting.
I also cannot stand how many "things" in rooms these days have little lights staring right at you at night. From alarm clocks to TVs to USB hubs to those terrible smoke detectors.
I absolutely disagree, and in fact, it’s exactly the opposite.
These small, boutique hotels often have no protocols in place so they either have no idea how to react or have a bad reaction to any sort of non-standard issues. Defective hardware is most often the biggest issue here.
I find they are often quite haughty and really, it’s almost impossible to get any sort of service recovery.
Large chains have protocols and people involved don’t have an attachment to the company, so you’re more likely to get a more satisfactory resolution. Either compensation, a small gift, or a new room (or all 3!).
Yes, these are all “if things go wrong” situations, but I’ve come to realize that about 75% of the time, things always do.
I agree with all Ben said, except the TV on when entering room does not bother me. Additional peeves include:
-- Having to wait until the morning to see if late check-out is available. That pretty much defeats my whole purpose of a late check-out! If I am traveling late, and arrive late, then I want to sleep late. The "morning call" defeats the whole purpose of a late checkout. I'm pointing the finger at you Hilton / HHonors properties.
-- Not having an alphabetical order channel guide "cheat sheet". So many hotels have a channel list printed out, but it is a numerically ordered list. If I want to find, for example, ESPN, I should be able to look at the list and go right to "E", and not have to scan down a numerically ordered list that might be 80 channels long.
-- Paying for parking when the hotel owns the parking lot or garage. Charging for parking is understandable if the hotel has to contract a 3rd party parking facility. But charging for a parking lot or garage that they own is just an additional money grab.
-- Thermostats that you can not control. Invariably, these places keep the room too hot to sleep comfortably. The finger is pointing mostly at you, Europe.
-- Breakfast hours that end too early. As one who often arrives on the later side, and prefers to sleep later, breakfast that ends at 9 a.m. is way too early. Pointng the finger at you Marriott / Bonvoy properties.
-- Clogged / slow draining shower or sink drains. House keeping didn't notice? Seriously?
-- Treating Tea drinkers as an after-thought. Many of us do not drink coffee, but all the attention seems to be given to coffee drinkers.
-- Valet only parking with no self-parking option. Sorry, but I don't want others driving my car, and wedging it into a tight space and banging the car door.
-- Poor lighting in the room. Dark spots in the rooms that have very dim lighting.
-- A room sensor that controls the HVAC. It automatically shuts off your air conditioning (or heat) if there is no movement (or you are a very still sleeper). It is super annoying to wake up covered in sweat because the A/C cut off during the night.
-- Rattling / noisy HVAC units. Did housekeeping not notice and / or not alert maintenance?
-- No overhead roof to park under to check-in and unload my bags. Oh, what a joy it is to unload your bags in a heavy rainfall! I have noticed this at Residence Inn by Marriott, as well as a few others.
-- Pushy bellhops who insisit on "helping" you with your bags after you just lugged them yourself for 3 or 4 blocks from a remote garage. Sorry, but you are not taking my bags for that last 5% of the lugging distance just to expect a tip. I will take them myself for that last 5% of the distance.
-- Lack of a self-service ice machine. A self-serve ice machine is much easier than waiting for room service to bring a tiny portion of ice 15 minutes later.
-- Not enough towel bars to be able to able to hang up towels to dry. The hotels want us to re-use towels, but many do not provide a decent means to dry them.
-- Mini-fridge that is warm or completely turned off when you arrive.
-- The extra "cabinet furniture door" that you have to open before you can open the mini-fridge door. A decorative door in front of the mini-firdge is unnecessary and annoying. You would NEVER have it set up that way (having to open TWO doors) for your home fridge. Why is that okay for a hotel room fridge?
-- No spare toilet papar or tissues, and the tissue box is already close to empty when you arrive.
No bloody in room hot tea !! Or only one black tea bag or only all green tea bags. Yarghhhh. Ill look for the housekeeping cart or stop by the front desk.
My first time ever to Beijing there were hotel reviews that the sinks and toilets have strange lingering odor. So I brought some car air freshener trees with me lol.
1. Hotels that claim to be caring about the environment when they leave cards in the bathroom encouraging guests to reuse towels, yet there’s not a recycling bin in the room or even the entire hotel. It is obvious that cost cutting is the only reason they’re asking.
2. Hotels that expect you to tip their staff but will not help you get change for a 20 or provide a digital way of tipping.
Have not read it here, so maybe it's only me. I despise liquid soap. There is a chemical sodium laurel sulfide, that is more like something to clean dishes rather than skin. I have brought my own gentile bar soap for years because of this. Think you have dry skin? It's that cheap soap.
Excess lights drive me nuts. LEDs on mandatory fiee detection sensors are bad enough, but when every switch and the telephone has its own light, the effect is enough to drive me batty. Also curtains or blinds that don't block 100% of the light. Don't tell me you have blackout curtains, then leave me to be awoken at 0430 because the curtains are anything but.
Here's a classic one at 2-3 star hotels: Showers that only fluctuates between ice cold and scalding. It somehow never settles on a nice warm setting.
Heavy fragrances too. For instance, I know hotels consider Hermes Eau d'Orange Verte products to be luxurious, but the fragrance is actually very strong, and not to everyone's taste. I don't want to smell like that. I also find Aesop products dramatically over-perfumed, and neither as gentle nor "nourishing" as their reputation suggests. The sooner all hotel bathroom amenities go fragrance-free, the better.
And I think that people shouldn't reference their dangly bits in their screen name, but we can't all get what we want. Also, when I first moved to my town, there was a last minute problem with the place I was meant to move into and a hotel that allowed my well mannered dog and his less well mannered human stay was a godsend.
Yeah, try staying at a place charging two grand a night on a massive private estate with plenty of room for cars and they still charge sixty-five bucks a night to park the damn thing
I *love* walking into a Hyatt room and having the World of Hyatt channel already on. The narrator’s voice is so soothing, and I love seeing all the Hyatt brands and destinations featured.
Same! I forget which famous older actress said this, but she said always travel with your own tea bags. I do, and also, I travel with a collapsible silicone electric kettle to boil my own water. Coffee flavored English Breakfast tea is an abomination.
If you check Google for the model of the room thermostat, you can often times find the quick override combination. It's usually holding two keys while pressing a third or something similar.
Top two for me:
1. Complicated light controls. @Udo mentioned this already but it's maddening. I don't want to spend 45 minutes studying light switches. And why is it that one switch turns off everything sometimes. I hate overhead lights and some hotels do NOT have separate switches for the lamps... it's all or nothing. Good god!
2. ICE
Why on God's green earth must Europeans be so damn stingy with their frozen cubes of water. My most ridiculous experience about 10 years ago in San Sebastian in Spain at an older boutique hotel. No buckets. The most ice you could get was exactly one glass from the bar. The US & Asia are much better. I'm ok with every other or every third floor having ice machines. What I hate is calling for a large bucket and 45 minutes later a tiny bucket arrives half melted. Every time at check-in, I get the lowdown on the ice situation. If no machine on floors, I request their largest bucket be delivered immediately.... that is successful about 50% of the time. They forget the moment I leave the desk. I really prefer getting my own ice, just point the way and ill do it myself... really!
Not a single comment here mentions rooms smelling of cigarettes. The stale smell, which is almost impossible to get rid of.
I found this to be an issue in 75% of my hotel rooms in Türkiye (Turkey). In both expensive/chain and cheaper hotels. Smoking and ignoring smoking bans is so normalised there, that staff would often (genuinely) not understand what the problem is and/or only offer to spray an air freshener in my room.
Sometimes I'd get a room that seems OK, only to get blasted by cigarette smoke from the AC in the middle of the night.
Also experienced this in China, although not as often as in Turkey.
Teeny tiny garbage cans, especially in the bathroom. I’m currently using a takeout bag as my garbage bin. Plus no recycling can.
*sighs*
Thanks for reminding me of the occasional appearance of the scent of coconut. Sorry, I have enough issues with the texture of coconut to begin with, and that just makes me think of said negative association.
I've flipped more than one alarm clock face down. The lights are sometimes just insanely bright vs the 1980s digital clock I have in my room at home.
Add to this that some hotels seem to "pretend" to have the climate controls work - you can change the number on the readout, but it has no apparent impact on the air blowing into your room.
Agreed. Doubly annoying when you're arriving late and tired and suddenly you have to spend 20 minutes figuring out how to get the lights behind the bed to turn off.
I've had to bother more than one hotel front desk over this.
You know, I'll give it to a hotel in Las Vegas (all drought, all the time!). But if you're in an area with abundant water on hand and/or a season where they're having to dump from the reservoirs, the environmental excuse runs thin.
Not necessarily. It's quite possible to have stairs that discharge via a one-way door that doesn't lead to the lobby, or where the stairs are on the dark side of the moon from the lobby and so are /effectively/ unavailable.
So, destination/"resort"/whatever fees are a generalized scourge and I think most chains would have trouble fighting back unless they all did...and all of them agreeing to fight back could lead to an antitrust fight (witness the publisher/Amazon fiasco a few years back) since some chain would see a chance to start gobbling up lots of hotels (as so few are owned-and-operated by the chains in question).
I think the best you could hope for (plausibly) would be for some of the chains that don't knock them off for elites to require hotels to provide /specific/ benefits to those elites if a fee is assessed (e.g. "Must provide an equivalent credit at the hotel restaurant/F&B outlets, which can accumulate across the stay"), and even that might be a fight under existing license agreements (and Marriott is already enough of a mess on benefits as it is...).
Having said that, just call the Concierge line and they'll knock the fees back off.
I've lost count of how many hotels either have breakfast start quite late (e.g. 0700, or even 0730 on weekends - I don't recall if I've run into 0800 yet, though) or end early. Starting late hoses the benefit if I have a flight to catch (I love the HR MCO, but McCoy's doesn't start breakfast until around 0700, which means if I have a flight before about 0930 the benefit is of limited utility - but to their credit, breakfast runs right up until lunch at 1100), while ending early messes with my normal/preferred sleep cycle.
I'm neutral on required valet (or "required valet to get parking included with your stay") as long as I don't have to pay for it. I've only had one bad experience with valet parking...but that sole bad experience with valet parking over the years is also the subject of pending litigation. Think Ferris Bueller.
Marriott has its own issues on this front...but at least they're good about 1600 checkout for Titaniums.
I'm sort-of alright with the reality of "downtown hotel has to charge for parking when there is both decent mass transit available AND it would be prohibitively expensive to have sufficient parking for all rooms". Price-based rationing /is/ a thing, and you have hotels like the HR Atlanta where several hundred rooms were added in subsequent expansions but there was no way to expand the (underground) parking garage or hotels in NYC where the tax or construction cost impact of having a parking garage is likely murderous.
At the other end of things, however, you have "random suburban hotel with a square mile of parking lot charging $20/night". I think the only hotel I've ever given a quasi-pass to on this was the HP Lake Buena Vista, where I think they had to start levying /something/ because you had people parking there from the neighboring hotels (there's an adjacent Crowne Plaza and a bunch of Marriott properties within a block - I think even the Fairfield started charging even though they don't even have control over their lot [it's shared with a shopping center]), but they seem to at least nod the fee off for elites, period.
2/3 length bathtubs. I'm looking at you North America. After a day travelling or walking around a busy city, I want to stretch out and soak my muscles. not sit there with my knees in the air!
Well, deal with it or deny us the "privilege" of your presence. In Europe ice is not a thing that is desired or needed.
Time for some cheese with your whinge, sir.
Why can't they put two chairs in a hotel room so both people can sit at the same time? Are chairs really that expensive? Ever try to type on a computer while lying on a bed?
All liquid soap, body wash, etc have the sodium laurel sulfate. It's what makes the bubbles and should be carefully rinsed off as quickly as possible. Potential carcinogen.
I agree with everything on your list, and would add: how about putting light switches in obvious places, putting TWO chairs in the room, so one isn’t stuck sitting on the bed, and stop wrapping the hairdryer up in knots every day!
Fun post, Lucky:-)
Bathroom doors that don't lock. Interior doors with foggy glass that light up the bedroom when someone either turns a light on in a suite parlor, or goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Curtains that don't block out the light, especially at latitudes when you have a sunset before 6am. I absolutely do not stay at hotels that will charge me a resort fee, even if it's a $1,000 a night hotel that I can get for free with a free night certificate or points. Sorry, but I'm not paying you $50 a day protection racket money.
Also Ben, you forgot hotels where it's impossible to control the room temperature. I'm talking to you, Europe. It's either heat, or AC. How hot or how cold do you want it? Shoulder season travel sucks at those hotels.
I despise bar soap, and actually travel with a small bottle of liquid soap in my toiletry bag. Bar soap dries out my skin terribly, cheap liquid soap doesn't.
"A room sensor that controls the HVAC. It automatically shuts off your air conditioning (or heat) if there is no movement (or you are a very still sleeper). It is super annoying to wake up covered in sweat because the A/C cut off during the night."
THIS!!!
Agree with many of the items listed here.
It's great when the higher-end properties want to include really cool looking amenities, but in several of the properties where I've recently stayed, the electric kettles etc. did not work. Things happen once in a while but I've encountered this almost everywhere where these items are used - and on a repeated basis at the same property, too. Confused why a basic check on those items isn't done more often.
As much as I love shiny new tile and a modern bathroom, seems like there's lots of bad planning/implementation. Basic things like incorrect grading of the shower floor surface, so water doesn't drain correctly. I initially thought this was happening more at old properties where they yanked out a tub/shower combo and replaced it with a shower, but it seems to be prevalent at all hotels, old or new.
And definitely agree w/the lighting controls. When we stayed at the Alila Marea a while back, the lighting controls and the controls to open/close drapes were needlessly complicated (with no instructions nor anyone on staff to show how it's done).
PS: I know this impacts very few people so it's a specialized peeve, but as someone who needs a handheld shower head (due to recurring issues w/my arm due to prior injury) it's frustrating that the info as to what rooms at a property have that setup is buried deeper than the gold at Ft. Knox on most hotel websites.
Here is one idea for resort hotels catering to families: provide with color-coded hooks for hanging towels. Whenever we travel 2+2 we are forced to throw our towels to the floor because we never know whose towel it is. If we stay 7 days in one resort, this is possibly 16 towels that are unnecessarily washed. We want to reuse, recycle, etc etc, but make it easy please.
Spain is the only European country where I have consistently encountered this issue. It is particularly annoying in hotels that are not full, clearly housekeeping doesn't care enough to mark the room as 'smoked' in the system.
Because I haven't run into this in quite a few years now. I could definitely see this in the locations you've identified ...
just cover the sink with a clean handtowel while you're putting your lenses in. easy peasy!
Good list by everyone.
The hotels that say they are going "green", yet, when you arrive, nearly every light is on and so is the TV. Along with the empty mini fridge that's loud.
My biggest peeve though is how hotels treat bottled/filtered water like it's a premium item that giving it to you requires like top-tier status. OHH, thanks Hampton Inn for giving me bottled water for being a Diamond with MyWay benefits. And even if you want to go the filtered water route, which I'm all for, I've been in hotels where the machines are only on select floors, like that somehow is helpful. Looking at you Hilton Columbus.
Super loud HVAC is another one. I get that those units are cheaper, but still, wish they had some attempt at sound deadening.
Hard contact lens can go down a drain if you're unlucky. I've used the washcloth over the drain many times. BTW, if you can has a drain that closes, you could replace it with a drain with a screen of sorts (i.e., a drain cap with holes smaller than my contacts).
I think you need to separate what is really in the hotel's control and what is not. The staffs have no way to change the poor design of the room, desk situation, bathroom situation, or the outlets/lack of detail.
The TVs that automatically turn on and the curtains that automatically move top my list. I also find it annoying if there is weak water pressure. In my experience, nowadays, there are very few hotels that have limited hour gyms and outlets next to the bed have become pretty standard. Coffee depends on the country, I think. More recently built or renovated hotels will have a desk substitute which I agree is annoying if it is not practical. I find it annoying especially after a long flight if you get into a room that they assigned which is clearly not your preferences such as bed type or view, etc.
Adding one: severe light pollution. You turn off the lights to sleep only to notice all the devices and indicator lights around the room. On of the first things I do is dim or unplug the alarm clock. That used to be the only one, but now you have everything from strobes on smoke detectors they seemingly borrowed from the FAA to a Christmas tree like set of lights on devices behind the TV. The worst is in Homewood Suites where the Microwave display is a bright as the face of the sun and it shines into the mirror next to the door and then right into your face while sleeping. I carry a postit note pad just to cover them up.
I LOATHE paying for parking at suburban hotels or hotels with giant surface lots. I fully admit that it impacts my experience far more than it should, but it just really rubs me the wrong way.
Walking into a hotel room with a person under the bed. Way to go Japan.
Would it be worse if the person under the bed was deceased or alive ?
(Asking for a friend..) lol
Not enough hooks and bars to hang towels. I don't mind 'saving the environment' by reusing my towels, but please make it easier.
So agree! Why would I want to leave my hand towel on the counter, where it will never get dry, or drip water all over the bathroom as I walk to the only towel bar? Sure, it’s clean water, but bad design. Spend 5 bucks and put a hook by the sink!
For me:
- lack of soundproofing
- lack of blackout window coverings
- worn out mattresses
- multiple electronic devices with bright or blinking indicators that light up the room at night
- HVAC activated by a motion detector, so that it shuts off in the middle of the night, resulting in a boiling or freezing room
- centrally controlled AC temperatures, so that I can’t get the room as cold as I want
- nasty floral scented bath products
Extraneous lights or sounds in the room. For example, a loud fridge that can’t be turned off without unplugging. An alarm clock that can’t be dimmed. Smoke alarm or TV power lights that are brighter than the sun. Blackout curtains that still allow light leakage. Hallways that inexplicably play music 24/7 which bleeds into the rooms.
One of the reasons I love Japanese businessman hotels is that they have alcohol in vending machine and an onsen spa that’s open all night long. I love being able to come home for a long day of sightseeing and go soak my aching legs in a hot mineral bath before going to bed.
Western hotels with spas see them as profit centers to be used in conjunction with paid treatments and are never open past about 8 PM. So many disappointed Japanese travelers at Hawaiian hotels hoping for an after dinner soak…
I do want to thank you for giving me two of hotel habits years ago: photographing the room number and figuring out how the fakakta high design shower actually functions before going to bed so i won’t fight with it in the morning while still half asleep.
Scripted, artificial customer service - you are not going to get genuine service at a corporate owned/chain hotel.
Small, boutique and/or family run hotels is were genuine service is provided.
Genuine service is not a thing. Some people are just better at acting than others.
I don't mind scripted service because it shows they at least pretend to care. There are many hotels out there where you will not get a smile or eye contact from anyone at the front desk. I have checked in (as a well-dressed, smiling and friendly customer) at a family-run small Midwestern hotel where the receptionist never looked up from her computer, deadpanned only the words "ID and credit card," and handed me a room key envelope with zero further interaction.
Broad generalizations. Best recent sincere, unscripted service was at Sukhothai Bangkok, an SLH Hotel. Athenée Bangkok was also sincere and impressive, notwithstanding it's a luxe factory. "Independent" does not mean "good" IME.
I absolutely disagree, and in fact, it’s exactly the opposite.
These small, boutique hotels often have no protocols in place so they either have no idea how to react or have a bad reaction to any sort of non-standard issues. Defective hardware is most often the biggest issue here.
I find they are often quite haughty and really, it’s almost impossible to get any sort of service recovery.
Large chains have protocols and people involved don’t have an attachment to the company, so you’re more likely to get a more satisfactory resolution. Either compensation, a small gift, or a new room (or all 3!).
Yes, these are all “if things go wrong” situations, but I’ve come to realize that about 75% of the time, things always do.
No way of accessing the HDMI ports for the TVs is another for me but agreed with this list overall
Lack of Chromecast especially when overseas and the only channels in English are news (I want to relax not be depressed)
Lack of decaf coffee (bit niche I admit)
Rude staff - interestingly some of the best service I have had has been at budget hotels
Most of all I just want a room that's clean and comfortable
I don't need Chromecast; I need an HDMI port. And, frequently, all I have to do in France is select the original audio channel.
Strong concurrence with all except the coffee bit.
I can understand Ben's complaint about coffee even though I do not drink it. I am a tea drinker; if you think coffee drinkers have it bad in hotels, try being a tea drinker.
In-room coffee makers typically double as the source of hot water for tea. The end result is inevitability nasty, coffee-flavored tea. If the hotel provides coffee in the lobby or other central location, at best they will provide a very limited selection of tea bags (often only herbal teas with no caffeine) and lukewarm water.
@TravelCat2 Don't get me started! My Go Bag has a ziploc of my usual morning tea (Keemun) and a tea ball. I've found 5 star hotels in Asia get tea, while all hotels in USA no matter what category are grotesquely bad with tea, as if it's a matter of national pride to screw up tea. In Asia there's a coffee pod thingy and a kettle, but rarely a teapot. Maybe I should just stay home LOL
Same! I forget which famous older actress said this, but she said always travel with your own tea bags. I do, and also, I travel with a collapsible silicone electric kettle to boil my own water. Coffee flavored English Breakfast tea is an abomination.
More:
-Parking charges for suburban hotels with a large parking lot.
-Required valet parking.
-Breakfast hours/pool/other hours creep.
-No access to stairs to bypass elevator.
-Room service trays not being picked up in a timely manner (old food in hallways).
-Parties.
-Convoluted rules/policies that get in the way of providing efficient service ("you get one hot item from the breakfast menu, but only from these three choices").
The "no access to stairs to bypass elevator" would be a serious fire code violation, ... at least it would be in the United States.
Destination fees are very annoying especially when certain Hyatt's (looking at you Hyatt Regency Phoenix) keep charging my account even though I'm a Globalist and everytime I have to stop by the front desk to have them removed!
I don't even know what purpose they serve especially like the Hyatt in Phoenix when they don't even have a decent breakfast restaurant nor a lounge!
Strong concurrence with your pet peeves, with the exception of the coffee one. I wonder, Ben, if it would be worth revisiting your earlier work on declining US tourism from abroad??
The latest data reported by Axios on international arrivals suggests your previous analysis was prescient - Canada's 25% decline is even steeper than anticipated. What strikes me is how cities like Buffalo are now scrambling with "We Love Canada" campaigns while the federal messaging remains unchanged.
The disconnect between local economic reality ($127 billion in visitor spending) and diplomatic rhetoric seems to be crystallizing into measurable behavioral shifts. When longtime allies feel "betrayed" rather than merely inconvenienced, we've moved beyond typical policy friction into something more structurally damaging to America's soft power projection.
Perhaps there's a follow-up angle here on how tourism serves as an early warning system for broader relationship deterioration? The trust erosion your piece identified appears to be accelerating faster than the policy cycle can address.
Upgrade not provided when it is clear they upgraded room available. Just checked into the Hilton Berlin and they had paid upgrades listed. They recently renovated the “premium wing” but said they could not offer a room to me despite being a long-time Diamond (after having stayed here twice already and received an upgrade both times). They said it was a “management decision” and I told them it was a horrible decision. I am also a Marriott Titanium so plan to stay at Westin Grand next time I am here.
Hmm, this is disappointing to hear. Back in 2018, I used to get upgraded a lot at the Hilton Berlin Gendarmenmarkt while Diamond.
Disappoint you and ridicule you by allowing your key to open areas you have no access to and turning you away in from of everyone.
Having to pay for parking.
I understand this in e.g. Manhattan, where there's a bona fide need to ration spaces.
I am decidedly less understanding out in suburbia.
Yeah, try staying at a place charging two grand a night on a massive private estate with plenty of room for cars and they still charge sixty-five bucks a night to park the damn thing
Weak and/or slow WiFi is inexcusable. Carpeting because it’s usually stained and carries bad odors.
I agree with most of these, and many should become incorporated into AAA's standard for getting a four diamond rating (AAA's rating requirements is why shampoo is a standard amenity, but toothpaste is not). Perhaps MAHA can get behind removing those dirty throw pillows and decorative blankets upon request.
One point I disagree on is the cofffee station. I don't trust in-room coffee machines to be clean, so I just avoid using them. I sometimes bring my own mini hot water kettle -- the AmazonBasics one isn't labeled mini, but compact enough.
Not only are showers often too complicated, so are thermostats. In 2011 I stayed in the Westin Chaoyang in Beijing, Neither I (with two engineering degrees) nor a fellow engineer, could determine how to adjust it. We had to get a hotel staffer to show us how.
My first time ever to Beijing there were hotel reviews that the sinks and toilets have strange lingering odor. So I brought some car air freshener trees with me lol.
I don't mind the no privacy bathrooms, I travel with my opposite sex friend quite a bit and it's always a bit of fun to laugh at each others ageing bodies.
One of my pet peeves is similar to the amenities checking where tissue boxes has 2 or 3 left when you check in...