I’m often asked how I deal with jetlag. Despite rarely spending more than a couple of days in the same timezone, the simple answer is that I don’t. No matter where in the world I am, I try to have my day overlap as much as possible with the US east coast business day. That’s simply because that’s when I’m busiest in terms of email, airline/loyalty program news, etc.
When I’m in China, for example, it’s not unusual for me to sleep from 10AM until 2PM and then again from 4AM until 7AM, or something like that. As a result, my hours often don’t overlap with housekeeping’s preferred hours for servicing rooms. And I’m usually fine with that, since I don’t need my room refreshed every day (especially when there are bonus points in it for me).
Which brings me to the “Do Not Disturb” sign, possibly my most utilized feature of any hotel room. To me the “Do Not Disturb” sign means. Do. Not. Disturb. Please.
Yet hotels seem to have a different interpretation of that. To hotels it seems to mean “don’t knock, but call instead.”
So almost every time I have the “Do Not Disturb” sign up I get a call around the middle of the day saying “we saw you had the ‘do not disturb’ sign on, when did you want your room serviced?”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting the hotel to check whether the “Do Not Disturb” sign is up before calling, but I do find it a bit odd that hotels consistently “disturb” precisely because the “Do Not Disturb” sign is up.
But I do also get the hotel’s perspective. They have to make sure they’re properly staffed and able to service all rooms, and that’s tough to do when guests indefinitely have the “Do Not Disturb” sign up.
I’m curious where you guys stand on this — does the “Do Not Disturb” sign mean “don’t knock but call me instead” or does it actually mean “do not disturb?”
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