Air conditioning in hotel rooms
 

Is it almost a given that hotels don't have a/c in most or all of Europe (except in 4 and 5 star establishments)? My wife suffers from the heat in non-AC rooms. Do American chains have A/C as a rule?
Thanks

No, that's not true, Huntley. Even a lot of good two stars will have a/c-I've never stayed in either an apt. or hotel in Italy, for example, that did not have a/c-either central a/c, or, in the case of my apt. in Venice-an odd portable a/c (which I didn't need to use-even last August, btw).

When you do your hotel search, using a hotel search engine, say, venere.com, or the hotel website, they almost always say whether they have a/c or "aria condizionata" (in Italian). If they don't say, then that generally means they do not.

If in doubt, email the hotel or call to make sure.

And I don't know of any instance where an American chain would not have a/c.

We stayed in a small family run Logis outside of St. Remy in 2003. Remember that awful heat wave?
Anyway, the room had air and the price was very reasonable.
You just have to do your homework.
Good luck.

Hi huntley, to answer your question I have never stayed in an American hotel that did not have airconditioning. Well at least not since I was a child, decades ago airconditioning was not as common. So your wife should be fine. Best regards.

Actually huntley, my comment may not be absolutely correct. Some hotels in San Francisco do not have a/c I believe. I would be sure to check regarding availability of a/c before booking a room. P.S. We are having around 105 degrees where I live with "threats" of up to 110 degrees tomorrow. I have had the a/c on 24/7.

many best westerns in europe do not have aircon. these are privately owned and just part of the reservation network and use the BW name for marketing purposes. many are old and small places. Aircon is not required for a hotel to join the BW network and there is no more chance that a BW will have aircon as compared to a similar hotel.

But huntley is asking about airconditioning in American chain hotels not about hotels in Europe.
I think most if not all chain hotels in America have airconditioning but I am not certain.

Maybe on Saturday someone can answer huntely's question for sure..I hope!!

Always, always ask if it is important to you. We rented a beautiful, well located apartment in London a couple of years ago and were told A/C is not necessary, yada, yada, yada...Well, in August of 2004, it was very necessary and our flat was uncomfortably warm at times. On the other hand, after fretting that Italian A/C wouldn't be cool enough for us, both our hotels (La Calcina in Venice and Daphne Veneto in Rome) had good A/C. So at least we had a cool refuge from the heat; they do ask you to turn it off while you're away though. And at the Daphne, it was mounted in such a way that the air blew down on me and caused a lot of temporary nasal congestion. (My husband had it on a pretty forceful setting.)

Anyway, do ask especially since your wife has comfort issues...

Best Western is not an American chain hotel, Walk. As you point out, they are privately owned European hotels, that utilize the Best Western name.

The Marriott or Hilton chain are examples of American chain hotels in Europe, and they all do have a/c. All chain hotels in this country,(US) from La Quinta to the economy Red Roof Inn, have a/c in all their rooms.

And Love Italy, you're right-about SFO-there are a few independent hotels there I can think of that do not have a/c.

The safest route is to verify with the actual hotel you'll be staying in, no matter what chain it might be a part of. Even then, some Europeans don't understand what real A/C is, so you might find it to be very weak on arriving if the weather is hot. But always verify at least.

Large American company-owned chains will have A/C. So will any large hotel in a large building or high-rise, because large buildings have to be air-conditioned. However, it's always best to verify.

Hi H,

>Is it almost a given that hotels don't have a/c in most or all of Europe...

No. We stayed in a B&B in Florence that had excellent AC.

The 2* hotel where we stay in Paris has very good AC.

As noted, check with the hotel for the specific dates when you will be staying. Many of them turn off the AC on Oct 1.

((I))

It depends entirely on the hotel - the only thing you can be sure of is that a new American chain hotel will have AC.

What we have found important is that the rooms have individual controls rather than central AC (since management sometimes decides to turn off the AC to save money).

In any case - it is rarely like AC in the US - where you can make the room as cold as you want - but you can usually get it reasonably cool.

All of the automated motel chains except Formule 1 are now air conditioned in the south of France. I just spent a week at an Etap Hôtel in Avignon. It was 39°C outside but I slept with the blanket and bedspread fully deployed in my freezing 40 euro room.

I agree with everything AnthonyGA said. What you think of as the large "business-class" hotel chains, American or otherwise, have decent air-conditioning, but always verify.

I have learned that even when A/C is noted in a hotel listing, the quality can vary at independent and smaller hotels. SOME have those fabulously efficient and quiet (often Japanese made) AC's. I've also been surprised when an otherwise good hotel room (duplex suite at the Claridge on the Champs Elysees) had only a floor stand AC in the bedroom in the bedroom on the upper floor that was quite noisy -- we preferred to keep he window open and swelter a bit. My quite-decent hotel in Sorrento only turned on the AC after 5 p.m. (which worked well afterwards, but if you wanted it cooler before...no. I've seen this in other hotels.) There are also plenty of under-powered units like our very nice resort on Capri, i.e. compared to American standards, the temperature will drop from unbearable to mildly uncomfortable, but there is a change.

My context: I understand why it can be difficult for many older hotels to install AC (basic expense; typical climate; building codes; high fuel costs; etc.) and don't like really chilled rooms, but the dear husband does not sleep well if the room isn't reasonably cool. I'm not THAT picky, but there have been many times when a hotel in Europe claimed to have AC, but the effect was, "just barely."

If you want to be sure about the quality of the AC, start with a business-class hotel chain.

I misunderstood huntley..brain dead last night perhaps? I thought you were asking about American chain hotels in the US but realize now you were asking about American chain hotels in Europe. Sorry!

I have never stayed at an American chain hotel in Italy (the only country in Europe I ever visit). The hotels in Italy that have a/c is not generally like our a/c here in the states as others have expressed.

Hope you get this worked out as I know people that can get very ill, heat exhaustion etc. without proper a/c.

P.S. For any of you renting a private apartment or house in Italy. Family members just returned and had a fantastic time and loved the house they rented in a small town in Tuscany. The website showed it had a/c. It did, in the living room.

The owners did give them a fan for the bedroom and they managed alright but for anyone with a problem like huntley's wife I imagine that would have been a problem.

It's not difficult to retrofit A/C even in old buildings. The real problem is that hotels are often too cheap to install decent A/C, too cheap to install A/C that is adequate for the load, too cheap to run A/C high enough to really cool the building, or too cheap to turn A/C on to begin with.

Note that the common factor here is "too cheap." And yet even inexpensive hotels can easily afford to supply decent A/C; they just don't want to. So be careful about the hotel you choose and make sure it really does have real A/C. And if they promise A/C and it's not up to snuff, make noise.

Just an FYI: SFO is the code for San Francisco airport, not the city. And there certainly are some hotels there without a/c, because most of the year (except for this year, of course) it isn't needed. However, it's primarily the small, older hotels that don't have a/c; virtually all the chains have it. Best to inquire before booking.

It's about 110 here today. Ugh.

Actually dear Underhill, www.weather.com shows it is 113 with max at 115! Ugh is right. I don't know if my a/c is working properly, it has been running for hours but the temp isn't going below 82. Maybe just a higher temperture than the a/c can handle? A neighbor was just taken by ambulance to the hospital..an older woman. Tomorrow is to be the same. Take care of yourself!

It may seem mad, but I have just evolved a theory that there is a connection between air conditioning and obesity.
I have been on holiday in England and for the first time didn't put on any weight.
I found that my body wasn't wanting calorific food and was going for light meals with lots of salad and fruit, the sort of things with a high water content.
My daughter is eating in exactly the same way and said, "Dad, I'm surprised that people in hot climates can get fat".
It suddenly dawned on me that the natural way for humans to eat is to consume high calorific foods in the winter and to decrease their calories and consume more liquid in the summer.
Of course, if you go from an air conditioned house in an air conditioned car to an air conditioned all you can stuff down restaurant, this natural eating rule doesn't apply.

You must write a monograph on the sociology of air conditioning ;-)

Central heating would be another good subject.
When I was a child, the family would all be in one room doing things together like listening to the wireless or later watching television.
I would go to a separate room downstairs to do my homework.
Bedrooms were for sleeping.
Nowadays, central heating means that children and adolescents can avoid seeing parents or siblings altogether.
They can retreat to their bedrooms to watch TV, play computer games or listen to downloaded music.

The "problems" start, IMO, for those who continue to hold the belief that there is a major difference between between heating and "air conditiong."

Since they both make an inhabited space more comfortable, climate-wise, what is the difference?

Whether or not one is "more necessary" than the other seems to be a matter of personal opinion. You can die from extreme cold as well as from extreme heat.

Do they have AC? yes, and they will tell you they do.

Will you actually receive the service? Aye, there's the rub.

To give the hotel managers the benefit of the doubt, maybe they don't understand the concept of a thermostat. (My mother doesn't, no matter how many times I've tried to explain.)

If the thermostat is set for 78 degrees F (or whatever is felt to be a reasonable compromise between comfort and energy use) there is no need to 'turn off' the AC - it will turn itself off unless room temps rise above this value, no matter what the season of the year.

I have no problem with governments urging citizenry to keep thermostats set relatively high (or, in the case of heating, low) but the idea that the calendar month somehow magically dictates what is appropriate, regardless of current conditions or the location of the room (those under the roof tend to have more variable temperatures than elsewhere) is insane.

A source of information is Fodor's books. I purchased the German 2006 and was delighted to see the extensive details about the hotels they recommend...including a/c, no a/c or on some floors.

Of course, you can always ask when you book online if going through their site.

You just need to ask the specific hotels. In Paris and Venice our 3-star hotels both had air con. They were normal independent local hotels not part of any chain.

We have found lots of hotels in France with ac but they seem to turn them on according to the calendar (May to September in some cases) not the heat...