Hotel Hair Dryer Rating System
 

My wife's hair dryer, which can be used in an emergency to inflate tires, blew it's "European" fuse the first day of our trip. She was therefore consigned to hotel hair dryers (horrors!) Nowhere in any of the travel books and guides have I found any reference to hair dryer ratings. So over the course of our trip, we developed a simple rating system which I hereby submit to my Fodor Friends in the hopes of developing a vast library of information regarding this very important, but often overlooked, criteria for selecting hotels.<BR><BR>Ratings:<BR>1 = Dismal<BR>2 = Just OK<BR>3 = Great!<BR>N/A = none available<BR><BR>U Pava, Prague = 2<BR>Konig von Ungarn, Vienna = 2<BR>Gruener Baum, Halstatt = 2<BR>Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg = 3<BR>Albana, Weggis (Swiss) = 1<BR>Alpenruh, Muerren = 2<BR>Hotel Du Lac, Vevey = 1<BR>Hilton, Zurich Airport = 1<BR><BR>I think it is important to note that, IMHO, ratings should be provided by women only, as us guys generally have no concept of the importance of this appliance, except that it takes up a lot of space in the suitcase, and has a lot to do with the general dispostion of our female companions.<BR><BR>Anyway, submitted herewith for your consideration.

Bill, if you have a Walgreens nearby your home, you can buy a blow dryer there for $10. Walgreens has a line of blow dryers, with a switch to change the current for European travel. Also, it is 1600 watts, small, lightweight (I'm guess less than 2 pounds) and has one of those collapsible handles. All you need to do is get an adapter for it. Anyway have used mine throughout Eastern Europe, and it works quite well.

I, too, always travel with my own hairdryer (dual voltage, never had a problem), for just that reason. <BR><BR>However, I am a strong supporter of the Universal Hotel Hair Dryer Rating System. <BR><BR>If this were commonly done, and I was able to confirm before a trip that all the hotels on my itinerary had 3* hair dryers, I'd be perfectly happy to leave mine at home! I will henceforth include this information in my trip reports!<BR><BR>I have another suggestion - electrical outlet and mirror availability. I also travel with a curling iron (also dual voltage with never any problems, and no, I do NOT have "big hair"). I have many times been forced to crawl on my hands and knees under a bed or desk to unplug a lamp so that I can plug in my curling iron, and invariably, the only outlet is nowhere near a mirror. (For those less vain than I - outlets are also a problem for laptop plug in, only without the proximity-to-mirror issue).<BR><BR>Bathroom & outlet ratings . . . I see a future for us, Bill, writing updates to travel guides all over the world . . .

I cannot believe anyone would lug around a hairdryer or even spend one minute worrying about the grade of hairdryer you might find in a hotel. Really good travellers just air dry and go with the flow!

Really, there are some types of hair that need a hair dryer -- be a little broader minded!

Andrea - <BR><BR>"Forced to crawl on your hands and knees under a bed or desk to unplug a lamp"? Oh, the injustice of it all. I'll bet you're a big help in a pinch and an all-around delight to travel with.

Alert: It was meant to be funny - apparently I'm losing my touch (if I ever had it to begin with) . . .

I'm with you Andrea.... in one small London hotel the only available outlet was in a dark corner under a table... poor me, trying to fix my hair a bit, then run to the bathroom mirror. (No, I am not overly concerned with my looks on vacation. But a certain pride in appearance dictates that I not look like I slept in the tube.) As for hair dryers, I have yet to find one in a hotel that rates higher than a 2, but it's still better than carrying one.

Andrea: I caught the humor. Actually, I have seen my wife bent over a table with the curling iron 'cause the cord wasn't long enough from the only plug we could find.<BR>My post is intended to be funny also. But I did not make any notes on plug availability. That's a good idea. Guess I'll have to go back. (Maybe Fodor's will pay us to add a new section to their travel guides.)

The hair dryer at La Residencia in Majorca was terrible. I took a month long trip and that was the worst one.

<BR>Surely if you can lug around a hair blower you can bring your own extension cord and mirror. Let's quit whining and get on the tour bus.

I do, in fact, sometimes bring an extension cord and small mirror, in addition to scotch tape to tape the plug into the outlet (am I the only one for whom they are endlessly falling out). This is why Bill, Kay, Maxie, and I are writing our book with the Universal Hotel Hair Dryer and Electrical Outlet Rating System.