There is a thread on the European side that is interesting about looking at hotel rooms before you accept them. I always do, do you
or do you find it rude to the establishment?

We always see any room first prior to checking in.

**A large percentage of the hotels I stay in have detailed webpages including photos of the rooms, so I usually know in advance what to expect.
**There have been relatively few times I've checked into a nice hotel and been disappointed (though it's definitely happened...got a handicapped standard room once at Bellagio when paying for a suite(uh uh), room with a cockroach in the middle of the bed at the Ritz in Hawaii...)

Re the above poster...there are hotels where the beds AREN't rock hard? We've sure never encountered one... well...maybe once or twice, but 95% of the time....firm, firmer and firmest seems to be the rule.

As to the original question, we seem to have no trouble asking to see a room in Europe, but I've never had the gumption to do so here....which is a puzzlement to me, but the way it is.

Why, oh why, would you think it rude to accept (and stay in and PAY for) an unacceptable room? At most establishments, you do not pay until you check out. Therefore, if the room to which you are assigned in unacceptable, you can refuse it. If the hotel is uncooperative, and charges you anyway, you simply dispute it when your credit card statement arrives. A multitude of hotels present rooms online and in their printed brochures that look NOTHING like the room you are given upon check-in. Sort of like "model apartments". Of course, if the room you are assigned does not meet your expectations and you choose not to accept it, you must be prepared to take yourself elsewhere. If you've done your homework, though, and studied the establishment on various travel boards, there should be no problem once you arrive. But, it is never, ever, "rude" to expect any establishment to provide a room similar to what they've promised.

from now on no matter where i stay i will check room first. just came back from puerta vallarta, room had view of back of a building and the safe had the front door missing! you'd think they would have fixed it before next guest arrived, i asked front desk if i could get a new one and they said that safe belonged to that room! Name of resort was Las Palmas.

Is there a lower limit of cost for a room below which it would be ludicrous to ask to see it?

I mean, if you've got a AAA discounted rate on a chain motel room, doesn't it seem a tad silly to demand to see a room?

I'll certainly concede that I should have asked to see the $290 room in a Martha's Vineyard B&B that promoted itself by the name of the owner and the situation of the inn on a commanding bluff with a nearly 270-degree view of the ocean. My room, which cost the same as the others, had a commanding view of the driveway and the road leading to it.

On the other hand, the rest of the Inn was full and they had my deposit -- so what should have happened?

It just isn't customary in the US to ask to see the room, and desk clerks will probably look a little askance at you if you ask. But I think I'd do it if the room cost more than the "average" for the city and I had some very specific requirements ("quiet" "view" etc.).

We always check the room first, sometimes when the hotel isn't full you can upgrade free if you really aren't satisfied with what you've been assigned. Personally, I don't like being close to an elevator or snack/drink/ice machines and usually hotel personnel are very cooperative about changing rooms.