guest room temperature controls
 

As a hotel or b&b guest, what temperature do you like your room a/c set at? I have noticed a lot of places are putting in energy efficient individual controls that have a maximum cool that you can set it on. Thoughts?

64 degrees. Seriously, I find anything higher too warm for comfortable sleep.

64 degrees, are you serious? I was gong to say 76.

74 degrees

I agree with dmlove, if I had a choice. In the winter we never turn the heat up past 64, and in the summer we turn the ac to around 72, but keep fans going as well.

Another vote for 64 degrees. It never seems to get that low--but I always try. Winter temp at home is 64 night and 68 daytime. Summer 74 degrees with fans.

These are my home settings for sleeping.

Summer cool to 78, or 80 if there is a ceiling fan. Daytime temps go 2 degrees higher.

Winter heat to 66, or 64 if warm covers. Next winter I'll try 60 even since heating oil has climbed from $2.89/gal to >$4.50

I need 70 or below to sleep - and have found that many hotel rooms just simply won;t get cool enough to feel comfortable for me. I wish they would leave the systems alone.

Similarly in the winter, most rooms are way too warm for me - and they're wasting money on heat while I'm opening windows to get fresh, cool air.

(A little warmer 73/4 is OK when I'm awake - since you don;t need to wear much - but there's nothing like lying in bed with only the sheet - and still sweating.)

(I don;t know if this is hereditary or learned - but my father would always turn the house thermostat down to 60 or below at night in the winter. And he's right - that's why there are blankets.)

I would freeze at 64 degrees. I prefer it to be about 72 in winter and 78 in summer.

Keeping in mind that we live in mild-climate San Francisco, we keep the windows open in the bedroom all year round; prefer more blankets and fresh air. In the summer, we keep a fan on (no A/C)

Setting a/c to 64 is nuts! I'm sorry, but it is! Electricity doesn't grow on trees, ya know...

68-70 in a hotel room. At home, windows open, it's almost always comfortable in coastal OC, Ca.

I always set it to around 75 degrees, and sometimes even then in the middle of the night I've got the blankets pulled up to my neck.

The price of electricity, or even the production of electricity regardless of cost, is a concern, but my health (and the ability to sleep is one very important component) is too. I don't choose to be unable to sleep in a warm room, but I can't.

NewbE--Trust me, that is the reason I don't set our ac to 64. I would love to! Thus the ceiling fan over our bed as well as a big pedestal fan pointed right at it. DH has adapted over the years, but when we were first married he thought he was going to freeze to death, lol!

I'm with you chepar!

dm, if you're sleeping under any sort of blanket at all--you are, aren't you?-- then your claims of needing a temp of 64 for your health are, with all due respect, false. Listen, my SIL likes to snuggle under a down comforter even in the summer, and lowers her thermostat accordingly, but she could, of course, sleep under a light cover and turn it up to a reasonable 74 or so. She doesn't want to, and feels she couldn't sleep at all any other way.
But preference and ingrained sleep habits, tough as those are to break--I know, I'm trying to avoid sleeping on my favorite side due to an injury, and it's tough--do not equal a health necessity. What if electricity were rationed--you wouldn't die, you'd adapt.

Winter temp daytime set at 68.
Nighttime winter set at 55.

Summer close all windows and suck cool air via fan from crawl space.
Night time open all windows as it ALWAYS cools down here at night.

Live in Northwest Montana

I don't really need to get into an argument about my sleeping habits, but since I use NO air conditioning at home, I don't feel one bit bad about using it in hotels :)

I do appreciate the feedback. As terrible energy glutens in a hot climate a/c systems in our area are being replaced with programable high efficiency ones. The lowest temp for a/c and highest temp for heat can be predetermined by the innkeeper. We never put our personal a/c below 83 or heat above 68, but know it can be a very personal issue!

I should also comment, that when we go anywhere then leave our guest room we ALWAYS shut off lights and turn off a/c or heat. It is not the hotels and b&b's that suffer in the long run, it is us and the earth! Maybe you think you are "paying for it so use it" and I guess in a way you and all of us are paying for it....that would be in a bad way. JMHO!

What DH and I need when we travel (or at home for that matter) is a room with dual controls, like the heater settings in some cars. Given his choice, he would sleep in the freezer and I in a sauna. We usually compromise at around 68-70 and neither of us is that comfortable

At home, we don't have a/c, so sleep at whatever the temp is, using the ceiling fan when it feels too warm.

We have hot water heat, so leave the thermostat at the same temp, day or night, in the winter--67.

Actually, there was a reason for my "madness" asking this question. A guest was at my b&b 7 months ago and ran the a/c VERY cold during the night every night. I never could figure out how cold as he put it up before leaving daily but it was like a freezer in the room. Since then we got those new controls and the lowest for A/C is programed at 72. No one has had a problem with that and most jack it up way higher. I do cool each room to 75 when waiting for guests to arrive. Anyway, he actually admitted this am that he had gotten used to a/c at 68deg for sleeping but knows that it is wrong of him and is not planning to do that anymore. His wife piped up and said "you know it isn't right, energy doesn't just happen". I didn't prod him, he just said it to me after breakfast! He also proudly stated that he turned up the a/c to 75 because they will be gone all day. I feel better now. They also hung up all their towels in an effort to be green too! We are all learning about consequenses of our actions, one person at a time!

"His wife piped up and said "you know it isn't right, energy doesn't just happen"."

That's a great quote. She was probably cranky from being unable to sleep in a freezing room.

She was the one who thought it silly of him to waste energy for unreasonable temperatures. They live in an area of the country that has been getting some tremendous heat this year so they are learning things may have to be different from now on for them. There is a difference between want and need! She was very happy with 72 degrees.

We like the ac at 72 and never run the heat. We stayed at a B&B a couple of months ago and had the ac control for the entire place in our room. The owner said to just put it on whatever was comfortable for us. Seemed odd to us that all the rooms were under our control, but no one complained about it.

Our rooms have individual controls. I stayed at one years ago where each room had their own except the room I was in. Mine was tied to the innkeepers quarters and he liked it frigid. I thought I would freeze to death! Course, every accommodation place has it's a/c/heat quirks..the good & the bad... We just stayed at my favored boutique hotel for a family reunion. They have individual units and ours was so loud we had to shut it off. Yes, we could have put it down as low as we wanted but the noise...ugh!!!

We stayed at a place on New Orleans that had frigid AC - and 1 control for the whole place. Our vent was broken, so we couldn't close it. So we spend nights with the windows open and extra blankets to balance the AC. It was weird.

I'll leave it to others figure out the exact temperature. My recommendation: please offer layers of covering. Many people like at least a little cover, and a top sheet does the trick. A light blanket could help those who feel too chilly.

I sympathize with the problem. I dislike really cold rooms, but prefer cool rooms. Still, I recognize that summer is summer!

However, I've also been in circumstances where the AC was remarkably inefficient or underpowered (often my compaint about many places in Rome and the Amalfi coast, but as long as tourists keep coming, they have less reason to upgrade old systems. In contrast, the Japanese are masters at efficient AC -- very effective, and can cool rooms very quickly.) In other cases, some hotels have gone to duvet-only (no top sheet) bedding -- which offers the alternatives of absolutely nothing or sweltering if the AC is at a "normal" temperature, or having to erally crank it up to comfortably sleep with the duvet on.

Also to consider, as others have mentioned: what are the room conditions like? Is it very muggy, where an AC also helps to keep things more comfortable, or could fans help? Can windows be open when guests are present, without security issues?

But my compliments about individually-controlled options -- even in my own house (AC central air set at 76, generally very efficient systems), the upper floor is less efficiently cooled than lower floors. Hence, we also use some fans if it feels a little stiffling.

"Mine was tied to the innkeepers quarters and he liked it frigid. I thought I would freeze to death!"

Why not open a window? Since the thermostat was in the other room, your actions would have no net effect on the innkeeper's energy bill.

Painted shut windows!

We have a 5 ton Trane system for downstairs with one control and a 5 ton Trane upstairs where the guest rooms are...all individual controls and great ceiling fans too. Windows do not open as there are other issues about dust, wind, rain, security, etc... with them opening Many hotels have windows that don't open now.

Again, thanks all for your feedback! I wouldn't ask a question if I didn't really want to know! Suprisingly we didn't get yelled this time but got honest feedback - KUDOS. We work tremendously hard for our guests to be the most comfortable we can provide. I have been open almost 16 years and have about 80% repeats...love em!

Hi bnbtraveler, I live in the southern end of the Sacramento Valley (N CA) and often summertime gets very hot. When I turn on my AC I never set it lower than 76 degrees. Keep in mind we do not have high humidity. In winter it can get coldish but not freezing. I never set the heater higher than 70 degrees and turn it down to 60 or lower at night. Usually lower as I have an European comforter. I do seem to be able to handle heat and cold better than some people I know. Everyone has a different tolerance temperature wise.

It is important. If I can't control the temp to my liking then I will plan not to return to a hotel and will avoid the chain.

Having a limit on cooling means that the fan runs continuously, even though the a/c doesn't kick in.

For me it is 68F or 20C year round.

My a/c system fan does not run continuously. Ceiling fans can be run or not run, as a guest desires.

Being from UK don't like things too hot so we never have a radiator on in our bedroom and always have window open as i love fresh air. So temp is about 50/55 decrees

We do have a very well insulated house do this helps, and bedroom is over lounge so heat rises through evening.

I also never have a duvet over 6 togs on bed as this makes it too uncomfortable to sleep.

BTW, we do have heating on in all other rooms this could be why our bedroom is warm enough without a radiator on as the house is generally, warm enough. I keep thermostate at about 23/35 decrees.