Solutions to Hotel Room Annoyances
 

Can you add to this list?

 Alarm goes off unexpectedly—Before retiring, check to make certain the alarm is off.
 Sheets become untucked—Before retiring, check sheets and re-make bed if necessary.
 Bedspread may be dirty—Remove and store the bedspread (and hope for triple sheeting).
 Carpet may be dirty—Carry slippers.
 Light is too dim for reading--Carry a 100-watt light bulb.
 Coffee provided is inferior—Carry your favorite coffee and filters.
 Pillow is lumpy—Request a different pillow (or carry your own pillow).
 Shower curtain is mildewed—request a clean shower curtain.
 Sink has no drain plug--Carry a universal sink plug.
 No nightlight in bathroom--Carry a small flashlight.
 Alarm may not hard to set or unreliable--Carry a travel alarm clock.

Carry your house on your back like a tortoise.

I unplug the phone and turn off alarm clock. I don't even need the nightlight.
I use my cell phone. It has a great alarm and a light that serves as a nightlight when charging.
Anyone who needs me knows to call me on the cell.

I agree with E - it's their hotel and they need to fix/equip it properly. Otherwise I'm gone! (But I must admit I;ve never had most of these problems happen - if I had that hotel brand would be off my list.)

I just used this travel tip this past weekend in Chicago. (a tip that I gleaned from this very chatline!!) The curtains wouldn't shut entirely, so I clipped them together with one of those big hair "claws" that I now always keep in my travel bag. Thanks again to whoever posted that one----I've used it many times!

Colette,

Thanks for your contribution.

I wonder why some Fodorites use their enery to make sour comments. Are they trying to bolster empty lives by making people wince around the globe? If you figure it out, let me know.

Lovingheart

Sorry, but I draw the line at carrying my own light bulbs. A better suggestion would be to carry your own booklight.

And I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to remake the bed when I'm paying that much money per night!

Lovingheart, where in heaven sakes do you stay??? I think that you need to find better quality hotels IMO. I have never felt the need to worry about what you have listed.

Please don't take this as sour, as it's not intended to be. I think the comments just come from having different perspectives of what's important. I traveled a lot and stayed in a lot of hotels over the years. A couple of months ago my wife and I traveled around Romania and are in the process of planning a trip to Cambodia and it wouldn't have occurred to us to bring any of those things except a flashlight (in case the car broke down in the rural transylvania). I only say this to point out that we're all different, so, you might choose to accept those comments as a sign that some others would suggest NOT taking extra things. I'd be among those people, but it wouldn't be intended as a criticism of your choice to carry things along.

I am not known to be a SourPuss nor am I being sour now - but-

I think most people know to pull down the bedspread and to turn off the alarm.
I just cannot imagine carrying light bulbs, sink plugs ,coffee filters and shower curtains and sheets and slippers and lights in addition to the 5 pair of shoes I will bring and the two suitcases that are already straining at the seams!

My solution to Hotel Room Annoyances would be to stay in a slightly better hotel, where one does not have to go through all of this.

Most people I know also pull back the beadspread whether it be at home or at a hotel. It is a beadspread not a blanket.

Too much bother with the above. Just move your hotel level up a notch to a Hampton Inn or Doubletree.

I might add to my list "have realistic expectations of the chain I've picked. - Remember adage "You get what you pay for."

If I'm paying $49 at a Red Roof Inn or Days Inn, and I find things like mildew on the shower curtain, my first thought is "this is why I don't mind paying extra for a nice hotel."

lovingheart
Regarding your comment: "I wonder why some Fodorites use their enery to make sour comments. Are they trying to bolster empty lives by making people wince around the globe? If you figure it out, let me know."
I don't get it, first you start a thread ASKING us to list our hotel room annoyances, then you chastise us for following your request? What's up with that?

How or why would anyone carry with them slippers (wear your socks!), light bulbs, pillow, drain plug (!), flashlight (well, maybe...), alarm clock, coffee and filters, etc? Too much luggage! I'd feel like I was moving in.

Perhaps my biggest comlaint in hotels is when we are travelling with our kids and there's free porn on the tv. So I just ask about that when making reserves.

The only thing we're sure to pack is our travel sound soother. The low white noise is great for screening out intermittent noises during the night. Not all silences are created equal, no matter what class of hotel.

I rereading my post, I can’t see where I said I stay at bottom-of-the-line motels. I don’t.

I do check the alarm clock, I do remake a bed likely to become undone at night, and I do remove bedspreads and store them upon check-in.

I do carry the flip-flops I wear around the house, coffee and filters (I like a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning), a small flashlight, and a travel alarm (because I trust my little alarm and, when traveling abroad, a clock is sometimes not provided).

I do not travel with a light bulb, a pillow, or a universal sink plug, and I do not worry whether drapes close completely because I like to rise with the sun. However, others do, and my post wasn’t about me, it was about coping with problems that annoy some travelers.

You know, lovingheart, you've kind of set us up for a Fodor-style "gotcha". You posted not once but twice asking for people's pet peeves in hotel rooms, and like the good Fodorites we are, we responded with what I think was a pretty reasonable array of inconveniences and annoyances.

Now you post "solutions" that has now amounted to saying we should just cope with those inconveniences and annoyances (carry lightbulbs, slippers, coffee, pillows, drain plugs!!??). And we've now got the beginning of a typical Fodor brawl about whether people are spoiled brats for complaining about something, or whether travelers are entitled to better treatment and higher expectations of the hotels.

I may think twice before I respond to any such "trawling" post from you again ("trawling" isn't exactly like a "troll" designed to provoke people with a possibly faked post -- but rather a general, sweeping question designed to get a broad spectrum of points of view).

(Colette - I think I might be able to take credit for the first posting re: claw hair clips a couple of years ago when Elvira was still present. I use them for curtains and lots of other things, including leaving notes for travel-mates on lampshades. What a wonderful invention!)

Cassandra, dear prophet,

For every kvetch, such as yours, I have received three good ideas.

Please add to the list to check for the location of exit routes to use in case of emergency.

OldSouthernBelle once found the stairwells locked at MGM Grand.

Lovingheart

IMO, Casandra is right on--there is no way to please lovingheart, or respond reasonably to his/her oddball post. Carry a lightbulb? I guess I'm glad to hear you don't, lovingheart, but the fact that you offer it as an idea at all is, uh, strange.

Lovingheart, pick up a book and stop these inane threads.

I am tempted to copy LovingHeart's list adding "do not tip the maid" after each sentense.

I am tempted to top this list by saying: STOP staying in cheap hotels.

lovingheart, I've really enjoyed reading your hotel threads. Too bad you've pissed off the fodors cabal and you'll now be nitpicked to death for your suggestions and your motivations for posting. Too bad.

Rockhopper 7, Thanks so much for your comment. I am flabbergasted by the mean-spiritedness of some people who visit this site. Loving heart.

As an ABC 20/20 segment suggested. Pull down the bedspread and put it on the floor. They found more seman on bedspreads than anywhere else including the carpet.

People, quit feeding the troll

Lovingheart, Thanks for your post. I admire your perserverence despite messages from hostile Fodorites such as E, Cassandra, and MikeT. You go girl.

Dear Happy
Interesting that this is your first post. AKA: lovingheart?

OK, I may have been too hard on you, lovingheart, if this post was merely intended to pass along people's suggestions as to how to avoid the annoyances listed in your other two posts. However, there are a group of people (cabal is as cabal does) on Fodors who make it their career to chide anyone who dares to complain about some aspect of travel.

Having been stung by such people from time to time, it bothered me to see the same theme pop up here in response to this thread after you explicitly had ASKED for pet peeves. I hope you can see why it felt like a "set up." Short form: "What bothers you about hotels? -- Well, get over it!"

AND TIP THE MAID, PEOPLE!

PS for Faina -- I get that you said "don't tip the maid" as a response to lousy service, and fair enough. But aside from the sad economic reality of what they pay maids, I have found I do, indeed, often get better, more careful service from them when I tip early in my stay.

Careful folks, we are skating dangerously near to the San Jose vs San Francisco debate here.

I say carry a light bulb so you can hold it over your head for every smart travel tip you think of.

Pam, LOL ((I))!

MikeT, I think you just did that. A real TTT.

You may wonder at some of these responses, lovingheart, but is there anything on your list that a person with an ounce of common sense wouldn't have already thought of? And, if minor annoyances such as you list are so detracting that you need to anticipate/plan for each, I'd hate to carry your suitcase. Honestly, if the comforts of home are that important, why not just stay there.

The point for me is that the purpose of this forum is to give good travel advice; I know, "good" is subjective. But when I see what is, admittedly, in MY opinion, not good advice, I feel compelled to say so. My disagreement shouldn't hurt anyone's feelings or be interpreted as "bashing" them--it's a disagreement, and that's all.

lovingheart, don't feel bad, its just your screen name.
If you were another poster (many who post 24/7 and are often condescending) your posts would be greeted with cheers, not jeers.

Or should I copy this list and add: request a refund?

Hello Pam what a bright idea *-:)

Thanks Jor for the bedspread facts. I'll add that to my other new paranoia about the potential diseases I can get from my new jetted bathtub.

This post brought out the cyberbullies.

lenleigh, speaking of hot tubs perhaps I can add to your peranoia. Sorry! On the Today Show this week they tested for viruses and bacteria in a hot tub and many other things. Ecolli (which can kill) was found in the hot tub. A viginal bacterium was found on a mall escalator hand rail, and feses was found on a cab car door handle. Flu virus was found on an office telephone. An ATM machine had more bacteria on it that a toilet seat at the NBC offices.

Yikes.

Now I feel justified when people complain that I spray Lysol on my office phone which everybody seems to like to use when I'm not at my desk.