Posted on 11/19/2012 1:11:27 PM PST by jazusamo
Few things can make you appreciate home like staying in a hotel. This includes not only low-budget, bare bones hotels but also sweepingly large and ornate luxury hotels. What many hotels seem to have in common are needless hassles.
Since most people who stay in hotels do so while traveling, and stay only a few days in a given hotel, you might think that those who run hotels would want to make it easy for someone who arrives a little tired (or a lot tired) from traveling to use the various devices they find in their hotel room. But you would be wrong. That thought never seems to have crossed their minds.
Recently, at a well-known luxury hotel in Los Angeles, I found that something as simple as turning on a television set can require a phone call to the front desk, and then waiting for the arrival of a technician. Then it took another phone call to get a list of which of the dozens of channels were for which networks.
Why the turning on of a television set should be anything other than obvious to a newly arrived hotel guest is apparently a question that never occurred to the people who ran this hotel. Nor did it apparently ever occur to them that someone just arriving from a journey might want to be able to relax, instead of having to cope with complications that the hotel could easily have avoided.
The next morning, in the shower, I found myself confronted with a dazzling array of knobs and levers, none of which provided any clue as to what they did. The lever rotated and four of the surrounding knobs both rotated and tilted forward and backward.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
Before you had to guess exactly how hot the room would get when the knob was turned to 'Lo' or 'Med' or 'Hi'.
Heh, heh.
That particular profit-enhancing scam has bit the dust.
Nobody even uses the hotel’s phones anymore.
Also I’ve noticed that the “on-line movies” (really porn access) that used to be ubiquitous is getting rare. Apparently people can now access their porn (or for that matter other movies via Netflix) online, so they don’t need to pay the hotel $10 or $15.
You also reminded me of my pre-cell and pre-wireless internet road warrior days.
Used to carry a “phone card” on which 2000 minutes cost something like $10. Went through astonishing contortions to make a phone call on the hotel phone without incurring their charges, and even worse trying to connect to the web without doing so. Sometimes took me half an hour to connect and download my email in 5 minutes.
I guest I’m just really cheap.
I was also always amazed that the more expensive the hotel room charge the higher their other charges were. Seems like a place that charges $200/night could afford to comp local calls, but no. OTOH, Motel 6 and similar places often didn’t charge for local calls.
Agreed. Four of the last five hotels I’ve stayed in had TV issues. Two TVs had to be swapped out, one had a hopeless remote and I forget what happened with the fourth.
What gets me mad is trying to read the small print on the little shampoo bottles in order to determine which one is actually the damn shampoo! I don’t normally shower with my glasses on. Grrr...
Business travelers stay at expensive hotels. Business travelers are not as cost conscious. Pleasure travelers stay at cheap hotels. They are very cost conscious.
OMG I love Sowell.
He often makes me think and he always makes me cheer. Today he made me laugh my heart out. Other than the robe, I have experienced each of those issues more often than I care to remember.
However, I found a cure for all of that motel nonsense — I retired and bought an Airstream trailer. ;>)
Now when we travel, I stay in luxury 5 star accommodations every night, whether parked on the coast listening to the ocean or parked at a Walmart.... it’s all good.
Good, I don’t blame you for returning, it was a considerate and smart thing for him to do.
Right, when somebody else is paying you don’t care what it costs.
I’ve noticed lately that some of the chains now allow you to pay an extra $10 or $20 for a room per night, and they give you twice the number of frequent stayer points. IOW, you just ding the employer for your own personal benefit.
Don’t blame you a bit, we always preferred an RV over staying in hotels/motels.
Good (though not infallible) rule of thumb is: Clear = shampoo; milky = conditioner.
I wouldn't say I don't CARE, exactly, but I do think that if I'm there away from my home working for them, I'm entitled to a reasonable level of accommodation. having said that, I still won't incur unreasonable expenses just because I can pass them along.
“Also I’ve noticed that the “on-line movies” (really porn access) that used to be ubiquitous is getting rare. Apparently people can now access their porn (or for that matter other movies via Netflix) online, so they don’t need to pay the hotel $10 or $15.”
A priest finishes checking into a hotel and says to the clerk, “I hope all the porn in my room is disabled.”
To which the clerk replies, “NO! It’s regular porn, you sicko!”
Having traveled pretty extensively —I think I can say, travel is usually best in anticipation and memory with just a few near perfect moments in between that make it all worth it.
Hubby and I drove to Texas and back last month, and it does take a scientific mind to figure out the workings of things that should be simple and obvious in hotel rooms. Dr. Sowell is right again!
Thank you for the ping(s).
I’ve never had a problem with the TV at motels. Of course I also like my Mexican Soap Operas with the volume turned up as far as it will go.
And I haven’t had a room next to you for ages!
He’s right. A hotel room is just a running gag in figuring out the “fancy way” to turn simple appliances on and off.
Once I was disappointed in a hotel’s entrance—you kinda entered through a parking lot. I made some remark about not being sure how long I was gonna stay. Whisk. I was moved to a river-view room, at the non-river-view rate.
Another time an elevator door kept me awake throughout the night. They comped me on the room when I complained.
I don’t complain to get freebies or better deals, but sometimes that’s what happens. The staff doesn’t want unhappy campers on their watch.
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