Hotels: An Airline Pilots Perspective
Aircrew spend a lot of time in hotels, you notice differences between them.
It's all small stuff, but can make a difference to your stay.
Electric Sockets
When you've all day to spend in the hotel, and go to use your laptop, it's frustrating when the only accessible socket is across the room, and at full reach you can't sit in bed to use your computer. Lack of sockets is also frustrating when it comes to charging a phone or other device. In some hotels the lights have multiple sockets in the base, this is really useful !
Making Coffee In The Room
When the coffee machine cord is not plugged in and tied up in a ball you get the impression the cleaner didn't want you to use it, sometimes the coffee machine is so far from a socket, so you have to start moving stuff to plug it in to make coffee. Nothing better than simply being able to turn it on and make coffee !
A nice touch is actual cream, instead of creamer.
Television
Hotels frequently now have flat screen televisions, but the choice of channel is often poor, limited to a few news orientated channels, and pay for view movies.
One great feature to find is a channel guide, saving the need to channel surf.
Internet
With so much time spent in hotels it's great to be in a hotel with free internet.
A lot of hotels charge for internet access, and some don't have wireless, meaning you have to sit a the small desk and plug in the cable.
Hotels with a business center, or a computer in the lobby is handy for checking email and schedule.
Iron and Ironing Boards
Irons are similar to coffee pots, a lot of the time the cables are tied into a knot, and they so short they don't reach a socket from any practicle location in the room.
Even the type of water filler lid on the iron can make a difference, a sink that's not deep enought to let the iron go underneath the faucet to fill can be a little frustrating, and so the irons with the lid that faces out allows the iron to still be filled without difficulty are much better.
A filler cup would be useful, but almost never supplied.
Dirty ironing boards aren't too good either when you go to iron a white shirt, and why must hotel ironing boards squelch so badly when opened?
Newspapers
It's great to get a newspaper in the morning, but a local paper in a rural area isn't the same read as a major newspaper. Knowing there's a farmers market at the weekend isn't always the stories you are wanting to read. Getting a paper forcefully delivered on the floor outside your door at 3 AM isn't the best wake-up call either.
Hotels offering the newspaper at the lobby or near the dining area instead of delivering to every room, seems a great way to save on paper and still make the newspapers available to those who want them.
Nice Touches
Some hotels get extra points, for things like popcord sackets waiting in the microwave, dvd's to watch, and quality toiletries.
Room Service
Why do room service knock the door repeatedly, calling "ROOM SERVICE", when you are asleep...surely they can check if the guests have checked out yet?
Toiletries
It's always nice to find good quality toiletetries in the bathroom, some hotels have welcome messages on the toiletries, or very fresh designs.
Wake Up Calls
Hotels still forget to make, or program wake-up calls, as a result it's still necessary to set the room's clock, phone, and anything else to make sure we get up.
Worse still, when room service hasn't checked the alarm setting on the phone in the next room which is set to ring the buzzer at 4am, with no one to turn it off.
