[RichHI1]

Also HD TV’s with Low Definition channels (particularly local off air ones).

[BeckyBoop]

Rich, Fairmont are a joke too (they run the savoy), charge you for wifi but if you are member of the presidents club you get it free and the club is also free. xx

[RichHI1]

Becky, I have Fairmont status this year as legacy oot of previous stays, have given up staying with them, eh? Don’t like the atmosphere or the way they run their properties or the guests they attract, eh? Starwood loyalist through and through though now and again I do Marriott, eh? (written in Canadian so Fairmont can read…).

[LuganoPirate]

Hilton Gold and LHW Leaders also get free internet. Also Accor Platinum members.

[RHMAngel]

[WiFi] is “extra because of the installation costs and argued back that no doubt the showers in the bedrooms cost money to install too but they are reasonably included in the price “

LPPS that is the funniest (& best) and truthful explanation I’ve heard in ages – wish I had that on the tip of my tongue… next time.

(Office debate: UK & top end European restaurants, charges you for food, and then you pay “Optional” EXTRA by way of ‘Service charge’ ie, to get that meal served to you – in spite of thinking a restaurant’s job-description & price displayed might have folks think, you don’t pay to have food brought to you. Chalk and Cheese comparison)

And BB “sometimes unplug the network cable to the PC in the business centre and plug it into your laptop” – but that is just audacious, and you got away with it ?!

[RichHI1]

Good luck if you pick up something nasty connecting directly to a bsuiness center network. My pet IT peeve (not Hotel room related) is brats screwing up PC’s and MAc’s in Hotel Lounges and Airline lounges by downloading virus ridden cr*p. I guess the lounge organizers are really to blame for not wanting to spend the money on on site support but these brats are a wretched nuisance.

[MartynSinclair]

“UK & top end European restaurants, charges you for food, and then you pay “Optional” EXTRA by way of ‘Service charge’ ie, to get that meal served to you – in spite of thinking a restaurant’s job-description & price displayed might have folks think, you don’t pay to have food brought to you.”

Why is there a need to leave a tip when you dine in a self service Grande buffet or even the Sweet Tomatoes self service brand?

[BRADREGER3]

How about mold in the bathroom. Stayed in London in a hotel with soap dispensers in the shower. When fell out you could see black mold all around. I can see why they use low watt light bulbs.

[JamesMoloney5]

*Housekeeping staff who tie up bathrobes in such a way that I end up wrestling with the bathrobe while room service are trying to get me to answer the door……..

*Same housekeeping staff who find amazing ways to wrap telephone cords around the base of the phone, such that it nearly always end up on the floor the first time I pick up the receiver…..

*Older hotels where multiple lights and especially table/floor lamps have to be individually controlled, and where the only way to turn them off is to unplug them……JW Marriott in Jakarta take note……impossible to turn off the table lamps in the Executive/Junior Suites without unplugging them!!!

Get around the restrictive position of the LAN cable in the hotel room by taking your own mini-Wi-Fi router with you. Plug the LAN cable in and you can then run all your mobile wireless devices off your own router. The one I have is smaller than a cigarette packet and works a treat!!

[timothy222]

I am crew and fly all over the world my biggest gripes are…

1) gaps at bottom of doors so large that at night it looks like broad daylight in the room from the hallway light

2) Housekeeping coming in in the morning of the day you are due to check out even with the DND on the door (especially bad in Africa – Dar, Entebbe, Lusaka)

3) Housekeeping that insists on starting vacuuming the hallways and starting to make up rooms at 6am

4) Parents that allow their devil children to run up and down the corridors screaming at all hours of the day and night

5) non smoking rooms that are clearly smoking rooms for other people and when you walk in it stinks like a manky ashtray

6) Hotel amenities that do not supply Shower Gel, I dont need 6 bottles of body lotion and does anyone seriously still use shower caps

7) rooms so small that you can touch the walls on either side of the room by stretching out your arms (minerva in rome) and nowhere to put your suitcase

8) Hotels that now insist on having clocks that are also double up as iPod docking stations… and have a clock face bigger than any piece of paper you can find to cover it up

9) AC units that are so noisy that they keep you awake all night so you turn them off to find that your room is then hotter than the Sahara in the middle of August

10) Finding when you want to sit in bed on your laptop that there is NO plug socket in any distance the same as the length of your cable

11) Hotels all over the world that insist that English Speakers only want to watch news channels of SKY, BBC World, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, RT Today, where as they’ll have umpteen German normal channels, TVE, TV5Monde, RAI etc. Or hotels that have 100 channels of tv (Crowne Plaza Wiesbaden) to find 55 are in German, 30 are in Arabic, 5 in English (all news) 6 Turkish and a mix of others

[Stowage222]

Hotel internet/Wifi – unless it’s free don’t stay there. We should all do this and they’ll change policy. Also, why do they provide (poor quality) tea and coffee in abundance and only 2 sachets of milk/powder???

Don’t get me started on room keys and aircon…….

[jimheadden]

I stay at 5 star Hyatts overseas and 3-4 star Hyatts in the USA,. I am top tier frequent guest at not only Hyatt but Marriott/Ritz, Intercontinental Hotels Group, and Hilton. Although my gripe list is Hyatt-centric, these other upscale chains are worse or the same, at best, than Hyatt. Here are the main gripes:

1. Having to expalin my frequent guest benefits to ignorant check-staff, even hotel management!

2. Arriving in my room, at midnight, after a 17 hour flight to find it at 95+ degrees Fahrenheit, when I need to get directly to bed due to an early morning business meeting.

3. Housekeeping leaving half-empty bottles of shampoo and conditioner in the bath. Please desist, you are a five star hotel. Act like one!

4. Hotels gyms that open at absurdly late hours in the morning and need to be read the riot act to open early for a workout. 9am on a weekday at a 5 star business hotel will not work when I am paying $300+ per night. Hotel staff need to meet the customers needs and not the other way around.

5. Incredibly filthy air filters. Example: Park Hyatt Melbourne, Club executive suite on top floor. Upon checking into room I go through my usual routine of inspecting the air filter. This one had over 2 cm of filth caked on it. Hyatt refunded that night’s charges. Similar experience at Hilton Sydney.

6. Internet dropping you off after just seconds of inactivity resulting ion loss of e-mails and documents.

7. Slamming doors. No! My fellow guest are not to blame. They , like me, expect that 5 star hotels have doors with proper mechanisms that automatically enable gentle closing.

8. The minibar. Probably the most un-civilized object ever conceived for a hotel room. What is the point for five star hotels which have always have multiple late night dining/drinking options. And those of us arriving on a lter night fliught, we have to endure someone banging on our door early in the morning wanting to “replenish” (ie, inspect) the minibar.

9. Ridiculous amounts of rubbish food with absurd price-tags and warnings that they should not be moved because a charge may be levied. Dear Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/Starwood/ICHotels, We are not renting your kitchen. We are renting a bed and communication capabilities that we hope are close to what we have at our home. If you want us to treat your hotel with respect you need to treat us with respect.

10. Lack of international electrical adapters. I don’t want to be calling the concierge to ask the obvious. Have a universal adapter available in the room . Pilferage? Charge the customer. They should know better. However, do not burden the honest guest with having to plead for an adapter in the wee hours of the morning upon checking in.

[IanFromHKG]

Let me add a few:

1. Cleaning staff who muck about with the aircon temperature that you have carefully set for your own comfort, and don’t put it back to where it was when they leave

2. Those hotels enlightened enough to put coffee “and tea”-making facilities in their room, but are too stupid to realise that if the equipment is a percolator/filter machine then it can only produce tea that tastes of coffee

3. Special desks or queues for elite members that are unmanned, or ignored

4. Waiting half an hour or more for bags to be brought to my room. I have been traveling, I am probably tired, I certainly want a shower and a change of clothes, and I may even want to go out, so why are you hanging on to my bloody cases so I have to mooch around the room twiddling my thumbs?

5. While I am on the subject, having to wait half an hour to check in while you meander through your computerised reservation system. In the good old days, hotels would prepare an envelope with your name on it, all the paperwork ready for your signature,and your key. You turn up, hand over your credit card for swiping, and your key is there waiting. Aren’t computers supposed to make things more efficient, not less? This is especially aggravating when you have booked a hotel car from the airport, so they know damn well when you are going to arrive. Come to that, check me in while I am in the car!

6. Room service food that arrives lukewarm or even cold, and staff who aren’t familiar with what is on the room service menu so you have to keep explaining what it is that you want

7. Power sockets that are placed in such a way that if your charger is any larger than a normal plug (a blackberry charger would be a good example) it can’t be plugged in

8. Those stupid fiddly hangers where there is a separate piece permanently fixed to the rail, and a hanger with a tiny stud that you have to fit into it

9. Dressing-gowns designed for people of much smaller-than-average build (I know I am tall, at 6’3″, but some of these things barely protect me from unwelcome draughts!)

10. Internet cables that have the retaining clip broken, so that they keep slipping out of your laptop (usually at crucial moments), especially when the other end of the cable is permanently fixed to the wall socket so I can’t use my own cable

11. Internet plans that cut off completely after 24 hours instead of giving you the option of automatic renewal or to log on for more than 24 hours

12. Mattresses so hard they seem to have been stuffed with bricks

Okay, I know that’s more than ten gripes, and I should really stop now, so I am going to do a volte-face and mention a hotel that gets nearly everything right – the Peninsula in Bangkok. Superb service, lovely views from all rooms, great food, lovely facilities, and that very, very rare attribute – superbly designed rooms. They clearly put a lot of thought into the design, especially for all the electronics. There is a panel inside the door showing the outside temperature, and with the usual DND, MUR and light options, as well as a “Message Waiting” light that you can see the moment you walk in, so that you know to go to the fax machine hidden in the desk and read your written messages. Underneath the panel is a small cubbyhole, with another door opening to the corridor, where your newspaper is delivered and where you can also put your shoes and press a small button to have someone collect and clean them. The room has ample power sockets which will take any plug and offer both 110V and 220V power. There is a well-stocked minibar (I know some of you don’t like them, but you don’t HAVE to use it) with an ample range of glasses (tumblers, hiballs, wine and flute). The TV also includes an iPod dock and dvd player, sockets to connect your own media devices to the TV, an integrated and easy-to-use remote control and, even better, it all connects to the TV by the bath so you can watch your DVDs or media remotely there, and the bedside tables have headphones and nearby headphone sockets (there are also sockets by the sofa) so you can watch TV or listen to music without disturbing your companion. The bath also has a small panel allowing you to answer calls using a hands-free system (in fairness, the sound quality for calls isn’t terribly good, but at least you don’t have to jump out of the bath to answer it!). The phones by the beds contain full control panels for lights, aircon, electric curtains etc, all very intuitive, and if you wave your hand over them they light up with a soft green glow for use at night. I could go on, but you get the idea. They used to suffer from slow bag delivery but seem to have fixed that. Reception is still slow but that is because of the Thai requirement to take passport details every time. Other than that, my only gripe is that there are no tea-making facilities in the rooms – if they fixed that, my happiness would be pretty much complete!

[LuganoPirate]

I too have a dislike for minibars. Interestingly a drink from room service is often cheaper and you can ask for lemon, ice etc as well as some nuts or crisps which would be another extra if taken from the minibar.

[IanFromHKG]

I dislike minibar prices, but I like minibars – with them, I can buy my own cans of drink and keep them cold without resorting to ice 😉

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