I spend a lot of time on the road and nights away from home for work and our own personal trips. More and more, I have found that hotels have failed to update their basic standards and that needs to change.
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Hotel Standards Need an Update
We’ve come a long way from the days of “Color TV” and “HBO” on a marquee as the standard for a “quality” hotel. Now, hotels marketing such features are a key indication that I do not want to stay there. If the best perk a property has to offer is basic cable, I’m in the wrong place. While those standards have made way for improvements, those advancements still lag behind market demand and the future for many travelers.
Offering a “Free Hot Breakfast” is another telltale sign of a place I don’t want to stay typically. If a hotel is boasting about the free hot breakfast, in my experience, the property tends to lack other amenities. They also charge nothing because no reasonable person would pay to eat their “Hot Breakfast”.
Toiletries weren’t always the standard that they are today, but now any hotel will offer some form of soap, shampoo, and towels.
TVs in the room was not always the norm and in-room internet at least with an ethernet connection has been a relatively recent standard in the long history of hotels and inns. Internet access is the cornerstone benefit that all travelers value but has evolved slower than it should. Specifically, wifi and further, high-speed internet is the new standard or should be. In fact, it was the inspiration of this post.
Easy Standards To Hit
Before I digress into the target of internet speed and availability, let me address some easy standards for hotels to address.
- Toiletries – It’s cheaper and easier for select service hotels (Aloft, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn Express, etc.) to reduce waste and install full-size bottles of toiletries in the shower. An entire hotel could change this nearly overnight. So do it. Premium hotels should try to differentiate from the same plastic bottle every other chain offers like Ace Hotels does.
- Check In/Check Out Times – I have been at properties that weren’t ready for me to check in up to three hours after their stated 3 PM time (and it wasn’t even a suite). Other times I have shown up at 9 AM after a long flight and been able to go straight to my room. There’s a business case for hotels to allow check-in at different times and space out housekeeping. As a guest, I prefer to have more options.
- Water Bottles in the Fridge – If the room has a fridge, put the bottles of water in there. Leave the price tag on, but put them in there to keep them chilled? (Yes, some hotels shut off their in-room refrigerators between guests but that won’t make it any warmer than placing the bottles outside the fridge as they do now.)
- Internet Speed – Any hotel can increase their internet speed, costing very little time and money on a relative basis. Whether increasing the download speeds from the ISP or replacing routers, this is long overdue and is the easiest thing to make guests happier in my opinion. Too many times this year I have found the internet to be so slow that I tether from my phone and can’t stream basic Netflix on my computer. It should never be better to use my cellular device than WiFi from high-speed internet. That’s a lack of effort. I am sure that for a time download speeds of less than 10 Mbps was satisfactory but that’s just not good enough today and certainly won’t be good enough for the demands of tomorrow either.
Evolving Standards That Must Follow
Some changes take more time and cost more money, there is an evolution that needs to take place. At one point, motels (motor hotels) were in vogue because of the ease of use. You could park your car right in front of your room, they were affordable and conducive to road trips. Now, however, outside access isn’t a perk it’s a security concern. The standards have changed. The following are some longer-term standards that should change too.
- Shower over tub – For the most part we shower when traveling. When my daughter was a baby we held her in the shower rather than put her in the tub. It’s not often as sanitary as we would like, and if a guest needs a tub they can request a room with a tub. The groping shower curtain needs to die a horrible and permanent death. Shower over tub installations in new hotels makes me think they aren’t paying attention. It would be far easier to place some families in tub rooms while making the rest of the guests happy with showers and glass doors.
- Outlets – Hotels don’t have to replace every plug with a USB outlet. In fact, I mentioned in this post that it really wasn’t a reason to book a hotel (though helpful certainly), but let’s put some outlets in smarter places. I just stayed in a property (no review) that had plenty of outlets in useless places and nothing really worthwhile. I bought a new Amazon Fire Stick to try out, but I couldn’t plug it in within four feet of the TV. As hotels evolve, they should be smarter and more conscious of the outlets because travelers today have so many power demands. Separately, hotels should stop plugging all of their own things into outlets (phone, lamp, alarm clock no one uses).
- Entertainment – Cable with HBO just isn’t enough anymore. (Side note, DirectTV is terrible and I hate not being able to watch TV during a thunderstorm, which ironically is the perfect time to watch TV). Between the eggheads at Netflix and the tech-hungry innovators at the major hotel chains, is there really no one that’s come up with a way to access a temporary Netflix account for that hotel room? Carly has mentioned before that she liked being able to log into our Netflix account when at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, but logging in is a pain, logging out could be bad too. Why not have a room-specific account that resets at checkout? They can customize the TV to say, “Welcome Mr. Stewart” so is this really a difficult task? Can the hotel reduce their cost by eliminating cable from some rooms in favor of Netflix and allowing guests to choose which they’d rather? I know which I would choose.
- Schedule Housekeeping – It never fails that when I have a late start and want to sleep in, the housekeepers are knocking on the door at 8 AM. Likewise, when I need to head out early and come back early without fail the room has not been serviced. Most days I just decline service to avoid the issue and call up for towels when necessary. Wouldn’t it be easier and save time and money for the hotels if I could schedule my housekeeping? From the hotel’s app why couldn’t I mark myself gone from the room for a block of time? They could service my room in a window of time that worked for both of us.
- Phones – No one travels without a phone anymore. No one really uses the hotel phone as a phone, do they? I don’t. If you’re calling room-to-room you know the other person and probably have their cell phone number too. Outside of house services (room service, management, front desk) I can’t see a reason to even bother putting them in the hotel rooms anymore. Maybe we can evolve away from this too? I can think of a thousand reasons why some guests will still need them, but I did the same thing when the floppy disk drive went away and that’s been just fine.
Competition Is High, Will Get Higher
Every day, more hotels are opened than are closed. With the market trimmed from a dozen chains to just a handful (via acquisitions and consolidation), one would think that there would be less competition rather than more. To the contrary, chains like Kimpton never had access to the global footprint of IHG when they stood alone. Likewise, IHG didn’t have the branding and premium hotels that Kimpton brought to the table for their customers. For Hilton, competing against IHG got tougher with their acquisition. Given the rest of the consolidation in the market, things have become more difficult in the past few years rather than easier, hotels need to try harder.
With Airbnb’s normalization and expansion, hotels have to find a reason for customers to choose them, rather than reasons not to. It’s worth noting that Airbnb really doesn’t have a peer… yet. There is competition, yes, but not on the scale and scope of their own offering. Windows owned 97% of the operating system market in 1992 while in 2012 they owned just 20% of screens. Airbnb owns the non-hotel accommodation market today, but we don’t know what to expect tomorrow. Whether it’s new competitors to Airbnb or innovation on their proposition, hotels only have a higher mountain to climb to remain relevant and grow their business.
Vote With Your Dollars
As consumers, we all have the power to affect change. It may not seem like it but think of the last restaurant that used to be popular in your city and just didn’t innovate. Slowly, the crowds stopped going and over time the once impossible-to-get table was being sold at auction. This happens to anything where people choose to vote with their dollars and go someplace else, Toys ‘R’ Us was another recent victim.
Consumers also need to reward those properties who innovate. It may cost a couple of extra dollars in the nightly rate, or perhaps there will be a charge for Netflix, but I welcome a better guest experience even at a higher personal cost and will put my money where my mouth is.
What hotel standards do you want to see updated? Any that need to stay just as they are? What did I miss?
Outlets and light bulb wattage are my big pet peeves. I hate bringing extension cords, but they are a necessity. I also want to read in bed. Those 60 watt bulbs CFL just dont cut it!
Extension cords or power strips make my list of road warrior must-haves: http://bit.ly/2unm0dx
Thanks for articulating so clearly the need to bring the hospitality industry into the 21st century. I spend most of the year in lodgings and find the US caters mostly to convention groups.
Individual travelers would appreciate tv’s with internet apps like Netflix. The standard splash page requirement to connect to the hotel internet prevents the use of devices that can project unto the tv.
How about laminate floors instead of carpets that are laden with infectious organisms,such as plantar warts viruses. Safety deposit boxes in the room. Full size refrigerators use less electricity than small ones. Finally, a book listing location of essential places with reliable reputation such as hospitals,grocery stores and so forth.
Hope our paths cross one day. God bless!
I like your list JoeMart
Totally agree about scheduling housekeeping. It’s extremely annoying to leave at 8 AM, come back at 4 PM, and have to sit in the lobby because the room is still dirty. I’ve also noticed that hotels are increasingly forgetting to clean rooms at all — and then when you complain, the reception will always ask if you had the “do not disturb” or “make a green choice” signs up, which really makes me angry. I’ve also found these housekeeping failures are generally a much bigger issue in the US than in Europe or Japan.
They can do almost anything with an app, guests like ourselves would be happy to work together with the properties and indicate a wide window in which to service the room. There are some days where I might even just tick a box that says “replace water” or “replace toiletries” which would save them labor cost and materials over a general clean up.
As an airline pilot I spend a lot of nights in hotel rooms. Probably half my life in fact. So here is my wish list.
First power outlets. I travel with at least 5 devices that need to be plugged in to charge. There need to be multiple outlets on the desk (and yes the room needs a desk) and bedside. Hotels are getting better at this but many still fail epically requiring me to hunt behind furniture for a useable outlet.
Second free high speed wifi. And I mean real high speed so that I can watch videos, download files are do any of the other myriad tasks without pause or hesitation.
Third soft bedding. The better hotels have this down but far too many “budget” chains use scratchy sheets and micro thin blankets.
I don’t mind shower tubs at all but what I do hate are showers that are poorly designed such that you get water all over the bathroom floor. The shower needs to have a door and it needs to keep the water in. The bathroom also needs to be clean which means no mold growing in the corners. Finally the basket/shelf whatever in the shower needs to hold the toiletries provided (I’m looking at you Hilton).
I love your idea of room accounts for Netflix etc. One thing I would like to see is an easy way to connect an HDMI cable to the room TV so I can connect and watch through my own device when I do choose.
Lastly I’d very much like to see “window” air conditioners go away. Far too often they are noisy or ineffective and they tend to get aimed at the desks. Which results in your getting frozen or roasted as the unit blasts you while your sitting at the desk.
I am using an HDMI port right now with my Fire Stick (I mention it here: http://bit.ly/2unm0dx). I am also tethering that service from my iPhone because… Premium internet at this property (Hyatt Regency Houston) means 3.78 Mbps. We also agree especially with regards to showers. I haven’t seen doors combined with the shower over tub combo, but that may cure my undying hatred for the shower over tub.
I’ve not seen doors on a hotel shower/tub either but was referring to shower stalls. Too many of them have doors that leak or worse yet the new trend of no door at all and just a partial glass wall.
I should also mention properties (ahemmm Aloft) where it’s virtually impossible because of the design of the shower to get the water on and up to temp without being a contortionist.
As another poster mentioned people who run these hotels need to spend a few nights in their own rooms.
You make some good points, but I do think phones are a necessity. If there’s an emergency – fire, earthquake, medical, suspicious person, etc. – and your mobile phone doesn’t work (for whatever reason), how is a guest supposed to alert hotel staff or authorities? Or what if a disabled guest is in need of assistance, and can’t navigate to the elevator (which may or may not be functional)?
If you’re trapped in your room, there needs to be a way for guests to get in touch with hotel staff. Right now, hard-wired phones seem to be the best option.
My wife said the same thing, I just used one in a hotel room. Maybe we aren’t ready for that, but it’s also taking up my entire bedside table so some level of innovation should be applied.
I often wonder whether hotel designers have ever stayed in a hotel.
Outlets accessible to the bed and the desk are often a failing. A glass cover on the desk (which means a laser mouse doesn’t work), poor lighting, no convenient place to open a suitcase, no hook for your toiletry bag in the bathroom, bad shower design (too short, clingy curtain, no way to turn it on without getting wet, too loud, air con that shuts off without movement (like when you sleep), and clock;docks with 30 pin connectors that go off at 4am!
It’s true, designers could make some quick and easy changing by staying in the rooms they are designing.
My ‘deal breaker’ for hotels is having gyms that aren’t 24/7 – they close at night. I just don’t understand when they’re practically self-sustaining. I like working out early in the morning, although there are those who prefer to work out at night when the day is done and others are just trying to beat jetlag. It’s particularly frustrating when they have employed staff just to stand outside them at 6am in the morning just to turn people away.
Oh man, that would be the worst. Who cares if you want to use the elliptical at 2 AM, or lift free weights at 10:30 at night? I remember having severe jet lag and trying to make it down to a hotel gym at 4:30 in the morning for the first time in my life only to find it was closed.
It’s a health and safety and thus liability issue.
A 24×7 gym needs to be manned at all times in case a guest injures themselves. If the injury is fatal, the hotel will get sued and of course it’s reputation will suffer.
I am going to have to disagree. I have not been in many hotel gyms that have been staffed at any point, a few in the five-star hotels where a spa or trainer is part of their premium offering. I think you’d have a harder time finding hotels that staffed their gyms at all, than those that don’t due to liability concerns.
I’ll agree with another commentator that phones need to be in the rooms. They have a variety of uses at which they are far better than a cell phone.
I can agree with that, but somewhere in between the current setup and cell phones would be desirable for me. Some hotels use texting apps for valet service and I have found this to be quicker and better than calling down.
“It would be far easier to place some families in tub rooms while making the rest of the guests happy with showers and glass doors.”
I will concede that I am one of maybe 15 people worldwide who feels strongly the other way. But the reality is, what you suggest will never work the way it’s supposed to in practice, unless you create a specific room type where all rooms come with tubs. Otherwise, my request for a room with one will go into the same circular file as other special requests like connecting rooms, and be honored maybe half the time. Leaving me and the other 15 people who care angry the other half of the time.
Anyway, I think the solution for this, and a lot of other things on your wish list, is to improve the use of technology at the point of booking. We can select a specific seat and “bundled” extras online months in advance when we book airline tickets. Why can’t we do the same at hotels? Improve the websites to where you can pick a specific room with specific features, schedule your preferred housekeeping times, request a temporary Netflix account, etc. Heck, they could even charge fees for the optional “enhancements for your stay”, and I’d bet they could get enough people to pay to make it worth their while.
I agree that having the option and delivering said option are two different things.
HDTV with HD service on most/all channels. What is it with hotels that have great big flat panel 16:9 TVs that only show 4×3 SD channels?
That’s the worst. I also hate the stretched screen that truncates text and part of the images.
Please, Mr Crankypants, let me keep my clock. An AC clock can be viewed at all times by all in the room (including the frequent waker-uppers). Eliminating it will give one person one shot a activating their phone to see the time. Please?
But also the death penalty to the person who leaves the alarm set for the next guest.
We actually travel with a small digital clock for this, as we often wake at irregular times through the night due to travel, and many hotels don’t have “lit” clocks.
Crankypants? That’s a new one. I am not saying it doesn’t fit, but I just hadn’t been called that before – lol.
You mention that severe punishment (I think the death penalty is a little extreme for this but, hey, you are entitled to your opinion) should be inflicted on those that do not reset alarms when leaving. AMEN to that.
In fairness, if you are taking your own digital alarm clock anyway, why do I need to have one on the bedside table at every hotel I visit? The small contingent of users are solving their own problem while creating a new one unnecessarily for me.
You know, after hearing myself respond – you’re right – my pants are rather cranky.
Thanks for the comment Colleen.
Apropos showers and tubs, what you describe is a guaranteed way of having not unhappy customers. It makes room categorisation difficult, and can lead to guest complaInts. Hotels prefer to have a standard product, be it tubs or shower cubicles.
Room phones are also critical as part of emergency services.
If it weren’t for the room phones during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, a lot more people would have died as cell networks in the hotel went down within 2 hours of the attack.
Having unhappy customers
So… what happens when someone who is unaware that an Aloft hotel uses only a standing shower and there is no tub option on the property? (Let’s also assume it’s late at night and they have prepaid for the reservation.) I would imagine they are unhappy. I think the amount of people staying in limited service hotels that need or use a tub is pretty limited in scope, but I could be wrong. Some have indicated they love them and for those folks, I hope they keep some around, but for myself and what I perceive to be the majority of the traveling public, if they went away I would only be happier. Better to make the majority happy than not, right?
On the phone comment, others have mentioned the numerous reasons this is a bad idea and your situation is a fair point. But I don’t have a landline in my home, nor do many people I know. If a disaster hit at home, maybe I should run to a hotel with landlines so I can call my loved ones? I have a feeling they would also have an issue with busy lines, but I haven’t been put in that situation so I couldn’t accurately judge.
Regarding phones (above):
If you’re in a hotel in Podunk, CountryX (a place, I’m sure) if you or your wife have some sort of emergency: potential intruder, terrorist, alarm, etc. I’d think you’d be happier with an in-house phone than your cell. Don’t mean to speak for you; it’s just me.
We may have different answers when we’re home or when we’re traveling.