They can be a source of real joy, or of frustrations.
You get parked after a long day of traveling. Maybe you drove on interstates or state highways, and endured detours or slow traffic. Maybe you overpaid for gas, or endured smelly rest areas, with sketchy characters lurking. Or maybe you flew, and had to lay over at expensive, crowded airports, with confusing gate locations. But whatever the case, you walk into a hotel with some sense of relief. You are finally here.
In a good place, they only need a few pieces of information, maybe an ID. You may write down your car license plate, and check the boxes that say you agree not to destroy the room, etc, etc. Then they hand you the card-key, and give you relevant details, like wifi passwords. And off you go to the elevator or stairway, card in hand, anticipation building.
You get to your floor, and then seek out your room number. Assuming you can see the room numbers on a wall somewhere, and get to your room, you present the card to the door reader, and hope the door opens. Most of the time it does, with that satisfying green light and a click. You open the door, and enter.
Most often when I get to this point, I like what I see. There is a large king-sized bed (or two queens if I’m going with a friend). There are three or four pillows lined up atr the headboard, sheet and blanket tightly made, and appealing furniture around. A chair and lamp in a corner past the bed, by the window. In some rooms this is a pretty simple chair, in others a larger, more commodious one. The desk along the wall facing the bed varies. The ones I really like have a lamp or two on the desk, with rocker switches at the base to turn them on. They also have some kind of base or strip to plug in USB cables, and hopefully a couple of three-way plugs for laptops. The TV usually rests on a separate area of the desk, or on a chest of drawers. A remote should be sitting right by the TV, so the guest doesn’t have to hunt for it.
The better rooms will have a simpler remote, and a large selection of channels. In some hotels, many of these are blanked out. But most rooms now have a decent-sized flatscreen in them, at least 32-40 inches wide. In one area of the desk, or on a separate table, will be a small coffeemaker and some packets of coffee and tea. This is often a welcoming sight – I’ll be able to get up, and get my cup of java in me before I head out. Some have Keurig coffeemakers. Nice, as long as they work. Most of the time they do work.
When I look into the bathroom facilities, I see varied sights. More and more have bottles mounted on the walls, for hand soap, shampoo, even lotion. One I stayed at recently had a small note on the sink basin mirror, that said “if you would like separate bottles of lotion and soap, you can request these at the front desk.” I didn’t, and I doubt most people would. But it’s a sign of the times. To lessen environmental impact, and perhaps save a bit too, more and more hotels will just mount bottles on the wall of the shower, and the sink area. If they do offer the individual bottles this gives me a better impression, like the place isn’t cheap-ifying everything.
One of the last hotels that I stayed in had a room that was palatial, by older hotel standards. It even had a couch – was more like a suite. Hotel rooms seem to be getting larger, with more amenities included, like the fridge and microwave that seem to be almost ubiquitous. No wonder costs are going up. Enjoy your stay, everyone.
