Stopping off at a hotel can either be a really fun experience, a really daunting experience, or something in between. It really does depend on the circumstances for most people, because of course, staying in a hotel because you're on holiday is going to be much more entertaining than staying in a hotel for the sake of a business trip. It's only logical.
Whatever the case may be there tends to be mixed reviews with the world of hotels and we can completely understand that. In all likelihood, the majority of complaints stem from hotels that happen to only have a two-star rating or so, but it's not exactly unheard of for a five star 'classic' hotel to be incredibly disappointing.
We respect anyone who decides to work in the industry because it can be absolutely ruthless and it can be particularly difficult to deal with customers as we'll touch on shortly. Some of you may believe that we're being a little bit too picky with some of these selections but we believe in every single one of them, and that's no exaggeration.
There are many stresses in life and we don't want to add another one onto that, but we do think it's worth discussing the experiences of others who may not have enjoyed the kind of stay that you may have done.
Or, on the other hand, if you're someone who has been trying to make the case for this in the past, then welcome to the club.
25 The Safes Are VERY Inconsistent
If you’ve ever even used a safe in a hotel room then you’ll be aware of the fact that they can be quite inconsistent. One minute they work and then the next minute they don’t, and of course, this leaves you vulnerable to the possibility of someone coming in and robbing you.
We understand it’s unlikely and we understand there are certain measures put in place in order to prevent that, but there’s a reason why proper safes can be so expensive.
You need to ensure that everyone works accordingly because if not, there could be some very big problems.
24 Taxi Drivers Get Commission
While you may choose to believe that taxi drivers are purely trying to take you from point A to point B, they all have an agenda of some kind. Many will just want to earn as much money as possible for their families, but others are downright greedy.
In certain destinations, these taxi drivers will actually take commission from certain hotels around the city/town they’re in if they bring in customers.
Most of the time people have already paid for a hotel, but sometimes, the driver will persuade you that the hotel you request to go to has actually been shut down – meaning you’ll have to go to another.
23 Most Hotel Rooms Are Extremely dirty
We mean this both in the literal and figurative sense, to be honest, because hotel rooms can be tricky. If you have one of those special lights that allows you to see the dirt for yourself then that’s one way of working around it, but sometimes you can quite literally see the dust building up on some of the facilities.
As well as this, there’s always the possibility of maids forgetting to look thoroughly enough when cleaning the room for the next customer, meaning that you might find items that belong to someone else.
Trust us, this actually happens.
22 Cleaning Staff Sleep In Your Room
This one is going to be viewed as being quite rare, but trust us, we’ve seen it in action.
Some cleaning staff or ‘maids’ who know that the next customer won’t be coming in for a few hours will actually sleep in your room after you’ve departed. It could be for 15 minutes or up to an hour and beyond, but regardless of the timings, they’ll do it in order to get a few minutes of rest before actually cleaning the room.
It’s only themselves that they’re going to impact as you’ll see later on in the list, but we thought it was just about weird enough to warrant a place in the article.
21 Your Phone Can Kill The Key Card
This one is really quite simple: if you have a mobile phone, make sure you don’t put it in the same pocket as your hotel key card.
If you do, then there’s a very good chance that the phone will render the card pointless as a result of the two rubbing against each other. This is because the phone demagnetizes the card, meaning you’ll either have to hope you've remembered to bring the spare key or go down and ask reception for another one.
It’s a tiring exercise but believe us, everyone can get caught out by it from time to time.
20 There Can Be Two Of The Same Hotel In One City
Here’s a little story for you.
I was in Paris back in the summer, and I’d paid to stay at an Ibis Hotel. I saw on my phone that there happened to be two more Ibis Hotels listed, although one of them was an Ibis Budget – so I assumed the other was some kind of error.
As it turns out, there were TWO Ibis Hotels that are pretty much exactly the same, and they were located just two miles apart.
You need to be so, so careful when arranging transport to your hotel, because you could easily end up spending more money than you’d initially planned.
19 Remote Controls Are Incredibly Dirty
When it comes to the item in a hotel room that gathers the most dirt, the remote control is easily located towards the top of the list. Whether it’s because people don’t wash their hands or it’s just not cleaned properly, you need to think about avoiding the TV altogether during your trip.
After all, you can watch all the television you want back at home, and you’re away in a hotel for a reason. So why not take a step back, think about what else you could get up to, and go do that instead.
Yes, we realise we’re preaching – apologies.
18 Room Upgrades Depend On Behaviour
You’ve likely all heard the reports regarding room upgrades and how they come around, but trust us when we tell you that they don’t just “hand them out”. If you’re about to check in and there’s a chance of you getting a room upgrade, you’d best believe that you need to be on your best behaviour in order to get over the finish line.
Be kind to the hotel staff is one of the key components behind this one because contrary to popular belief, they aren’t just going to give you an upgrade if you’ve arrived late or something like that. You need to work for it.
17 Glasses May Not Be Changed For A While
Something that hotel staff seem to try and get away with, for better or worse (definitely worse) is not changing the actual glass in your hotel room. This may be because they’re short on supplies, but even if they wash it thoroughly, it’s still pretty gross to think that the same glass could be used by person after person.
Again, you might not care about that, but if you happen to have an issue with germs and the sort then you know exactly what we’re talking about.
After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry, as the saying goes.
16 Luggage Storage Is A Big Deal
The process behind storing luggage isn’t as simple as it may seem. Yes, all the staff really need to do is label your belongings so that they can hold onto them whilst you go and explore the city or town you’re in, but there are some serious security measures involved.
It’s one of the most nerve-racking parts of the job for a lot of hotel staff, because if someone gets into that room and tries to take a bag for themselves, all hell could break loose.
Many hotels have fallen for it the hard way, and because of that, they all insist upon being much more strict in the present day.
15 ‘Reps’ Don’t Have The Rights You Think They Do
If you’re on a sunny holiday then you’ll be well aware of these folks. They lure you into a false sense of security by pretending to just be a friendly worker around the hotel, when in reality, they’re there to try and sell you something.
They’re on commission and while some work directly with the hotel, that isn’t the case in a lot of party towns. They may say that they can post things underneath your door or come and knock on you at stupid o’clock, but that isn’t the case. It’s bad enough having to deal with it out on the streets and if this happens to you, please make sure you report it.
14 Hotels Actually Hold Grudges
If you’ve had a bad experience at a hotel, but forgotten about it because so much time has gone by, then don’t automatically assume they’ve forgotten about it too. As it turns out a lot of hotel chains will hold grudges with people who have caused them problems in the past, which could mean you may not even get a room.
They’ll be able to know who you are once you’ve begun the check-in process and been registered on their system, so you’d best be careful. These staff have to deal with a lot of frustrating things, so try to make it easy on them.
13 You CAN Keep Toiletries
Yes, the toiletries are complimentary.
Even if you decide to leave them they’ll almost certainly be thrown out, because what use would the hotel have for them? You’ve already used the toothpaste and the shower gel, and it’d be downright unhygienic to use them again.
So try and minimise what you actually use throughout the course of your stay, because you could legitimately end up with a lot of goodies.
Hotel stays don’t come around all too often for some folks, so try and take advantage of it.
P.S: don’t steal stuff that actually belongs to the hotel. That’s not cool, obviously.
12 Tourist Attractions Get Commission
Remember what we said about the taxi drivers? The same is true of tourist attractions.
Regardless of how big or small the attraction may be, there are often relationships put in place between them and hotels. It’s done in order to mutually benefit both parties, in the sense that they’ll advertise each other’s services.
It’s clever but if you aren’t on board with that kind of promoting, then you’re probably better off doing everything independently instead of asking for advice from the staff.
Then again, if you just really want to go to Disneyworld for discount tickets, it might not be such a taboo idea.
11 The Nature Of The Drinks Varies
If you happen to go into a hotel room and you see a few bottles of water there, make sure you check with the hotel staff regarding whether or not they’re complementary. They put them out, in some instances, in order to test you and see what you’ll do.
Try not to fall into the trap because if they keep refilling the bottles every single day, you could find yourself with a pretty big bill by the end of it. That sounds ridiculous, which we completely understand, but if you’re a money-saver then it’s something to take into consideration.
10 They Might Dilute The Alcohol
The same principle noted in this title goes for a series of other different topics, but alcohol is one of the ‘worst case’ examples. Essentially they’ll water down the product with the hope that you don’t realise in order to get more money out of you.
It’s a pretty common scam in hotels across the world, and it’s why you should always think about engaging in those activities outside the realms of your hotel. Sure, the hotel itself may be nice, but if they’re trying to rip you off then don’t fall for it and trust your instincts – because they’re probably right.
9 Don’t Expect A Call When Losing Something
If you’ve left something at a hotel then we’ve got some bad news for you: there’s a good chance you aren’t going to get it back unless you are the one that calls. Even if that’s the case you’d better hope you don’t leave it too long, because the maids will either remove it entirely or take it for themselves (this happens).
Once you’ve completed your stay then the duty of hotel towards you has been complete, and there aren’t quite as many ‘obligations’ as you may have initially thought.
So even if you have a pleasant stay, just remember to check your room over a couple times.
8 Working In A Hotel Is Incredibly Stressful
Spare a thought or two for the actual staff because as much as you want to believe they’re the ones at fault when things go wrong, that isn’t always the case. Much in the same way that we get annoyed with people in everyday life, they’re just trying to do their job.
There are so many variables that they have to take into consideration on a day to day basis, and they aren’t paid even remotely close to what they should be.
They are the ones that have to handle the full force of a frustrated customer. Them and nobody else.
7 There’s A Reason Behind Long Check-Ins
The main factor behind every hotel check-in taking so long is quite simple, really: there’s so much to do. Several staff members from different corners of the globe have noted that it can take as many as 26 steps in order to properly check someone in, and if it goes really quickly, then the person in question probably isn’t doing it right.
It’s a frustrating process which we can all appreciate and understand, but again, patience is the key here. Just having a hotel is a luxury in the modern age, especially when you consider that some folks have to use hostels.
We understand they’re convenient, but they just aren’t ideal for us.
6 Maids Are Paid Per Room
If your room is particularly messy and the maid has to spend a great deal of time cleaning it up, then that could legitimately end up costing her money. Why? Because it’ll give her even less time to work on the next room, and in some instances, cleaning staff are legitimately paid on a ‘by room’ basis.
That isn’t always the case but if you see maids rushing around, then you’ll understand the reason why. That probably explains the earlier point we made about how they don’t do a perfect job sometimes.
Either way, though, something needs to be fixed.