Travel accommodations have existed virtually as long as mankind, yet they still leave so much to be desired. I mean – hello, have you seen what they’ve done with cellphones? We want THAT kind of innovation. While there’s no shortage of incredible hotels around the world, even some of the best fail the common sense test. Here are five ways to make hotels better than home.
If you haven’t stubbed your toe in a hotel room – you haven’t stayed in enough hotels. Pitch dark in the middle of the night, in unfamiliar territory is a bad combo. Motion activated, soft lights can be plugged in anywhere, are cheap and would guide a weary traveler home, or at least to the restroom in the dark. Can we please make this a thing?
Early Check Out Discounts
Why is this not a thing? We get it – hotels need to get their cleaning folks in, and they really want to accommodate fancy elite travelers with early check in. So why not offer a small discount if someone agrees to get the hell out of town by 8AM, or something like that? Everybody wins.
Digital Services
There may be a few hotels around the world on the cutting edge – but that’s not enough. We don’t want to make small talk with anyone to order our midnight room service burgers. Let’s get the iPads in the room, or at least a button on the television- where we can order any standard requests with ease – immediately.
With news beamed directly to your phone – television just isn’t what it used to be. But Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services are better than ever. Every hotel should offer smart TV’s, where guests can login to their streaming channels, enjoying top quality entertainment with the enjoyment of a big screen. We’ve seen it done, but we want to see it a whole lot more.
Razor Carpets
What does virtually every traveler checking into a hotel carry? A piece of luggage. What’s the enemy of luggage with wheels? Thick carpet. We understand that noise dampening is important, but surely there’s a more logical way to achieve it. Struggling to pull a wheelie bag on ultra thick hotel carpet feels like the biggest fail out there. Surely there’s some razor thin carpet out there, for happy rolling?
Featured Image: Hotel 41 London
These are all good but let’s first solve:
1. Lack of insulation/poor quality cracker box construction noise issue.
2. Door slamming feature of most hotels that allow or encourage rude/inexperienced guests to let doors slam shut.
3. Poor quality wifi at the corners or far ends of buildings
4. Motion sensing thermostats that turn off in the middle of the night because they aren’t programmed properly or don’t work right.
5. Resort / Urban destination ripoff fee’s.
I wouldn’t want to use my login info on a public smart TV.
1. Would be pretty easy with next renovation cycle.
2. Cost to turn the room does not change for the operator on an early checkout.
3 & 4. Tech is changing so fast that properties can’t keep up with bandwidth demands.
5. First world problem. Addressing 3 and 4 are more important for guest experience.
Why is there an apostrophe in Smart TV’s?
The plural of TV is TVs so please change is to Smart TVs.
Thanks
@DaninMCI The plural of fee is fees, not fee’s.
Just saying.
key cards that don’t deactivate constantly.