When it comes to hotels, I have opinions. LOTS of opinions. If you’ve been reading my blog for more than a few weeks, this will not be a surprise.
Here’s the third post in a series of things I’d do if I owned a hotel. You can read list 1 here and list 2 here
1. Have sufficient places to hang towels in the bathroom
Hiltons are the worst offenders I’ve encountered recently. A Hilton Mom and I frequented during Dad‘s hospitalization had recently undergone a massive renovation. Nice, but the bathroom featured exactly one hook. No bar for face towels. No hook on the door because the hotel designer had chosen sliding doors. Just a single hook.
Things got messy fast. I found the same issue at a Dallas Hilton too.
LA’s Mondrian hotel took a different approach. I laughed so hard the first time I saw their wall of hooks.
2. Ban diapers from pools or offer an adults-only pool
Sorry, parents. Pools are hard enough to keep clean. When a hotel has a beautiful pool, I want to use it and if I can do so without thinking about what your precious babies might have left behind, all the better.
3. Less carpeting, more bamboo flooring
Floors without carpeting feel so much cleaner and overall the rooms seem more modern. It was the Mondrian in Los Angeles – which has bamboo flooring – that made me realize how much I hate carpeting.
Mondrian LA suite
4. Tubs versus showers
If you only have tubs in some of your rooms, asks guests at check-in if they care to have one.
Personally, I don’t take baths in hotels, but my mother relishes baths in general. She’s always crushed when she finds out her room doesn’t have a tub. Happy Mom equals happy daughter.
And of course she rinses it out before using it.
5. Upgrade the television situation
While I’d love to use a smartphone app to operate the hotel television instead of those icky, germ-laden remotes, I realize that there are plenty of travelers who aren’t yet ready for that. But at least do something about the remotes. I’m sick of having to push the damn buttons until my finger are dented.
I also find it frustrating that there’s no dynamic tv programming guide available in 99% of hotel rooms I inhabit. How hard would it be to make the guide available to guests?
What’s on your hotel wish list? Tell me in the comments.
OneChicklette 
EWWW to diapers (nappies) in pools! And I love that your mum cleans the clean bathtub. Does she have German roots? 😉
She does! Half German, half Welsh.
Sexy and sexier – shame it’s your mum 🙂 The Welsh accent is my all-time favourite haha!
Decent lighting – some rooms are so dark. I’m in Iceland right now and the hotels are all Scandinavian design – wooden floors, simple lines, light colors, sparkling white linens – love it.
My favorite hotel room had heated floors and a steam shower. I hate it when hotels don’t clean properly. Hair is the number one offender in my book. You’d think they would be good at getting it all out by now. Even the 5 star hotels have a problem with this. Drives me mad. Oh and outlets where guests need them, like near the bed to charge their phones.
Yes and yes. I completely agree.
A comfortable chair with a view of the TV, please and thank you. Not everybody thinks watching in bed is real darn comfortable. Free WiFi without bothersome code-cracking. Come on, who cares if some freeloaders piggyback, major chains. And charging for an ugrade to high speed? Puh-leeze! Thanks, Jen, for setting them straight and offering a forum here.