Finding A Decent Hotel to Stay At

Everyone’s experience staying at a hotel can be completely opposite.  One guest complains the staff is extremely unfriendly; another family at the same hotel raves about the staff. 

Try reading the reviews of various lodgings posted at hotels.com and you’ll discover what hotel guests complain about:

•Spiders or a strange bug crawling around in the bathroom or the bed
•Noisy guests partying all night next door
•Abysmal room service
•Lumbering, dimly lit elevators
•Out-of-date furnishings ready for the woodchipper
•A front desk indifferent to your needs
•A room with a broken TV remote, light bulbs not replaced and not enough towels
•An inadequate hotel restaurant
•An unhelpful hotel concierge. 

Face it, we need all the help we can get in choosing a hotel. Some travelers complain that certain lodgings rated as four-star are anything but once they check in. A website awards a hotel a four-star rating, but then another travel site such as Orbitz, AAA, Expedia or Travelocity gives the same lodging a three-star rating.

According to USA Today, each hotel booking website has it own star (or diamond) rating system. Travel experts suggest we check a number of rating systems before settling on a hotel. Here are links to some of these websites: Expedia, Orbitz and Travelweb,  AAA, Travelocity, Sidestep, Hotwire, Hotels.com and Priceline.

Different hotel ranking systems hand out stars based on different criteria: hospitality, customer service, upscale facilities, comfort, closeness to shopping and attractions, room service, valet parking, fitness centers and state-of-the-art business centers.

What do you look for in a decent hotel? From reading various hotel reviews by a host of guests, here’s the list:

•The #1 amenity people want in a hotel is honesty. In other words, if you advertise yourself as a four-star hotel, you should be a four-star hotel.  A room that comes with an ocean view should actually have an ocean view.   The non-smoking room on the third floor far away from the elevators and the ice machine you requested should be the room you end up staying in.

•One important quality people want is a friendly and efficient hotel staff.  You’re on vacation and you don’t want to be spending your time off trying to fix a broken TV set or having to call the front desk seven times to get the set repaired.  The hotel maintenance crew should try to fix the broken set asap.

•A clean room with a pleasant odor and not a musty smell from previous water damage or some awful spill is a wonderful amenity.

•Any hotel restaurant can be expected to have good food and a wide selection of options.

•Small things in a hotel room make a major difference.  Free bottled water is a nice add-on.  High quality toiletries (good shampoo, body moisturizer, and bath gel), plenty of towels and reliable wake up calls can make a hotel stay very memorable.

•A sharp concierge staff who knows where to sight see and eat is important.  Sometimes a concierge will make you a restaurant reservation and if you mention his name, you may get complimentary desserts.   

•A secure room door with a peephole.  In addition, every good hotel needs a cleaning staff that respects the “do not disturb” sign.

No hotel is perfect.  However, if you’re away on vacation, you want to be sure your stay in the lodging of your choice is truly time off.

John   
Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

My new book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth is now available in your local bookstores or you can order it online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Comments

[Miss Rockin and Rollin!]

I am a clean freak! The number one thing is the hotel has to be clean!!!! I usually pack a spray disinfectant and spray remote, light switches, door handles, etc. but especially I reclean the bathroom. I also get extra sheets and lay them over couches so we can all feel comfy. I like Hilton Homewood suites because it is well kept and has mini kitchen- a must with kids!. I check if the hotel is newer too! That helps a lot