To think hotel designers should at least have once slept in a room before being allowed to design a room.

Has anyone mentioned inadequate sound proofing so you can hear every word of the conversation the people in the room next door are having? Not to mention snoring and sex noises (not necessarily in that order).

Yep. Good old Premier Inn

Not a design issue but hopefully a helpful tip for Mumsnetters. I once checked in an hotel for work and went on to meeting up with some people later on. I left the hotel in daylight but returned shortly after 11:00pm. The room had a power fault which meant no lighting.

l had to change rooms after one too many glasses of wine, late at night. To this day, l always switch the lights on when l arrive at a room.

Mind blown, I never knew this! Thanks

My most recent ‘favourite’ was the hotel room I had last week which made a big deal of the free drinks included in your room’s mini fridge. Turned out that meant 2 bottles of beer and 2 bottles of Diet Pepsi. No bottle opener. I eventually managed to get a bottle of Diet Pepsi open using a teaspoon as leverage but it took ages.

I’ve stayed in this same hotel before. Previously there was a bottle opener in the room but the fridge hadn’t been plugged in. There was only one power socket so assume that Housekeeping hadn’t noticed that the previous guest had unplugged the fridge so they could plug the Nespresso machine in. 😳

I once had to call reception and get a staff member to come and show me where the last light switch was. I was ready to go to bed and turned off all the lights except one. I searched the room for ages before finally giving up and calling for help.

It was placed on the wall under the (only) towel hook (see also no proper bathroom, the shower stall opened into the room). So the light switch was hidden behind the towel!

I’d also like to complain about thick, overly warm duvets, but no top sheet. So you spend the whole night alternating between boiling and freezing, trying to regulate your temperature by sticking your feet in and out or throwing off, then putting in the duvet.

Solution to the electricity going off when you take your key card - you can use any old card in the slot. Maybe not a bank card in case you forget it, but even something like a business card will work.

Absolutely!

My would be so dry and irritated if I washed my hair everyday (yes, even with gentle shampoo).

I also have a lot of hair that takes a veeeeeerry long time to dry (it’s still wet after several hours if I don’t blow dry it) and I really don’t have the time or dedication to wash and blowdry my hair every morning!

The top of the range Ibises are usually fine for a night if on the small side, but only stayed in a Styles once - never again.

I stayed in an Ibis Styles hotel recently where I thought this. The designers should be made to sleep in the two types of room for 2 nights:
a) with a friend in the twin room
b) with a partner in the double room.
And then they might see that having the shower and washbasin in the room is not ideal. Especially not with the handily-situated large mirror giving a full view of the shower from the bed. The excellent ventilation in the shower area meant the glass on the shower door didn't fog up in the slightest meaning that anyone sitting on the bed would be treated to a ring-side seat while the person in the shower washed their bits.

Fortunately I was travelling alone!

I'll never forget a hotel I stayed in once, not a chain. Vast room with four poster bed, a massive circular bath on a plinth actually in the room, with a toilet and washbasin tucked away in a separate ensuite, then a large walk in shower room with a choice of different showers. It was more like staying in an old rock star's mansion than a hotel!

I have found my people! It’s so rare to stay in a hotel now and not be enraged by some shoddy or poorly thought out design. And so many of them are clearly because the person designing them was a man and has never considered what women might find useful in a hotel room. Consult women! Or even better, employ women designers who might actually have a clue about what 50% of the population might need. mirrors, for example. We need a full length mirror somewhere, and not one that we can only stand a foot back from. I need to see myself fully and at a distance to properly
appraise what I’m wearing. Desk mirrors - they are never well lit so I have to do my makeup in the crappy dim light that every hotel seems to have nowadays. Half the time I can’t straighten my hair directly in front of a mirror because the chair/desk/mirror/plug socket configuration makes it impossible in some way. How about putting a tampon or sanitary towel in among the free shower caps/toothpaste/hand lotion sets for emergencies? Plug sockets AND USB ports on both sides of the bed please! Light switches that don’t need a training course to work out which combination of switches turned on or off around the room will give you a dark/lit up room. 2 shower heads so that if I don’t need to wash my hair I don’t have to use the rainfall head. WiFi code clearly written somewhere obvious in the room. A shelf in the bathroom that can fit 2 people’s overnight toiletries. If you must only provide one towel per person, could it please cover both my arse and my boobs at the same time? I could go on and on….

Beds where I either need a step ladder to get on them ... or take a run and jump 🤣. We're not all 6ft tall 🤦‍♀️

Used a shower once that had nipple blasting water pressure level, was very uncomfortable! I think there was something wrong with that particular shower though as none of the others were as powerful (old military base shower room outside the sauna so rows of showers, tried that one and almost blasted my nipples off so tried another, then tried several more for research purposes luckily I was alone so no one there to think me weird!)

I once stayed in the Side Hotel in Hamburg. All very modern in styling complete with lightly frosted glass cube bathroom and no obvious curtain to the massive glazed window wall. Which conveniently looked out onto the office I was going to be visiting the next morning.

So Dagmar in accounts would be able to keep an eye on me and provide a running commentary to her colleagues...

'Oh yes, Gnome, has woken up, been to the toilet and is now having a shower...'

I seriously considered sleeping in the bath. Fortunately someone came to turn down the bed (why? I'm an adult and can manage bedding) and showed me the switch which operated the window blind. It was hidden behind the headboard for the bed.

Ok, this is me being very British tourist abroad...
American hotel rooms usually have a coffee machine, sometimes quite fancy but you can't make tea (from the little stash of Yorkshire Tea bags you can carried with you).
Some will provide a kettle on request ,but a lot don't have any to offer

I haven’t read every post but possibly yes, I’m a bit unusual! Perhaps men would have a different opinion as you imply. I know my DH also hates hand showers on poles as they are never really high enough for him.

Can i join? I have a few moans!

Stayed at a hotel in Sicily (not a chain) where we had a huge family room with a balcony on three sides. But the layout of the room was really odd. There was a nice big mirror which should ideally have been above the desk/ dressing table. But instead it was over the sofa bed so it was hard to use when the sofa was folded up and utterly useless when folded out. There was also a large alcove in the wall containing a safe but nothing else - - no drawers, no shelves, no hanging space and instead an ugly hanging rack was plonked against one wall.

Autograph collection hotels with odd bathroom arrangements. In St Lucia the bathroom and two basins were in the bedroom (sep shower room) even though there was loads of room for a large bathroom. The toilet was also in its own little room just inside the room door but no basin so after a poo you'd have to undo the door with unwashed hands to go and use the bedroom basin. Autograph hotel in KL also had the basin outside the bathroom, just why???

Jetwing hotels also have odd bathrooms. One had all the facilities in the bathroom but fully glass walls. There were thankfully blinds but they were awkward to pull up and down with cords that tangled. Jetwing Yala had what I think was supposed to be a huge luxury wet room style bathroom but it was all black granite and I felt scared to go in alone. I posted a photo on FB and someone dubbed it "the killing room". It really did have gas chamber/chainsaw massacre vibes.

Also, everyday washing is bad for hair.

I was once in a room so small that you had to climb over your partner to get out of the bed if you needed a wee during the night. Another place that had the coffee machine in the wardrobe. Now I just book Premier Inn because I know what Im getting.

Well obviously the more options the better. But it’s pretty obvious from this thread your preference is the minority view among women.

I think this just goes to show that the question of shower head is down to personal preference rather one or the other being intrinsically ‘better’ as I can’t relate to any of the issues you’ve mentioned here. I love hot showers and would happily just jump into one for a couple of minutes even if I only needed to wash one particular part of my body.

Best case scenario would be all hotels offering decent fixed shower heads with separate additional hand shower! Then everyone’s happy.

A lack of accessible plug sockets - no I don't want to have to move the bedside table and unplug the light to plug in my phone.

And a lack of hooks - I don't want to have to hang my damp towel over the wardrobe door or bathroom door!

I can do that but it’s a hell of a lot easier and feels more effective with a non fixed shower head. If they’re going to skimp on shower fittings then they should at least provide a couple of washcloths every day. And it’s very hard to properly rinse my long hair especially under it at the neck with just an overhead one.
Also they’re hopeless if you’ve been out for the day wearing sandals and just need to wash your feet. Of course a bath is better for this but so many now don’t have one, alas - often due to planning restrictions/ water use concern which is understandable but still annoying. I’m short but flexible so while I can still manage to wash one foot at a time in the hand basin, I assume many people can’t and have to undergo the full deluge.

Anyone not always keeping a shower cap in their wash kit is daft though, they’re tiny and weigh nothing.

that podcase sliced bread is fantastic really informative its on my podcast saved list