Portable air con/cooling options for holiday

[FeelingSizzling]

Booked a holiday in a resort offering air con in rooms. Just learned from them that they don't switch it on until it hits 27 degrees outside, and there's no guarantee that will be the case when we go as the average that week is 24. There is no wiggle room on this.

This is a problem, as DS (neurodivergent) runs pretty hot and previous experience indicates he's going to be up half the night complaining. Hence being so careful to book only somewhere whose website clearly stated air con in rooms. Grrrrrrr.

We could rebook elsewhere, but I do actually like the look of this place and not ready to give up on it just yet. I contacted a local air conditioner hire unit company, and apparently they legally can't rent one to us until the temperature hits 27 degrees either.

So, wondering does anyone have any good portable suggestions? I know air con units themselves, even the mini ones, are usually pretty heavy. So thinking that's impractical, but maybe I've missed something? Also I've read about air coolers, does anyone have any experience there? I think we would need something more than a fan. Grateful for ideas. Noise wouldn't be too much of an issue, DS sensitivity seems to run more towards temperature than sounds.

Can you see if there are any local companies that hire units?

Great minds think alike. I did, but sadly they aren't allowed to hire them out til it hits 27 degrees either!

Where are you going? If it's against local laws to turn on air-con under 27 degrees then you can't. If you have shutters keep them down during the day. Maybe use a portable fan. It's not going to be that hot indoors hopefully.

Majorca.

It's not actually against local laws as far as I could see, in fact the person I spoke to at the air con rental company said hotels may allow guests to control the air con in their own rooms. The laws are about public spaces rather than private rooms. Unfortunately, my hotel for whatever reason don't allow this and were very clear about it. I asked about upgrades etc, paying more in order to access it- still a no.

This is going to be a problem, as we know from previous experience how our ND child responds to that sort of temperature overnight.

But it won't be 27 degrees in the room hopefully!

If it was, we'd be able to switch the air con on!

The problem is that we know from previous experience that our ND child is likely to struggle with the lack of air con overnight at the temperature it's likely to be. Our options are to rebook elsewhere or to find some kind of portable option that's more efficient than fans.

Drape a wet towel over a fan or set a bowl of iced water in front of it.

I've also been known to use my dog's cooling coat/towel (Easidri brand is hydrophilic so clothes don't get soaking wet)

Is that in front of a fan sorry? Hadn't considered doggy clothes lol.

I guess you could buy one. There are mini ones on Amazon which have good reviews but I don't know how effective they are.

Yeah, that's what I was hoping to get some advice about. If anyone has done this and could recommend something suitable.

Like this one -
https://www.amazon.es/Acondicionado-YeXhot-Enfriador-Velocidades-Temporizaci%C3%B3n/dp/B0CR18HL2T/ref=mp_s_a_1_11_sspa?crid=2VZODLHDBGHRQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TGBwTogFCcK0Pz8Y1OMUvrrQ2RCnRrzOG7cQq9IF0wtBJN9n_VV1nZ46LP7FVPPpQ0lBiN0SwZddzibHfCIDkMI-kgt18v0Kibo6_hvv1NbsqQVljOhsq96RK-Lk2uZVMtR3xvMMs29Vty9PShEZTbrLW7y5ZPWLsMVY8JFGrFj-ZirXfRErTsdNj-pNUZno9eCC45rYvjclYErCtTVOUQ.xvF6cM6vvP4Slgd15w0YkahgkMKa0NJcllwryb6hsVM&dib_tag=se&keywords=portable+air+conditioner&qid=1717929262&sprefix=pottable%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-11-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1

Sorry for the massively long link! I'd be interested to know too!

Yes that was the sort of thing I had in mind! But don't know if they're any good or not. We do have a unit at home for DS bedroom but it's heavy.

Is that in front of a fan sorry? Hadn't considered doggy clothes lol.
Yes iced water in front of a fan.

As for a cooling coat, draping a thin wet towel over him does a similar job, just that clothes get wet.

It works as the evaporation has a cooling effect

I travel in hot places a lot and often don’t have air con - but am also super heat sensitive due to a medication I take

I always take a cooling pad and a cooling pillow if I have the luggage space.

Have you got access to a fridge / freezer?

when are you going to Majorca? which hotel is it? I’m a travel agent so might be able to suggest a good alternative - but you do have to check whether they’re applying the rules to only the common areas or to the individual rooms too. It depends on the systems they’ve got installed.

Ive tried a portable air con unit in Mallorca before and tbh it wasn’t really worth having - it didn’t do much to cool the room at all and you usually have to have the window open to vent the air and then all the insects come in

Thank you, would it be ok I PM'd you? No worries if not.

Yes of course!

We had this issue in Majorca last summer, we had to borrow a fan from reception as it was just too hot. It worked ok but it has put me off going back, which is a shame as we love Majorca

It’s an energy saving initiative, we went mid August and non of the shops had air conditioning on either, it felt like there was no relief from the heat

https://www.palmaairport.info/2022/08/13/energy-conservation-in-mallorca-use-of-air-conditioning-restricted/?utm_content=cmp-true

Yeah I read up on it re the public buildings. Didn't mind that too much, but it's not meant to apply in hotel bedrooms! Did you find the room was ok for you with the fan?

@FeelingSizzling It was ok, I wasn’t that impressed by it but it was better than nothing. We just didn’t ever feel that relief of going inside or back to our room and it feeling cool. Even the hotel reception area was sweltering

I can imagine. August would be too much for me under any circumstances I think!

@FeelingSizzling It was actually annoyingly cool for August, it was mid to
late 20s most days but there was a spectacular storm and rain for 2/3 days straight. We had a bit of a nightmare 😂

Blimey!