To want to be able to sleep when I’m staying in a hotel.

[Hangerbout]

I work away from home a lot, so have clocked up a lot of experiences in hotels. AIBU? Here are the problems:

1. Bedrooms too hot. Air con default at 23 degrees appears to be the norm now, with restrictions on how low you can go (which is usually above what I need in order to sleep). Last week, the default was 25 degrees. Surely hotel chains have read the research that bedrooms need to be cool?
2. Beds too narrow or short. One time, the bed was so small I had to sleep diagonally.
3. Bed backboards affixed to inferior stud walls, resulting in waking up every time the person in the next room moves in their bed.
4. Hotels not informing customers they are hosting migrants, homeless families and what seems to be recently released offenders: thank you for all the noise in the middle of the night.
5. Doors that look like they’ve previously been crow-barred open. Cue trying to sleep with one eye open.
6. Gyms only open at 7am. Like, that’s too late.
7. Breakfast from 8am. Like, that’s too late.
8. Severe restrictions on the shower temperature options. Thank you for the luke warm shower! Likewise, a lack of industry wide standard shower fixings: I don’t want to solve the shower equivalent of a rubic’s cube when I’m pressed for time. Oh, and the shower head maximum height being set at ‘hobbit mode’. Thank you for the crick in my neck.
9. ’DOG FRIENDLY’ everywhere. Cue me not being able to breathe in a room formerly occupied by a dog due to allergy. But that’s ok because ‘customer wellbeing’.

Thank you for hearing my woes.

Overcomplicated showers with more than one shower head.

And / or showers with a fixed “rainfall” head only (Premier Inn are awful for this - if you happen to get a room with a bath you can’t take a proper shower as it’s the stupid fixed shower head)

Premier inn don't allow dogs.

8am is far too late even with a short commute - nobody wants to be shovelling their breakfast down before rushing off to work. Plus not everyone starts work at 9.

It sounds like your company is booking you into the cheapest, nastiest options. Theyll have to spend a bit more money to secure your comfort and safety....as within a very low budget you are going to get all the horrible things you describe above.

100% agree to always go the soulless corporate chains wherever possible for reliability. They're not perfect and have their annoyances but at least you get sensible business-focused approaches.

Also agree that 8am start for breakfast is mad on a weekday! Often with work travel you'll have early meetings etc to maximise the day and you don't want to be rushing in from your hotel having managed to bolt down half a piece of toast. And if your employer has booked a hotel on b&b basis they're not going to spring for a separate breakfast en route.

Agree re breakfast and gym times. Quite often I am in a hotel having flown in, so dealing with jet lag. If I can't sleep I often choose an early gym session followed by breakfast to help start the day. And I can't remember the last time I started work at 0900 on a trip - they are usually trying to squeeze as much time out of the visit as possible!

The 3am TV alarm left for the next guest sounds like it was deliberately done 'for a laugh' - maybe by somebody who had enjoyed a few refreshments; the same kind of 'joker' who thinks it's hilarious to poo in the kettle and leave it.

Hotels not informing customers they are hosting migrants, homeless families and what seems to be recently released offenders: thank you for all the noise in the middle of the night.

Jesus, where the fuck are you staying???

Or at least heating controls that actually do something. Anything at all. See also air conditioning controls where fitted.

Can I add TV remotes that only work two feet from the TV if you mash the buttons.

Agree about kettles that don't fit under taps. And they still seem to be using tea bags bought from the cash and carry in 1977.

Edit to add how much I agree about the showers. Turn the wrong knob then have to fight through 120 degree lava flow to find out how to turn the bloody thing off, or dare to nudge the temperature dial one micron and the temperature plummets from 90 to 5 in half a second.

Voted you as unreasonable for using like all the time.

Fixed shower heads are ridiculous. They're possibly OK for a swimming pool changing room (if powerful), where you still have your costume on; but as a normal shower, they're utterly pointless.

They must have been invented by somebody who doesn't have any armpits, genitals, bumhole or feet. Probably the same person who invented taps in public toilets that require you to firmly press them down at all times with one hand whilst you fruitlessly try to wash the other one independently.

I’ve never had any issues at a premier inn

I like those old hotels you get in market towns, ones that used to be coaching inns. They are atmospheric, quirky and cosy and breakfasts are made with locally sourced ingredients, and they make your tea and toast and bring it to you.

Most hotels I've stayed in are adequate or good,but I did inform their local environmental health about one last summer. EH called me back to ask for more details, though I didn't get to hear the outcome.

I don't mind cheap when all I need is a bed and a shower, but I do expect clean and safe, and this wasn't.

Premier Inn have gone downhill in the last couple of years , reduction's in staff numbers mean service levels are now unacceptable. I now use much smaller groups . As a pp has mentioned old Coaching Inns have superior offerings and better pricing.

Yikes @Lady2026 what a complete nightmare!

I hadn't been aware of any European guidelines on room temp. It does make you fall asleep quickly but then you can wake up feeling fidgety and overheated.

Breakfast should really start 7am.

If any of points one to five occurred I would be asking for my money back from the hotel and giving a very bad review.

Last time I stayed in a hotel and it was hosting large groups of rowdy adults having described itself as a family hotel I made a complaint and got every single penny of the money back.

If people just stay quiet and put up with it then hotels aren't going to take care of their guests

Some of the big hotel chains are booking lots of asylum seekers and homeless people and it may be worth doing some real research and paying a bit more for a hotel that doesn't do this. I have stopped using Travelodge and holiday Inn for this reason because there is no guarantee of a quiet stay

I start work at 8, this is not unusual in my industry. I usually try to get there a bit before, so I need to leave wherever I am staying at 7am.

@Hangerbout try Village Hotels - most of the Travelodge/PI suggestions don't have gyms. I like them as most of their gyms open at 5am and they're well equipped & have a pool. Also breakfast at 6:30 which is just about ok for me.

I always take ear plugs, just the basic boots wax ones. Hotels are noisy. And turn the air con off and open a window!

But hotel staff and the kitchen staff then have to start work at silly o’clock if they are to provide breakfast significantly earlier than 8am

The windows in Premier Inns which have AC do not open... AC is unbearably hot overnight.. and claustophobic..
Generally the mirrors are placed where the lighting is crap and the ones over the sink are too far away to see to put makeup on... blind as a bat without my specs!!

My biggest grievance with hotels is the rooms not being dark enough. Curtains never pull over properly, gaps down the side, security lights outside the window which then shines on the mirror which bounces light around the room. Light coming under the door as lights are left on all night in the corridor. Cannot understand why they aren't movement sensitive or timed light switches, would save a fortune on energy bills. Yes I'm looking at you Premier Inn and Best Western

Yeah they probably would find it difficult getting staffing

‘What’s with the use of “like” ?? That’s just as annoying as a hot hotel room !
Anyway, I assume you have no control over where you stay . When. Used to work away we had to use a third party travel firm so I didn’t get any choice where I was sent to stay.However, I always made sure I gave feedback to them and my line manager at the same time so I could refuse to stay at X hotel again.

But I think you can only really do that for serious issues such as not feeling safe etc. not for things like the gym doesn’t open early enough.

Oh I agree! Also many rooms have flashing lights on smoke detectors which send me mad!

Is it because you're prioritising hotels with a gym, so staying at the bottom end of hotels with 'facilities" to meet the budget allowed?

Maybe go for a walk or a run instead and stay in a nicer more basic hotel.