10 Annoying Hotel Room Designs

August 31, 2010 at 3:31 PM | by juliana | Comments (12)

We gush about a lot of the good things we find in hotel rooms--toiletries, bathrobes, free WiFi, books--but today we're taking a moment to talk about what really grinds our gears (and sometimes causes injury) when it comes to hotel room design.

As usual, these are just a few things we've come across during our hotel stays but we always want to know what bothers or delights you so drop in your experiences in comments below.

1. Half Shower Doors: We've seen these on three hotel stays recently and our bums are getting sick of it. That's because with just half a shower door, one part of your body is always exposed to the colder air. No matter which way you turn around in the shower, someone's always getting left out. We'd prefer a flimsy shower curtain to these half-doors.

2. Desks and Nightstands with No Outlets Nearby: This is pretty self-explanatory but shame on hotels that feature tricked out desks stations with no outlets nearby. Same goes for nightstands. We'd like not to have to unplug the floor lamp just to charge our cellphone.

3. Gaps Between The Bed and The Wall: As our contributor JuliaB recently found out at the Jane Hotel, gaps between the bed and the wall mean gross things are probably lurking in those dicey spaces.

4. Sharp Edges Around the Bed Frames: Platform beds look cool but not if the square edges of the platform poke out and scrape you when you try to round the bed.

5. Sliding Bathroom Doors: Again, we're picking on the bathroom but have you ever tried to duck into the loo only to get stuck trying to pull a little tab out of the door frame to close the sliding door? And it took you forever? We prefer a proper open and close door for easy privacy.

6. Desks Placed Below The Flat-Screen TV: We love it that flat-screen TVs are an amenity standard in hotels these days but most often, the desk is placed right below the TV, meaning we can't work and watch TV at the same time. Hopefully, there's WiFi so you can at least work from the bed.

7. Low Ceilings: Low-ceilings, no matter how plush the room is, always make us feel claustrophobic. We'd prefer a tiny room with high ceilings instead.

8. Too Much Furniture: Some hotels try to make their rooms seem bigger by adding more furniture and decorations but when you stub your bunion on a desk chair, then bang your knee on a coffee table as you cross the room to get to your bed, there might be too much furniture in the room.

9. Suites with Queen Beds: To be honest, we've only encountered this odd pairing once--at The Affinia Chicago--but we hope never to see it again! Give us the king!

10. Complicated Light Switches: You know us, we love in-room technology but when the nightstand switch is operated by a master switch on the wall by the door, which only works when your keycard is placed in a special slot, we'd rather just go back to the old days and use The Clapper. But we'll settle for pulling a string on a floor lamp too.

What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to Hotel Room Design? Let us know in comments below!

Comments (12)

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I couldn't agree more with this list. We have the same #1. I would expand your second choice to include all outlets. On a recent stay at the Venetian (Venezia tower), I had to search the entire suite for an outlet to use the iron. The closest one was on the opposite side of the room sandwiched between the entertainment center and dining table. It was the final nail in coffin of my first, and last, Venetian visit. Another Venetian "don't" for hotels, "signature scents". The odor throughout the complex is offensive.

Another annoying design problem common in hotels: Oversized or undersized furniture. This could potentially be added to #8. Simply choosing more appropriate furnishings can dramatically alter a space, but many designers overlook such details.

Yep. Agree with #1 too. Also totally hate hate HATE #2, #6 & #9.

@rdeskins3 I can recall something similar when I at The Palazzo once. The only outlet was near the entertainment center and I remember working from one of the small tables bc the power cord to my laptop could only go that distance. But on the flip side, I could see the TV?

(And Thanks for adding your design pet peeves too!)

I totally agree re outlets, sliding bathroom doors, half shower doors. I also wish that ALL hotels would:

install curved shower rods so the gross curtain doesn't cling to me;
buy lamps that have easily accessible switches (i.e., tabletop or floor rather than having to reach up into the lampshade - gross when you don't know what's up there);
not put the towel rack directly over the toilet - YUCK!
remove phones from the toilet area if there is one - who needs to speak THAT badly?
realize that a 2010 safe should be big enough to hold a 15 inch laptop.

Hopefully they take some notice of these ideas.
Number one is by far the one I hate the most...

steve hartstein, you read my mind. there is nothing more disgusting than a phone in a hotel toilet and the towel rack over the toilet - gross. even if you keep the seat down, you wonder whether all the towels have been replaced beforehand.

also 2 on this list makes me very angry

and what about the location of the Toilet paper in your first photo... you need to do a full body twist to be able to see and reach the TP!!! not guest friendy!

Your #10--Complicated Light Switches--is right on, though I'd like to suggest the problem is broader. I was in a hotel at Heathrow a few months ago and there were several components of the room's technology that should have included explanation. The inside-the-door light panel not only needed the key to be inserted but some serious manipulation to get the lights on in multiple parts of the room. Same with the TV and even the lamps. The complexity factor way overwhelmed the cool factor for me, and I left there feeling dumb...not a good takeaway!

@Terry Atkins I totally forgot abt that toilet paper location! It was a pain! I ended up placing the toilet paper on the sink instead. :)

Also @Steven Harstein Phones in the bathroom are gross! And unnecessary. They just seem so 1980s when people were making such important business they had to take it into a room where they make another kind of important business.

Hotels provide black out curtains but then proceed to fill the room with light switches that glow, clocks and TV switches that shine and numerous other tiny light sources. I like it dark. I have resorted to placing socks or pieces of paper over all these light sources. Its annoying to turn off the light and find the room is still lit. Combined, they can illuminate a room so you could almost read due to the amount of ambient light. During a recent stay at a new Hyatt and had to put towels over night lights that were under the bed as there was no switch to turn them off.

Great article! Might I add....

A few hotels take a minimalist approach to bath vanity counters. Absent are drawers or shelves to store a cosmetics bag or DOP kit. If we want to leave a tidy-looking bathroom, the only place to stow a bag of personal items is on the floor, under the sink.....Gross!

Hotels would do well to reduce the amount of superfluous "welcome clutter" monopolizing table-top and counter space. Like the oversize furniture..... Less Is More.

AGREED - ample, ACCESSIBLE electrical outlets are A MUST. Too often, spare electrical outlets are located behind furniture that is impossible to budge. The quick & cheap fix of multiple electric outlet expanders illegally plugged into each other and filled with an overload of electric plugs are dangerous.

IN SUMMARY: More Outlets, Bath Shelves / Drawers, & Less Clutter.

Like Colin Powell, apparently, I hate the complicated alarm clocks that seem to be in every hotel room these days. Sure, an iPod docking station is cool, but I have to bring along my watch or blackberry just to be sure I've set the alarm correctly in the morning! Call me old-fashioned.

Also, the peekaboo bathroom trend is annoying me. Luckily I travel alone mostly, but there is NO WAY I'm sitting on a toilet in front of someone I'm sharing a hotel room with, no matter how comfortable we are with each other!

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