Hey, how’s it going everyone?
It’s Ernest from Trip Astute.
In this video, we’re going to continue our series on travel annoyances and how to deal
with them, but this time with a focus on hotels stays.
(light chiming music)
A few months ago, I did a video on air travel annoyances.
This is actually part two of that video, so you haven't seen it, make sure you watch it.
This list is focused on hotel annoyances and pet peeves.
I’m hoping you all can relate to some of these things, and maybe even gain an insight
or two on how to deal or avoid these issues.
Before I run through the list, if you’re new here, welcome to our channel.
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So, let’s jump into my top 13 hotel travel annoyances.
1. No safe in your hotel room: You all know that I prefer to keep my passport in the hotel
safe while I explore with a photocopy in my wallet.
This works great until you get to a hotel that doesn’t actually have a safe, or even
worse, has one that doesn’t work properly.
You usually have a few options in this situation.
One is to ask the front desk to lock your valuables in their safe.
This can work well, but it usually means that you won’t have access to your valuables until
the end of the stay.
The second option is to lock it in your suitcase.
If you going to lock your suitcase at the hotel, I recommend using a non-TSA friendly
lock for this purpose since it’s possible to open them with a special key.
And the third option, which I actually prefer, is to use a portable safe.
If you need more info on portable safes, we’ve reviewed several of them on our channel, so
check out our portable safe playlist.
2. Lack of plugs in the hotel: This one drives me insane.
You check into your hotel and realize that the only accessible plug is along the side
of the bed or hallway.
It’s definitely not a good place for your phone or tablet,
especially if you’re walking to the bathroom in the dark.
There are a few ways to get around this issue.
One option is to use USB ports on devices like alarm clocks and TVs.
Some TVs have to be on in order to power the port,
but some provide a constant charge even when they're off.
Another method that I’ve used is to charge my devices is by using a large USB battery pack,
then charge the battery pack during the day.
I used this when I did a homestay in Vietnam, and my travel group only had two outlets for
6 people.
Finally, I do have two gadgets that directly address this issue.
I recently picked up a cool device that allows you to charge an iPhone on the outlet.
It’s called the Orbit iPhone charger, and it’s made from a company called Hip Product
Factory.
I think this is a nice and compact solution, especially if you’re worried about stepping
on your phone at night.
The other device is from Anker. It's called the PowerPort Cube.
It’s basically a portable power strip that’s shaped like a cube and includes three main
plugs and 3 USB ports with their proprietary power IQ technology.
These type of devices can really help with dealing with a lack of plugs, and even plugs
in a difficult or inconvenient location.
3. Noisy hotels: I have to admit that this has happened so many times to me at different hotels, even
fancy ones.
I’m woken up in the middle of the night by drunk hotel guests yelling in the hallway.
I’ve also had situations where my room was right next to the elevator and I could hear it all night passing
by my room wall.
Since I’m a light sleeper, it felt like torture.
If you can’t get a new room or don’t want to bother with having to pack everything up,
I suggest a fairly low tech solution:
Cheap ear plugs.
I bought a pack of them from Amazon, and they work great.
In fact, I now have a noisy neighbor downstairs of my apartment that has a habit of waking
us up at 5 AM in the morning.
We keep a few pairs on our bedside table just to be ready and always carry a couple of pairs
while traveling.
Also, when given the option of specifying room preferences, I recommend requesting a
quiet floor or a room away from the elevator.
It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have a quiet room, but I think the odds are slightly better.
4. Erroneous charges on your hotel bill: Hotels are notorious for adding all sorts of charges
to your stay.
Newspapers, tourism taxes, and parking are just a few examples.
If you find yourself in a situation where you are disputing the charge, and the hotel
is unwilling to work with you, I suggest not signing the receipt or invoice.
By doing so, the hotel can still charge you, but you can always work with your credit card
company to dispute the charge.
We had this happen to use a few years ago in Mexico, so check out our video on the topic.
We basically stayed one night in a hotel and had to check out early due to issues with
the room, but the hotel insisted on charging us five days worth of resort fees.
I was willing to pay for one day, but not the remaining days.
Luckily, I filed a report of my situation with Chase and they were able to adjust the
charge on my Sapphire Reserve card.
5. Expensive drinks and snacks: There’s nothing worse than opening a water bottle in your
room and finding that the bottle costs $5.
I recommend checking or asking before opening any drinks in the room.
Also, many hotel minibars use sensors to detect when something is consumed.
The problem is that the sensors can often be tripped if you happen to just take out
drink to look at it or even move things around.
I had this happen years ago when I got a small bottle of prosecco and wanted to have it chilled.
I put in the mini bar, and likely moved a few things around in order to make room.
However, when I was checking out, I found out that I had a bunch of charges on my hotel bill.
There are a few solutions to this issue.
A lot of hotels will allow you to have your mini bar locked, which is useful if you have
curious kids.
Also, I’ve even heard of people taking photos of their mini bar to document what they’ve
used or haven’t used.
If anything, just be careful of moving anything in the mini bar as it could result in some extra charges
on your final bill.
6. Resort fees: I find resort fees to be a ridiculous charge.
It’s basically a mandatory fee that’s charged separately from the booking rate,
making the booking rate seem lower than usual.
You can sometimes get the hotel or resort to waive the fee, especially if you’re not
using the services that are supposed to be supported by it, like parking or the pool.
However, in most cases, you just have to pay it, which is really annoying.
7. High prices for basic services: When I traveled to Southeast Asia, I got in the habit of having
my hotel do my laundry every other day since I had packed lightly and it was so affordable.
It was like a dollar per bag of laundry.
And that rate, it made more sense to have them to do it than washing my clothes in the
hotel sink or bath tub.
Fast forward to my final location on my trip, which was Hong Kong.
I stayed at the Hyatt Regency in TST.
When I inquired about laundry, I was told that it was going to be charged per item,
and the prices were extremely high.
I decided to do a quick Yelp search and found a cleaner a few blocks away that
had good reviews.
I made the trip over, and it ended up being just a few dollars to have my clothes washed
and folded.
I’ve also had the same experience with transportation to the airport.
When I was in Costa Rica at the Andaz Papagayo, I asked about getting a taxi from the hotel
to the airport.
I looked online and saw that the charge for most of the local operators was under $20.
I was surprised when the Andaz concierge quoted me $50 for the ride to use their preferred driver.
I decided to arrange it myself and save money.
8. No iron in the room (or dirty iron): When I used to travel for business, it would drive
me insane when I would be rushing to get ready in the mornings, only to find out that there
wasn’t an iron in the room, or even worse, it was dirty.
I remember this being an issue too when I was in the military too since we often starch
our uniforms which would leave a residue on the iron.
And sometimes even result in burn marks.
This always seems to happen when I’m in a hurry too, which is no fun.
A good tip for dealing with wrinkles is to hang up your clothes in the bathroom during
a shower.
The humidity should help with removing the wrinkles.
Also, I recently discovered merino wool dress shirts, which are amazing.
I got one from Hardvark that’s is lightweight and very wrinkle resistant.
We actually did a video a while back on merino wool clothing and why it’s a great fabric
for travelers.
I never thought about using it for dress clothing, but it makes a lot of sense.
My Hardvark merino wool dress shirt is now my default formal shirt when traveling since
I don’t have to worry about wrinkles and creases as I do with my cotton dress shirts,
even the ones that are supposed to be wrinkle-free.
Hardvark also makes a lot of other merino wool clothing and accessories, so I’m going
to order more items from them soon.
9. Low water pressure: I hate to sound high maintenance, but this one really drives me insane when
I'm staying at a hotel.
I’ve been to some nicer hotels where the water seems to sprinkle out of the showerhead.
There isn’t really a solution to this problem.
The only thing I can recommend is trying to shower during off-peak times.
For example, if you notice that the water pressure is low in the morning, it’s likely
that other guests are also showering at the same time which could be lowering the overall
water pressure for the hotel.
10. Pitches for timeshares or vacation clubs: We did a whole video on this topic a while
back, but it’s honestly something that annoys me.
I’ve been to many hotels where I’m told that I'm being upgrade to VIP status,
and that they want to give me a free gift.
When I go to pick up the free gift,
it's basically a bag of swag and goodies, but then I'm told that they want to
give me a tour of some of the "VIP" benefits.
This happened when I stayed at the Sheraton at Black Rock in Maui, and I literally gave
them back the bag and told them that I wasn’t interested.
I wasn’t trying to be a jerk, but I’ve been to so many of these presentations to know that
there’s always a catch.
And since I feel like my vacation time is so valuable, I don’t want to waste any time
being pressured to buy a timeshare or membership into a vacation club.
Also, have you ever won a free hotel night or vacation, only to find out there are strings
attached?
Just like my earlier point, don’t fall for it.
Fiona and I recently went to a local wedding show, and they were running a giveaway for
a free vacation to Hawaii.
Guess who won?
Both Fiona and I received calls saying that we were one of the winners, even though we
entered separately.
It was pretty obvious that everyone won the contest and that was a ploy to get people to go
to presentations.
Again, just be careful.
It’s like the old economic saying, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
11. Late check-out fees: When we traveled to Las Vegas for our Death Valley trip, I was surprised
that our hotel did not have any flexibility when it came to late checkout, especially
since we do have some status with Hyatt.
They did offer some options, but all seemed a bit pricey.
Since our flight wasn’t until the late afternoon, we opted to have the hotel hold our bags instead.
Most hotels will offer this service without any extra charge, so it’s worth asking if
you’re not able to get a free late checkout.
When requesting a late checkout, you’re almost always better off asking on the day
of your checkout versus earlier.
This is because the front desk won’t actually know if the hotel is fully booked until the
day of.
One additional tip when checking out.
I recently heard a story about a couple that checked out of their hotel by simply leaving
the keys in the room.
They were surprised to get a bill a few days later for additional nights of stay.
Apparently, someone broke into their room after noticing them leaving, and was able
to use the keys and essentially extend the stay.
I always assumed that hotel keys would deactivate, but apparently they don’t.
So, make sure you are officially checking out of the room.
And instead of leaving your keys in the room, I suggest leaving them at the front desk.
It’s probably a good idea to review your final bill in case there are any other
discrepancies.
12. Confusing policies: I dislike it when hotels have policies that affect some guests but not
not others.
An example is the Hyatt Place policy for free breakfast.
I actually love the Hyatt Place brand, and I’ve been able to get some great redemption
rates with them.
It used to be that the hotel offered a basic free breakfast during your stay.
Now, only members of the World of Hyatt loyalty program who book their reservations directly
with Hyatt are eligible for the free breakfast.
And they now have someone checking as soon as you sit down to enter the breakfast area.
Needless to say, it’s confusing for a lot of people.
For example, let’s say you have status with Hyatt, but you used the Chase Travel Portal
to book your stay.
This means that you would not be eligible for the free breakfast.
I just think it’s an extra hassle for everyone, both the hotel guest and the staff that has
to enforce the policy.
I wish hotels would just keep it simple and make these types of benefits inclusive for
all guests.
13. Not getting the points for your stay: This is for you points and miles nerds.
There is nothing worse than paying for a stay only to find out afterward that you didn’t
get the credit.
While you can often request the missing points, it can be a pain and take a while to get resolved.
I recommend verifying during check-in that your loyalty number is listed in the booking,
especially if you booked from a third party site like the Chase Travel Portal or Expedia.
The front desk should be able to confirm it.
And it might even remind or encourage them to give you additional perks or upgrades due
to your status.
While I probably sound a bit crabby for putting together this list, I still love staying at
hotels.
And I think it’s important to always keep your cool and treat people with respect, even
when things go wrong.
I know things often just happen sometimes, and oftentimes, no one is at fault.
If anything, don’t let one or two bad experiences ruin your vacation.
What are you travel pet peeves and annoyances when staying at hotels?
Do you have any other tips?
Please share in the comment section below.
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Until next time, travel safe and travel smart.