Many business travellers have a genuine love-hate relationship with hotels: they love the upgrades, free breakfast and nice surroundings, but hate the forgotten or ill-timed wake-up calls, the shower tubs, the noisy neighbours and the surcharges for real barista coffee at that same ‘free’ breakfast.
We’ve compiled the top five ways that any hotel, even the most lavish five-star luxury properties, can turn an otherwise-positive stay into one that makes us sigh, cringe or just plain irritated.
1. Charity donations appearing on the bill
Nothing sours an otherwise great stay like reviewing your folio on departure day and spotting that somebody else has decided that you will be making a charitable donation as part of your visit.
Usually the donation comes as an inconsequential $1 tacked on at the bottom, but which puts you, the guest, in a very awkward and unnecessary position.
You can either ask for the dollar charge to be removed – which admittedly makes you appear cheap – or you can leave it on and explain to your boss why you used the company credit card for a donation that’s too small to even be tax deductible.
We’ve nothing against charities and wouldn’t mind so much if hotels simply offered the chance to donate on check-out, but adding unauthorised charges to your bill is a no-no in the banking industry, and should be so at hotels, too.
2. “Would you like to pay in Australian dollars?”
Visa and MasterCard users spending overseas will have been asked “would you like to pay in Australian dollars?” many a time under the guise of being convenient, and hotels are no exception to that rule.
But what many people don’t realise is that the hotel usually pads that exchange rate by 1-3% and pockets the extra as a commission. Then, your Australian bank will likely charge its usual 2-3.65% foreign transaction fee on top of that, adding as much as 6.65% to your overall bill.
Hotel reception staff are also seldom aware of the hidden cost and often tout the service, known as ‘dynamic currency conversion’, as if they’re doing you a favour so that you “know exactly how much you’ll be billed in your own currency”.
Make the question an honest and transparent “would you to pay us a higher amount but in Australian dollars?” and we’re sure this ‘convenience’ would quickly become extinct.
3. Hotel gyms that close overnight
Normally accessible only by key card, we’ve never understood why some hotel gyms and fitness centres close their doors in the evenings – particularly when they’re largely self-sustaining and come fitted with CCTV cameras for added security.
For jetlagged business travellers arriving late at night or early in the morning after a long journey, a quick workout can do wonders for your circulation, fatigue and even mental preparedness ahead of your busy schedule for the days ahead.
The DoubleTree by Hilton Melbourne gym, closed between 10pm and 6am...
There are also the crowds who prefer to rise early for a pre-breakfast calorie burn or head to the gym later at night once all their work is done, and in this modern age of hi-tech gadgets and electronic access cards, “the little hand was on the twelve” no longer passes muster.
4. HDTV aspect ratios, blurry images
It’s always ironic when a hotel spends thousands of dollars installing shiny new high definition TVs in its guestrooms, only for the pictures displayed to stretched, squished, cropped or otherwise in the wrong size or ‘aspect ratio’.
For example, if you’ve ever flicked on Sky News, CNN or Bloomberg to find that your hotel TV is missing much of the usual on-screen information – or even just an entertainment channel to watch a movie and noticed that the actor’s head was abnormally wide – you’ve got an aspect issue.
Frequently the hotel will have programmed its master set top boxes in ‘4:3 crop’ mode, which takes a virtual cookie cutter to the centre of a widescreen image for display on the more squarish TVs of yesteryear, before piping that straight to your wide TV and stretching the image back out to fill the screen.
What you end up with is half a channel filling the whole of the screen and looking like a downright mess, rather than a widescreen channel displayed in actual widescreen.
5. Bedside clocks past their use-by date
Some hotels have brilliant bedside clock radios with built-in phone connectors and USB charging ports, while others lag behind and claim an often-faulty auxiliary cable as their headline feature.
All too common: hotel radios that can't play music...
The former are fantastic for business travellers – serving not only in place of the phone charger you forgot to pack but also to air your personal music playlist while your phone is re-juiced for the busy day ahead.
Switch to the latter and you’ve got no phone connection and no backup USB power sockets: instead just a flimsy audio cable that should have been upgraded years ago. Hilton, take note.
When it comes to hotels, what makes you grumble before, during or even after your stay? Share your pet peeves in the comment box below!
Also read: What makes a great hotel for business travellers?
Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
06 Nov 2011
Total posts 18
My big gripe: When there are no, or only one outlet/s by the bed/s. It still astonishes me how many hotels lack this feature... or sometimes it's in the lamp, but is so loose that it won't stay in.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
Amen to that. Also WiFi costing extra.
03 May 2012
Total posts 120
Well said. Outlets are my biggest gripe along with insufficient lighting. The issues combine when there is one outlet near the bed and you have to mimic a Marine in basic training to crawl around and disconnect a the "light" that is connected to it. I say "light" because the thing never pump out enough wattage to be useful for anything except as an annoyance.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2011
Total posts 359
Overcomplicated light switches. Sometimes its like solving Rubiks cube.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
Hospitality staff who don't understand basic English?
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
And they "yes" "yes" even when they don't understand your question. And then refuse to acknowledge they don't understand, when asked then deliver something completely different.
Just be upfront when you don't understand so I'll try to explain myself better. I know English is not your first language. But if we carry on with this charade, we're not going to get anywhere.
05 Sep 2011
Total posts 65
Even worse than wrong aspect ratios is being unable to find the channels. Stayed in a hotel recently with well over 100 TV channels to choose from, but no TV guide or channel list. The channels weren't even in any sort of logical order, such as being organised by language or genre.
Other dislikes: bad showers; 'trendy' side tables instead of having a proper desk; 'stylish' light fittings that barely light up the room, or which hang so low from the ceiling you keep knocking in to them; incredibly cheap irons and ironing boards - remarkably common in upmarket hotels... I could go on all day.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Nov 2011
Total posts 359
Cheap irons......agreed. Particuarly when they use the travel irons with no steam. Deplorable.
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1242
1. Insufficient power outlets by the bed and work desk.
2. No master light controls by the bed and/or light switches for different fixtures scattered all around the room.
3. Dim lighting.
4. Weak water pressure.
5. Shower curtains (instead of doors), particularly when they're not cleaned and so they smell.
6. Shower partitions that don't close fully or are not splash-proof so water gets everywhere on the bathroom floor.
7. Poor ability to control water temperature in the shower/at the sink.
05 Oct 2011
Total posts 195
Boy oh Boy does number 4 get up my nose. I have stayed at places and told them maybe half a diozen times over a 12 month period but still nothing. FOXTEL is a bit of an issue because the technology they use in hotles is SO old. They have maybe 6 or 8 STB sitting on top of each other. If you use the remote to try and fix ONE box they all chang....not to the correct setting but simply differnt from the existing setting. The other issue is that often the hotel will have some 4:3 screens hanging aorund that miss out on picture if they are reset.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2424
Yep, you basically have to point the remote directly in front of the box you want to control (as in, 1cm away), or you have to block the IR receivers on the other boxes with something. Can be a pain but still a relatively easy fix.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
Insufficient power points definitely - I now travel with my Alococc cube with a 1.5m cord.
1-3% on DCC is low -- I once saw about 8% in Macau (Crown Macau)
Badly designed/ tested Wifi - have had a number of times where it didn't effectively reach the corner rooms
Floor lamps that aren't controlled by master switches (particularly apparent in the US where they generally don't use ceiling lights)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Mar 2015
Total posts 94
Too many to list, but the USD32 breakfast, that covers everything, except the single shot espresso that costs and additional $6 really annoys me.
Qantas
02 May 2016
Total posts 62
2 big issues for me
1. Paying for Internet when all I want/need is to replicate emails and basic internet usage
2. Staying in new hotels for major chains that lack international power outlets, I mean really.....can't tell you how many brand new Hiltons, Marriots etc I've stayed in that only have local outlets and you end sharing device charging through your 1 adaptor
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
Total posts 475
Just 5? Why limit ourselves...
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
30 Nov 2015
Total posts 729
I don't like it when your departing the hotel in peak rush time for morning meetings, and say there are 2 passenger lifts and 1 staff/houskeeping lift, and after waiting 5 minutes for one of the two the guest lifts - the Housemaid and her trolley are in your lift. Talking about lifts, hate it when they 'Bing' loudly when they arrive at the floor, especially if your room is near the lift lobby.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Jun 2015
Total posts 105
I can give you some gripes from a recent stay in London i had
14 Sep 2016
Total posts 3
All London hotels will have all of those annoyances and more. All British hotels in fact. The Brits just don't do hotels. or plumbing. A combination made in hell.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
11 Apr 2016
Total posts 8
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
11 Apr 2016
Total posts 8
My biggest gripes:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Sep 2016
Total posts 3
My big gripe: being interrogated by reception staff about a reservation. Just find me my room, thanks. No, I *DON'T* need someone to carry my luggage. Crappy ironing boards, no iron (how do business travellers travel without access to irons???) and NO KETTLE FOR TEA tops my list. If I have just spent 20 hours on planes, no one but no one should ever have to experience the decaffeinated version of me (see Jeckyll, Dr.).
Americans are the worst for this.
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 156
What everyone said about crappy irons and ironing boards. Is it even possible to buy non-steam irons these days? Well apparently most major hotel chains have worked out how...
And a shaving kit that consists of some 25c piece of crap which might as well be a blunt chainsaw on your face.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Nov 2014
Total posts 15
Australian hotels (a) charging, and (b) charging usery rates for wifi when it's free in most parts of the world. Ironing boards that should've been thrown on the tip years before. Low watt light bulbs. I got to the point where I used to take my own so that I could replace reading lamp globes and actually read. TV remotes which won't work.
23 May 2012
Total posts 35
Lack of outlets. No fresh milk for tea. Charging me for fresh milk when I ask for it. Charging for wifi. Calling the room to check if things are OK. Knocking on the door when I have the DND sign on. Stuffing about at reception.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
08 Aug 2014
Total posts 39
In the hope that hotel management staff are reading this... No. 5 is a particular bugbear of mine. Specifically, the bedside clocks that go off randomly, fit to wake the dead, at 3am or midnihgt or whenever. Whenever I stay in a room I check that the clock is switched off and where possible unplug it. I use my iPhone as an alarm clock.
Some bedside clocks also have LCD displays that could light up a Hollywood premiere. At the least I ensure they face away from me when sleeping because that sort of light interferes with proper sleep.
14 Sep 2016
Total posts 3
Things on the bed. One hotel near the botanic gardens in Brisbane had two teddies (wtf?), an indescribable pleated thing, two large and two small cushions, and a heavy sort of antimacassar on the bed, all of which I had to heave off it before I could get into bed. Each day after the room was serviced all the Things had been put back on the bed. Oh, what a nuisance!
Also aircon that is fixed to 21 degrees and you cannot alter the thermostat. This is especially irritating because I must sleep cool at night.
18 Sep 2015
Total posts 140
Mate, 21 deg IS cool in Brisbane. Origin Energy suggests that aircon be set at 24 or 25 during summer.
14 Sep 2016
Total posts 3
Yeah, I know. All the more reason why I should be able to cool the room to 16 degrees to get a good night's sleep.
I start to spontaneously combust when the temperaturre hits about 23 degrees, but my work often takes me to Brisbane.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Jun 2016
Total posts 2
All those iPod docks with the old school 30 pin connectors.
Etihad Guest
23 Dec 2012
Total posts 4
Sounds trivial, but why when I'm staying for more than 24 hours, do they always have to move the remote control from where you left it.
If I leave it on the bedsite table in the morning, that's where I expect it to be when I come back in the evening....rather than on an obscure shelf under the TV (Novotel) or in a back in drawer. That said, given it happens so regularly, you'd think I'd learn!
Oh, and I'll second all the things that other posters have listed....the 5 in the article are the tip of the iceberg!
20 Sep 2011
Total posts 27
Aha!! The red flag to a bull :-) OK,
1) Inadequate or badly positioned powerpoints I've had one at floorboard level that an apple plug couldnt plug into. Seriously??? Who would put a socket on a skirting board?
2) Cheap, non-steam irons that would melt a good shirt
3) The credit card cash gouge on checkout
4) The credit card cash gouge on checkout
5) The credit card cash gouge on checkout
Need I go on???? :-)
20 Sep 2011
Total posts 27
And i didn't know the "pay in Australian dollars scam" That's a new one Thanks for the tip
17 Jun 2016
Total posts 8
wouldnt it be great if there was some fabulon / spray starch to help with ironing your shirt with a good iron and ironing board? How hard could that be? You arrive late so there's no chance of checking in shirts to be ironed by housekeeping.
18 Sep 2015
Total posts 140
1. Lack of soundproofing. This is so basic and fundamental but almost universally disregarded in Australia.
2. Dim bed reading lights or lights that can't be shopne on what you are trying to read.
3. Credit card surcharges.
Qantas
12 Jul 2013
Total posts 11
Irons and ironing boards are the worst. The steam ones can be worse as they have a propensity to simply dump all the water you put in straight back out. I can only assume they are buying the irons rejected by every retailer as not fit for purpose. I now request a steam iron. In my special requests to the hotel. Oh and a full size board. Those half boards are useless.
Number 2 for me is chairs that don't match the desk height. This is incredibly common. The chairs are so low as to be useless.
3 Useless wifi. Why bother giving me something free that is next to useless. That's just annoying.
4 Poor lighting. All we want is a master switch and enough lighting to see. This trend to 6 different mood lamps puts me in a bad mood.
My wife hates that kettles were replaced with coffee machines. She is a tea drinker and the kids want hot chocolate.
What is really interesting is how many of the complaints are similar and could be easily rectified.
Qantas
12 Jul 2013
Total posts 11
Irons and ironing boards are the worst. The steam ones can be worse as they have a propensity to simply dump all the water you put in straight back out. I can only assume they are buying the irons rejected by every retailer as not fit for purpose. I now request a steam iron. In my special requests to the hotel. Oh and a full size board. Those half boards are useless.
Number 2 for me is chairs that don't match the desk height. This is incredibly common. The chairs are so low as to be useless.
3 Useless wifi. Why bother giving me something free that is next to useless. That's just annoying.
4 Poor lighting. All we want is a master switch and enough lighting to see. This trend to 6 different mood lamps puts me in a bad mood.
My wife hates that kettles were replaced with coffee machines. She is a tea drinker and the kids want hot chocolate.
What is really interesting is how many of the complaints are similar and could be easily rectified.
15 Sep 2016
Total posts 2
Room and Alarm clocks set tro the wrong time. Do you think this could be on the housekeeping checklist!
Velocity Platinum
08 Jul 2011
Total posts 16
The answer to everyone of these legitimate gripes - AirBnB!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
Total posts 475
Yeah right...
So let me book 150+ nights a year and miss out on:
Velocity Platinum
08 Jul 2011
Total posts 16
A positive comment at last! I run an Airbnb and am booked out six months in advance. My space is 100% superior in every way to any hotel room. It's cheaper too. Perhaps we are all a little too sucked in by FF points and loyalty schemes. Been there and done that!
17 Jul 2015
Total posts 2
Two main issues for me:-
Lighting in the room so dim you have to use a torch to be read anything. As someone who needs to read at night to lull myself off to sleep it's a big annoyance.
And the big one:- credit card surcharges. For the life of me I cannot understand that when a hotel charges $300.00 a night they think they can slug you a credit card fee on top of that. These are the big end of town hotels like the Marriott etc that should be able to absorb these fees considering they really hit you for meals, drinks, accommodation and in some instances WiFi.
There are of course the smaller annoyances:-
Working out how to get all or some of the lighting off (because you have had to turn it all on initially so you could see in the room) from the buttons near your bed.
Cheap crappy coffee and those little containers of pretend milk when you have paid a fortune for the room you are in. Thick lipped coffee cups - give me fine bone china please!
Not enough power points to recharge all the tech equipment we all have to have these days.
I emailed ahead and asked for firm pillows yet I get soft lumpy ones - why?
Virgin Velocity
07 Oct 2015
Total posts 4
Missing plugs for the sink, no flannel in the bathroom so you have to use a towel to wash your face and one piece of soap for the sink and the shower (surely soap isn't that expensive?) would be my cleansing gripes to add to the list
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