The travel season is just coming to an end, which is
probably why over the past weeks so many travel industry commentators have felt
the need to part with their personal gripe lists when it comes to hotels. High
time then that I add my two fifth to it.
Don't worry, payable wifi is not on my list. Those hotels
still charging for it are few and so far between here in Asia that we can focus
on some other areas.
Mould
I cannot believe that I actually have to mention this, but
mould in the bathroom is so widespread in this region that it is high time
somebody brings it up. No matter whether it's a five, four or less star, the
mould issue seems to be endemic throughout the whole industry. Maybe hotels here
in Asia are particularly susceptible because of our steamy climate, but that is
no excuse. Is it really so hard to train the cleaner to spritz a little bleach
(or preferably something more environmentally friendly) on the tiles so that
your guests won't be greeted by some green outgrowth when they step into the
shower?
Room Control
Few topics divide people into love/hate camps like automated
room controls. There are stories abound of power outages leaving people
traipsing around in the dark, unable to open their fully automated black out
curtains. I'm sure you've heard them before.
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| Shangri-la Sydney: gets the light controls right (without a control panel) |
Given that room automation has been around a fair number of
years, it's interesting how little this area has improved. But it's a tricky
issue, no doubt. Staying in an older hotel recently I found the familiar room
control console next to my bed that allowed me to switch on and off certain
lights, change the aircon temperature and switch on the Do Not Disturb sign.
What it also had, was a curtain automation, which I totally missed and only
realised must have been there after half
ripping off the whole window covering while
trying to close it (no fatal damage was done I hasten to add). And while it is
great to switch on the Do Not Disturb sign without even getting up, you’d
better make sure it resets itself when you leave the room, or you may find your
room in the same messy state after coming back from your morning meetings a few
hours later.
But my all-time favourite in this department was at a recent
stay at a boutique hotel. This hotel had supplied each room with an iPad mini for
the sole purpose of controlling the room. Aside from the substantial cost that
putting a gadget like that in the room would have incurred - and the fact that
whenever I tried to hit the aircon button the whole thing froze and had to be
restarted - the room was so small that I could reach the wall controls almost
lying down. So…what's the point?
Daylight and Night
Light
But the thing that really annoyed me about that room control
iPad was that at night it lit up the whole room like a Christmas tree, so I had
to actually switch the damn thing off altogether, which renders it even more
useless. Which brings me to my next pet hate: my room should be nice and flush
with light at daytime, and as dark as possible at night time. If your property
doesn't have a window - or just a skylight, like the Scarlet in Singapore -
advertise it. Do the same if your hotel
has rooms facing the office next door, which turns your room instantly into a
windowless room (unless you are an exhibitionist I suppose). On the other hand,
make sure that none of the room technology emits any light, blinking or
otherwise, at any given time (that includes the STB behind the TV). And
position the night light button that it can be found easily while still being
half asleep. One of the better hotels I stayed at recently that got the whole
light control thing right was the Shangri-la Sydney. Simple, straight forward,
easy to reach and operate - not from a central panel I may add.
The Wish List
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| Treadmill cam |
Ok, now for some things that would excite me if they were
offered in a hotel. Being a bit of a sporty spice, this includes anything involving
the fitness facilities. It really annoys me coming down to the pool for some
laps and finding the pool overrun by a bunch of excited kids doing bombs. It
would save a me a great deal of hassle if there was a channel on my TV that
showed how busy the pool was. Similarly, if I could get an idea if all
treadmills are taken while still in my room, I wouldn't have to waste my time
going down to the gym to find out that no equipment was available.
Yes yes, I know what you are thinking: how about privacy?
Couldn't this be exploited by sneaky in-room voyeurs? Well come on. Don't tell
me there aren't any security cameras around the pool and gym area anyway. All I
need is an overview of how busy the area is, so even a camera at a distance or
at knee-high level would be enough to do that and still maintain privacy.
The other one that irks me is the sauna. Unlike in a regular
gym, a hotel sauna usually has a timer to save energy. All fair and well, but I
would really love to come down to the sauna without having to wait 20 minutes
for it to be sufficiently hot to do the job. Again, why not utilise the IPTV
for that? A simple input mechanism would allow guests to send an email request
to the spa desk to switch on the sauna at a certain time. If the guest doesn't
show, staff simply switch it off again.
Not everyone is sporty spice, but these are just examples to
illustrate the point. In an age where differentiation is a major factor for
hotels to stay competitive, these types of small things would go a very long
way to foster loyalty.
