I really enjoy checking into hotels and having a good stay. Finding that everything is as you like it is important. It’s your home away from home for a few days, so you want a relaxing time and some time to enjoy the facilities of your chosen hotel.

However, from time to time hotel stays are not 100% perfect and I have listed some areas where hotels have let me down in the past in my Top 15 most annoying things about some hotels or, to put it another way the “Things which annoy me about some hotels” list …

Noisy or non-functioning air conditioning

Worse than a window not opening, a hotel which advertises air conditioning and it barely manages to keep the room at 20C or rattles like a coffee grinder when you have it on. Some of the best Air Conditioning was in the US, where you could have the room at 10C if you so wanted.

Getting a smelly room

Sometimes you can be very unlucky and end up going into a hotel room and getting an unwanted smell. This could be a cleaning problem or it could be something like the previous occupant being a smoker or taking food back to the room the night before.

No provision of parking or local car park which is then validated

This is a real problem for me. If I’m staying at a hotel and there is no hotel parking the least I expect is that the hotel has a deal running with the local NCP or city car park and therefore validate the car parking for you.

Some of the best examples of this recently were at Future Hotel Bristol and The Bristol Hotel, both of which validated our car parking. I would return to these 2 hotels as a result!

Badly maintained bathrooms

Please enjoy our bathroom but ignore the rusty tap, the missing shower head and the mould around the tiling… also if the toilet takes 30 mins to refill that’s normal …. NO it’s not ! Having a well maintained bathroom is vital to an enjoyable stay.

No free WiFi in rooms / Crappy WiFi

There is nothing worse than checking in and then accessing your smartphone or tablet only to find out that there is a charge for WiFi. You may have paid a lot for your room, yet you are not given free Wireless Internet.

Even worse is when you have chosen the hotel based on the Free Wifi promise, you check in and the WiFi times out or fails to load even the most basic web pages. If I’m paying for an expensive hotel room I don’t want to have to pay $20 or €10 for WiFi.
Free WiFi is something I now look for in a hotel, if it’s not free I won’t stay.

Tea and Coffee Facilities

You come back after a day out and fell like a cup of tea for 2 only to find that you have to call reception to get more tiny UHT milk packets delivered to your room. Even worse is when no tea/coffee facilities are provided.

Finding things left from the last visitor

There is nothing worse than seeing evidence of the last visitor in your room, like a sweet wrapper under a chair etc. Once in Australia, there was visible evidence in my hotel that the pillows had not been changed. In that room, the evidence pointed to the previous visitor having a bad cold … at least I hope that’s what it was! (we swiftly left that hotel)

Housekeeping ignoring ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs

If you are in need of some rest and just don’t want to be disturbed, you hang the little do not disturb sign outside the door… some time later you get a knock or a “Hello, House Keeping” – Why? It’s on the door …. Do Not Disturb!

In one hotel we were disturbed exactly 1 hour after check-in … asking “Do you need more towels?” — what could I have done in 1 hour which would result in requiring more towels?

No electrical plug sockets near the bed

This is very annoying for iPhone charging especially if you use your smartphone as an alarm clock or radio… or indeed if you log onto Facebook at 2 am which some people do. Having a plug near the bed or bedside locker should be standard.

Uncomfortable beds or pillows

One of the things I really hate is a hotel which markets the room as having a double bed which is actually 2 twin beds stuck together and you end up falling down the gap. That bed split drives me mad.

Windows that will not open at all

I understand for health and safety you have to prevent people from opening the windows too much but when they don’t open at all it really feels claustrophobic – it’s nice to let some fresh air into your room!

A TV… with 4 channels

So we have a TV, let’s have a look BBC1, BBC2, UTV and a Local Channel … that’s all?
You may as not have it at all! I’ll read a book!

In the age of amazing technology, you should have more than 4 channels.

Keycards not working

There is nothing worse than returning to your room on the 23rd floor to find that your keycard no longer works. You get the red light and you end up having to return to reception. They usually ask “was this near your phone or other bank cards?” … that shouldn’t be the point. In the age of AI and advanced technology, a key card shouldn’t just de-programme!

Complicated light switches

There have been some hotels which have had the most unusual lighting systems. There were so many light switches in one hotel, I had to click each one to find out what each one did. If you click the wrong one you end up waking any guest in the room up with every light in the room suddenly turning on.

Do you have anything to add to this list?

What was the worst thing you ever saw in a hotel? (Please don’t mention names)