The bad habits of ineffective hotels

If you travel a lot you have obviously noticed that there are many exceptional hotels, self-catering apartments, B&B’s etc. BUT you have probably also noticed that some are just plain weird, and their bad habits are odd as well.

Here are the worst hotel habits that you may have encountered as a traveler…

#1 Telephones – You would be shocked at the amount of hotels that can’t get their own phone systems right. There’s nothing worse than pressing the “Wake Up Call” button and then getting directed to the reservations call centre instead. And then still getting charged for the call! Let’s not forget about when you wait on the line listening to the busy signal for 20 minutes, maybe next time it would be better to rather send out a carrier pigeon!

#2 Internet – Everyone enjoys lying in bed, watching TV and surfing the net. But, all this is pretty hard to do if there is no wireless connection. Having to run a LAN connection to the other side of the room is just not cool at all.

#3 Hidden Charges – Hotel tax, convenience charge, gratuity, local tax, room service, mini-bar, hospitality fee, tourist tax, internet access fees, charges for phone calls – it all adds up, and its super annoying! It’s not great when you find a decent hotel or accommodation and then all the extras kill the vibe.

#4 Temperature – The water is too hot, and the room is too cold, or the water is too cold and the room is too hot! There are always issues with temperatures in the shower; the goal here is that you just want to wash your body – it doesn’t have to be as complicated as sterilizing medical equipment!

#5 Laundry – When you stay in a hotel, guest house or self-catering apartment you need to do laundry! It’s just one of those things and hotel laundry prices are out of control. Imagine having to pay more to get your socks cleaned then you did to buy them.

#6 Photos – Choosing your hotel is a lot like internet dating. It’s extremely rare that what you get in real life actually looks like what was on the internet. Sometimes, on a rare occasion you may be pleasantly surprised, but that doesn’t happen often. Trip Advisor is a great place to find real photos from real photos.

#7 Signs – Isn’t it the worst when you have to work overnight to mirror business hours, or you just simply do not want to be disturbed and then the staff members insist on bothering you. Surely Do Not Disturb means what it says; you’d think it was a no brainer.

Have you ever experienced any of these truly annoying hotel habits? What are you hotel pet peeves?

Book in at 808 Cartwright Corner for an amazing self-catering apartment in Cape Town with Table Mountain in full view.