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People would love your hotel if you just changed the lightbulbs

August 2, 2010

What do guests want from their hotel? If you answered “designer beds” and “spiffy lobbies” maybe you’ve been sipping the hotel industry Kool-Aid for too long.

The correct answer is disturbingly simple, according to a new survey of frequent guests by D. K. Shifflet & Associates. People don’t want to be nickeled-and-dimed for their Internet connection or parking. They don’t want to hear the honemooners in the next room. They don’t want to gag on someone else’s cigarette smoke. A free breakfast would be nice, too.


That should come as no surprise to hotel guests. But what might raise an eyebrow are the rest of the findings. A well-lit room and easy access to outlets rated close behind a free breakfast. Those are two relatively inexpensive amenities, according to Chris Klauda, the company’s vice president for lodging.

Adding a bit of wattage to improve lighting, or a longer electrical cord to improve access to outlets could pay off as much as adding items to the breakfast bar – and the ROI is better.

In these lean times hoteliers need to be creative in finding the simple changes that make a difference and that these small changes may greatly reduce the annoyance when these items are not available.

I had to chuckle when I saw this survey.

The fact that hoteliers have to be told that their guests would be happier if Internet and parking was free, and that they like well-lighted rooms and “free” breakfast is a little outrageous.

Is anyone listening?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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26 comments

  • David Emery

    >Is anyone listening?
    Nah… And this is worse outside the US, there have been hotels I’ve stayed at where you couldn’t read by the appalling light in the room. Once I think I even went out and bought a better bulb so I could read/do work.

  • SirWired

    I’d like to add to the list outlets that actually work, so the plug doesn’t fall out of the socket if you look at it wrong. Consumer-grade outlets that you buy for sixty cents at Home Depot have no place in a hotel room.

    And I, for one, would be more likely to stay at a hotel that DOESN’T litter the bed with a half-dozen useless pillows in bizarre shapes; the first thing I do is toss those suckers in the closet.

  • Carver

    I’m sure I’m the contrarian, but let’s deconstruct this survey

    1. Frequent guests as a category is meaningless. Are these Motel 6 frequent guests are Ritz-Carlton frequent guests. That’s crucially important

    Ritz-Carlton guests already have spiffy lobbies and designer beds, Motel 6 guests probably don’t care. Price being the important metric.

    Hotels already know that their guests want well lit rooms and easy access to outlets. If you check the renovation of any middle level or higher hotel, the first thing you notice is that there are many more accessible outlets, often from the work desk.

    Just my $0.02

  • noah

    I actually prefer hotels that charge for internet. I find that most hotels have limited bandwith shared throughout the hotel. Charging for it keeps out the people who would use significant amounts of bandwith, but only if they don’t have to pay for it.

    In fact, I had a recent experience at a free internet hotel that was so bad that I now actively seek out hotels that charge for internet usage.

  • http://williambeem.com William Beem

    They misunderstood. That’s why so many are creating mandatory resort fees which double in price every year and include services that some guests simply don’t want or need.

  • http://mccallumsolutions.com Tom McCallum

    As my good friend Pilar Bush (ex Director of Tourism for Cayman) used to say, first be “brilliant at the basics”.

    To plug (ooh, sorry!) Cayman, we just finished an internal brand review and one of our identified strengths was product quality and consistency, reinforced by (among other things) strong quality standards and inspection procedures for hotel licencing.

    As a hotelier (well, now a consultant, but it doesn’t get out of the bloodstream), that focus on basic amenities… and the lack of it in so may hotels.. never leaves me.

    I would say, however, that this is one area where brands and well run independents are raising the bar. The new connectivity panel at Marriott hotels, for example, is great.

    Hmm.. reminds me.. of on a cruise next week, must take my power strip.. cruise ships are notorious for having only one or two 110v outlets !

  • larry

    What I find unusual is that my lifetime pet peeve is noise in the hallway and it is not on the list. It could be fixed by doing what many European Hotels do, especially the independent hotels. They put double doors back to back, or my favorite way, they put a second door between the bathroom and the bedroom. In addition to solving the hallway noise problem, this method also allows the maid service to clean the bathroom and not bother you. I have even stayed at some German hotels that give you a second key for the second door so you can lock up your bedroom with your stuff and just let them clean the bath.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    Given that some hotels were built before laptop computers, cell phones, Blackberries, etc., some hotels do have a shortage of outlets by the desk or even in the room. I need three outlets for my laptop, cell phone and Blackberry. If my wife and son is traveling with me, we will need additional outlets for my son’s DVD player, two outlets to recharge the two battery packs for her two digital cameras, an outlet to recharge the recharge batteries that my wife use with the flash on her camera, an outlet for my camcorder if I bring, etc. However, it seems like most of the hotels that I stay at if not all, have several outlets around the desk. It has been common for me to see power strips attached to the wall or the desk.

    My number one complaint is the location of the electrical outlets in the room. I need to iron my shirts and it always seems that there is no outlet on the wall for the perfect spot for the ironing board. Instead, the ironing board ends up blocking the closet or blocking entrance to the restroom. I understand that it will cost them more money in the construction of the hotel to put the outlets on the wall where there empty spaces are.

    “a well-lit room” – I have stayed at some hotels where I thought I was Abe Lincoln reading by candlelight. Some hotels have gone with lower watt bulbs to save energy. The design for light for some rooms was poorly designed.

    “a free breakfast” – There are hundreds if not thousands of hotels (Embassy Suites, Fairfield Inns, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inns, Holiday Inn Expresses, Hampton Inns, etc) that offer free breakfasts. If you are an elite frequent guest, you can receive a free breakfast at the mid and upper tier hotels. There are free breakfasts out there…what is the problem? It think that it is unrealistic to expect the mid to upper tier hotels to offer free breakfasts given that there thousands of hotels out there serving free breakfasts.

    “Internet connection” – Again, there are hundreds if not thousands of hotels (Fairfield Inns, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inns, Holiday Inn Expresses, Hampton Inns, etc) that offer free Internet service. If you are an elite frequent guest, you can receive free Internet service at the mid and upper tier hotels. So what is the problem?

    “parking” – parking is determined by supply and demand. If there is a limited supply of parking (i.e. downtown), there is generally going to be a cost for parking. Sometimes the hotel doesn’t own the building and/or the parking garage underneath it so they have no control over the cost of the parking. Also, it will be unfair to increase the room rate to included parking if you use taxis instead of your own car or a rental car.

    “They don’t want to gag on someone else’s cigarette smoke.” – There are smoke-free hotel chains like the Marriott brands of hotels and the Starwood brand of hotels as well as individual hotels. Again, I don’t see the issue.

    I think that the access to electrical outlets, having enough electrical outlets and a well-lit room are legit consumer complaints\suggestions to the hotels. However the other complaints\suggestions such as a free breakfast, free internet service, free parking and non-smoking rooms and/or hotels are frivolous given that there hundreds if not thousands of hotels offering free breakfasts, free internet service, free parking and non-smoking rooms and/or hotels.

  • Carver

    @Arizona

    Well said, and much better than I did.

    The silliness of this discussion is that none of this is free. That’s just smoke and noise. The question is whether we want to have this incuded in the base rate, or broken out where it can be avoided. I generally prefer the latter, but I understand I’m the unusual person in that.

    However, big ticket items like parking really should not be inlcluded in the room rate. Not everyone drives a car on business. In SF there is great public transportation as in many other cities. Who would want to have $50 a night added to the bill for someone else’s car.

  • Bill

    Arizona Road Warrior, what you say is true in North America. However, in Europe for example, a lot of hotels don’t even have smoke free rooms…unless it is “smoke free that night”. Noise in the hallways is a big problem all over – hint: don’t put the desk or bed near the doorway. Free internet is not so easily found in europe either. A lof of these chains that offer it in the USA are very expensive places to get internet in Europe. Breakfast in a European hotel can be $35.

  • Joe

    As a smoker I refuse to stay in the hotels that are smoke free.

    So Ritz, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin are out. With my back to the wall, I’d rather stay at a tripadvisor.com verified clean and safe Super 8 with a smoking room than face the possible $250-$500 smoking room charges the others make threats on.
    I’ve been charged three times for smoking in my room (when I really didn’t) but maids said they smelled smoke and saw a pack of cigarettes sticking out my suit jacket. I’ve won each time because they couldn’t produce proof to the credit card company.
    Anyway, for me it’s smoking room availability, clean and safe. That’s it.

  • http://estern6956@aol.com barbie45

    So much for smoke- free rooms. I cannot think of a reason not to allow a few. smoking rooms. Humbug to cities such as Boston which has a complete ban on smoking rooms. You cities just love the revenue you revieve from tobacco sales.

  • Clifw

    Not just a working light, but a light you can turn on and off from the bed. This seems like a no-brainer, but I’ve stayed in a number of otherwise very nice, thoughtful hotels where I more or less needed to stand up on the pillows to turn off the light.

  • Amy

    Why should breakfast be free? I don’t get the obsession with this. If I go fill up at a gas station in the morning, I don’t walk in and demand that they give me a free sausage biscuit from their deli section. Food is a commodity. It should (and will) be paid for.

  • Pplaresilly

    If you want -free breakfast – free internet- free parking- free anything – and you need a zillion outlets for your zillion high tech toys then you should consider – STAYING AT HOME…really!

  • Ed

    I agree with the free breakfast not being free…I usually don’t get up early enough to take advantage of the free/continental breakfast (they are usually over by 10am..and I’m a late sleeper!)
    As for free internet? Don’t need it….most of the world has the ability to connect their computers to their cellphones (oooh, sorry iPhone….you can’t do this) for internet use, it’s called Tethering. Parking? This is a tough one…I guess it all depends on where you are staying. In the Outer Banks of North Carolina, all the hotels have free parking…not just for your car, but also for your boat and trailer..although, it’s first come, first serve…In Honolulu though, parking is not free, What frustrates me is that you pay for parking but if you get in late (after 11am) you may not find a parking space in the lot you’ve paid to park in!
    Lighting…I can’t understand why a hotel would replace a 100W incandescent bulb with a 60W incandescent bulb, when a 40W CFL uses less electricity and produces the same light as a 100W incandescent…makes no sense to me really. If the hotel *TRUELY* wanted to save money, they would switch to CFLs…and in today’s market, they really aren’t that expensive.

  • Chicky

    I don’t need a bunch of outlets. However, being able to FIND the outlets is always nice. At a recent stay at a Westin, I looked all over for the outlets where I could plug in the coffeemaker. I ended up putting it in the bathroom. My husband finally found the outlets in the work desk, where they were flush with the desk and had to be pulled out. No labels that this is what they were or anything. Maybe this is the norm for Westin-level hotels. I don’t know since I don’t get to stay at that level often. But it was still kind of silly to me. Form should compliment function– not complicate it. LOL.
    I like a free breakfast if it’s available, but if not, no big deal. I’m not going to scream if it’s not provided.
    If my room is clean, if the sheets smell nice and the pillows are comfy; if the bathroom is clean and the hotel has indoor corridors and seems to be in a safe area, and is reasonably quiet, generally, I’m pretty happy.

  • David Z

    Why should breakfast be free? I don’t get the obsession with this.

    It’s an expectation thing. Some people believe that hotel B should provide free breakfast just because hotel A can.

    I can be wrong, but many web sites selling hotel rooms indicate anyway if breakfast, free parking, etc. is included or not. Not that the hotel might not honor it for some reason, depending on the situation.

    All in all, I somewhat agree with Arizona: unrealistic expectations for some folks. To think that can be avoided if one is only willing to touch reality.

  • Steve

    As for “free” breakfast, I agree that it doesn’t have to be provided, but what bothers me is that the reasonably-priced hotels and motels often include it while the expensive ones don’t. I would never spend my own money to stay at the $200/night places I’ve stayed for work, in part because they nickel and dime on everything.

    I feel similarly about internet – why is it that the midlevel place that charges $89 a night can include it, but the Marriott that’s $175 a night charges an extra $15 for internet? It’s also the amount of the charge – providing internet, especially at the abysmal speeds I’ve found at most hotels, cannot possibly cost even a fraction of $15/room/day. (Funny enough, going back to the value thing – I don’t know if it’s still true, but I recall staying at a Motel 6 a few years ago where internet access was a reasonable $2.99/day. This at a place with a base rate of maybe $50/night.)

    Anyway, the other thing I’ll say about internet is – expectations change. I don’t think anyone here would argue that hotels shouldn’t provide a TV, or a phone, or running water, or electricity unless someone pays specifically for them, even though none of those things are truly free – they’re just rolled into the price of the room. I think internet access is rapidly becoming an expected amenity as part of the room itself.

  • Clifw

    “I feel similarly about internet – why is it that the midlevel place that charges $89 a night can include it, but the Marriott that’s $175 a night charges an extra $15 for internet?”

    That’s exactly it for me. I don’t understand, to use even the same corporation, why the internet in a Doubletree is free but in a Hilton it is not. Or why a family run inn can provide free wi-fi, but a corporation with more buying power cannot.

    Breakfast I can take or leave. Unless I’m staying somewhere (like downtown Houston, no car, Sunday morning) where there is absolutely nothing nearby, I rarely eat my 1.5 danishes and melon salad listening to soft jazz/adult contemporary. I do always like a free local newspaper though.

  • Kevin M

    For Joe & Barbie on the smoking rooms issue: I’ve noticed that many smokers won’t even smoke inside in their own houses, or (as one woman I know does, smoke only in the kitchen directly under the (running) hood for the cooktop. Why? Because even as smokers they don’t like being around the smell of stale smoke in the fabrics, etc.

    Hotels are learning this as well. A smoking room’s upholstery and carpets have to be cleaned far more often if the room isn’t going to stink so badly that even smokers won’t stay there, and yet very few smokers are willing to pay more per stay for that privilege. While it’s probably not a common occurrence, smokers can also cause not readily visible damage to a room–I’ve seen people leave cigarettes burning hanging off the edge of a wooden desktop, and it burned a channel into the surface; I’ve seen holes in upholstered chairs and in carpets caused by dropped lit cigarettes. These are the kind of things that, when discovered, usually can’t be tagged back to a particular guest, so the hotel has to eat the charges.

    And of course, beyond that, smoke travels, sometimes such that you can clearly smell it in a non-smoking room next door.

    In such cases I can’t blame a hotel for saying “Enough” – and just prohibiting smoking indoors, period. I can remember a time, 40 years ago or so, when you couldn’t even FIND non-smoking rooms, rental cars, etc. – it was just assumed that enough people smoked that the rest of us had to suck it up – literally and figuratively. The shoe’s now on the other foot and businesses are realizing that the majority of their customers really would prefer not to be around smoke, period.

  • Kevin M

    Free internet and free breakfast originate in different ways but often get lumped together. Free internet began as a way for lower-priced hotels to offer a valuable amenity, free to the customer and low-cost to them. Once a hotel did the initial wiring (or placed a few strategic wireless access points), it could share the data line it probably already had in existence connecting its computers to the central reservations system, etc., or boost capacity somewhat and offer a reasonable experience to most patrons. Hotels figured out that internet traffic is bursty (at least, until streaming video came along) and that even if email took 5 seconds to send instead of 2, nobody’d really care – it was free.

    Higher end hotels, on the other hand, know that a big chunk of their business is corporate (internet charges can be expensed, so why not charge extra and make more money) or wealthy (they don’t care about the cost) or Luddite (people who wouldn’t bother carrying a laptop because if they need to know anything, they call their assistant to ask). Hence they can charge $10 a day for internet and nobody complains.

    Free breakfast, a la Holiday Inn Express, was a marketing idea to help get rid of money-losing restaurants in-house. Full-service hotel restaurants, unless they’re high-end and well-known or unless they cater to business travelers who need room service to keep working in their rooms, often do almost no business at lunch and hardly any more at dinner. Leisure travelers want to get out and try different places instead of the same old menu of sandwiches and fried shrimp and a mediocre steak.

    But they do want breakfast in the mornings, particularly if there are kids, and there aren’t as many breakfast restaurants around (not counting fast food options). Providing a simple buffet breakfast that requires almost no cooking to order (often just microwave heating), and factoring its cost into the room rate, was a genius way to cut costs without alienating family travelers. You just need a serving room with buffet counters and a small reheating and storage area behind it, instead of a full kitchen. One or two people can set it up, instead of needing a cook, a busboy, two or three waitresses, and a cashier.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Bill – ” Noise in the hallways is a big problem all over – hint: don’t put the desk or bed near the doorway.
    - – - – - – - – - – - — – - – - – - -
    Based upon my experiences, the problem with hallway noise is that the door to the room wasn’t ‘right’. I have seen doors with large gaps at the bottom of the door. A few times, I have seen doors with gaps on the side…I could see out to the hallway when the door was dead-bolted, etc.

    @ Bill – “Breakfast in a European hotel can be $35.”
    - – - – - – - – - — – - — – - –
    I have stayed at a few US hotels where the breakfast buffet was over $ 20 per person and that was before taxes and tips. I will have an upcoming reservation where the the breakfast buffet is $ 29.95.

    As Kevin M pointed out, there is a big difference between a hotel offering a free breakfast and a hotel that has a full-service resturant.

    @ Kevin M – “Providing a simple buffet breakfast that requires almost no cooking to order (often just microwave heating), and factoring its cost into the room rate, was a genius way to cut costs without alienating family travelers. You just need a serving room with buffet counters and a small reheating and storage area behind it, instead of a full kitchen. One or two people can set it up, instead of needing a cook, a busboy, two or three waitresses, and a cashier.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - -
    You did a good job in pointing out the differences between a hotel offering a free breakfast and hotels that charges. In addition to having less people, the ‘free’ breakfast take up less space thus more space for rooms. Most people don’t look to see how much space a full-service restuarant takes in a hotel. The cost to build is reduced without a full-service restuarant.

    When I read reviews of hotels with free breakfasts on TripAdvisors, one common complaint is lack of room in the serving room.

    It amazes me how people expect a Hilton hotel and a Hampton Inn hotel to be the same.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Clifw – “That’s exactly it for me. I don’t understand, to use even the same corporation, why the internet in a Doubletree is free but in a Hilton it is not.”
    - – - – - – - – - -
    Hitlon has 9 hotel brands. Marriott has 17 brands. Starwood has 9 brands. Each brand appeals to different markets. Each brand offers different amenities.

    For example, Marriott has free Internet access at its Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites by Marriott brands. However, typically there is a cost for Internet access it their Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, EDITION Hotels, Autograph Collection, Marriott Conference Centers, Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, Marriott ExecuStay, Marriott Executive Apartments and Grand Residences by Marriott brands.

    I get a chuckle when I read reviews on TripAdvisor when the OP writes something like “I didn’t like this SpringHill Suite hotel because the room didn’t have a kitchen like a Residence Inn.” or “I didn’t like this JW Marriott hotel because breakfast wasn’t free like the free breakfast at a Fairfield Inn.” If you wanted a kitchen then you should have made a reservation at a Residence Inn instead of a SpringHill Suite. If you wanted a free breakfast then make a reservation at a hotel with a free breakfast.

    It amazes me that people think that every brand within a hotel group should be the same. I am wondering if these people have written to GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. telling them that they should only make one car instead of having different models.

  • Lee Feinswog

    I gave up. I never go to a hotel without my headlamp (available at sporting goods stores for cheap), noise-canceling headphones and iPod and a small extension cord.

  • Joe

    @ Kevin M:

    In regards to the smoking issue, I’m the first to say that I’d welcome a “resort fee” for a smoking room.
    If my smoking room would be an additional 10-15 dollars a day, I’d gladly pay it if the hotel was worth it.
    Do you really think Marriott, Westin pays $250-500 dollars to clean a room that was wrongly smoked in? I highly doubt it. My friend works at a Fairfield Inn as an accountant and they usually spend a couple of hours of overtime for a maid to deep clean the fabrics when they believe someone smoked in a room.
    Smoking rooms should be on a smoking floor at hotel so the smell does not waft. Luckily plenty of decent brands (Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Holiday Inn, Hilton etc) have not joined the anti-smoker crusade as of yet. If I book a room that has a balcony, I won’t smoke in the room but outside. Even Marriott Courtyards I’ve stayed at have said I could smoke on the balcony of a room without a problem. (Disneyworld, for example, says no to this).
    Again, I’d gladly pay the extra for a “butt room” :).

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