Smart hotel room syndrome: Is technology making your accommodations unusable?

Daniel Oppliger navigated foreign airports, dealt with language barriers, and made it to his hotel in Lushui, China, only to be stumped by the TV remote at the Hilton Garden Inn.

“I couldn’t figure out how to work the television,” he says. “I had to ask the concierge to help me.”

Welcome to the age of smart hotel room syndrome, when technology designed to simplify stays actually makes them more complicated. 

This isn’t a glitch: 52 percent of hotels now offer tech walk-throughs at check-in where an employee explains how to use all the gadgets, according to a recent survey by Hotels.com. In other words, more than half of hotels have basically admitted their rooms are so complicated that guests need a tutorial just to operate basic functions.

It’s not just inexperienced guests who need help. Oppliger is a frequent traveler, who runs a travel agency in El Paso. 

Or how about Mircea Dima, a frequent hotel guest and the CEO of an educational company that specializes in coding. He’s someone who knows his way around technology. But he recently found himself Googling how to switch off his hotel room lights.

“If you need instructions to turn off a bedside lamp,” he says, “the system has failed.”

Why are hotels installing complicated room technology?

Hotels are not installing complex room control systems because they love you. The motivation runs deeper, and a little darker, than enhanced experiences.

An iPad in your room can be convenient, yes. You might be able to order a meal or a movie through it without having to make a call to the front desk. But that’s also more convenient (and profitable) for the hotel.

The tech lets hotels cut corners in other ways.

“Hotels want to appeal to guests who live with connected homes, while also managing energy use and staffing more efficiently,” says Lauren Ringel, a travel advisor with Fora Travel. “Tablets, motion sensors, and smart thermostats can make service seamless and save resources at the same time.”

That’s not all. 

“These new electronics collect data on you,” explains Andy Abramson, a communications consultant who specializes in technology. “What you use, how much you consume, how long you sleep, even how long you spend in the bathroom.”

Put differently, the new technology saves the hotel money, increases sales and allows it to spy on you. But it’s sometimes also impossible for guests to use.

What happens when hotel room technology fails?

Ringel has seen the frustration firsthand. One client, staying at a luxury casino in Singapore, texted her at midnight because they couldn’t figure out how to dim the neon bar lights. Another guest in London was stuck with frozen iPad-controlled window shades.

“It’s not a great experience for guests,” Ringel says.

This isn’t an isolated experience. Kevin Heimlich, the CEO of an advertising firm, spent 15 minutes in a hotel room navigating iPad menus just to turn off lights after a long day. 

“It felt like a user experience design fail,” he says. “Technology should be invisible, not a puzzle that detracts from experience.”

The problem affects everyone. Al Schilf, a retired federal worker from Columbia, Md., spent five days at an upscale hotel in Rome “playing whack-a-button trying to turn lights on and off.”

TVs are the worst. You’d think someone like Vicki Burton, a retired detective from St. Petersburg, would be able to figure out how to get her hotel TV to change the channel from SpongeBob SquarePants, where it was set to when she walked into the room. But no.

“The remote resembled the cockpit of a 747,” she laughs. “I kept trying to just turn the darn thing off. Even that seemed too difficult for me.”

It’s even affected me. At a beach hotel in Phuket, Thailand, the master switch on my iPad failed to turn off a closet light. The solution from the front desk? Just close the closet door or unscrew the lightbulb. 

Thanks, guys.

What are the hidden costs of smart hotel rooms?

The tech may be saving hotels money, but it could cost you. The complicated technology doesn’t just affect the quality of your vacation, but also the quality of your sleep. If you can’t turn off the TV or the lights in your rooms, you might have to go to bed with the TV or the lights still on. And you know someone’s gonna be cranky tomorrow. 

There’s a financial cost, too. Say your hotel alarm doesn’t go off because you couldn’t figure out how to use it, and you miss your flight home. Guess who’s buying a new ticket?

Chrissy Valdez, senior director of operations at Squaremouth, says you might be tempted to file a travel insurance claim. You should resist.

“Unfortunately, travel insurance won’t be able to help you in these situations,” Valdez says.

That leaves guests to fend for themselves when systems crash or freeze, which happens more often than hotels admit.

Which hotel brands handle in-room technology best?

The good news: Some properties have found a balance. According to guests, high-end brands like Four Seasons and Rosewood typically offer clear bedside touch panels with simple backup switches. And hotel chains like Holiday Inn usually offer a more no-frills experience when it comes to gadgets. (In other words, there are actual switches to turn the lights on and off.)

But too many hotels treat technology like a status symbol. Boutique properties force every basic function through laggy touch screens. The apps sometimes crash during software updates, rendering the entire room’s systems inoperable. 

“When technology eliminates bad friction, like waiting in line to check in, everyone wins,” says Richard Valtr, founder of hotel tech company Mews. “When it eliminates ‘good friction’, meaningful human interactions, hotels become soulless.”

How can hotels fix smart room frustration?

The best hotel technology follows what industry experts call the invisibility principle: Guests shouldn’t notice they’re using it.

“The best technology in hotel rooms is often when the guest doesn’t realize they’re using it,” says David Orr, CEO of British boutique hotel chain Resident Hotels. His newest property, The Resident Edinburgh, uses energy-saving systems that automatically adjust as guests enter or leave, paired with familiar touches like simple Nespresso machines. TVs and light switches are intuitive.

Nichlas Linderborg, chief customer officer at the hospitality software company Sirvoy, agrees: “The best technology in hotels is the kind guests barely notice, because it just works.”

The smartest hotels offer both high-tech convenience and analog backups. Touch panels with physical switches. Voice controls with manual overrides. Innovation with escape hatches.

How should hotels rethink in-room technology?

Hotel technology isn’t inherently bad. When it works, smart room controls can feel magical. Motion sensors that softly light pathways to the bathroom at night. Thermostats that learn preferences. Apps that unlock room doors.

But too often, hotels put profit over function. They disable the manual light switches and offer TV remotes via touchpads that freeze. They try to focus the guest’s attention on a tablet that’s always trying to upsell them to order room service but never quite manages to do the basics, like turn off the lights or lower the volume on their TV.

That’s too bad. The hospitality industry should use technology to actually improve the guest experience, not frustrate customers. It’s not too late to fix it.