Hotels
I’m sceptical about hotels that try to claim green credentials at the best of times, but some of the “environmentally-friendly” claptrap rang particularly hollow on my recent trip to the States. Just about every hotel does it these days – puts the sign up in the bathroom asking you to re-use the towels as constantly [...]
76 Christmas (or birthday) gifts for travel-lovers If you’re anything like me, you’re generally hopeless when it comes to buying presents. But my wife has a harder task. She’ll often find something perfect a few months in advance only for me to have gone and bought it on a whim a couple of weeks before [...]
In recent times, I’ve encountered a few press trip frustrations that, from my point of view, just didn’t need to happen. It got me thinking – what would my ideal press trip consist of? Well it obviously depends on the stories I’m going to research, but this little lot just about covers it… A [...]
Tapped in the head? I spent last weekend in Chester – nice city, great zoo – and stayed at the Abode hotel. Whilst there, I again encountered something that I find rather perplexing. In the bathroom, there were two unmarked taps, with no indication as to which was hot and which was cold. No little [...]
Ask the concierge? Having spent the last week travelling around Switzerland and openly weeping at the cost of, well, absolutely everything, I’ve made unusually frequent encounters with people I don’t usually trust. Common consensus has it that hotel concierges are an excellent source of knowledge about the city they work in. They know where the [...]
Must have breakfast… There is a mystifying tribe of people roaming this planet for whom not being able to eat breakfast at their hotel is an absolute deal-breaker. These are the people who will insist on booking on a bed and breakfast basis, even though it’s basically the same as the room-only rate with another [...]
Continue reading about The strange fantasy world of hotel breakfast pricing
North Americans and tax North Americans, as a general rule, really don’t like tax. In fact, if you allowed a significant number of loonbags on the shouty fringe of the Republican party to have their way, there would be no taxation at all – let’s face it, we don’t need those vile evolution-preaching schools and [...]
Continue reading about ‘Plus tax’: A phrase that makes no sense whatsoever
Below, I’ve created a very simple 20 point manifesto that I think all hotels should abide by. Anyone running a hotel who would like to sign up can say “aye” in the comments. I will provide free WiFi that works well in ALL rooms. I will not push two single beds together and pretend they [...]
Continue reading about The Grumpy Traveller hotel manifesto: A 20 point plan
Dear hotel receptionists, Imagine someone comes into your hotel. They say they’re a journalist, and would like to see a room as they’re writing a city guide and need to recommend places to say. What do you think they’re asking for? Is it (A) to see a room? Or (B) to pointlessly swap business cards [...]
Continue reading about An open letter to hotel receptionists
If you ask me, there are certain criteria that have to be applied if something is to be fairly deemed a ‘service’. Key amongst them is that it has to be genuinely useful and desired. The hotel industry, however, appears to think differently. A service, it seems, is when someone is put in the way [...]
Continue reading about Five hotel services that are not actually services