Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Hotels

My trip to Riga made me think: the hotels (or, let's say, the 1-4 star hotels in the industrial countries) are sort of an institution where certain things are expected and done, and certain things aren't, and which are definitely not optimal for the purposes or which most people use it, which is giving people a place to stay in for a few days. I much prefer renting an apartment, but they are usually bigger and only feasible for several people.

Hotels normally have uncomfortable beds, itchy blankets places on top of a regular sheet, and either no fridge at all or a little fridge full of silly drinks. I want a blanket properly placed in a two-sided sheet that you normally put a blanket in, dammit (damn, I don't even know what the thing is called in English)! I want a fridge where I can put some food in, and a kettle for boiling water, and some cups, and maybe teabags if they are feeling generous. (Some hotels do provide the tea paraphernalia, but this is way too rare.)

Instead of all these comforts the hotels offer extensive and absolutely unnecessary cleaning service every fucking day. I don't need new sheets every day, or new towels. I certanly don't need anyone to fix my bed every day and tuck the blanket's edges under the mattress so that it takes considerable effort to pull them out. Most of all, I absolutely don't need anyone going through my stuff and arranging it in neat rows. I find this, well, invasive. I want some fucking privacy.

Usually you can't even get rid of the cleaners by putting the "Do Not Disturb" card up for the whole day. At some point they usually do come and disturb. Possibly one can avoid the cleaners by demanding it at the front desk, but they are not going to provide me with useful things instead for the same money.

I am sure I am not the only person who feels that way. Why are there so few hotels that cater to us?

Does anyone actually like having cleaners come in every day?

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