Another reason to get 2 keys.

I'm fine with the keycard thing, but certain things should work all the time -- air conditioning in the summer and the plug on the desk where my laptop is charged / plugged in.

Otherwise, I simply put an extra key in the thing and put a do not disturb sign on the door to keep housekeeping out.

If I wish to use electricity when I'm out of my room, that should be up to me.

 

They should allow this with an additional charge.

 

A separate slot for nickles and dimes?

 

If I spend the entire day in the room I can use the electricity, but if I leave I should be expected to pay extra for the same electricity? Actually, less, cause I turn off all the lights and just leave the air on and my laptop plugged in (if it's not with me).

Yeah, right.

2 keys, one permanently in the slot is the easy fix. And hotel staff: Stay out of my room. If there's 2 people, then get 3 keys.

 

Just charge the credit card you put in the slot.

Yes. Because when you're in the room, you're using it. When you're not in the room, you're wasting it. I suppose you leave all your lights on at home when you're at work, too?

 

It's not the lights. I've been in hotels where the keyslot controls the air conditioning and *all* the outlets. Sometimes, I come back after a long day on a client site and would rather not be in a sweltering room upon entry -- one which takes *hours* to get comfortable.

Also, sometimes I come back from a long day out with drained batteries and wish to charge my phone, laptop, etc. while I'm at the hotel gym. It's not an unreasonable use of the resources to do this. Who is the hotel to tell me I can't charge my batteries just cause I'm not in the room? I've paid to rent the room, after all.

2 keys, no problems. One works the lights, the other works the door. I quit using credit cards when I almost left one in a hotel in the UK.

Oh, yes, I do leave the lights on when I go to work. I work from home.

Back on topic: I stayed at the Sheraton LAX and they didn't deliver a folio under the door. When I went to check out, I asked for a printout so I could review my charges. They told me this was part of their "green initiative." OK, this goes too far. I had to stand there and review the charges, etc. to make sure they were correct. Green, my backside.

 

A more reasonable approach might be to start printing hotel receipts to smaller pieces of paper. @:-)

 

Or email the folio during the night before checkout. I'd be thrilled with that.

 

I had not thought of some of the perspectives below. Have tried the porgram, but also like the room tidy. Also, found when I used the program my free water and coffee were not replensihed.

Agreed---but I've always been able to call and have them bring some coffee packets up without any problems.

�Do you know how dirty a room gets when it hasn�t been cleaned for three days?� asked Ruiz, who has worked at the Sheraton for 18 years.

�Normally I clean a room in 30 minutes. After three days of no service, it takes me almost an hour and half to clean the room and I use just as much cleaning fluid because the bathrooms are filthy,� she said.

I agree with others that this comment is overblown and mostly self serving. However, I would like to point out that, unlike most of the frequent travelers here on FT who stay in hotels regularly and generally behave responsibly, a certain percentage of the traveling public treats hotel rooms like rental cars: They trash them. They are away from home, it's not their problem and they leave them full of garbage, spills, stains, etc. I've seen it and it's not pretty. Still, I think this is probably the exception and I can't imagine it regularly takes three times as long to clean a room.

 

They already offer that options. Email doesn't solve the business traveler problem of having to submit receipts to be reimbursed.

I think the Green program is a win-win situation for everyone except the workers. Hotel saves money in labor/material costs, I get 1000 extra points a week. The rooms have plenty of towels, etc. to last a 3 night stay. Plus, I prefer to not have ervice come in to the room during the week.

 

I have a printer. I can print my own receipt. Although, I'll be quite honest -- I need two copies and I always ask the hotel to print me a second one if I'm checking out in person. Rather waste their toner and paper than mine.

But I'm talking about getting the folio in time to review *before* checkout. Can't remember ever getting a folio emailed to me prior to checkout before.

 

Not to go off topic here, but the whole "hang your towel to re-use" gets ignored by housekeeping way more than it is followed. I've marked towels(ink spot on the label) and found that towels hung for re-use are almost always replaced with fresh.


Maybe the housekeepers see this as job insurance, or maybe they just don't care. Either way, it's enough to make me refuse housekeeping.

 

I want to bring back Magic Fingers!

 

Bingo!

Cheers,