These are the annoyances that readers often encounter in their guest rooms.


Poor lighting in hotel rooms, making it almost impossible to iron a shirt.

Door stops that are meant to keep the door from hitting the wall, but instead stub toes.

Mirrors on closet doors that the room door opens toward (requiring a door stop).

Tiny and odd-shaped trashcans that hardly accommodate lettersize paper.

Bad paintings of children: creepy. Bad paintings of seascapes and boats: just ugly.

Huge mirrors in bathrooms.

Safes that are too small to accommodate a typical laptop with wireless card.

Hotel bathrooms without enough counter space for toiletries.

Towel racks inside the shower.

No place dry to put clothes when showering.

Alarm clocks that are difficult to figure out how to use.

Alarm clocks that are preset and go off unexpectedly.

Uncomfortable chairs in hotel rooms.

Hotel bathroom with full wall mirrors behind the toilet.

Faucets arrayed counter-intuitively (hot and cold taps reversed) or not clearly as to how to turn on the taps. Spherical faucet knobs.

Fixtures in hotel bathrooms that are too large for the space.

Hotel-provided Ethernet cables that are only three feet long.

Minibars that do not allow storing non-minibar drinks.

Desks in hotel rooms that aren’t positioned to watch TV while working.

TV remotes without sleep programming, a “last channel” button or closed captioning.

Shower heads that are too low.

A faucet mechanism for switching from bath to shower that is unintuitive.

Stacks of towels on a towel rack in the shower. (Do the bottom towels get changed before they mildew?)

No outlets along the only stretch of wall in the room that is appropriate for setting up the ironing board.

Bathrooms where the towels are stored farther than an arm’s reach from the shower.

A “comfortable” chair with no table nearby on which to place a drink or book.

Over-designed shampoo, conditioner and lotion mini-bottles that defy opening with wet, slippery hands.

Big sinks with small faucets that require scooping the water to the front to wash hands.

Bathrooms with a tub, but without a shower curtain.

European half shower doors.

Hotel doors that close too aggressively while the guest juggles the room key, carry-on and checked bag.

Incomprehensible thermostats/HVAC controls.

Mystery temperature/ flow controls on the shower.

Thick, viscous lotions that are impossible to extract from slim, small-necked bottles.

Stylish lamps that are difficult to figure out how to turn on or off.

Bathrooms without hooks for steaming clothes in the shower.

Weird light-switch placement or function.

Lack of an outlet by the bed for a laptop and cell phone charger (phone often used as an alarm clock).