Is there any better pleasure than turning the key and opening the to a beautiful hotel room? If there is then I don’t know it. You step inside and you just know immediately that you are going to have the most relaxing night of your life. Ah, pure bliss.
Whether your staying in a family run affair in Timbuktu, or refurbished town house Edinburgh or a five star hotel in a mega-city like Las Vegas some things should remain constant when it comes to hotel rooms.
But what are the ingredients that make a truly great room? Well read on below and I’ll let you in on my top five.
The light
For me lighting is everything. Nothing is worse than poorly lit hotel room. You know that feeling you are entering a cave. It just feels so depressing. If you wanted depressing and dingey you could’ve saved a packet of cash, stayed at home and sat in the shed!
Big windows and lovely sheer white curtains through which the sunlight can filter through are ideal. It just fills you with an amazing sense of calm and tranquility.
Be careful though because what might be a well lit room during the day could be a nightmare to sleep in. Sheer curtains or blinds are great for letting sufficient daylight in but they are not always the best at keeping light pollution our at night. The best hotel rooms tend to have blackout blinds or heavier drapes that you can draw to provide the perfect pitch black room.
Come nightfall a few well placed and tasteful up and down lights work very well at setting the mood.
The Temperature
One of the most essential characteristics of a good hotel room is the temperature.
There’s only one thing worse than a chilly hotel and that’s one of those freaking sweatboxes. You know the types, the ones where you wake up in the night dripping in sweat struggling to breath. You try to turn the A/C on only to find the there’s no batteries in the remote. You desperately try to wrench a window open to provide sweet relief but the bleedin’ thing only opens an inch. So you end up sleeping on the floor in the bathroom with your face pressed against the nice cold tiles.
The best hotel rooms have a nice flow of natural air, not too hot but not too cool. The ideal temperature according to science is 16℃ but in my humble opinion it’s better around 20℃ (that’s 68℉ for any Americans out there). That’s the temperature where you can kick off the covers and sleep like nature intended – completely in the nip.
The bed
Now, for a sleep addict like me it takes a lot for a hotel bed to impress me. The ideal bed needs to be big. Bigger than it needs to be. Afterall a stay in a hotel is a treat and we all deserve to be spoiled. I like to be able to roll around and not worry about falling off.
The first time you spread your arms out wide and fall backward on to the bed – and people that’s the only way to access a hotel bed – it should like you are being swallowed whole by a the fluffiest cloud. All your cares and worries should instantly fade away, not to be seen again until after you’ve checked out.
Most of us instinctively know a good bed when we feel one. If however you’re one of the unlucky souls who’ve spent your entire life suffering bedtime disappointment, then have a look at this handy guide to what a bed should be.
The water pressure
After owners putting their dogs in clothes – something that really grinds my gears – my biggest pet peeve is poor water pressure. It’s understandable if you’re staying for free at a friend’s house but there is no excuse for it when you are paying for a hotel room. What is more disappointing in life that turing that tap only for a tiny dribble to plop out the shower head. Argh! I hate it so much.
The little touches
The bed, the temperature, the light and the water pressure. These four elements are incredibly important to get right but they also should come as standard. The next ingredient that separates a great hotel room from merely a good one is the little touches. The unexpected surprises.
It’s difficult to describe exactly what these are because then, well, they wouldn’t be unexpected. One for me is luxurious bathrobes. They always do the trick. After a good shower I love to wrap myself up in white fluffy robes, it just feels so decadent. I get to pretend for a moment I’m a celebrity.
A well-written and well-designed welcome book is another – I like to see that the owners of the hotel have take the time and effort to real think about every aspect of the stay. Oh and chocolates or mints left on the pillow, it’s a classic but I’m a sucker for a classic!
