NameRedacted
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
- Messages
- 236
Just got back earlier this week from a trip to Southern New Mexico - 12 nights - 7 hotels.
We had a great time. Too many wonderful experiences to relate so I'll just mention the bad stuff and one good thing.
1. At one hotel I had the worst hotel experience I have ever had and I have traveled quite a bit. Fortunately, we were only booked there two nights and ended up staying just one. The hotel was actually really nice. The rooms were better than what we normally get and the landscaping around the hotel was beautiful and the only real problem was that the doors opened directly to the outside rather than into a corridor.
After the first night I got up early and stepped outside to take some shots of the sunrise. When I went back into the room - my girlfriend said "What are all these dead bugs on the floor?". There were literally hundreds of dead bugs on the tile floor between the door and the carpet. They looked like some kind of beetle. I stepped outside and there were even more on the floor there.
Just at that moment a hotel employee was passing so I showed him the bugs and he said that it happens a lot in the summer. I asked him how full the hotel was, wondering if we could switch rooms. He said it wouldn't matter and then walked me along the entire row of rooms on that floor. There were hundreds of these things outside each door. He said they keep spraying and they keep coming back.
I go back into the room and start looking around. Here's a live one on the air conditioner and another on the light stand and oh crap here's one on my pillow. So we decide to check out immediately.
We load up the car and go down to the front desk and explain the situation to the girl working there. She admits there's a problem and that they have pest control spray every week. I tell her that I'm checking out right now and I want a discount for last night. She says we still have to pay for both nights and she can offer a 10% discount. I ask to speak to the manager, who of course is not there (It is only 6:30 or so). He'll be there about 8am.
We decide to have breakfast (which is free) and wait for him to arrive. Eggs, bacon, toast, yogurt, coffee and orange juice all lined up ready to eat when I see another of the bugs crawling across the table! All the food goes in the trash and we drive to the nearest McDonalds. As we are walking out the door I hear one of the cleaners give a little yelp. I ask her what's the matter and she says with a list in her hand - "All these people checking out today". Gee - no kidding!
Later that morning we come back and have a chat with the manager who is fairly unsympathetic and claims it has only been happening for the last three days. His attitude changes when I show him the pictures I took (pictures of the bugs that is - not the pictures of the sunrise - my photography is not that inspiring) and we end up getting a huge discount. It got to the point that I felt sorry for him and promised I wouldn't post a bad review on line.
2. This is nowhere near as bad as the previous one, but I have to ask why do they build hotels right next to freeways? sometimes on hills overlooking freeways. I don't understand why they think I want to be re-acquainted with the Doppler effect early every morning.
In a similar vein why do so many hotel rooms have noisy air conditioning units? especially in the Southwest where they are really necessary. Sometimes it can be impossible to sleep while they're on. The trick seems to be to turn the AC on full blast and get the room into the low 60s and then turn it off just before you go to sleep. Inevitably though, it means waking up in the middle of the night sweating like a pig and having to turn it back on again.
3. This happened on our last night at an airport hotel. I'd made sure the hotel was far enough away from the airport and any nearby freeways for any noise from those sources to not be a problem. Furthermore, the air conditioning was exceptionally quiet. Looking forward to a good night's sleep and bang. Was that a gunshot? It sure sounded like one. No maybe it was a firework. I fall asleep only to be woken up a few minutes later by police sirens. About 45 minutes of flashing lights and random shouting later it quietens down. Fast asleep again.
Suddenly, at 5am exactly, I'm woken from a dead sleep by a very loud fire alarm? No, maybe it's my cell phone? No - it's the clock radio! In my groggy state I decide to unplug it. Damn that was the lamp. Try again. Got it. I just unplugged it and it's still beeping! but it's a different tone. It must be the low battery warning now. Plug it back in and we are back to the original problem. Finally get it turned off properly.
Neither of us got back to sleep after that.
I realize this is my fault and I should have checked that was off before going to sleep but, come on - who uses a clock radio as an alarm in this day and age? I haven't checked for that in about 10 years or so.
Finally down at breakfast, there are two male kids from the same family - not babies but still fairly young, that seem to think it is a good idea to have a competition to see who can scream in the most annoyingly loud high pitched tone. Their parents don't seem to care. If they are not careful those kids'll grow up to be social media stars or something. (Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!)
Maybe I'm showing my age, but if I had tried that as a kid - my parents would have at first been concerned that I was in extreme pain, quickly followed by my dad questioning my masculinity and then giving me something to scream about.
4. Finally, our flight was late getting into Chicago and we almost missed our connection. The flight reached the gate at 5:09 and our next flight left the gate at 5:28. We had to run across to the other terminal which at my age is always a bit comical and involves lots of heavy breathing and pains in usual places.
This is actually the good thing though. I was so sure that our checked bags had not made it that I went straight to the United baggage office rather than wait at the carousel. But the bags made it!
I've had my share of bags not showing up in the past but when you think about it, imagine how difficult it must be to schedule all the baggage handlers and baggage carts when flights are arriving early and late and often at a different gate than planned. Plus the baggage carts have to travel back and forth across an area shared by moving planes with limited visibility, and shuttle buses and random airport staff. I'm guessing that the bags from our plane probably had around 20 or so different destinations and yet they still managed it in less than 19 minutes. Hats off to United Airlines!
We had a great time. Too many wonderful experiences to relate so I'll just mention the bad stuff and one good thing.
1. At one hotel I had the worst hotel experience I have ever had and I have traveled quite a bit. Fortunately, we were only booked there two nights and ended up staying just one. The hotel was actually really nice. The rooms were better than what we normally get and the landscaping around the hotel was beautiful and the only real problem was that the doors opened directly to the outside rather than into a corridor.
After the first night I got up early and stepped outside to take some shots of the sunrise. When I went back into the room - my girlfriend said "What are all these dead bugs on the floor?". There were literally hundreds of dead bugs on the tile floor between the door and the carpet. They looked like some kind of beetle. I stepped outside and there were even more on the floor there.
Just at that moment a hotel employee was passing so I showed him the bugs and he said that it happens a lot in the summer. I asked him how full the hotel was, wondering if we could switch rooms. He said it wouldn't matter and then walked me along the entire row of rooms on that floor. There were hundreds of these things outside each door. He said they keep spraying and they keep coming back.
I go back into the room and start looking around. Here's a live one on the air conditioner and another on the light stand and oh crap here's one on my pillow. So we decide to check out immediately.
We load up the car and go down to the front desk and explain the situation to the girl working there. She admits there's a problem and that they have pest control spray every week. I tell her that I'm checking out right now and I want a discount for last night. She says we still have to pay for both nights and she can offer a 10% discount. I ask to speak to the manager, who of course is not there (It is only 6:30 or so). He'll be there about 8am.
We decide to have breakfast (which is free) and wait for him to arrive. Eggs, bacon, toast, yogurt, coffee and orange juice all lined up ready to eat when I see another of the bugs crawling across the table! All the food goes in the trash and we drive to the nearest McDonalds. As we are walking out the door I hear one of the cleaners give a little yelp. I ask her what's the matter and she says with a list in her hand - "All these people checking out today". Gee - no kidding!
Later that morning we come back and have a chat with the manager who is fairly unsympathetic and claims it has only been happening for the last three days. His attitude changes when I show him the pictures I took (pictures of the bugs that is - not the pictures of the sunrise - my photography is not that inspiring) and we end up getting a huge discount. It got to the point that I felt sorry for him and promised I wouldn't post a bad review on line.
2. This is nowhere near as bad as the previous one, but I have to ask why do they build hotels right next to freeways? sometimes on hills overlooking freeways. I don't understand why they think I want to be re-acquainted with the Doppler effect early every morning.
In a similar vein why do so many hotel rooms have noisy air conditioning units? especially in the Southwest where they are really necessary. Sometimes it can be impossible to sleep while they're on. The trick seems to be to turn the AC on full blast and get the room into the low 60s and then turn it off just before you go to sleep. Inevitably though, it means waking up in the middle of the night sweating like a pig and having to turn it back on again.
3. This happened on our last night at an airport hotel. I'd made sure the hotel was far enough away from the airport and any nearby freeways for any noise from those sources to not be a problem. Furthermore, the air conditioning was exceptionally quiet. Looking forward to a good night's sleep and bang. Was that a gunshot? It sure sounded like one. No maybe it was a firework. I fall asleep only to be woken up a few minutes later by police sirens. About 45 minutes of flashing lights and random shouting later it quietens down. Fast asleep again.
Suddenly, at 5am exactly, I'm woken from a dead sleep by a very loud fire alarm? No, maybe it's my cell phone? No - it's the clock radio! In my groggy state I decide to unplug it. Damn that was the lamp. Try again. Got it. I just unplugged it and it's still beeping! but it's a different tone. It must be the low battery warning now. Plug it back in and we are back to the original problem. Finally get it turned off properly.
Neither of us got back to sleep after that.
I realize this is my fault and I should have checked that was off before going to sleep but, come on - who uses a clock radio as an alarm in this day and age? I haven't checked for that in about 10 years or so.
Finally down at breakfast, there are two male kids from the same family - not babies but still fairly young, that seem to think it is a good idea to have a competition to see who can scream in the most annoyingly loud high pitched tone. Their parents don't seem to care. If they are not careful those kids'll grow up to be social media stars or something. (Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!)
Maybe I'm showing my age, but if I had tried that as a kid - my parents would have at first been concerned that I was in extreme pain, quickly followed by my dad questioning my masculinity and then giving me something to scream about.
4. Finally, our flight was late getting into Chicago and we almost missed our connection. The flight reached the gate at 5:09 and our next flight left the gate at 5:28. We had to run across to the other terminal which at my age is always a bit comical and involves lots of heavy breathing and pains in usual places.
This is actually the good thing though. I was so sure that our checked bags had not made it that I went straight to the United baggage office rather than wait at the carousel. But the bags made it!
I've had my share of bags not showing up in the past but when you think about it, imagine how difficult it must be to schedule all the baggage handlers and baggage carts when flights are arriving early and late and often at a different gate than planned. Plus the baggage carts have to travel back and forth across an area shared by moving planes with limited visibility, and shuttle buses and random airport staff. I'm guessing that the bags from our plane probably had around 20 or so different destinations and yet they still managed it in less than 19 minutes. Hats off to United Airlines!
