Am I getting old or is the technology in hotel rooms getting more complicated? I was staying in a five star hotel in Rome recently, researching a possible mp3 tour of the capital to add to our other Rome mp3 tour. Having walked around all day after dinner I fell into bed and reached up to switch off the light.
The overhead light near the bed duly went off – but the bedside lamp stayed on. Hardly able to keep my eyes open I pulled myself, inspected the light control panel, which had about a dozen buttons on it and tried to work out how to switch off the bedside lamps. I was conscious that writing a city audio tour is hard work and I needed to get some sleep.
I hit a couple of buttons and various lights around the room when on and off. But those bedside babies were still shining brightly – far too brightly. I tried a few more buttons on the panel and finally I managed to kill them. But the room was still not dark – a light from by the door had suddenly gone on for no reason.
By this time I’d forgotten which buttons I already tried and which I hadn’t so I hit a few at random. The bedside lamps came on – and went off again. At one point, a light above the desk when it shone down in an otherwise darkened room looked quite dramatic.
Eventually I decided that this was the least worst option, and donning the sleep mask from the aeroplane and finally nodded off.
Televisions are another case in point. I was rewriting our Paris audio guide to keep it up to date and staying in a nice hotel near the Gare du Nord. It’s not best place for a walking tour of Paris but it’s convenient, none the less, for the Eurostar. I must have pressed about 15 buttons during which time I saw my room bill, narrowly missed paying for an adult movie and watched a dreary Rome travelogue. Finally I got the telly to work. By this time I wasn’t that bothered about watching it any more and just wanted to find somewhere to eat.
After I’ve been doing other audio tours of Vienna and have come back exhausted and ready for a bath I’ve found that switching on the tap, getting the temperature right and not having the shower suddenly come on and drench you requires a degree in engineering.
So, my message to hotel room designers is – keep it simple stupid.
Tags: audio tours, mp3 tour of Paris, Rome city guide, Vienna walking tour