There’s just one problem
I like the hotel we’re staying in. The wi-fi signal is strong, fast and free. The bed is firm and the sheets are fine cotton, topped by a soft comforter. The AC works well and isn’t too noisy. I have no complaints except for the lack of a good desk and chair for working on my laptop.
This is standard. Very few hotels have desks with surfaces low enough to allow comfortable work. And few have chairs that aren’t uncomfortable for sitting at a laptop for more than half an hour or so.
I’ve had no particular issue with desks, except to the extent that they’re badly located, but chairs range from not bad to utterly hellish, and the latter have outnumbered the former by about four to one. I have, in fact, complained to innkeepers about this; more than once I’ve relocated the desk and sat on the bed to work.
So I can endorse this:
I would gladly pay more to stay in a hotel with a good desk and office chair. In fact I think an office-standard desk & chair should be listed among amenities at hotel sites and in services such as Orbitz and Travelocity.
At my usual price point — around $90-110 — I’d almost think this ought to be mandatory.
Tat »
28 July 2008 · 4:58 pm
As someone who actually designed hotel rooms and familiar with the standards I can tell you – this is a case of managerial inertia.
When design departments of big hotel chains present their guestroom furniture plans to hotel executives, it is not always feasible to persuade the big shots that the function of the room has changed, and so the furniture – with it.
Traditional view is that the guest (either a businessman or a tourist) spends the day outside, comes in to change, goes out to dinner and then returns to have a shower and watch HBO in bed. Hence the attention is given to (in this particualr order)
1) bed/linen
2) shower/bath toiletries/linen
3) TV (typically in an armoir of sorts)
4) credenza with minibar
5) armchair + floor/table lamp
6) desk and side chair
The desk, which is almost universally placed at 90deg to the window wall, is offered as a means of writing letters on hotel stationary (yeah, right – when was the last letter like that was posted?), variation: as a make-up table. Actual situation the guests on a business trip find themselves (working at odd hours on their laptops), and therefore need typing height desks at 28″aff (not 32″aff for manual writing) and coordinated adjustable office chair hasn’t exactly registered yet with the traditional concept. Oh, they will provide the wi-fi (as a means of competing advantage), but in my experience people who think about internet connections aren’t the same people who sign up on furniture.
And then, of course there is a price point.
In boutique /better quality hotels situation is better since room design is not cookie-cutter and the budget is more generous.
unimpressed »
28 July 2008 · 8:14 pm
Just how hard would it be for them to saw four inches off of the existing tables? The cost to “upgrade” the suites would be virtually nil. They wouldn’t even have to do all the rooms in this manner, just keep track of which rooms have been so modified and simply ask if the customer had a laptop and needed to use it in the room.
Tatyana »
28 July 2008 · 8:37 pm
*unimpressed:
-hotels usually don’t have woodworking shops on the premises to “saw off” the 4″ on the legs; they order their furniture according to specifications delivered from the factory
-even if they shorten the legs off some desks, these desks will become a burden on the inventory; they can’t be reused for any other purpose/room
-it’s not only desks, it’s the chairs that is a problem. Ergonomic office chair is significantly more expensive than the side chair, and its style does not correspond to the typical styles of the guestrooms.
Jeffro »
28 July 2008 · 9:01 pm
Some of the Comfort Inn suites have office chairs, but the tables are still too high. I’m generally satisfied with a recliner, fridge and decent wall socket to plug in.
unimpressed »
29 July 2008 · 5:07 pm
Hotels DO have maintenance men, just maybe not full-time or on-site. Trust me, it doesn’t require a woodworking shop, just a tape measure and a hand saw. Any maintenance man worth a portion of the title has both (and much more) in his tool bag. FYI, I don’t have a shop, but I do have a table saw, a compound miter saw, a hand power saw, a sawzall and several varieties of hand saws (sheetrock, hack and general purpose wood) and I’m not a maintenance man of any stripe.
The whole point of shortening the legs on the desks is to allow guests to use their laptops more readily/easily/comfortably. Why would these desks then become a burden? They’ve been modified deliberately, by design and for purpose and can be re-inventoried (if necessary) as such.
Concern about appearance only is too much worry about “form over function”. It’s function first, foremost and always as it doesn’t matter how good something looks if it won’t perform its required function.
There are many comfortable office-type chairs, with and without arms, in many different styles and colors, some are adjustable height, that are relatively inexpensive. I’m sitting in one as I type.
Charles Pergiel »
29 July 2008 · 7:36 pm
Working in a hotel room? Whazza matta you? Hotel rooms ain’t foh wukkin.
CGHill »
29 July 2008 · 7:49 pm
Hey, I gotta post my World Tour logs from someplace.
Tat »
30 July 2008 · 11:00 am
*unimpressed,
Maybe you should offer your services to hotels as a maintenance guru.
I’m relaying to you the reasons executives will not allow it for chain hotels. You can argue with them all you want. No need to convert me – I’m on guests’ side.
Inventory question: the more interchangeable furniture piece, the better use the Housekeeping get out of it -> the cheaper the piece becomes for the hotel. The regular height desk construction allows it to be used in its direct role, and also as a corridor console table, as a side table(s) for a buffet dinner, as a TV table in a lounge, etc. So, the less details and more universal the design, the better for the inventory -> better for hotel’s bottom line.
I’m aware of variety of the office chairs. I’ll give you specific example.
Usual style Sheraton and such employ in their $100/night guestrooms is pseudo-Queen Anne. They use furniture mnanufacturer who specialises in hotel suites, to furnish the room in pieces of the same wood species/stain, same hardware, same trim details, etc. It’s cheaper for hotel to buy in bulk. That includes casegoods as well as side chairs. Office chairs is a specialty. To get one that doesn’t look modern, has shape and materials associated with Queen Anne’s style but also conveniences of the contemporary office will cost the hotel much more than the price of a side chair, however detailed, from the same manufacturer they are buying guestroom pieces in bulk. At least twice as expensive. When you add 900 guestrooms, the delta comes to considerable figure. That’s why I said – only the boutique hotels can afford it: they have less rooms and the rooms are much more expensive. We were doing custom designs for “W” NY (across from Plaza), because in Xmas season average room runs $700 a night, min.
Hope I clarified the issue.