No Place Like Home
During my life, I have been lucky enough to have travelled to many different countries and have stayed in a multitude of different hotels through the years.
Some were 5-star or better; some mediocre and some (in my youth) hostels or cheap hotels. They all have one thing in common. They lack the comfort of home.
But I guess that is why we travel. We want to see different places, have new experiences and meet new people, and we know the hotel room is not home, so we adjust. Now that I am older, however, and have seen most of the world that I want to see, I am perhaps a little more critical of the design of some hotel rooms. I have come to believe that perhaps the hospitality industry should send their “own people” to stay in various hotel rooms to discover what works and what doesn’t.
For instance, in my opinion the television should not be placed at the foot of the bed. My husband and I do not watch TV in bed. We prefer to sit in a comfortable armchair or on a couch to watch television, so the hotel television should be placed at the other end of the room opposite the couch. I like to read in bed, but the light fixtures are often not conducive to that luxury.
Then there is the bathroom. I usually only take a shower in hotel rooms (we have a walk-in one at home). Hotel rooms mostly have showers in the bath. In a recent hotel we stayed at, the bath was so high I could barely climb over the side. Often there is no grab bar – extremely dangerous.
Then there are those fancy high basins in the vanity. In one hotel we once stayed at, some “genius” designer had placed the tap so close to the side of the basin that it was impossible to even fill a glass with water.
Of course, the view is often the main selling point, especially if it is a sea view. I can rarely complain about a view – unless it happens to be the back of another building or on a busy and very noisy street.
Yes, it is nice to get away but even more wonderful to return to all the old home comforts.
There is, after all, no place like home.
