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- Feb 12, 2008
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Like the airlines, Hotel Management have figured out another way to save a buck - configure the aircon to automatically turn off when the guest is asleep. It’s been around for ages. And while this might be OK in temperate climates, in warmer climates or summer periods this is a nightmare.
I don’t need to remind you how it goes - After falling asleep in a comfortably cool room that you carefully set on the aircon display before tucking in, within 10-30 minutes the aircon detects no movement and is configured to switch off - to save money of course. Over the next hour or so, the room heats up to an unbearable temperature which wakes you from your sleep. Your movement in bed or trudging back to the aircon display to find out that the aircon is no longer switched on triggers the infrared movement sensor to reactivate the aircon. The room takes another hour or two to cool down again to your defined setting. Rinse and repeat several times throughout the night and you have a recipe for an unhappy and cranky guest that didn’t get much sleep for one or many consecutive nights.
It‘s pure penny pinching to save a buck at the expense of the customer’s comfort. Never mind the fact you spent a shedload on that room/suite - your comfort and ability to sleep is of no concern to hotel Management if they can save a buck. And to make it worse, when you ask them to fix it, they lie and tell you it’s been done after maintenance comes visit, or that it can’t be done, or they move you to a different room without the same aircon and motion sensor problem.
I’m over it. This has to be one of my biggest frustrations with hotels nowadays. So in recent times I have taken a stand against hotels that employ this penny pinching policy with their aircon. I have successfully managed to get full/partial refunds for several stays at different hotels around the world over the past year or two by explaining how I endured restless nights due to this cheap penny pinching policy that Management has very deliberately employed. It has taken patience and a constructive approach with the right hotel staff to help them understand the issue, let alone seek recourse. Some properties were unwilling to compensate me appropriately, if at all. In these circumstances, upon returning home I escalate to hotel chain management (eg. Diamond/Platinum desk) who duly acknowledge the problem, apologise and try to make things right by compensating me with an appropriate amount of points.
Considering the extortionate prices the hotels are charging these days, we deserve much better than this. I encourage everyone to stand up to this type of hotel Management behaviour by calling it out and seeking a resolution that you feel is appropriate for your circumstances. If we make them pay, eventually it will start costing the hotels too much (both financially and reputationally) and the feedback might actually resonate. They may even end up reversing their aircon penny pinching policy. (Does that leave you with a reverse cycle aircon??
).
In the meantime, can anyone suggest a cheap and quiet mechanism that will trigger movement in the room every so often to avoid this issue? I assume most if not all sensors use infrared detection, so it would need sufficient intermittent movement of a hot/cold source to differentiate from the ambient room temperature.
I don’t need to remind you how it goes - After falling asleep in a comfortably cool room that you carefully set on the aircon display before tucking in, within 10-30 minutes the aircon detects no movement and is configured to switch off - to save money of course. Over the next hour or so, the room heats up to an unbearable temperature which wakes you from your sleep. Your movement in bed or trudging back to the aircon display to find out that the aircon is no longer switched on triggers the infrared movement sensor to reactivate the aircon. The room takes another hour or two to cool down again to your defined setting. Rinse and repeat several times throughout the night and you have a recipe for an unhappy and cranky guest that didn’t get much sleep for one or many consecutive nights.
It‘s pure penny pinching to save a buck at the expense of the customer’s comfort. Never mind the fact you spent a shedload on that room/suite - your comfort and ability to sleep is of no concern to hotel Management if they can save a buck. And to make it worse, when you ask them to fix it, they lie and tell you it’s been done after maintenance comes visit, or that it can’t be done, or they move you to a different room without the same aircon and motion sensor problem.
I’m over it. This has to be one of my biggest frustrations with hotels nowadays. So in recent times I have taken a stand against hotels that employ this penny pinching policy with their aircon. I have successfully managed to get full/partial refunds for several stays at different hotels around the world over the past year or two by explaining how I endured restless nights due to this cheap penny pinching policy that Management has very deliberately employed. It has taken patience and a constructive approach with the right hotel staff to help them understand the issue, let alone seek recourse. Some properties were unwilling to compensate me appropriately, if at all. In these circumstances, upon returning home I escalate to hotel chain management (eg. Diamond/Platinum desk) who duly acknowledge the problem, apologise and try to make things right by compensating me with an appropriate amount of points.
Considering the extortionate prices the hotels are charging these days, we deserve much better than this. I encourage everyone to stand up to this type of hotel Management behaviour by calling it out and seeking a resolution that you feel is appropriate for your circumstances. If we make them pay, eventually it will start costing the hotels too much (both financially and reputationally) and the feedback might actually resonate. They may even end up reversing their aircon penny pinching policy. (Does that leave you with a reverse cycle aircon??
).In the meantime, can anyone suggest a cheap and quiet mechanism that will trigger movement in the room every so often to avoid this issue? I assume most if not all sensors use infrared detection, so it would need sufficient intermittent movement of a hot/cold source to differentiate from the ambient room temperature.
