The perfect hotel room for over 50s travellers

It’s not so much about the quality or price tag of the amenity itself; it’s more about the thought that goes into room design and layout, furniture and product choices and placement decisions.

Is it just me? Or do so many hotels, motels and other lodgings really get things wrong. They seem to have given little or no thought to the basic requirements for ‘a good stay’ for anyone over the age of 50*.

This might sound like the proverbial ‘first world problem’, a ‘lightweight issue’ and it most certainly is. But we will take that as a given, and be grateful.

For now, I’d like to discuss what I believe is good and bad design and amenity in a hotel or motel room. Of course some ‘amenities’ only come with accommodation that has a certain price tag but actually most of these suggestions can apply to a wide range of price brackets. It’s not so much about the quality or price tag of the amenity itself; it’s more about the thought that goes into room design and layout, furniture and product choices and placement decisions.

*I say it is from my ‘over 50’ perspective because some things are more likely to be felt among those in older age groups. However, most of these things would be equally welcomed by any age group.

“I’d like to see different coloured or shaped bottles for different items! Or at the very least, decent sized print on the bottles so we don’t end up washing our hair with the body lotion!”

Here’s my list. If you can add to it, be my guest, using the comments section below:

• A window that opens, even a little bit, for fresh air.

• A suitable chair for the desk – Please, not a low, heavy armchair – too low for the desk height and too heavy to be manoeuvred close enough to the desk for working comfort. I love beautiful and stylish furniture design but in a desk chair I also need functional, ideally adjustable features with decent lumbar support or I will be an unhappy customer.

• Plenty of power points – or at least one empty power board. We all have multiple devices needing recharging these days yet it’s common for a hotel room to have nearly all the accessible power points in use (and forget those placed in awkward, hidden locations behind beds and other furniture.) Also – power points need to allow for larger recharging transformers that need space either above or below the actually outlet.  One of the reasons a power board is often helpful (I travel with my own most of the time these days).

  

• Plenty of coat hangers. By all means make them the unstealable type but just ensure there are plenty. Five or six is not enough. We need at least 10 but ideally 15 or so to cater to two people with two to three days of clothing options.

• Space enough for two suitcases – (in a room designed for two people) I frequently wish for a second folding luggage stand so nobody has to scramble around on the floor to access their bag.

• Good lighting in the wardrobe or dressing room – no dark recesses for things to get lost in!

• A full length mirror – obviously…. But make sure it’s located somewhere where we can get some clear distance from it. (not facing the narrow gap beside the bed, for instance…)

“…in my experience, there is rarely anywhere to hang a wet towel, let alone two wet towels, in a way that will enable them to dry before their next use.”

• Good bathroom lighting, particularly just over the mirror, in front of my face at the vanity basin (not behind me, casting a shadow).

• Good, directional bedside lighting so one person can read in bed without the other person being too disturbed by the reading light.

• A small nightlight of some kind, close to floor level, to provide enough illumination for me to a) remember where I am; and b) find my way to the bathroom when I wake up, disoriented in the middle of the night. Frequently I will leave a light on in the bathroom and the door just slightly ajar because it’s a choice between that or total pitch-blackness.  (But the shock of bright light when you open the door, half asleep, is never nice!)

  

• A magnifying mirror, ideally one of those excellent wall mounted models with built in lighting but any magnifying mirror is welcome.  As one of my favourite cartoons demonstrates, women of a certain age need to be able to see better in order to look better!  And it goes for blokes too.

• Toiletry items that are clearly differentiated and identifiable without spectacles or other excessive magnification. This is especially important for the shampoo, conditioner, bath gel and body lotion which frequently come in all but indistinguishable bottles – the same colour, shape and size. I’d like to see different coloured or shaped bottles for different items! Or at the very least, decent sized print on the bottles so we don’t end up washing our hair with the body lotion!

• Bathroom shelf space or a cupboard to stow toiletry items and medicines. It’s amazing how many hotel bathrooms barely have enough flat surfaces for the basic hotel-provided toiletry products, let alone your own stuff.

• A ledge or caddy in the shower to stow the soap and shampoo etc so these items are easy to access. I am always amazed when I find hotel/motel showers where the only place to put the shampoo and conditioner bottles is on the floor.

  

• A proper hair dryer – not one of those wall mounted things with a short, tangled cord that is almost impossible to use and barely blows out a whisper.

• A non-slip rubber bathmat – especially if the shower is over the bath and sides of the bath are quite high.

• A pull-out clothesline over the bathtub – excellent for wet swimmers, hand-washing of smalls etc

  

• Decent sized bath towels. They don’t need to be luxury, king sized bath sheets – just big enough to do the waist or chest wrap with some degree of dignity!
• Somewhere to hang wet bath towels so they have a chance of actually drying. Every hotel/motel proclaims it is minimising its impact on the environment by reducing laundry loads and not replacing towels daily – unless requested.  But in my experience, there is rarely anywhere to hang a wet towel, let alone two wet towels, in a way that will enable them to dry before their next use. And if you hang them over the shower curtain rail or the back of a chair, they usually get taken away and replaced anyway. An extra towel rail in the bathroom or even a free-standing towel rail in the closet would be helpful.

• An iron and ironing board – thankfully this has become pretty much standard now, like tea and coffee making facilities.

• A cotton blanket option – not just a duvet. The fashion in hotel beds these days is to have a doona/duvet between two sheets. Even in warm climates in the middle of summer. As a bit of a cold fish, it’s generally fine for me but I know it drives a lot of people mad. It’s just too hot and they are forced to sleep either uncovered or to run the air-conditioning all night (with legs hanging out one side). A cotton blanket, even folded in the closet, would be most welcome for him and I am sure for many others, especially in warm climates!

  

• Space in the mini-bar for a couple of our own things. In hotels where there is a mini-bar, there is often a tendency to pack the thing as tightly as possible so there is room for nothing else. I get the thinking here. They want us to buy from the mini-bar, not do the BYO option. One hotel I stayed in recently has taken this meanness to a whole new level by filling the fridge with electronic sensors such that even picking up the bottle of white wine to inspect the label will mean it will be charged to your bill. (The porter explained this, slightly apologetically, when delivering the bags to the room… and then expected a tip?). It was the same for the items outside the fridge – move the red wine bottle or the chocolate from it’s position in the box and whammo, you get charged.Of course, they take it off again if you didn’t use it but who needs that level of surveillance and mean-spirited revenue-raising? Leave us some space to chill our own water bottle or stow our own bottle of wine!

• An arrangement for recycling – bottles, cans, paper , plastics etc. The claim about reducing the hotel’s environmental footprint through reusing bath towels rings hollow when there is usually no mention of – let alone no provision for – separating recyclable materials from rubbish for landfill.   We are used to separating our rubbish and doing ‘the right thing’ so why are we expected to place empty bottles and cans, newspapers and plastic containers in the rubbish bin alongside the dirty tissues, apple cores and dental floss? At least tell us what the recycling arrangements are for the hotel.

• Free wifi internet – it’s a basic requirement of life, like water glasses, these days. The idea of paying by the hour or $25-30 a day is just downright annoying if nothing else. Build a little extra into the room cost if you must but don’t subject us to fiddly connection processes and overpriced WiFi. It just makes you look mean and stingy.

• A radio that can be tuned to AM stations. OK, this may be a pointless request any day soon but for now…. I don’t like having the TV on unless I am deliberately choosing to watch it.  And I really don’t like morning television. I love radio and, in Australia, I like to listen to the ABC radio news and discussion while I’m getting ready in my hotel room. Again, maybe it’s just me and a run of bad luck, but I could swear there is a conspiracy to prevent the ABC stations from being broadcast in hotels and motels. These days I can use the app or play the radio live over the internet but that’s a drain on my device’s battery, not to mention the aforementioned cost of WiFi! And anyway, how come I can always get Hottest Hits FM loud and clear, no problems at all!?

• Information about local radio frequencies. Further to previous point, knowing where to look for particular stations would be a huge help but I’ve rarely seen it.

• Simple instructions on how to work anything that might not be universally straightforward. (I’m thinking shower/bath taps, multi-switch lighting, heating and cooling systems, TV and other electronic devices, internet access, etc. Even the door key! (see below)

• Many hotels and motels use electronic door keys and, at least in my experience, few of them are fail-safe. If putting it next to credit cards in my wallet or stowing it with my mobile phone is likely to screw up the programming and require it to be replaced, I’d like to know that at the start. Better still, if that little problem could be sorted at the manufacturer level!  Nothing worse than having to go down to reception in your swimmers and towel because you can’t get into your room!

That’s my list for now. And I haven’t even touched on issues to do with disability. Can you add to the list?  I’m sure there are many other tips (and gripes) we can add!

[Next time I will look into what we should expect from a holiday apartment like AirBnB or HomeAway]