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Readers' Top 10 Hotel Likes, Pet Peeves - USATODAY

publication date: Mar 25, 2012
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author/source: Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY
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Top 10 things you didn't know about Hotel Check-In readers


 

By Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

Over the past three years, USA TODAY's Hotel Check-In has dug deep into the lives of our readers' travel habits, passions and pet peeves.

 

Readers' Top 10 Hotel Likes and Pet Peeves

 So for this morning, I've compiled a bit of that intel in a single post. Some of these findings may surprise you. Based on polls and an admittedly unscientific analysis of reader comments mostly from the past year, Hotel Check-In readers are:

Coke drinkers: When it comes to opening a bottle of Coke or Pepsi, most readers said they prefer Coke products, according to the majority of the unusually high number of 100 comments submitted for this story. One more takeaway: Regardless of brand, they love talking about soda!

Mobile junkies: Virtually every reader travels with a phone when on a trip, but 80% of 3,972 readers in an October 2011 poll said that they travel with at least two devices. And of those travelers, 19% travel with three - a phone, an iPad or other tablet and a laptop.

Considerate of housekeepers: Asked where do you leave wet towels on check-out day last summer, a whopping 61% of 3,919 readers who voted said they take the time to leave their towels on the bathroom floor. In the surprising 59 comments submitted on what I consider to be a rather mundane topic, a good number of them mentioned they take this action to help housekeepers retrieve towels more easily.

Hotel toiletry enthusiasts: Asked if they bring home hotel toiletries, 56% of 2,673 respondents said that they take their toiletries. Only 15% said they travel with their own products (ladies, we'll have to revisit this at a later date!).

Late-night TV watchers: Asked what do you do when you can't fall asleep in your hotel room, 65% of 1,051 voters said they turn on the TV - despite it being about the worst thing the experts say you can do.

Bottled water snobs: Asked which brand of bottled water they wished to find in their hotel, 36% of 1,129 readers voted for Voss, which comes in those sexy, cylindrical clear-glass bottles. The Voss water brand even beat out my personal choice, which is "any water that's free (31%)." Just a guess: A lot of readers are on expense accounts!

Treadmill users: As the giant brands roll out "branded" gym experiences designed to impress guests, Hotel Check-In readers would rather they stick to the basics - and get the basics right. Asked to identify their No.1 priority in the hotel gym, 52% of 627 readers who voted said they're "happy to find a treadmill that works."(Emphasis mine.) Free weights came in second place, with 30% of the votes.

Demanding when it comes to cleanliness: Asked which problem would most likely turn them into a difficult guest, 45% of 2,171 readers who voted said a dirty room/bathroom would do the trick - even more than "noise from neighbors/thin walls," which came in second place with 21% of the votes. Botched room service came in dead last with 0%.

Fans of free hotel TV: Asked if they order pay-per-view movies in hotels in January 2011, 81% of 3,387 respondents said no. They either surf the free TV channels or they bring their own content and watch on one of their multiple mobile devices.

Iffy about room views: When I wrote about startup hotel-search website Room 77 in early 2011, readers were asked if they were interested in seeing their room's view before they checked into their room. The biggest chunk of the 775 readers (49%) voted, "Maybe, it depends on the destination."

Stay tuned for more polls, especially the one I'm cooking up about female guests and hair flat irons. (I'm deadly serious.)

Readers: Do at least some of the descriptions above sound like you? Hotel folks: What are some other things you wonder about readers?



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