Hotels have been forced to come up with ways of keeping up with the emerging trends. They have improved their interior designs greatly and brought in more amenities and appliances. Some have also invested in high-tech gadgets mainly to attract geek travelers.
Hotels today are in direct competition with nightclubs and most have opened exclusive bars within their premises. Guest rooms are more sophisticated. However, some hotel trends and offerings are quite overhyped. Travel+Leisure came up with a list of amenities that really are too much.
Pillow Menus: Normally, decent hotels provide foam or feather pillows depending on one's preference. However, in a bid to stay ahead of the competition, some hotels offer Pillow Menus enabling you to choose from others such as neck rolls, Tempur-pedic pillows or body huggers.
Peekaboo Bathrooms: Well, these are for couples. They are bath tubs placed between guestrooms but they are surrounded only with glass walls that allow your roommate to watch as you take a shower.
Pet Pampering Services: Sometime ago, it was impossible to get into a decent hotel with a pet, especially dogs. Nowadays, pets are often treated just like human beings. Some of the pet services offered include: pet massages, room services which include delicacies such as meat, spa treatments, pedicures and the usual pet walks.
Statement Beds: In some hotels, beds are not just meant for comfort, the design is equally as important too. Huge headboards, numerous pillows, posts, scarves, platforms and spreads are now a common feature in hotel beds.
Cabanas: They are common around beaches where they provide shade from the scorching sun. However, these enclosures have somehow found their way to hotels where they act as VIP guest rooms. Isn't that odd? Restaurant and bar services are offered. They also contain Wi-Fi and giant screen TVs.
Turndown Poetry: Anyone would be glad just to find a tidy bed in their hotel room. Welcoming flowers would be lovely but still unexpected. What you would never expect though is to find a welcoming poem written just for you.
Underwater Speakers: They enable you to "dance while swimming" or rather hear the music while in the water. No doubt they have attracted some people, most of whom are just curious to see how this works.
Specialist Butlers: Some hotels have hired butlers basically to do everything for you. For example, e-butlers to help you with internet connectivity and others to help with eye repair.
Chromatherapy and aromatherapy: Everyone loves a room with a nice aroma. Some hotels have gone to the extent of producing aromas through air-conditioner systems. Others have established special lighting systems.
No matter how the hotels have improved their hotels by concentrating on interior designs, more amenities and appliances and investing in high-tech gadgets mainly to attract geek travelers, they are still ignoring the 750million people in the world with a disability. Hotels should stop spending their money on these interior improvements etc, and concentrate on spending their money by offering wheelchair accessible accommodation. Australia is far behind the rest of the world, which in itself is not too good, in ensuring that tourism providers offer wheelichair accessible accommodation. Untill the hotels realise that people requiring these facilities rarely travel alone, so one room for a guest in a wheelchair generally involves two or three rooms for family, carer and/or friends. Hotels failing to offer these facilities should realise that this is not only a moral issue but for them it is an economic one.