I often wonder if “it’s just me” with the crazy attention to detail when I visit and/or stay at hotels around the world.  It’s hard to turn off my inner “hotel inspector” when I travel for vacation…for me.  I’m constantly running through my due diligence checklist for hotels and I will admit to giving notes at checkout to pass along to engineering regarding items that they need to address in my room for the next guest.

Years ago, I remember traveling with a friend and he just laughed at my hotel quirks (is there such a thing as hotel OCD?) and let me do what I needed to do upon entering the room.  Traveling with friends is a great way to see how kooky they really are in their own endearing way.  I think my friends will put me at the top of the kooky list and I just think it is a side effect of my job.

When I enter a hotel room, I do the quick walk around to understand the layout.  I look out the window to see if I have a view of anything interesting and then make a beeline for the book – being a Type A person who had some (ok, lots) of control issues, I need to read the hotel book of services to understand the property, the services offered  etc.  It is a book of rules to me, an agreement by the hotel of what it will provide to me and then I can gauge how well they adhere to it.

After I’ve read the book, I then look for outlets to charge my gadgets (hotels are slowly updating their outlets to be more responsive to guests needs but are still a bit behind on this one as evidenced by my phone, camera, etc. sitting on the floor near the bed and me trying to remember not to step or trip over them) and figure out the lights and all of the switches in the room.  Moving to the bed, I pull back the covers and inspect the sheets (you think I’m nuts, I know! but I’ve had to more than once call housekeeping to replace sheets with holes or tears in them so best to do upon check-in rather than when you are tired and ready for bed).

After the main room is inspected, I head to the bathroom to see what I win in the form of the toiletries the hotels provide.  Here is where you can hit the lottery of toiletries depending on the hotel property.  There are some properties where there is an unwritten code of silence between me and housekeeping – they know I can’t possibly use all the toiletries each day but I tip generously and we don’t talk about it -new toiletries each day.  I then come home with marvelous mini scents that remind me of my vacation(this only works with checked luggage).   If it is a W hotel with Bliss products or a hotel with Molton Brown, then all bets are off, I’ve more than once found housekeeping in the hallways to ask for more.  Lest you think less of me, at the end of the year, I donate toiletries from my travels to a local shelter (if my sister hasn’t pilfered them first -everyone likes a little bottle of luxury).

When I visit hotels, I am first and foremost in business traveler mode and thinking “Will my employees like this property?”, “Does it have everything we need?”,  “Would I recommend it and add it to our preferred list? I then switch to family mode and think “Will my nieces like this?”, “How do families fit in here” and lastly about me, the solo traveler, who loves luxury and attention to service & details.  This should help explain why my hotel reviews will tend to be quite detailed. It’s very rare to find a hotel property that fits all the criteria for my inner hotel inspector, but when I do, it’s love….I remain loyal and become their biggest cheerleader, often forgoing points to stay there, yes earning no points to stay at an amazing hotel that makes me happy on all fronts.

Do you care about hotels as much as I do?  Do you have a favorite brand of toiletry from a hotel?  Would you go out of your way to stay at a particular hotel just for the shampoo? (I haven’t done this…yet)