In my opinion, hotel rooms often have a terrible plug set up. There either aren’t enough, they’re inaccessible, or they are in the wrong place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to unplug an alarm clock or muscle a very heavy night stand out of the way to plug my phone in. It’s one of my biggest travel pet peeves! The worst was when I went to Blog World in 2011 and stayed in the Westin Bonaventure. A great hotel, with famous elevators, a lovely room, and zero accessible plugs.
So imagine how excited I was when I got to my room in the Hampton Inn in West Haven last week and found this:
Not one, not two, but THREE plugs sitting right on the desk! Plus it had two USB plugs. Then when I started getting ready to go to bed, I realized there was another one on the nightstand! I don’t know if this is a new program Hampton Inn is rolling out, but I think these are great and all hotels should have them.
Readers, have you seen any great plug situations lately? Any terrible ones?
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That would be wonderful. I usually have hotel rooms with out any accessible outlets.
Ugh! That’s actually one of only two complaints about the hotel where I spend half my days (Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Indianapolis) – plugs! There are none on the bedside table, so I can’t plug in my phone and use it as an alarm. Frustrating.
I use something like this: it’s portable and there are tons with USB options Belkin 3-Outlet Mini Travel Swivel Charger Surge Protector with Dual USB Ports (1 AMP / 5 Watt)
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!
I find that most Westin hotels have no or awkward plug placement. Both the Marriott chain and Hilton chain have done a lot in the past few years to cater to business travelers with better desk setups, better desk chairs and more outlets.
The Hilton’s I stay at all have lamps with two plugs on the nightstand, which is a perfectly adequate solution as long as there is another one near the desk area for my computer. Not sure why its so hard. As you say the number of times I’ve had to move the damn bed to get at the only outlet behind it is c-r-a-z-y.
I’ve personally taken to traveling with a 20 foot USB male to female cable so I can plug my phone in even when the nearest plug is really really far away.
Some places really get this right. But LOTS don’t.
Oh, one recent suggestion I saw… many modern TV’s have a USB plug that you may be able to draw power from…
I use the same setup as Gwayrab, along with a regular 10 foot extension cord. Neither take up much space in my bag and gives me lots of options when the room has awkward plug placement.
There was a FT thread about alarm clocks vs phone alarms and I usually have my phone plugged in on the opposite night stand from the alarm clock and it’s usually because that’s where the open outlet is, but since Hampton Inns introduced these a while ago I just plug the USB in so I don’t lose my wall connector.
I always take an extension cord with 7 connectors. Should be enough, normally. Then two converters for the US/UK connectors (depending on where I go to, being European) and that always works great.
The best thing is that you needn’t use converters for all your appliances: just one for the extension cord. Really really really hate hotels without plugs :S