American hotels have bibles. What quirks do other nations' hotels have?

[Autolycus]

The Gideons have successfully placed bibles (Bibles?) in what seems like almost every hotel and motel in the nation. It got me wondering what ubiquitous yet perhaps unexpected item might be found in other locales around the world.

I'd love to start with an example, but I haven't traveled nearly enough. Japanese hotels have robes for the hot-spring bath, but that's certainly not very surprising.

[stpauler]

The hotels I stayed in India had buckets next to the toilet, Egypt had the spray nozzles.

Hotels in the higher parts of Peru had coca leaves available (not in the room, but in the hotels themselves).

[kunilou]

Back in the day, even your run-of-the-mill U.S. motel wouldn't be complete without the following:

Stationary and envelopes, as well as picture post cards, so you could write your friends about the great time you were having.

A printed guide of places to go while you were in town, complete with nearby churches and hospitals.

A room service menu. If they didn't have room service, the menu from the coffee shop next door. If they didn't even have that, at least a pizza place or chicken joint that delivered.

[Sigmagirl]

Many european hotels have two flush buttons for the toilets -- one for a little flush, one for a big flush. Water conservation.

[Voyager]

The hotel we stayed at in Barcelona required you to put your room card in a little holder to turn on the lights and a/c in the room - thus it all turned off when you left. That's a great idea that I hope some US hotels will copy.

[Heracles]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

Many european hotels have two flush buttons for the toilets -- one for a little flush, one for a big flush. Water conservation.

In the same vein, the (European-operated) hotels we stayed at in Cuba had an arrangement where you couldn't leave the lights on when leaving/locking the room.

I think it's fairly common in hotels in Europe for some light switches to be on a 2-minute timer, including the lights in the hallways.

[jz78817]

Originally Posted by stpauler

Hotels in the higher parts of Peru had coca leaves available (not in the room, but in the hotels themselves).

I see what you did there.

Originally Posted by kunilou

Back in the day, even your run-of-the-mill U.S. motel wouldn't be complete without the following:

Stationary and envelopes, as well as picture post cards, so you could write your friends about the great time you were having.

A printed guide of places to go while you were in town, complete with nearby churches and hospitals.

A room service menu. If they didn't have room service, the menu from the coffee shop next door. If they didn't even have that, at least a pizza place or chicken joint that delivered.

I still see this pretty often, even in run-of-the-mill chains like Courtyard.

ETA: the "quirky" thing I encountered in a foreign hotel (Japan) was the beer vending machines in the hall. Not that I was going to complain

[Mops]

Bibles in hotels aren't endemic to the US - I don't recall staying in a hotel room in Germany without a Bible either (except once where there was a Book of Mormon).

A quirk of German hotels not common in most other countries: room prices are invariably quoted including breakfast.

[alphaboi867]

I've heard hotels in Islamic countries usually have some kind of arrow or design in the floor pointing toward Mecca. They do not just keep copies of the Koran in the nightstand where a non-Muslim could potentialy defile it.

[Acsenray]

When I was in Japan in the '80s, several of the hotel rooms I stayed in had a free pack of cigarettes along with stationery, postcards, etc.

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Mops

A quirk of German hotels not common in most other countries: room prices are invariably quoted including breakfast.

Actually, I think that is very common. In most countries I've been in, a free "continental" breakfast (and sometimes a full breakfast) is included in the price of the room in mid-to-upper range hotels, and often in cheaper ones.

A few low-end hotels I've been in in Panama have had signs saying "Please don't throw condoms in the toilet."

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by Mops

A quirk of German hotels not common in most other countries: room prices are invariably quoted including breakfast.

Almost all the American hotels I've experienced include a "continental breakfast."

[silenus]

Originally Posted by Voyager

The hotel we stayed at in Barcelona required you to put your room card in a little holder to turn on the lights and a/c in the room - thus it all turned off when you left. That's a great idea that I hope some US hotels will copy.

The M Resort in Vegas has this feature. Takes some getting used to, but it saves a ton in power every year.

[Push You Down]

In Japan at each of the hotels we stayed at there was an eletric tea maker in the room. Either an eletric kettle or a coffeemaker type machine.

[Leaffan]

Along with the usual soap, shampoo, etc., hotel rooms in Taiwan come with a mini-tube of toothpaste, and a new toothbrush every day. Probably the same on mainland PRC but I've never been there.

[The_Raven]

In Sydney, we had the room-key deal with the lights, in Seoul, we had "The Teachings of Buddha" alongside the Gideon Bible and labor/police clashes in the parking lot, in Osan, S.Korea, we had the most bizarre multiple nozzle hydrotherapy shower I've ever seen, and in most places overseas we had an electric kettle. Of course, Tokyo had the super-duper toilet seat.

[robert_columbia]

In Atlantic Canada, they didn't have a full Bible in my room, but they had a combination English New Testament/French New Testament. That is, one book with the New Testament in English as well as French.

[SanVito]

In the UK every single hotel and B&B has an electric kettle in your room plus tea and coffee for you to make yourself, and included in the room price. I believe establishments get an extra star for it.

[Testy]

Originally Posted by alphaboi867

I've heard hotels in Islamic countries usually have some kind of arrow or design in the floor pointing toward Mecca. They do not just keep copies of the Koran in the nightstand where a non-Muslim could potentialy defile it.

Hi alphaboi867

That hasn't been my experience in Bahrain, Saudi, Kuwait, and a few other ME countries. Most all of the hotels had a copy of the Koran in the nightstand, sometimes even in English. Everyone had those Qiblah arrows stuck somewhere. Mostly they were just decals stuck on the coffee table or nightstand.

Regards

Testy

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by silenus

The M Resort in Vegas has this feature. Takes some getting used to, but it saves a ton in power every year.

I've been at a handful of hotels in the U.S. which have installed these, but I don't think it's common yet.

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by acsenray

Almost all the American hotels I've experienced include a "continental breakfast."

That's fairly new, though. (By new, I mean 20 years old.) The old American style of not having breakfast used to be called the American plan, as distinguished from the European plan with breakfast. I'm not sure who started having breakfasts - perhaps suite hotels, but it is indeed common in those and lower end properties. Big city expensive hotels like Hiltons still don't have it.

[SmartAlecCat]

In America, the low end hotels have free internet. The medium ones have a small cost. The high end ones have very expensive internet.

[JohnGalt]

Stayed at an upscale hotel in Minnesota that required the keycard to be inserted before using the lights or the heater.

Got damn cold during the day in winter, and took forever to warm up. Frankly I think it was counterproductive, since you'd have to run the heater full blast the rest of the night.

[even sven]

Cameroonian hotels often have a few pairs of plastic flip flops to wear in the shower or puttering around the room. The bathroom will include a bucket and a small cup that hooks to the bucket for flushing the toilet should it break, or for taking a "traditional shower" if that is what you prefer. The shower usually has two taps- a shower up top, and a lower tap for filling up buckets. Hot water is rare, and towels and wash clothes are generally not provided. Cash deposits are expected. Rooms are usually divided into "AC" and "fan only" rooms. Bedding is often limited to sheets.

In very low-end Indian hotels, it's common to bring your own lock, although you can borrow one from the owner if you don't have one. Hot water in cheap hotels is usually not a 24/6 amenity. Small hotels are usually happy to arrange for train or bus tickets for a small commission, and they can arrange for neighborhood ladies to do your laundry, etc. Often you end up eating many meals at the hotel restaurant, and it's not uncommon to end up with one big bill at the end of a stay that covers all kinds of things.

Originally Posted by Leaffan

Along with the usual soap, shampoo, etc., hotel rooms in Taiwan come with a mini-tube of toothpaste, and a new toothbrush every day. Probably the same on mainland PRC but I've never been there.

It's that way with every hotel in mainland China as well. And if you stay at someone's house overnight, they will almost certainly offer a toothbrush. Chinese people just don't travel with toothbrushes, apparently.

Chinese hotel rooms also come with combs along with the mini-soap and shampoo (which will likely come in a packet). There will always be a a water cooler, an electric water kettle, or at the very least a thermos of hot water that is refreshed daily and usually some teabags. Hotels also offer disposable cloth slippers, since Chinese people tend not to wear shoes indoors and might regard a hotel floor as dirty. They also do the keycard-for-lights thing, and you quickly learn that a business card tricks the mechanism nicely.

Chinese toilets often have the two-button system, and some hotels have squat toilets. The bathroom will always include a clothesline, usually a pull-out one over the tub. Chinese people tend to wash their undergarments and small items on a nightly basis.

Chinese hotel buffet breakfasts are a special thing, and unlike any other Chinese meal. You will find hot orange-drink and soymilk, a variety of spicy cold salads, some steamed rolls and buns, and a chef that will make you a single fried egg.

[Bijou Drains]

Originally Posted by SmartAlecCat

In America, the low end hotels have free internet. The medium ones have a small cost. The high end ones have very expensive internet.

Yes that is funny but I guess the high end places assume it goes on your expense report so you don't care what it costs. Last year I did stay at a nice place with free internet in Seattle so maybe times are changing.

[tellyworth]

Originally Posted by SanVito

In the UK every single hotel and B&B has an electric kettle in your room plus tea and coffee for you to make yourself, and included in the room price. I believe establishments get an extra star for it.

Same in Australia and New Zealand. Don't know about the star.

Some of the cheap American hotels I've stayed in in the US have had a Mr Coffee machine and a packet of ground coffee in the room. The nicer ones usually set out morning coffee for guests in the lobby or near the bar.

[Balthisar]

Originally Posted by Voyager

The hotel we stayed at in Barcelona required you to put your room card in a little holder to turn on the lights and a/c in the room - thus it all turned off when you left. That's a great idea that I hope some US hotels will copy.

Same for me in Germany. Except it also controlled the HVAC. It was easy to leave the wife's key in the slot when we left the room and defeat it.

[galen ubal]

I work at a moderately upscale hotel in Australia.
There's a Bible in every room, a kettle for heating water, plus tea and coffee makings. Breakfast is not necessarily included in the rate - if you're in our cheapest room, or have some sort of discount, then breakfast is extra. The toilets are the two-button type, but that's standard in Australia. Wi-fi is an extra charge (20AUD for 12 hours' worth).

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by SanVito

In the UK every single hotel and B&B has an electric kettle in your room plus tea and coffee for you to make yourself, and included in the room price. I believe establishments get an extra star for it.

That's what I remember, too.

This thread reminds of a long-ago David Letterman "Top Ten ways to amuse yourself when visiting New York City." One of them was, "Get a hotel room near Times Square. Take out the Gideon's Bible, look out the window, and cross off the Ten Commandments as you see them being violated."

[Martini Enfield]

Every hotel I've stayed in in Malaysia and Indonesia provided two bottles of bottled water each day as part of the room; The reason being that you can't- or at least shouldn't- drink the tap water in many places there.

[Spoons]

Originally Posted by Bijou Drains

Yes that is funny but I guess the high end places assume it goes on your expense report so you don't care what it costs.

As a member of a high-end chain's loyalty program, I get free internet when I stay at a hotel in the chain. Non-members pay something outrageous. It's just an incentive to join, really.

[Cunctator]

Originally Posted by Voyager

The hotel we stayed at in Barcelona required you to put your room card in a little holder to turn on the lights and a/c in the room - thus it all turned off when you left.

That's fairly standard in hotels throughout Australia and New Zealand too.

[Panurge]

In Iran all rooms at hotels and guest houses will have prayer rugs and turbahs (pic). And flip-flops for bathroom use.

In Russia and Central Asia most places will have some way of making tea - often a samovar.

[Michael of Lucan]

Many Irish hotels have Gideon bibles, but it is not standard.

In Ireland, it's standard to have a kettle with instant coffee and teabags. They also supply shower gel, shampoo, shower cap and tissues in the bathroom.

They usually supply internet access as well as TV, and a hairdryer. A good hotel will supply an iron or a trouser press, and writing paper and pen.

A large number of Irish hotels use the card system, which requires you to put the entry card in a slot to make the electrics work. The entrance light will remain on, and the heating/air conditioning will keep the room at the right temperature. Everything else turns off shortly after you remove the card, when they assume that you have left the room.

Few Irish hotel rooms seem to have a liquor and snack supply. When I stay in Denmark, every hotel seems to have them - but maybe that reflects the places I stay in - mainly Radisson/SAS.

[Future Londonite]

Originally Posted by Mops

Bibles in hotels aren't endemic to the US - I don't recall staying in a hotel room in Germany without a Bible either (except once where there was a Book of Mormon).

Let me guess - a Marriott? ...

[Francis Vaughan]

I'm currently languishing in a hotel in Melbourne, well in the suburbs of Melbourne Australia. I tried looking around the room to try to find anything that would allow me to unequivocally know that this was an Oz hotel room. I'm not sure I really found anything.

There is: a bible (Gideon), a kettle and supplies for making tea and coffee (free), a minibar populated with ferociously overpriced drinks, similarly priced wireless internet, an ironing board and iron, TV, desk, sofa, queen sized bed. So far I could be almost anywhere. The dual flush toilet is a clue, and the large spa-bath perhaps a little curious. (These baths seem to be considered some sort of luxury touch by many medium end hotels in Oz.) There is a large ceiling fan, which is perhaps a bit unusual, and for Melbourne almost absurd. I could just about close my eyes, open them again, and convince myself that I was nearly anywhere.

[SanVito]

Oh, I forgot about Thailand. Stayed in 3 different hotels of varying star rating and each had a cotton kimono-style dressing gown and joss sticks to smoke in the room. And exotic flowers floating on water in a dish. LOVE Thailand.

[Noel Prosequi]

One thing I have noticed to have become almost universal in Australian hotel/motel accommodation in recent years is a sign that essentially says (on the pretext of environmental awareness and water saving) that you should hang up towels after use if you don't think they need washing. If you want them washed (and therefore get fresh towels), toss the used ones in the bathtub.

I can't help but think this is a marketroids way of selling less washing to the punters.

Is this common elsewhere?

[EinsteinsHund]

Originally Posted by Noel Prosequi

One thing I have noticed to have become almost universal in Australian hotel/motel accommodation in recent years is a sign that essentially says (on the pretext of environmental awareness and water saving) that you should hang up towels after use if you don't think they need washing. If you want them washed (and therefore get fresh towels), toss the used ones in the bathtub.

I can't help but think this is a marketroids way of selling less washing to the punters.

Is this common elsewhere?

Yes, I've seen this in a number of European (German, Dutch, Spanish) hotels. Of course they're appealing to the guest's ecological awareness in order to save the cost of washing, but it does make sense to save energy that's otherwise spend unnecessarily, and who doesn't use a towel more than one time at home?

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by Noel Prosequi

One thing I have noticed to have become almost universal in Australian hotel/motel accommodation in recent years is a sign that essentially says (on the pretext of environmental awareness and water saving) that you should hang up towels after use if you don't think they need washing. If you want them washed (and therefore get fresh towels), toss the used ones in the bathtub.

I can't help but think this is a marketroids way of selling less washing to the punters.

Is this common elsewhere?

It's pretty common in the United States, but what exactly is your suspicion? Yes, it's a way of saving the cost of a wash, but it's perfectly true that reducing washing is good for the environment. Do you wash your towels daily at home? At least they're offering a choice rather than mandating a charge for each wash.

[Tom Tildrum]

n/m

[Michael of Lucan]

Originally Posted by Noel Prosequi

Is this common elsewhere?

Same in Ireland and in Denmark.

Like most environmentally friendly solutions, everyone gains. The hotel spends less on needless washing, and the environment suffers less from needless washing. If you think it needs to be washed, then you can make that choice.

Same as the two button flush, which is common in Irish hotels too. It saves money for the hotel - but also saves water waste.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by acsenray

It's pretty common in the United States, but what exactly is your suspicion? Yes, it's a way of saving the cost of a wash, but it's perfectly true that reducing washing is good for the environment. Do you wash your towels daily at home? At least they're offering a choice rather than mandating a charge for each wash.

My personal experience in several different hotels/motels in the US and Caribbean has been that regardless of what you do with the towels, they are still replaced.

[Spoons]

Originally Posted by Noel Prosequi

One thing I have noticed to have become almost universal in Australian hotel/motel accommodation in recent years is a sign that essentially says (on the pretext of environmental awareness and water saving) that you should hang up towels after use if you don't think they need washing. If you want them washed (and therefore get fresh towels), toss the used ones in the bathtub.

I can't help but think this is a marketroids way of selling less washing to the punters.

Is this common elsewhere?

It's common here in Canada.

[jz78817]

Originally Posted by Spoons

It's common here in Canada.

I've seen this more and more in the US over the past few years as well. It makes sense to me; If I'm there for a multi-day stay, why waste the energy washing them? I don't wash my towels at home every day.

[BMalion]

Originally Posted by alphaboi867

I've heard hotels in Islamic countries usually have some kind of arrow or design in the floor pointing toward Mecca. They do not just keep copies of the Koran in the nightstand where a non-Muslim could potentialy defile it.

My room in Dubai had a green arrow on a corner of the ceiling.

[Snickers]

When I stayed in a small hotel in France in 1994, it was customary to leave the key to the room at the front desk when you went out. Then when you came back in, you requested your key from the front desk again. I'm not certain what happened if you stayed out late. Presumably the front desk was manned at all times, but I really don't know. I was on a high school trip, so we were chaperoned and supervised.

[Acsenray]

I was in France recently and they still require you to hand in your key whenever you leave the building.

[stpauler]

Must depend on the hotel, I was in one in Paris and it was more of a modern hotel so it was card key entry and those didn't need to be turned in. (That hotel also had a parking lot that was a pain to get into if the front desk person wasn't paying attention as the gate was manually operated there).

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by kayaker

My personal experience in several different hotels/motels in the US and Caribbean has been that regardless of what you do with the towels, they are still replaced.

Mine too. Unless the housekeeping staff has some magic towel drier and fluffer.