# Have you ever stayed in a windowless hotel room? Would you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028 "2023-08-03T23:35:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/21 "2023-08-04T14:03:16Z")
My wife and I stayed in a windowless room in a Microtel many years ago. We were going to a wedding, and leaving first thing the next morning, so we spent about 60 minutes total awake in the room. It looks like the current Microtels are different than the old ones, or at least the pictures are better. Ours was literally just a queen size bed with about 3 ft of floor space around it, a small dresser with a TV on it, and a tiny bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/22 "2023-08-04T14:20:55Z")
Fire. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/23 "2023-08-04T14:31:00Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Some cruise ships have windowless interior rooms. It might be similar to that. If you’re spending almost all your time outside your room, you could save some money and get the cheap lodging option. Yep. I usually get an inside cabin, since they are a lot less expensive, which really matters since I usually travel solo. But I did have one actual hotel room with no windows in Singapore, for about 5 days. The cabin on my cruise ship after that was actually larger! But the hotel was very cheap, centrally located, and about a five minute walk from the pub I really wanted to visit (I had met the owner on a previous cruise, and we really hit it off, so I spent most evenings there). Since it’s mostly just a place to sleep, it’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/24 "2023-08-04T14:40:28Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Fire. Yes, not having a window does eliminate one potential rescue route. Otherwise, it wouldn’t bother me to not have a view, which in the case of most motels I’ve stayed at recently would involve a less than thrilling vista of the parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/25 "2023-08-04T14:45:16Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Some cruise ships have windowless interior rooms. It might be similar to that. If you’re spending almost all your time outside your room, you could save some money and get the cheap lodging option. What inside cabins do have is a big TV screen. You can tune it to the ship’s CCTV and pick a nice view of the ocean or any other view on offer. Many people sailing “aquarium” class choose to do this. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/26 "2023-08-04T14:56:08Z")
I’ve stayed in a few on my various trips to the UK. I once stayed at the Gatwick Yotel, a capsule-syle place underneath the departures lounge. It was pretty cool. There was a cheap Best Western near Victoria Station where I got basement rooms twice, and it was scuzzy but tolerable. And I was in a really cool one in Liverpool once, which was a full-sized really nice room that just happened to be underground. Oh, and I stayed at the EasyHotel near Victoria as well, for five nights, and you couldn’t pay me to stay there again, but that was more due to the size of the place. I figure, if I’m spending al my time in a hotel room, I’m traveling wrong. So I don’t really care if I have a view or not as long as I have room to open up my suitcase and the TV works. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/27 "2023-08-04T15:17:56Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I figure, if I’m spending al my time in a hotel room, I’m traveling wrong. Introvert here. I need a place to withdraw and recuperate. And for me, it has to have a window. Even after dark, it makes a difference to me. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/28 "2023-08-04T15:37:18Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I figure, if I’m spending al my time in a hotel room, I’m traveling wrong. It’s not all of your time, but when traveling in a really hot climate an afternoon siesta or riposo is practically mandatory. We enjoyed our riposo in Venice more than our siesta in Barcelona because the room was more airy. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/29 "2023-08-04T15:45:10Z")
Once, in Kaktovik, Alaska off the north coast of the state. The hotel, [The Waldo Arms](https://waldoarmshotel.us/beds-rooms/), is made out of old shipping vans. Very spartan, but comfortable, especially after a day of polar bear watching. And they turn out a pretty good dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/30 "2023-08-04T16:13:53Z")
Wow, people are different. I am not a very visually oriented person and I cannot imagine needing a window in a hotel room. A windowless room would get properly dark at night, and, in the many countries that do not believe in window screens such as the UK, would keep out the flying stinging visitors. It’s probably also quieter given the sound insulation of wall vs glass. As for the fire objection, I don’t think a windowless room is much different from a windowed room unless you’re on the ground floor. You’re still going to need a set of stairs. I do like the fresh air and ability to cool the room, so if there’s a window I do usually crack it open if that’s possible. I’m trying to think whether I _have_ stayed in a windowless room: I think so, in some of the very cheapest hotels in big cities near airports / train stations, but these establishments were so dismal that the lack of window wasn’t in the top ten complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/31 "2023-08-04T16:25:06Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > I do this because I want to watch TV in a pitch black room. I don’t quite need a pitch black room for TV, but I do need relative darkness: I always have a blackout curtain covering the window behind my couch, and every summer I also have a blackout curtain covering the large living room window (the angle of the setting sun makes the evening brightness/heat _crazy_ at this time of year). ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/32 "2023-08-04T16:54:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > It’s probably also quieter given the sound insulation of wall vs glass. This is a big factor. The University of Waterloo has one engineering building that is almost entirely underground. Whenever I was in one of those classrooms 3 or 4 flights down, the utter quiet was always quite calming. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/33 "2023-08-04T17:06:43Z")
One night my massively delayed flight to Atlanta got me to my hotel hours late. Although I had a guaranteed reservation, the only thing they had left was an interior “day room” (normally used for small meetings) with a fold out couch. Sleeping on a fold out couch was a lot more disturbing than the room not having a window. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/34 "2023-08-04T17:07:51Z")
I stayed i a windowless hotel room once, in London, because it was in a very convenient location and a lot cheaper than any other options I could find. I suppose I’d do it again in the same circumstances, but I hated it. I found it extremely disorienting to wake up and have no idea what time it was. (Yes, I had a clock. But that’s different.) I spent all my time outside the room, and only returned there at night to shower and sleep, and I left as soon as I was up and dressed, but I still found it extremely oppressive. There’s zero chance I would pay for a windowless cabin on a cruise. I’d much prefer to stay home than to cruise without a “home” that has a window. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/35 "2023-08-04T17:08:26Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Sleeping on a fold out couch was a lot more disturbing than the room not having a window. wow, people vary. that wouldn’t bother me at all. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/36 "2023-08-05T16:24:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was on a trip just this weekend, and stayed in a windowless room in a hostel. It had a bed, and it was clean, and that was about all I was looking for, since the only time I was spending in the room was when I was asleep, anyway. Clean, handicap accessible shower with good hot water and water pressure. Temperature is able to be controlled so I am comfortable, good bed clean, no bed bugs. Door that has good locks, and I can use my [lock jig](https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/travel/best-portable-door-lock) in the door. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I was in a windowless hospital room once. When they thought I might have c diff, I was in a single room next to the nurse’s desk and it had no windows. It was December, just before Christmas and while it was cold outside, the radiator had 2 settings, off or broil. I tended ot leave it off and just asked for like 4 blankets. I have a preference to sleep in a very cold room so it worked out well. I spent the week lying there reading or crapping my brains out. That is when we discovered at peak, I could throughput something mouth to toilet in 17 minutes. > [@kanicbird](#): > > Additionally I’ve stayed in for pay lean too structures for hikers which have no windows however it is lacking one of the 4 walls as well. Adirondak shelters. They are pretty decent to camp in, especially if you get the ones that have the little fireplace and chimney in front of the open wall so you can hang out and cook, and get some reflected heat. > [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve spent the night in motels that offer rooms by the hour, Yup. Back in the 80s there was a no tell motel more or less next to the Joint Operations Base [previously called the Amphibious base, Amphib Base.] Stayed there a couple times when I was more open to screwing around. I disliked bringing strangers into my apartment. The place was cheap, literally $20 a night, when the next cheapest was something around $50. I don’t mind not having a window, I prefer to be ground floor anyway, and like I said, clean, clean and no bed bugs. And able to be locked down securely. I have had people try to break and enter when I was in my room [I have a tendency to hang out reading in the dark on my smart phone] though once it was a screw up by the desk, they gave them a duplicate key. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/37 "2023-08-05T16:34:13Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Fire. I’m not sure how that is supposed to have any relevance unless you’re on the first or second floor. You think you’re jumping from the tenth floor of a hotel? ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/38 "2023-08-06T14:35:12Z")
We stayed in one in Nashville. I didn’t think that I would like it bit it was fine. All we did there was sleep and the quiet mornings were great. No trash or recycling trucks banging around. The “front desk” was a bar and you checked in with the bartender. I think we got a free beer on arrival. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/39 "2023-08-06T18:16:45Z")
I once stayed at the Yotel in Heathrow Airport. They’re sort of like a Japanese-style pod hotel. They are a bit more spacious than how I picture the ones in Japan, but basically you got a bunk, a small bathroom, and just enough between them for a small desk. It was fine for just a place to sleep during an overnight layover, but I wouldn’t want to stay there longer than that. I’m not sure if the one at Heathrow is still there – it’s not listed on their website anymore, but the one at Gatwick is pretty much the same. The standard room is the same as what I had. Note that the image showing up in the preview is the “premium queen”, nicer than the room I stayed in. > **[YOTELAIR London Gatwick Airport](https://www.yotel.com/en/hotels/yotelair-london-gatwick)** > > South Terminal landside location just minutes away from departures and arrivals ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028/40 "2023-08-07T02:33:12Z")
I don’t recall ever staying in a windowless room. Not that I’ve ever been given that option except for our cruise. There have been plenty of rooms where the curtains remain firmly closed. I’m not against the idea, just most hotels and motels have windows for each room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stayed-in-a-windowless-hotel-room-would-you/988028.md?page=3)