# No vacancy signs at hotels **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197 "2013-03-28T18:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/21 "2013-03-29T03:03:05Z")
I think the signs are a lose/lose for the business. If they light up the “no vacancy” sign they’re obviously driving away customers. But if they start having the “vacancy” sign lit when all the other hotels in the area are full, they’re going to get a reputation as the least desirable hotel in town. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/22 "2013-03-29T03:09:22Z")
Another reason you don’t want to book ahead your 1st nights via point hotel (but you do you 2nd night final destination) is too many times, unplanned traffic incidents, or weather, make it very difficult to know where you will be at 9pm. After 6 pm they bill your card regardless, unless you cancel before 6 Seems like a great market for Onstar to tap into, being paid by the hotels for directing travellers to their hotel. Onstar knows where you are at all times. My car has it. Maybe I will make a trial call to see if they do this. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/23 "2013-03-29T03:11:17Z")
Also I should clarify, I was referring only to highway / Interstate hotels while traveling, not inner city hotels. ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/24 "2013-03-29T03:16:34Z")
Wow. I just saw a similar topic on another forum. A hotel mgr of 20 yrs said they stopped the signs because they want travelers to take the exit and see the inside of their nice hotels. Logic is most travel the same routes often so they will remember the hotel next trip. Selfish marketing. No concern for the exhausted traveler who just lost 20 minutes of sleep. They give you their business card, you use it next time. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/25 "2013-03-30T23:15:26Z")
I thought of this thread when I was reading the GQ thread about [Getting refused at a hotel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=686707), in which there were comments like this one: > [@Getting refused at a hotel](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-refused-at-a-hotel/654363/27): > > 10PM is the magic line after which the crazy times begin. Somewhere, a switch is flipped and it’s down the rabbit hole we go. > > Still, I would just judge people based on what I see. It’s pretty easy to just politely say you have no rooms available if they look skeevy or nutty. The thought occurred to me that having a VACANCY sign lit up might make it harder to turn away undesirable customers. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/26 "2013-03-30T23:49:45Z")
I do find the signs useful, as I’d feel dumb walking into a motel with no vacancy. As far as wanting customers to see their lobby, I walked into a Holiday Inn Express in Maryville to find the night auditor sitting on the table talking to the janitor. That’s not the kind of impression I’d want as a hotel manager. That and the front desk at a Super 8 in Mt Pleasant stopping me out front and asking me to wait until they finished their smoke break. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/27 "2013-03-31T01:29:42Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > I do find the signs useful, as I’d feel dumb walking into a motel with no vacancy. > > As far as wanting customers to see their lobby, I walked into a Holiday Inn Express in Maryville to find the night auditor sitting on the table talking to the janitor. That’s not the kind of impression I’d want as a hotel manager. That and the front desk at a Super 8 in Mt Pleasant stopping me out front and asking me to wait until they finished their smoke break. Hijack: I walked into a Quality Inn and the people just kept talking to each other and wouldn’t acknowledge my presence. Well it worked, and another place got my business that night. This was in Wyoming but close enough to Colorado for that whole Southwestern service job work ethic to bleed in a bit (like the time I walked into Chili’s in Carlsbad NM and had several people walk by me and make eye contact (but not close enough or long enough for me to greet them) and still not seat me.) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/28 "2013-03-31T22:24:43Z")
I always associated them with independent motels rather than chain hotels. I think that may be part of the change, that more places are chains now. They still have them at many of the motels on the mainland side of Atlantic City. ---
**Author:** ![Saraya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Saraya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saraya)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/29 "2013-03-31T22:31:26Z")
Most likely due to what others have said, in that they are viewed as not so …elegant is the world I will use. However with the advent of global communications, so many vehicles or personal devices can search ahead to identify whether local establishments have vacancies for hotels, restaurants - or even dial hands free for you and you can simply ask them over the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/30 "2013-04-01T03:11:22Z")
My impression is that they were characteristic of motels, and motels have been on the decline for a long time in favor of higher-priced, amenity-laden hotels. There are a few motels where I live and all of them have the old-school Vacancy sign whereas none of the hotels in the area do. We have a considerable number of motels because it’s the car show capital of the US and the crossroads of some major routes, thus a huge trucking center and layover location. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/31 "2013-04-01T16:47:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What are their hourly rates? I’ve a friend who works the desk at a hotel across the street from the strip joint, and after hearing all of her rants about it, that joke is SO not funny. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/32 "2013-04-01T17:05:38Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > I walked into a Holiday Inn Express in Maryville to find the night auditor sitting on the table talking to the janitor. I for one would be _extremely_ impressed by a hotel that staffed a janitor on the 3rd shift. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/33 "2013-04-01T20:46:26Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I for one would be _extremely_ impressed by a hotel that staffed a janitor on the 3rd shift. We’d knock your socks off then; we usually staff **two** janitors on 3rd shift. Seriously, when did you think we polish the marble floors or do all the other big jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/34 "2013-04-01T20:51:19Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > My impression is that they were characteristic of motels, and motels have been on the decline for a long time in favor of higher-priced, amenity-laden hotels. If you mean “higher-priced, amenity-laden _motels_”, then I’d agree with you. Every motel these days wants to offer free breakfast and a pool, if not a fitness room, whereas a decade or so ago you were lucky to get free coffee in the morning. But I still don’t consider these places _hotels_ if they don’t have at least an attached full service restaurant and/or room service, if not a concierge, valets, and bellhops. Not that I use the latter three. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/35 "2013-04-01T22:40:08Z")
My town is full of the sign’s, but we don’t have a Starbuck’s either. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/36 "2013-04-04T22:21:02Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Wooden signs make me think Bates Motel. Similar to “Welcome to Happytown. Population 592.” Then the 592 is crossed out and replaced with a lower number, several times in succession. Bates Motel had a neon sign, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/37 "2013-04-05T02:25:39Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > My town is full of the sign’s, but we don’t have a Starbuck’s either. But apparently it has a surplus of apostrophes. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197/38 "2013-04-05T03:52:09Z")
Since a lot of bookings are now done via internet, that’s where you’ll see the sign. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-vacancy-signs-at-hotels/654197.md?page=1)