Polly! We’ve had complaints about the rooms...

Two weeks ago, our article about design flaws – and solutions – in hotel rooms provoked a power shower of readers’ letters; an unprecedented number, in fact. This is clearly a subject close to your hearts. We called our feature “The anatomy of a perfect hotel room” but your views were mostly about imperfections.

Here, from a lack of storage space in bedrooms to loo-roll holders positioned just out of reach, are some of your many hotel gripes.

THE IMPERFECT HOTEL ROOM: A SELECTION OF YOUR VIEWS

In Simon Parker’s article (Sept 21), Scarlett Supple of the Soho House design group said of the shower pressure: “You certainly don’t want it weak, but nor should it be so powerful that it sprays all over the bedroom.”

That just about epitomises the approach of today’ s interior designers. For goodness’ sake, the shower belongs in the bathroom! So does the bath, the other washing facilities and, of course, the loo, ideally behind a solid, soundproof wooden door and with an effective extractor fan.

Michael Caine famously said that the secret of a good marriage was separate bathrooms. If you can’t have that, then you at least need to be properly separated from the person with whom you are sharing it. ANNE-MARIE JORDAN

My husband and I are among a niche group of duvet haters. I am always too hot and never sleep well under them.

My idea of heaven would be to find a bed with a top sheet under the duvet (I realise we are in the minority) and a couple of blankets in the wardrobe so we could swap. We stayed in a hotel in the Scottish Borders that offered this and we were very appreciative.

ANNE HASELHURST

I’m astonished that in the “lighting and technology” section of your article you make no mention of hotel rooms with insufficient light to read by – including over the bed. So many (even very grand) hotels fall down on this basic requirement.

EDWARD SMITH

My pet hate is having the hairdryer in the bathroom – impossible when two people are sharing the room. A good room should have a table with electric sockets and a mirror with good lighting, where you can sit and do hair and make-up – a basic, in my book, which is all too often not achieved. RUTH FEW

There are two kinds of hotel room: good ones, with Corby trouser presses, cafetière equipment and fresh milk; and bad ones. ALASTAIR BLAKEY

The two nights we spent at a hotel recently were a nightmare. Yes, the bed was huge, but it was only accessible on one side. This meant one person climbing over the other to get in and out of it.

The so-called “mood” lighting was controlled by an iPad that didn’t work. Again, this meant climbing out over a sleeping partner to reach the main switch by the door.

LYNDA GRANGE

We have found that a small cubbyhole next to the bedhead is always a good feature. However, lighting at the bedhead is often a problem. My wife likes to read in bed sitting up (sometimes with the unfortunate effect of the bed moving away from the wall) while I read lying down.

Proper bedhead reading lights on a movable rail or neck would be a good idea. Too many hotels have lights in the wrong place, or which are too dim. GRUFFYDD PRICE

The old-fashioned folding luggage stand kept in a wardrobe is no longer adequate for today’s traveller. A good room should have two horizontal surfaces for suitcases, carpeted and built into the unit containing drawers, fridge and coffee-making facilities.

Bathroom sinks should work and there is no better way to keep water in than a chain and plug. More often than not, the lever-operated plug does not work and results in massive wastage of water.

DAVID CONWAY

A double room rather implies two people, possibly with two sets of luggage, but one hotel we stayed in had no luggage rack – and there was no floor space, in between the chest of drawers, the television stand, the armchair and the table, in which to put a suitcase.

The bathroom had sliding doors with a handle which trapped my fingers as it closed, while the loo-roll holder was too far away to be reached. We never discovered how to turn on the shower – but, fortunately, there was a bath.

We concluded that, if your job is to design a hotel room, on no condition should you or your spouse ever spend a night in it – you might just discover you are not as good at your job as you think.

BRUCE WILKINSON

The shower in my daughter’s room was a corner arrangement with a curved front and two sliding doors. Neither opened sufficiently for easy access, but having managed to get into the shower after many contortions, she had the worrying problem of whether she could get out.

Obviously, a cry for help was out of the question as she had not taken her phone into the shower, nor was the panic button within easy reach – and then there was the embarrassment of being soaking wet, naked and stuck.

The problem was resolved after many minutes of wriggling and trying various angles of extraction.

HELEN FISHER

Shaving over a huge washbasin and water gushing up your shirtsleeves from the shower, as outlined in your article, may be a nuisance – and all are valid points. But there is no mention of a ladies’ snagging list. What is wrong with a dressing table, rather than an ergonomic desk with no mirror? I have resorted to putting beauty products in and around the coffee dispenser, or perching my sponge bag contents on a narrow ledge with the only mirror (full-length, of course) miles away.

Hooks in the bathroom seem to be a lost cause among hotel designers. However, these can easily be fixed to the back of a bathroom door.

BRIDGET DEAN

Please, please is there anyone out there who can invent and manufacture a bathroom extractor fan that still works efficiently six months after a hotel has opened? Beds are another pet hate. Those with wooden bases in which the mattress sits are so easy to bang a shin on when going to the bathroom in the night.

Finally, every hotel should provide an in-room safe, of a size that easily contains an iPad.

GRAHAM HOWARD

Your article touched a nerve, having only last week been offered (and declined) a room where three of the four hi-tech electronic blinds governing a skylight over the bed were defective. Crucial parts were on order from Japan, apparently.

Hotels should adhere to the principle of “keep it simple”. Why should a bath or shower tap need so much piping and so many controls? And why do rooms have remotely controlled lights, rather than simple switches in the right places?

Equally annoying are beds strewn with pointless cushions which have to be heaped on the floor at night, waiting to trip up the unwary.

BRIAN IRWIN

There are some simple and cheap essentials that few hotels seem to manage: coat hooks by the door to hang topclothes on – especially if wet; a bedside table at the same level as the bed; a TV that doesn’t invite painful collision with the head; and lots of accessible sockets for devices.

In the bathroom, a gently heated towel rail prevents it (and the towels) becoming cold and dank. Welcome additions would be lights that shine on the face, not the top of the head; a dimmer light or a night light; a securely fixed lavatory seat; and shower heads and mirrors compatible with the average height of a woman (most seem installed by 6ft 6in men).

As Aleksandr would say – “simples”. DR CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

THAT FAWLTY TOWERS FEELING Our article about flaws in hotel room design clearly struck a chord with readers