For travelers, thermostats can be a hot-button issue
Hotels put plenty of thinking into how temps are set
of the first things Angie Conquer does when she checks into a hotel room is study the thermostat.
She prefers a cold room: 68 degrees during the day and 64 when she sleeps.
“If I can control the temperature, this is one factor that will come into play when determining if I would return to this hotel,” says the retired paralegal-turnedtravel blogger in Tampa.
Thermostats may be a very small part of a hotel room, but a lot of big thinking goes into how temperatures are set.
“Location, climate and time of year are determining factors,” says Ron Pohl, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Best Western Hotels and Resorts. “The approach also varies during times of high and low occupancy.”
Several road warriors said guest room temperature and thermostats that are difficult to control are among their biggest complaints. Other pet peeves: noisy air conditioning, motion sensors that turn down the temperature in the middle of the night, inconsistent temperatures or thermostats that are not energy-efficient.
“This is a topic near and dear to my heart,” says Kevin Korterud, a technology consultant in New Albany, Ohio. “I have only found a few hotels to get this right.”
Hotels make more of an effort to get it right these days but cite the difficulties of pleasing everyone. For instance, although Conquer likes her thermostat in the 60s, Korterud says 70 is a better temperature.
Then there’s the issue of geography. Florida poses different challenges than much cooler San Francisco.
“In Miami, our temperatures are hot, and humidity is thick,” says Louis Escoto, director of sales and marketing at Sheraton Miami Airport Hotel, which just underwent a $10 million renovamostats tion. “We typically like guests to be immediately refreshed upon entering any room of the hotel — sort of like that first gulp of cold water after a grueling workout.”
Though many older hotels have cooling and heating units built into the wall below a window, many more opt for smaller, less noise-producing digital therOne that can be programmed to certain temperatures, depending on the climate and humidity. The technology is getting better and less expensive, says Randy Gaines, senior vice president of hotel openings, engineering, housekeeping retail and leasing operations at Hilton.
Manufacturers such as Honeywell, GE, LG and Friedrich are making inroads.
“It’s rapidly changing,” Gaines says. “Technology is our friend.”
Guests have the ability to control the thermostats at most hotels. “We want guests to always be comfortable in our guest rooms, and having control over the temperature to fit their preferences is crucial to that experience,” says Kate Ashton, senior vice president of full service brand operations at Wyndham Hotel Group.
How much control to provide is another matter. Lowering temperatures too much can cause mechanical failures and freeze coils. Super heating or cooling can cause issues such as dew, moisture and mold.
“In many cases, our hotels set maximum and minimum values in the system in an effort to protect their rooms from potential damage,” says Javier Rosenberg, president of the Americas for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. ”This could be excess heat or cold that could have an impact on humidity levels or other consequences.”
Wyndham hotels have a typical range of 55 to 80 degrees, depending on the property.
Energy-conscious guests question how efficient hotels are.
“One thing that I cannot believe is the degree to which hotel rooms in America waste electricity,” says Dan Nainan, a professional comedian who travels frequently across the USA and the world. “When I first get to a hotel room, the air conditioning is always on — even if it’s 50 degrees or less outside.”
Many hotels purchase more energy-efficient systems that require key cards to be inserted to get them to operate. At newer hotels, thermostats have occupancy sensors embedded in them or in the ceiling that can detect motion and heat. If it doesn’t sense anyone in the room, it defaults to a higher temperature than the cooler one that most guests prefer.
Mechanical failures do occasionally occur, Gaines says, but “if it’s programmed right and you have the right sensors in the right place, that’s not going to happen.”
He says the best thermostat is the one that does not have to be fussed with too much. “Less is more,” he says. “If you don’t have to touch it when you walk into the room, I’ve done my job.”
“If I can control the temperature, this is one factor that will come into play when determining if I would return.” Angie Conquer, a travel blogger