The Hotel Room

Posted by Kristin Abraham Apr 2, 2006

I just drove across the country, south to north and cannot figure out why all hotel rooms look so similar. I've stayed in a lot of hotels in my life and find that they're all basically interchangeable. There are some exceptions, THE Hotel in Vegas was truly the best with its own modern feel and flat screen televisions in every room, even the bathroom. Chicago's Four Seasons can feel different if you are lucky enough to get one of the suites. Oh! And I cannot forget to mention Scottsdale's The Bolder's, truly amazing. But generally they're all the same.

Maybe once a long time ago someone did a study and found that when people are on the road they're comforted by flowered polyester blankets that are cut like big toaster cozies, and ugly pastel paintings of imagined landscapes, and bland walls with wallpaper boarder along the top. And maybe someone decided that all hotels should basically look the same so that people who travel a lot always feel a sense of familiarity when they enter a hotel room.

I cannot believe this is true. I would feel so much more at home and comforted by a hotel that spoke of its uniqueness. Something that didnt remind me that thousands of people had used this same pillow. The few hotels I mentioned above did that by creating a unique feel. An atmosphere that was their own and made me feel like I was in a new place, somewhere I'd never been and by doing that it didnt remind me of the others who had come before me.