Comments on: A real luxury most top hotels don’t offer: an easy alarm clock

By: MJ’s Travel Favorites 11-22-09 | Traveling with MJ

MJ’s Travel Favorites 11-22-09 | Traveling with MJ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:47:24 +0000

[...] Consumer Travel wonders why it’s so hard to get an easy-to-use alarm clock in a hotel room. It’s a frustration of mine as well, which is why I’m reduce to using my phone alarm. [...]

By: kenish

kenish — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:16:41 +0000

Next do one on hotel showers and plumbing. It recently took me 5 minutes to figure out how to divert the water flow from the bathtub spout to the shower head. And I’m an engineer!

By: Carrie Charney

Carrie Charney — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:22:04 +0000

I stayed at a hotel a few years ago during spring ahead time-change weekend. I tried to figure out how to move the time forward and failed. Unfortunately, the hotel staff could not change the clocks either. It had to be done by a professional from outside the property. While in my room, I constantly had to remember that it was an hour later than the time on the clock. All the clocks could not be adjusted till Monday.

By: Joel Wechsler

Joel Wechsler — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:48:20 +0000

@kiki d’s plan may work for her, but if you have ever had a hotel fail to follow through on a wakeup call, as I have,and as I’m sure many frequent travelers have as well, a working alarm clock or watch is much safer.

By: mhoop

mhoop — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:57:09 +0000

I have the cell phone with the least bells and whistles, seeing as I ‘m a 19th century person in a 21st century world, technologically speaking.
In hotels, I can and do use cell phone alarm. After unplugging the hotel clock. Often the hard part, if plug is hard to reach, is plugging it in again. Fortunately, NMP.
Not my problem.

By: debi

debi — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:25:48 +0000

My worst experience was when the thing went off in the next unoccupied room at 5:30 am and continued for an hour!

By: janet

janet — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:05:57 +0000

Now, I’m ok in the tech department but I don’t think an alarm clock should be complicated enough to required instructions in a hotel. Here I come in after a long day and flight and the last thing I need to do is figure out yet another clock. The problem with unplugging the clock is that many/most of the outlets are behind furniture and then it’s a problem to disconnect. Keep it simple!

By: kiki d

kiki d — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:38:30 +0000

i am kind of electronically deficient, so when i stay at a hotel the first thing i do is unplug the alarm clock and call down for a wake up call if i need one. if i need the time, i look at my cell phone–which also has an alarm, but i have no idea how to use that, either.

By: SirWired

SirWired — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:03:07 +0000

If there have to be instructions printed on a card or on the clock, it’s too damn complicated.

What ever happened to the good ‘ol six-button clock radio? (ok, maybe seven buttons with digital tuning) Hour, Minute, Time, Alarm, Sleep, Snooze. (And an alarm selector switch, AM/FM switch, and volume dial)

It is nice that all Hiltons use the same clock, but it’s not really a very good clock. At least the instructions are printed on the clock itself, so they don’t get lost.

By: Jeff Linder

Jeff Linder — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:02:28 +0000

The new Hilton clocks are very nice, if nothing else for the fact that they are all the same (if the hotel has updated), which means once you know how to use it, the knowledge translates.