#Travel140 Travel Tips
If you’re a light sleeper or need a quiet space to work or relax, a noisy hotel room can ruin an otherwise good stay in any hotel. It may seem like getting a quiet room is just a matter of chance, but here are some travel tips you can use to ensure more peace and quiet.
Top Eight Tips to Get a Quiet Hotel Room
- Ask if the hotel has a quiet zone. Many properties have entire floors dedicated to peace and quiet with no pets, no children, and no large groups allowed.
- When you’re booking your room, take the opportunity to make your request for a quiet room. Hotels can’t always honor those requests, but if you don’t ask, they have no way of knowing that’s what you wanted.
- Follow up with a call to the hotel a few days before your stay. Try asking the front desk what rooms are away from noisy places like elevators, ice machines, lounges, and ballrooms. Then ask reservations if they can put you in one of those rooms.
- Whether you requested a quiet room or not, always check with the front desk to make sure that’s what you got. It’s far easier to change rooms before you’ve checked in.
- Some of the quietest locations in a hotel are midway down a hallway. That’s usually away from centralized elevators, and stairways at the end of the hall.
- In larger hotels, try a room on an upper floor to minimize noise from meeting rooms, restaurants, and the street. But stay away from rooftop pools, bars, and ventilation plants.
- In low-rise hotels, try a room towards the back of the complex. Noisy restaurants and meeting rooms are usually closer to the front. Check to be sure the gym or pool aren’t back there with you, though.
- Consider an airport hotel. It may seem counterintuitive, but airport hotels are often better insulated against sound. Of course, very inexpensive hotels near the airport are probably very inexpensive because they don’t have very good soundproofing.
If you still get stuck with a noisy room, you have one final fall-back option: ask the front desk if they can move you someplace quieter. They’ll generally be happy to accommodate you, if they can. (That’s the power of a world where every customer is a potential review!)
We would love to hear your tips for getting the quiet room of your dreams! Just leave your tips in a Comment, and we’ll re-post the best. (Be sure to include your Twitter handle and a link to your blog, if you have one!) Or click for more #Travel140!