My Hotel Rating System: Stars are not sufficient!

Here's my first stab at a more complete hotel rating system, let me know if I'm missing anything. It's not in a great "checklist" form, yet, but I tried to put more explanations in.

• Quiet room - 15 points possible (yes, this can be negative)
• If the hotel is in a city, near an airport or busy highway: do the windows sufficiently block noise?
• There should be no gap under the door. If the hotel can fit the bill or GOD FORBID a newspaper UNDER your door, you will not be able to get sleep. -5 if there is a gap big enough for a bill, -10 if a newspaper could fit.
• If there is an adjoining room, is the adjacent door relatively soundproof? I should not be able to hear my neighbors speaking in normal voice tones, nor be able to identify the TV show they are watching. -10 if this adjoining door is not sound dampened.  Hint: hollow core doors are NOT acceptable.
• Are the pneumatic closers on the bedroom doors quiet or result in door slamming?
• Are hallway floors dampened? For example, with carpets or rugs. Or, do you have an echo chamber?
• I'd better not be able to hear the ice maker. Put those things in a closet or only in the lobby.
• Wifi/networking - 15 points available
• If you advertise yourself as a "connected" hotel or mention "high speed Internet in the room" - you MUST have wifi. Wired only is not acceptable.
• I should be able to read email, twitter, facebook and other web browsing without significant delays or drops. The hotel should reasonably expect 2 connected devices PER ROOM. If you're hosting a technical conference, assume 5 connected devices per room.
• I should not have to type "I agree" to your terms and inane services more than once a day.  Who do these "agreements" actually protect?  Couldn't the hotel just post a notice on your key card and save me the annoyance?
• If I pay for 1 day of network access, that needs to be 24 hours from when I pay for it - not 24 hours from when I checked in.
• Clean room - 10 points available
• Pillows should not be dusty/musty.
• Blankets/duvets/comforters should be clean.
• Spare pillows/blankets should be stored in bags to keep dust mites out.
• Other items are assumed to be clean.
• Environmental policies - 10 points available
• If you have signs up in the room saying the sheets are only changed every 3 days and towels left hanging up will not be changed: is your cleaning staff aware of these policies?
• Does your cleaning staff leave 1/2 used amenities (like soap and shampoo) or replace items every day? (I once had a maid cleaning my room while I was there throw out a bar of soap that she saw me open and use once. She knew it was new, because she had just thrown out the "old" one.)
•  Do you have cream, sugar, sweetener, etc - packaged separately or in a "combo pack" that gets thrown away if one item is used?
• Well lit room - 5 pts
• Mood lighting is great, except when I'm trying to find that black charging cable.  You should have a ceiling mounted light in addition to bedside and table lamps.
• Counter space in the bathroom - 5pts
• Fancy designer "pedestal" sink? Subtract 20 points. I need somewhere to put my toothbrush, face wash, contact lenses, makeup, etc.
• Easily accessible outlets - 5pts
• Can't be filled with your devices, nor "worn out" (loosey goosey so that plugs just fall out)
• Usable shower - 5pts
• Shelves to put things like mini shampoo and conditioner, that don't just slide off and hit my feet.
• Good water pressure, high enough to get my head under.
• If shower curtain is properly employed, I should not get water everywhere.
• Amenities - 5pts
• Coffee pot in room?
• Shampoo, conditioner *and* lotion? (Note: "Shampoo plus conditioner" is a joke for people with long hair).
• Pillows and bedding - 10pts
• Some people love feather pillows, but I'm allergic so foam should be readily available (in the closet in a sealed bag).
• Some folks love a squishy pillow, some need more firm. If there are 4 pillows on each bed, at least 2 should be firm and 2 soft.  All four the same is going to leave 50% of your guests unhappy. 
• Duvet/comforter/blanket should NOT be made of feathers, unless alternatives are readily available (calling to front desk is okay).
• Desk/task chair - 5pts
• If you're advertising yourself as a business hotel, you should have an adjustable hight/pitch chair.
• Hair dryer - 5 pts
• 1 point if you only have the super compact ones that eat long hair in the most painful manner
• 4 points for full sized hair dryer (okay if it needs to be requested).
• Sufficient mirrors - 5pts
• Assuming that one person might be wanting to do things like blow-dry their hair while someone else is using the toilet, have a mirror outside if the bathroom

I have a whole separate rant on disabled rooms as well, from traveling with disabled relatives (I'm sure their list would be longer):

• Disabled people like nightstands, too, as they also wear glasses, have a cell phone, etc.
• Disabled rooms should be available with a second bed for a care taker, who is not necessarily their spouse.
• Disabled people have things like toothbrushes, glasses, contacts, makeup, etc, too - give them counter space in the bathroom!
• Disabled showers should drain and not run over, as it turns out people with disabilities don't like water every where and all over their stuff, either. 
• Are the doors to and in the room easy to open for someone who may not have "normal" muscle strength and agility?
• Remember: you can meet the letter of the law and still have a completely unusable room for both those with physical disabilities and those without.  Would you want to sleep in this room?  Could you take care of an elderly or disabled relative in this room?  If not, rethink your design.
• An example room in the Travel Lodge in Bath, UK: no counter space in bathroom, no nightstands, no closet (just a rack, as apparently they didn't think disabled people could open a door?), an extremely heavy fire door (but they could open that thing?), no tables in the room and no suitcase rack.  We took furniture from the lobby to give my folks somewhere to put medication, glasses and phones to charge that wasn't the floor.

Any additions to either list? Would you weight other items more heavily?

Three Day Adventure from Midwest to California

How safe is your hotel room?

I've heard many people lament about the loss of the old fashioned hotel room key - you know, like the one you use in your house. Of course, those get lost and are difficult to replace, so hotels have switched to electronic keys.

Those keys are problematic and annoying. It seems they constantly get erased or your door is recoded. At a DefCon conference a few years ago, I was sharing a room with 2 other people. Inevitably, one person's key would stop working - they would go to the front desk and get 3 new keys, but then couldn't find me. Then my key wouldn't work, rinse, and repeat.

But, now it seems that the manufacturers of these devices have put a too simple administrative interface on the actual doors that allow ne'er-do-wells access to your room.

Something to think about while traveling.

Woe is Me -or- Going through TSA with a broken finger...

Sorry it's been so long since I've written - I had a broken finger!  It's mostly better now, but for awhile there, I kept my typing to mostly work specific activities. Typing when down an index finger is not the easiest thing to do, especially since I've been touch typing since I was 12 years old, not to mention the finger just plain hurt.

What does this have to do with the TSA you might ask?  Well, I did this on my way to the airport when I was coming back from a trip to Fort Wayne, IN.  Being rushed, talking to my sister on the phone, and my dad and a friend in the car, while getting out to get a coffee... something fell through the cracks. Well, or got stuck in it... slammed that finger right in the door! The folks at Starbuck's were kind enough to give me a bag of ice, but that was not something I really needed at that moment. While I didn't know it was broken, I did know it hurt like nobodies business.

Fast forward 20 minutes and we're going through TSA. The Fort Wayne airport, while very small, seems to have the most well provisioned TSA division in all of America.  If there's a new process or tool, they have it.  Plus, they don't really have any lines, so what's the rush?

I'm not a big fan of the new scanning machines. I think they were rushed into the airports, aren't well studied, and are a great example of industry lobbyist pushing "safety" standards, so I wanted to opt out.  One of my traveling companions has recently had a lot of radiation (treatment for cancer) and also opted out.

This airport isn't really set up for this - as the line just puts every single passenger through the scanner, so anybody that opts out has to go through an unusual procedure.  As my friend was also a female, she had the one female agent on pat-down duty totally occupied, so I had to send all my luggage through the x-ray and wait on the outside of the metal detector.

Even though my finger was in excruciating pain, I waited until my friend cleared.  My pat down was uneventful and no worse than I've gotten before when setting off the metal detector. I was neither embarrassed nor threatened, the TSA agent was respectful and friendly, and she screened her gloves for explosives after the pat down.

But then I set off an alarm.  Hrm. Even though my finger was in excruciating pain, I had to go to another room and get another pat down, this one slightly more invasive. After awhile, the agent and her supervisor took pity on me and brought me the ice my husband had gotten for me, which helped a lot.

But then I set off the alarm again.  This time nobody knew what to do next. They decided they needed to double search my bags (by rescreaning, hand check and check for explosive residue), but that's where there was another pickle. In all that time where I was not able to get to my luggage, my husband had repacked it for me. And since he was standing with our traveling companions and TSA didn't know, 100%, if something may have been handed over - my companions all got rescreaned. They (and all of our luggage) were negative for any residue or suspicious items.

I finally thought of what might have been causing the alarm: I'd gone to an antique store with my Dad that day, and he'd looked at antique guns. Was it possible I actually *did* have residue on me?

Two TSA agents and two supervisors later, we were all on the airplane!

Coming home, my husband thought of a more likely cause: I'm always fertilizing things in our garden and may have done so in those same jeans right before I left.  Word to the wise, don't wear clothes to the airport that you may have worn in your garden! Or go antiquing ;-)

As I was walking away, one of the TSA supervisors asked the other, "Did you write down her name?", and I heard, "Yes, it's right here."  Which, of course, means I'll be sure to be extra early for all of my future flights.

Now, why is this all so frustrating? I'm sure you've all heard of the guy last month that was flying around with expired boarding passes.  He wasn't arrested the first time he was caught, but the second time.  Are we really spending our efforts in the right place?

This post is syndicated from Thoughts on security, beer, theater and biking

TSA, Thanksgiving Travel and Me

After reading all the articles on the risks of the back-scatter technology (never mind the privacy implications) and watching the videos of screaming children getting "enhanced" pat-downs, I was nervous about traveling for this Thanksgiving holiday in the US. I was ready to 'opt-out', but wasn't sure how I felt about the "enhanced" pat down.

Back in October I received an 'old-style' pat-down from a male TSA agent in LAX. I was fine with it. I did not feel violated, nor did I feel that the agent was missing out on anything by not feeling the underwire in my bra.  The agent was friendly, apologetic for the inconvenience and even found a place he could search my bag where I could sit and watch (my injured knee wasn't up to doing anymore standing after a day at the Women's Conference).

Then I saw the videos of the screaming children and I suddenly became very uncomfortable with this. Many women, including myself, (and men) have an event in their past when they were touched/fondled/groped/etc in an unwelcome manner. To have to relive that moment in public at the airport just to travel is unsettling.

So, very nervous, I entered SJC on Thursday morning... only to find most of the back-scatter machines turned off. The one I saw in use was being used to scan a women's personal wheelchair - I couldn't help but think that was a perfect use for the scanner!  The woman, like all travelers in wheelchairs, was receiving an 'old-style' pat down.

I went through, like everyone else, in the same fashion I have for years - removed my belt, watch, shoes, jacket, liquids, laptop and medications...*whew* and "simply" went through.

It was the same on my return through Seattle. One machine was on, but people could just choose to go through a different line. No questions asked, no extra screening.

What made me angry was all of the main-stream news outlets, including our local KGO, reporting that the back-scatter machines had not slowed down the lines. The main report I heard was that passengers would rather get the scan and get through quickly.

But that wasn't true at all. The machines were not on. The "enhanced" pat-downs weren't happening.  How dare they say the launch weekend was a success when they were not using them?

That's a waste of our money and a gross misrepresentation of the events. I'm afraid Bruce Schneier has it right - the TSA is not going to back down, because they'd seem like idiots.  Another example of how lobbyists for manufacturers are shaping policy, instead of policy shaping manufacturing.

The TSA is inconsistent at every airport I go to. During that trip to LA, the TSA ID checker screamed at me when I approached his podium with my traveling companion.  He would not begin her screening until I returned to behind this blue line, which was difficult as the entire line had already moved up.  Yes, I can read (but thanks for pointing it out) the sign saying to stay behind the line until he was ready to process us - I just assumed that, like every other airport, you could go up with your entire party.  At least the agent that had to do my pat-down in LAX was friendlier.  Oh, yeah, in Seattle, they actually have a sign on the podium directing people to be at each side - they can process you faster if you come up with your entire party or 2 at a time (even with strangers).

Another disconcerting thing I noticed: no where to do a private screening if requested!  Why not have a few privacy screens up?  They could be set up like a maze or other formation to take up the least amount of space while still providing privacy (and room for your witness, if requested).

Boy, am I glad I'm not flying for Christmas!

Merger for Delta and NWA seems to be ... awkward

We recently traveled to the "south", giving my other half his first true exposure to the Bible belt and the United State's "interior". This was a fun trip, which will be written up later, but the flights were... complicated.

We booked what is known as an "open jaw" trip in the industry, or as "multi-city destination" by normal humans - flying from San Francisco to Memphis then from Memphis to Atlanta and home again to San Francisco. I do stuff like this all the time - it rarely costs extra, and in this case, cost way less than flying directly to Atlanta from San Francisco.

I am well aware of the NWA and Delta merger, as my brother-in-law is a Delta pilot, but I still booked my flight on the NWA website since I've been a long time frequent flyer with them and all of my information was already on their site.

Our first problem was encountered when our credit card was rejected. I tried multiple times, assuming I had done something silly like type in the wrong expiration date. No luck. Finally called our credit card company, CitiBank AAdvantage card, who claimed that buying airline tickets was an "unusual" purchase for us so they determined it was fraud and blocked the purchase. Hrm. I have racked up several hundred thousands of air miles with American, United, and Northwest. How is buying airline tickets suddenly an unusual activity for me? I think it was unusual for me to buy non American Airline tickets, so the company decided to make it awkward. Now, this was totally a weird problem with CitiBank and had nothing to do with Delta/NWA (except they weren't AA).

We were off a couple of weeks later - I reviewed both Delta and NWA's websites for information on the merger and where to check in at each airport, and everything started very well when we checked in with Delta in SFO. No problems.

Now, when it was time to go from Memphis, TN to Atlanta, GA, we hit a snag. First, I noticed the check-in reminder email came from Delta instead of NWA (unlike the first one), but figured they are actively merging more things each day so no red flags were raised. We arrived at the airport and went to the e-checkin kiosk, which made us choose if we wanted to check in with NWA or Delta. I chose NWA, because that's where I booked my tickets. The kiosk let me check in my bag, but reported an error about our boarding passes. The agent was ready to help us, but she could not find our itinerary in the computer under either Delta or NWA. Uh, oh.

She noticed my bookmark was my boarding pass from San Francisco to Memphis, so she asked to have it. With that she was able to pull up my itinerary, but not my husband's. So we dug through our bag until we found his old boarding pass and she was able to do the same thing. This took about 20 minutes and quite a line stacked up behind us. I'm glad we showed up with more than an hour 'til take off time.

Convinced I did not want to go through this same thing again at the airport when leaving Atlanta, I clicked on the email from Delta to check in the day we were flying home. My husband's seat was the same one on our reservation, but I was not able to get a boarding pass - only a "Seat Request Card". That's right - Delta had moved me to standby! Bumped me right off the flight! Now, why would you split a party? Also, I didn't think they could do this without making requests for passengers to volunteer off of the flight. This was a disaster. Fortunately, a call to a very wonderful kind soul in Delta Reservations got this worked out, but even he could not figure out why I had been bumped.

The actual flight experiences were very nice, and I really enjoyed the DirecTV on the flight from Atlanta to San Francisco. Just a heads up to any of you that might be traveling on an itinerary that crosses combined routes from these merging airlines, that you'll want to check in in advance if at all possible. I'm sure once the kinks get worked out, things will be great - but in the meantime, beware.