Hotel Madness: Vote for your biggest hotel pet peeves

by Mike Barish on

We launched our Hotel Madness tournament on Monday and the entire first round is now live. If you don’t know what Hotel Madness is or you just need a refresher, check out our introductory post. First round voting is open until 11:59pm EDT this Sunday, March 20. Be sure to vote in each and every match-up listed below. Simply choose the hotel pet peeves that bother you the most. The winners will advance to the second round, which you’ll be able to vote on next week.

Make your voices heard. Vote, leave comments and let us know what you hate most about hotels.


First round voting ends at 11:59EDT on Sunday, March 20.

Follow along with the Hotel Madness tournament here.

Hotel Madness: No airport shuttle vs. One ply toilet paper

by Mike Barish on
The first round of Hotel Madness rolls along with a battle between #5 seed No airport shuttle and #12 seed One-ply toilet paper. In the NCAA basketball tournament, the 5-12 match-ups are always ripe for upsets and Hotel Madness may be no different. It’s such a hassle when there’s no airport shuttle. Having to pay for an expensive cab ride or navigating a foreign public transportation system just to get from the airport to your hotel can be a pain in the butt. However, once that’s done, you never think about it again. Meanwhile, the strong #12 seed One-ply toilet paper rubs you the wrong way for the length of your trip, meaning it’s an actual pain in your butt. It tears too soon as you’re tugging at the roll, it rips as you wipe and it shows the hotel’s blatant disregard for your behind.

Read more about these two tournament entrants below and then vote for the one that deserves to advance to the second round.

(5) No Airport Shuttle
Good news: you’re not in a city that requires you to have your own car! No need to worry about parking, gas or drinking. All you need to do is get yourself to the hotel, get settled in and turn that town inside out. So, you’ll just hop on the shuttle bus and be in that jacuzzi in no time, right? Yeah, about that bus. It doesn’t exist. You can take a cab, though. Or public transportation. The hotel is just two bus transfers, six lightrail stops and a four mile walk from the airport. Easy enough for someone who’s never been to this city. Also, public transportation stops at 11pm. Hope you have cab fare!

(12) One-Ply Toilet Paper
Travel wreaks havoc on your stomach. From the strange food to hours spent on airplanes, your GI tract just doesn’t fire on all cylinders when you’re away from home (or, if you’re really unlucky, it fires on a few extra cylinders). When the time comes to use the bathroom in your hotel, you’re already uncomfortable because you’ve lost your home toilet advantage. The last thing you need is toilet paper that you can see through. Amazingly, even the nicest “five star” hotels provide the cheapest, thinnest, one-ply toilet paper available. If you’re hotel doesn’t respect your butt then it doesn’t respect you.

Are you more upset by the lack of airport transportation or thin, useless toilet paper? Will we see a classic upset of a #12 over a #5? Vote now!

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First round voting ends at 11:59EDT on Sunday, March 20.

More Hotel Madness action:
#1 No free Wi-Fi vs. #16 Annoying hotel TV channel
#2 Bad front desk service vs. #15 Everything about TV remotes
#3 Expensive parking vs. #14 Tightly tucked-in sheets
#4 Resort fees vs. #13 Early housekeeping visits
#6 No free breakfast vs. #11 Expensive minibars
#7 Bad water pressure vs. #10 Small towels
#8 Room not ready on time vs. #9 Early checkout times

Follow along with the Hotel Madness tournament here.

Supershuttle for $5 and 100 airline miles

by Annie Scott on

The title kind of says it — except for the part where it’s for your second passenger. Or up to five additional passengers. It’s the Family Fare Sale. Nice!

People who travel in pairs or groups know the pain of paying equal to ride in the same van all too well. If it’s double the rate to travel with a companion in a shared-ride, why not just take a cab?

Supershuttle to the rescue! They’re running a special through September 15th where your boyfriend or sister or whoever can ride with you for just $5 more. You also get 100 airline miles on a participating airline each way.

Supershuttle is a personal favorite of mine, and also of Gadling blogger Mike Barish’s; he wrote about them in his piece on how to visit LA without a car.

If you and a friend(s) are heading to the airport the same day, it might be wise to get picked up together this summer! Click here for more details.

P.S. Nobody’s perfect, check out the spelling mishap on the pictured van — nice catch, complexify.

What to do when you realize your airport shuttle driver is crazy

by Alison Brick on

When your airport shuttle driver does any of the following, you know he’s a little off: flip-flops on prices, each of the three times that you ask him for a quote. Plugs your address into his GPS navigation system, then asks you how to get to your place. Gets well onto the freeway, only to turn around to pick someone else up from the airport.

The driver I had the other night did all three. With a distinct glaze of ‘couldn’t care less’ in his eye.

What’s a traveler to do? Anarchy.

The two other passengers and I jumped ship. It being 12:30 a.m. and all, our options were few and far between: the local commuter train had already stopped running 30 minutes prior, and wouldn’t start up again for another four hours. A taxi for three people and three stops would be pricey and complicated. Other shuttles either wouldn’t go in our direction, had stopped running, or demanded the private shuttle fare of $80.

Our last resort: rent a car. To go 23 miles. (Yes, it occurred to me too that we might be the crazy ones.)

It’s just as tedious to think about waiting in car rental lines as it was actually waiting in line. So I’ll bypass that. But suffice it to say that after a lot of time and several quotes in the $120-180 range (before taxes), we jumped on the price we got for $78 after taxes (thank you National!). At $26 per person, it was cheaper than the highest price quoted by the shuttle driver: $49. So, we were soon on the road again, and with people that we actually had faith in.

To their credit, the shuttle dispatch called around that time to ask whether I had been picked up. I could’ve–nay, should’ve–chewed the driver out. But here’s the thing: I didn’t know the driver’s name, didn’t want to be charged for missing the shuttle after making the reservation, and plain couldn’t be bothered. So I told them what any crazy person would: “yes, thank you!” I did have a ride, truthfully.

Time lost in the process: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Distance from airport to home: 23 miles. Price per person: $26. Getting home safely before daybreak? Yep, you got it: priceless.