Thin walls, loud door slamming at hotels.... (comparison, motel, rail)
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I agree, OP. The door slamming has gotten much worse in recent years. Many motels today seem to have doors that will slam by default. The guest has to hold the door to keep it from slamming. Of course, most people won't be bothered to do that and it can be quite nerve-wracking with people going in and out. I don't understand why doors in motels and hotels would be designed that way.
I recently returned from 2 weeks on the road. Not all hotels were like this. Some were very quiet and pleasant. Online reviews from guests helped steer me away from hotels/motels that had noise issues.
I agree, OP. The door slamming has gotten much worse in recent years. Many motels today seem to have doors that will slam by default. The guest has to hold the door to keep it from slamming. Of course, most people won't be bothered to do that and it can be quite nerve-wracking with people going in and out. I don't understand why doors in motels and hotels would be designed that way.
On a recent trip we stayed at two hotels. Both were newish. Both had the heavy security door common to hotels. Both hotels were full the night we stayed there.
The first hotel had installed something on the door that it closed slowly and did not bang when it closed. We slept great!
The second hotel also had the standard large heavy door but if you shut the door it made an incredible noise. People came in and out all night from their rooms and we did not sleep for two nights. On the way home I almost fell asleep behind the wheel because I was so tired from not sleeping due to the constant door slamming noise.
The first hotel must have spent more on their door mechanism in soundproofing materials.
On a recent trip we stayed at two hotels. Both were newish. Both had the heavy security door common to hotels. Both hotels were full the night we stayed there.
The first hotel had installed something on the door that it closed slowly and did not bang when it closed. We slept great!
The second hotel also had the standard large heavy door but if you shut the door it made an incredible noise. People came in and out all night from their rooms and we did not sleep for two nights. On the way home I almost fell asleep behind the wheel because I was so tired from not sleeping due to the constant door slamming noise.
The first hotel must have spent more on their door mechanism in soundproofing materials.
On a recent trip we stayed at two hotels. Both were newish. Both had the heavy security door common to hotels. Both hotels were full the night we stayed there.
The first hotel had installed something on the door that it closed slowly and did not bang when it closed. We slept great!
The second hotel also had the standard large heavy door but if you shut the door it made an incredible noise. People came in and out all night from their rooms and we did not sleep for two nights. On the way home I almost fell asleep behind the wheel because I was so tired from not sleeping due to the constant door slamming noise.
The first hotel must have spent more on their door mechanism in soundproofing materials.
Now that you mention it, it seems that the hotels I have been in (many in the last few years as I listed above) close slowly and make a clicking sound, they don’t swing shut fast and bang loudly. The place we stayed most recently in San Diego closed VERY slowly because I remember having to stop myself from just going down the hall as it wouldn’t shut immediately and someone could walk by and push it open. Of course I wasn’t paying attention to all of them, but it seems like the doors all closed slowly on purpose, that is why I can’t recall hearing any banging at all.
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Question for people who can afford to stay in places like the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons quality hotels;
Do you hear your neighbors through the walls and the sound of the door closing from the neighbors?
YES!!!!!!!!! Sometimes...
I've been known to check OUT of the Ritz (Atlanta, in this case, where the door hardware was such that it was nearly impossible to close the doors quietly, even if the yutzim in nearby rooms had been trying), and go to a suburban Red Roof Inn, just to catch up on sleep. RR Inn has European design, with sound-absorbent concrete outside, etc. These days, though, there's so much meth-cooking at the cheap places, it's hard to find a room that doesn't smell "burned-out".
Too, the fancy places tend to be centers for trashy weddings. So, you can have children who never should have been born, running up and down the hallways, all night long, sometimes - plus the inevitable rooms PACKED with families who can't really afford to stay in such places - even though this is not supposed to happen, and "never happens HERE!".
But the cig smoke is what drives me absolutely insane.
I can't afford to stay in those hotels, but I can afford to stay in Holiday Inn/Express and I never have these issues you describe.
Typically lower-cost motels are going to be noisy because they are built on the cheap and more people with families flock to them.
I have extensive experience with Holiday Inn and similar hotels.
I think it really depends on who your neighbors are. The door slamming wasn't an issue in my memory, but there could be other sources of noise. Proximity to elevator, ice machine, noisy neighbors, among some others.
Occasionally, I also had noise problem when I stayed in luxury hotels. I complained to the front desk and they just gave me a different room.
Some guest houses have a common area that is shared by a bunch of rooms with a table and chairs, we hate these since you always get a few people who are going to sit out there talking and drinking until all hours.
On a barely related note we've had times in motels where we can here someone getting railed at night (or early morning) then make a game of trying to guess which of the couples at the breakfast buffet it was.
I like to stay in historic hotels and even have a blog series on these old hotels all across the country. They are often noisy old places with thin walls, building creaks, foot steps on the ceiling, and amazing stories. They were not cheaply built at the time but after 150 years they have their own special noises.
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