Hotel Room Confessional

opus hotel / photo by toque & canoe

What’s the first thing you do when you walk into a new hotel room?

If you’re Toque, you take a flying leap onto the bed. (Yep, that’s her in the photo at Opus in Vancouver.) A good bed with comfy covers and a decent bounce – if you ask her – is king when it comes to hotel stay satisfaction.

If you’re Canoe – you head straight to the bathroom to sniff out the toiletries. She’s a sucker for soaps, lotions and shampoos – especially those that are lemon scented (Verbena by L’Occitane?) or created with essential oils (think Aveda’s intoxicating Rosemary Mint shampoo).

Turns out, the chat factor on this pressing issue is huge. Everyone has a story to tell.

There’s the business traveler, who, once he tosses his luggage on the floor, beelines to the loo to check out the shower head. He’ll say good water flow is central to a successful hotel experience. Water flow and a remote control that works.

A hair stylist we know – who confesses she is clean freak – powers immediately to the bathroom as well. Her mission? To gage the cleanliness of the toilet. “First the toilet,” she tells us, “then the view. I love a room with a decent view.”

One well-heeled traveler we know insists that in her world, hotel rooms are all about the closet.

“I swing open the doors to see how much space there is and whether there’s an iron,” she says with a laugh. “Then, I hunt for the robe.”

Final word on the topic? We thought we’d hand that to the Toronto Star’s travel editor who we met recently at a travel blog conference.

“I probably check the view and see if the windows open. I hate being hermetically sealed in a hotel room,” wrote Jim Byers in a recent e-mail.

“Then, I check for counter space in the bathroom as my shaving kit/toiletries bag is just slightly smaller than a Volkswagen.”

Comment here

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. Lynn commented:

    Call me quirky (many do) but first things first I must unpack my stuff. Even if I’m only there a night I have to unpack so I feel at home. Then I wash the TV’s remote control!

    Reply

  2. Angelina commented:

    Definitely the bed- white linens mean FIVE STAR to me. I loved my stay at the Opus… everything was pristine and the bathroom was amazing. I must say that can of oxygen in there? Mhm. Fluffy white brain, light-n-breezy lungs.

    Reply

  3. Linda commented:

    First, I look out the window; then I look at the magazines in the room – I want to uncover the artistic and culinary attributes of where we are located – galleries and gift shops are often listed, informative articles about artists, names of restaurants – sometimes tasty recipes are included – the “what to see and do” info is what I’m after.

    Reply

Related Stories