Why is checking in and out of a hotel such a pain in the lobby?
As a frequent traveler, I never fail to be disappointed by the hassle of checking-in and out at hotels, a task that could surely be made quicker and more efficient by applying a little digital common sense.
Why is it that an establishment supposedly dedicated to offering its clients the best experience possible, instead inflicts torture on them?
Let me explain: you arrive at a hotel, usually tired after a lengthy trip, and are greeted in an impressive lobby by several professionals whose job is to look after you, but where nothing works as it should. First of all, you typically have to wait in line to check in. Then, you have to show your documentation, watch as the person consults a computer for ten or fifteen interminable minutes, seemingly deciding whether you will end up in a wonderful room with the best views or in a sinister hovel giving on to a gloomy well. Finally, you are given some magnetic cards stuffed in a cardboard folder, a few instructions on how to access the WiFi, told what time breakfast is served and where the elevator is… oh, and asked for a credit card in case you run off without paying the bill, because, of course, the assumption is that the guests are a bunch of crooks (the same reason clothes hangers are on those annoying rings, otherwise they’d all get stolen — and that, of course…
