Explore With Sense Of Design: Hotel Rooms, size and location

While reading many reviews, I noticed two common comments in the reviews section on some hotel reservation websites; people were surprised by how small the room was and the location of it when they checked in. If you care about the size of the hotel room and its location, this second blog in Explore with Sense Of Design series is for you. I am sharing two things I always check before making a reservation to ensure a comfortable and calm stay.

• Room’s area and layout

For a long stay with big suitcases, a very small room may affect your holiday negatively. Let’s see how to avoid that. Every hotel on the booking websites presents the room areas (Figure 1). Usually, this given area includes not only the area of the room but also the area of the bathroom.

For example, in Figure 2 the given area is 20 m². The dimensions of the room only are 4.0 m x 2.8 m. Thus, the area of the room only is 11.2 m². As you can see, the room fits basic things including a double bed. Still, you have some space to put and open your large suitcase.

Also, it is very important to check out the layout of the rooms by looking at the pictures on the hotel booking websites. As you can see in Figure 3, the given area is larger than the area in Figure 2. However, the layout of the room is different where the width is shorter thus the circulation in the room is so limited and will fit big suitcases hardly.

Additionally, the pictures of the rooms usually are taken with wide-angle lenses. That’s why they look wider than reality (Figure 4).

• Rooms in the basement!

The second thing I noticed from the reviews on some hotels is that people were surprised that their rooms were in the basement! Usually, to increase the number of rooms offered, some hotels provide this kind of room without any views or windows! Some hotels offer rooms on the ground floor. You may find it too noisy to stay in it and without a good view.
These hotels can be in narrow areas and old city centres like Istanbul or London. However, these options may apply to people who travel with a limited budget or don’t like to wait for the elevator. So, read the description of the room carefully before making any reservation.

What do you think?

Find it helpful? Why don’t you share it with others? Tell us in the comments below what is a good hotel room for you. I will be happy to read your thoughts and questions.

Arwa Khalid – Abu Dhabi