What Defines a "Really Nice Hotel"

A couple of weeks ago a graduate school flew me out to see if I would make the cut. Actually, they were making me an offer, which was great because it meant everything was free for me. I had really nice meals, I met a lot of really great professors and graduate students, and I stayed in a really nice hotel.

Now, I don't know if I can really be the judge of what a really nice hotel in America is, because after living in several foreign countries my idea of a nice hotel is a place with no hair on the sheets and no cockroaches in the bathroom. After all, this past summer I stayed in a Motel 8 in New Mexico, and I thought it was a really nice hotel (no hair on the sheets! No bugs in the bathroom!).

But I came up with some qualifications, after staying in this hotel, for what defines a really nice hotel.

1.  They fold the end of the toilet paper and put a sticker on it. This was one of the first signs to me that this was a really nice hotel. Stickers on the toilet paper?

2. They arrange the Kleenexes in the box before you arrive. And, everything possible in the hotel is made out of 100% environmentally friendly materials, for those people who are green conscious.

3. They not only arrange the kleenexes, but they also arrange the hand towels in a fan formation. Actually, any formation would count here, except that time in Egypt when we had to change rooms because our (my roommate and I) bathroom had a cockroach infestation, and to make up for it the cleaning people at the hotel welcomed us to our new room by folding our bath towels (the big ones, not the hand towels) into swan shapes and setting them on our beds. Sorry, hotel, that was not enough to give you the label of "really nice hotel" because you violated the cockroach rule.







4. Intricate decorations on the wall made out of mother-of-pearl like substances also indicate that this could be a really nice hotel (As do two colors of pillowcases, which was unfortunately cut out of this picture).

5. Have you ever seen desk space like this in a hotel? I practically had my own office in my hotel room. And look at that sweet tv! Definitely indicative of a really nice hotel.

6. The way the room looks definitely matters. This one looked pretty nice to me!

 7. The rounded shower curtain rod actually extends beyond the edge of the tub, creating a classy and elegant feel (unlike some hotels I have been in!)

8. The hotel room comes with bathrobes. Not that I used them, because I think that's weird and a little gross, but still. Bathrobes present=nice hotel.

9. Every night they have a "turndown service," where they place Lindt truffels on the bed. Chocolates, especially Lindt truffels, are one of the top indicators of a nice hotel.

10. The "evening turndown" includes a card with the weather for the next day.

The city was pretty nice too. Nice view, nice city, nice university.

What do you think defines a "really nice hotel"?