Don't Stay Here (at least in the Summer!)
We checked in at 11:00 p.m., having been told over the phone that "we'll get your room ready for you when you arrive!" I walked into our room after checking in, and the room temp was over 90 degrees, and the window a.c. unit was turned completely off. I turned the unit on, and went to talk to the front desk to switch my room. I was told that switching rooms would make no difference because it was "the policy of the hotel that the a.c. units are never turned on, except by the guest when they get to the room", and that I shouldn't worry because "the room would cool off in about a half an hour". Well, two hours later, the room was still very hot with the meager a.c. unit on high. We had a very uncomfortable night, and it never really cooled off until we were leaving the next morning.
What this hotel doesn't seem to understand is the following: (1) even if the ambient air temperature in a hot room is reduced by the a.c. in a few hours, the solid objects in the room (furniture, beds, walls, etc.), having been "heat soaked" for many many hours on a very hot day, will retain their heat much longer, and will radiate that heat until they very slowly reach the temperature of the ambient air. A person in the room will feel this heat (infrared radiation) and will feel and be quite hot (especially while lying in a hot bed) the whole time; (2) when the hotel is lightly rented out (as it was on our visit), the rooms above, below, and on either side will also be in the 90s, and will radiate their heat into the one room that is trying to get cool (care to guess what the R value is for interior walls and ceilings in a typical hotel? It ain't much). So, my measly 5000 btu window unit is not just trying to cool my unit, it is really trying to cool mine and 4 other units at the same time.
Please don't stay here unless you like it hot. In your room. If you're from VA, or TX, or other civilized places where they like they're a.c. to be actually effective, go to the Marriott Residence Inn next door, which I would have done except that they were full.
One last comment. I just have to wonder if the people who established this policy turn their own a.c. off when they leave for work, and only turn it on when they get back in the evening. I'm all for saving energy (although I bet that this hotel's strategy doesn't save a Watt, in the end), but these people are getting the energy saving benefits (if any) while pushing the hardships onto their guests. Doesn't seem very hospitable to me.