I stayed in this hotel a couple nights ago. It was nice.
It was warm, so the patio bar on the ground floor was open, and there was live music, a guy playing guitar and singing Jimmy Buffett songs (see illustration).
My room was on the 11th floor on the opposite end of the building.
It was a business hotel on a weeknight. I think it’s safe to assume that everyone was there on business of one kind or another. I think it’s safe to assume, too, that everyone had to get up early the next morning.
OK, here’s today’s science lesson for hotel managers:
The people on the 11th floor who have to get up early can totally hear the live music on the patio bar.
Pretty weird, huh?
You’d think only the people at the patio bar could hear it, but quantum physics shows that people on the 11th floor can hear “Margaritaville,” too.
In fact, the music coming from the patio can be loud enough to make it hard for someone on the 11th floor to hear the TV. It can also be loud enough to prevent people on the 11th floor from sleeping.
I finally called the front desk and asked, “How long until the music stops?” As expected, the desk clerk said she’d speak to the patio bar’s manager, who turned down the music so that it was almost quiet enough to sleep on the 11th floor, but he cranked it up again before the guy’s big finish, suggesting that middle-aged guys who play Buffett at hotel bars think they’re a lot more awesome than they really are, but more research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Ugh. That stinks! Maybe it would have been better if they’d sent up a complimentary margarita to help you sleep while that song was playing.
Thoughtsie, where were you when I needed you?
I am so sorry I wasn’t around in your time of need. Next time!
and I dont imagine you were the only one, or this was the first night. I get that they want to wringe every dollar out of the traveler, but if half of them never come back because they cant sleep it isnt going to go well for the hotel.
I don’t know if it was the first night, but they had a couple conventions/meetings in the hotel, and the patio was packed, so there’s a good chance I was the lone curmudgeon. Also, get off my lawn.
middle-aged guys who play Buffett at hotel bars think they’re a lot more awesome than they really are, but more research is needed to confirm this hypothesis
You’re not volunteering to do the research are you?
One of the down-sides to living in my community is the dock bar, which sounds like a great idea — have your margarita and walk home. Either the sound doesn’t carry well over the water or your hypothesis extends beyond middle-aged guys to anyone singing in a dock bar.
I think the rule applies to anyone signing at any outdoor bar. It was mostly Buffett, but there was some Van Morrison and James Taylor in the mix, too.
Do you think you could get a government grant to explore that hypothesis?
I feel confident that, yes, if I used really big words in the application that I could get a grant to research this. No doubt about it.
This is a personal crusade of mine–ridding the world of excess and unnecessary noise. I bet that even the people in the patio bar (who might by some chance have wanted to have a conversation) thought the music was too loud. I was at a wedding recently and they had a DJ who well and truly blasted the music. As an experiment (and because we couldn’t talk) I put a teaspoon on top of my tea cup and the sonic blast vibrated it right off. People (except me) are too scared to say, “excuse me, you are damaging my ears and immune system). So we just left.
Anyway, I would write a letter to the hotel saying that you (and your colleagues and Twitter and Facebook friends) agree that the hotel sucks and none of them will ever stay their again. I bet even the people in the patio bar thought the music was too loud.
That’s the thing. It was a nice hotel — the nicest in town, probably — and I end up there once or twice a year, so I don’t want to get on the manager’s list of guests who should always be short-sheeted!
This happened to me at the beach two summers ago, only it was a real, outdoor concert, right below my window. We were only 6 floors up, so the noise, I mean music, was almost unbearably loud. They finally finished at about 11pm, and I had to get up at 5am to drive home – which was over 12 hours away. But I’m not bitter.
I think the theme here is that we’re old and think the kids should turn down their darn music. Also, get off my lawn!
I don’t like noise. I’m with Thomas in terms of wanting to rid the world of it but I still might have asked for the margarita.
I like the margarita idea, but, darn it, where were you people when I needed you?
Looks like a nice hotel, but it’s rotten you had to miss a night’s sleep. Isn’t that what people go to hotels for anyway, the sleep? I mean, there are bars and other nightlife outlets available which do a good job entertaining people. Why must hotels feel they have to do EVERYTHING? Next thing you know, they’ll be catering pool parties for little kids — wait, they already do!
In fairness to the hotel, I’m pretty sure that was it in terms of nightlife, unless you count playing the Xbox at the Walmart Supercenter.
We all want to be Jimmy Buffett. Let us forgive, forget and get some rest.