[NA]Hotel mini-fridge mini-rant

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
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I’ve been hoteling a bit.
Often I need a fridge in the room for meds or food/drink.
Seems like many hotels I frequent (chain hotels usually) do have a mini fridge.
Sounds good. A nice amenity.
I’ve looked, a decent one is inexpensive.

However, the hotels insist on buying the least functional & least cost cr@# out there!
Are most of these peltier devices, the coldest many will go is 50°F (all peltiers I’ve used were the same way).

And today there’s this abomination at a Springhill suites:

If I’m reading it right, it’s going to keep my leftover chicken thing cold till 1am??

We can do better!
 

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Ice machien down the hall. Just pack a bag of ice in it with your dinner.

Cruise ship fridges are usually the worst. How are we going to keep our wine cool? Room steward says no problem, he'll just keep refreshing hte ice bucket.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
If I’m reading it right, it’s going to keep my leftover chicken thing cold till 1am??
Click to expand...

That's not how I interpret it.
It has a snooze feature that will turn it off for 8 hours, useful if there's nothing in it. Good if the compressor cycling wakes you up. (Upcoming rant of my own on that...)
It also has a quick chill function that will be on for two hours once activated. Maybe you want that 6-pack to get cold really fast.

My rant: what irks me is that almost all of the hotels have some of the noisiest/jarring HVAC units in existence. I've resorted at times to just switching them off during the night in order to get some sleep. Apparently they can't afford quiet models. And then you have hotel chains in the cold north-east deciding to install heat pumps with no supplemental electric heat. They didn't work that well last winter with temperatures below 0F.
 
thanks @AV8R_87 maybe you are right, we'll see. (I opened the darned thing last night, it felt coolish and threw in my quesadilla but it's warm now)
I agree completely with the hvac noise, I turn them all off where possible. Maybe they use the white noise instead of building the rooms with adequate sound barriers to the neighbor rooms??
I gave a hotel great ratings last night with the negative of, "the room has one vent for which the occupant has no control, and it sounds like a jet engine!"
 
AV8R_87 said:
My rant: what irks me is that almost all of the hotels have some of the noisiest/jarring HVAC units in existence. I've resorted at times to just switching them off during the night in order to get some sleep. Apparently they can't afford quiet models. And then you have hotel chains in the cold north-east deciding to install heat pumps with no supplemental electric heat. They didn't work that well last winter with temperatures below 0F.
Click to expand...
I always get the one that sounds like a Cummins that just threw a rod.
 
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SixPapaCharlie said:
I travel with this. Believe it or not it actually works quite well.

You put it in the freezer and it's lined with ice pack material so it freezes. I found it will keep food extremely cold for about 3 days even if you just keep it in the refrigerator once you have pre-frozen it.


Click to expand...

You’re gonna get beat up in the hallway or on the playground. What color is it?
 
I read an article not too long ago, said we refrigerate things that don’t really need it, food items. I know it depends on the food in question.

I got used to drinking water at ambient temps or above, Ft Leonard Wood, MO over 2 Summers. That all said I do appreciate a hotel fridge. I also agree, many barely cool, likely a lower draw type.
 
My biggest hotel rant are the hvac units that don’t have constant fan. I like the white noise to drown out the incessant door slammers and guys in the next room who have to speak at 130dB on their midnight conference call.
 
Bill said:
My biggest hotel rant are the hvac units that don’t have constant fan. I like the white noise to drown out the incessant door slammers and guys in the next room who have to speak at 130dB on their midnight conference call.
Click to expand...
I have a SNOOZ for the home. They make a travel version too:
https://getsnooz.com/pages/go2
 
Y'all be spending money on noise makers.

YouTube: 10 hours of sleep sounds

There are tons of them and there are live streams of white noise and ocean noise 24 hours a day.

Screenshot_20260707_083349_YouTube.jpg
 
That picture looks like the inside of the mini fridge in the hotel I stayed at last time.
 
Bill said:
My biggest hotel rant are the hvac units that don’t have constant fan. I like the white noise to drown out the incessant door slammers and guys in the next room who have to speak at 130dB on their midnight conference call.
Click to expand...

well, in fairness, they have to speak so loudly because of the HVAC noise.

:)
 
AV8R_87 said:
That's not how I interpret it.
It has a snooze feature that will turn it off for 8 hours, useful if there's nothing in it.
Click to expand...
testing shows the fridge gets colder for 2 hours, the rest of the time is not cold enough to keep food or meds safe.
<looks for a class action attorney lol>
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Y'all be spending money on noise makers.

YouTube: 10 hours of sleep sounds

There are tons of them and there are live streams of white noise and ocean noise 24 hours a day.
Click to expand...
Commercial breaks are a ***** though. :rofl:

There's an app for that too! Subscriptions available, but I have a mix that works great for me that I built for free:

apps.apple.com

White Noise App - App Store

Download White Noise by TMSOFT on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like White Noise.
apps.apple.com apps.apple.com
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I’ve been hoteling a bit.
Often I need a fridge in the room for meds or food/drink.
Seems like many hotels I frequent (chain hotels usually) do have a mini fridge.
Sounds good. A nice amenity.
I’ve looked, a decent one is inexpensive.

However, the hotels insist on buying the least functional & least cost cr@# out there!
Are most of these peltier devices, the coldest many will go is 50°F (all peltiers I’ve used were the same way).
Click to expand...
Interesting. I'm mostly staying in Hilton properties (Hilton, Hampton Inn, Tru, Home2, etc) and they're quite consistently actual refrigerators. I plop my two free waters in there (freezer if it has one too) and use them the next day.
 
Never check your
Half Fast said:
My favorite thing about hotel fridges is all the free beer
Click to expand...
Have you ever checked your invoice?

As far as noisy air conditioners, I just take off the processors for my Cochlear Implants and I sleep like a baby. Of course though, one day I may wake up burnt to a crisp because I didn't hear the fire alarm.
 
My hotel rant is all the animal dander and lack of dedicated pet free rooms. They act like there is some magical cleaning that can be more effective than the two year time frame I read from an allergist site.

More and more rooms just smell nasty
 
Two words.... Hampton Inn

Being staying at them for years and they have real mini fridges' the actually keeps things cold. I am a stippler for real cream in my coffee - what can I say, I was raised in Amish country....
 
Dave Theisen said:
My only complaint with hotel mini fridges is the number of beers I’ve left in them over the years. :)
Click to expand...
You're a professional. You can bring them with you. This is like the very first thing they taught us on day one. "Unlike the rest of the travelers. You can bring your booze with you."
 
boutique hotel the last three days
awesome old-timey cold-as-eff fridge/freezer
 
The only complaint that I have with hotel mini fridges is that I can’t adjust the temperature and my sodas and waters end up frozen.
 
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