Clock radios in motel rooms?

[Mark Roberts]

Last year I ended up in a hotel room that didn't even have a clock, much less a clock radio.

What I don't understand are hotels who put landline phones in their rooms. That must be the most underutilized piece of equipment nowadays.

Last weekend, I was in the Oregon wine country, staying at a hotel built in 2019. Guess what? A phone in every room. Sure, the phone was a modern interpretation of a 1930s/1940s style handset, but all it ever did for us was get in the way.

 

[Mark Roberts]

If a station can be heard clearly on a cheap clock radio in a hotel building, the station can be heard on any radio. Fortunately, the majority of our ratings producing audience is not spending much time in hotel rooms.

True in most cases, but there can be exceptions, tied to being in a tourist area, or being in an isolated location, or both. I was in West Yellowstone, Montana a few years ago. Most of the spots on KWYS, the sole local station at the time, were aimed to the tourist trade. The spots repeated pretty often, too.

In general, this was more of a factor decades ago, when one's options for in-car entertainment were limited compared to what's now available.

 

[semoochie]

I listen to those but I have to bring my own. Unfortunately, my travel radio quit picking up anything below about 94 (it picked up stations as far down as 92 a few years ago) . It would be more interesting to hear some of the stations below 92.

This reminds me of the old Homer & Jethro bit where Homer asks Jethro what time it is and Jethro says that he shows a quarter to seven. Homer replies that he has a quarter the something. "The hour hand fell off my watch!"

 

[luperm]

Last couple of hotels I stayed in had a clock with no "old fashioned" radio that also provided USB docking/charging for a mobile device.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This reminds me of the old Homer & Jethro bit where Homer asks Jethro what time it is and Jethro says that he shows a quarter to seven. Homer replies that he has a quarter the something. "The hour hand fell off my watch!"

I have a watch that the second hand fell off of. It just jumps around inside. I guess that's why it was so cheap.

 

[Kelly A]

Last couple of hotels I stayed in had a clock with no "old fashioned" radio that also provided USB docking/charging for a mobile device.

My experience as well. I'll commonly dock my iPhone for charging. If traveling and want to listen to radio, will typically use my NPR app, and listen to WAMU via the phone. Generally don't care much about what's on local radio.

 

[davideduardo]

I have a watch that the second hand fell off of. It just jumps around inside. I guess that's why it was so cheap.

Remind me to look surprised...

 

[Theater of My Mind]

What I don't understand are hotels who put landline phones in their rooms.

Room $ervice.

 

[tb_]

Room $ervice.

Also access to emergency services. Many jurisdictions require hotels to furnish in-room phones per code, to allow access to 9-1-1 in the event of an emergency.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Room $ervice.

Good point! But does it cover the cost of essentially running your own PBX (even if there is no DID)?

 

[davideduardo]

Good point! But does it cover the cost of essentially running your own PBX (even if there is no DID)?

Fewer and fewer hotels have room service any more. Even at high prices, higher minimum wage, high food costs and other factors make it unprofitable. And in anything but the bigger hotels, it is just not worth having a kitchen open at odd hours.

 

[Kelly A]

Room $ervice.

Front desk/concierge.

 

[chad43358]

I used to enjoy listening to local radio using the alarm clock/radio provided in rooms. I have been to several hotels over the last 3 years and not one is provided with a radio, just an alarm clock. I started bringing my own small radio.

 

[kevtronics]

In fact, if your room has a TV, there's your clock!

Some motel TVs used to have a built-in clock and FM radio tuner. I remember one that annoyed me because it kept the CRT on to display the volume and tuning indications, so you got a constant 15.7 kHz whine along with the music.

 

[Kelly A]

Some motel TVs used to have a built-in clock and FM radio tuner. I remember one that annoyed me because it kept the CRT on to display the volume and tuning indications, so you got a constant 15.7 kHz whine along with the music.

There you go, an ungrateful radio nerd.

 

[CTListener]

Some motel TVs used to have a built-in clock and FM radio tuner. I remember one that annoyed me because it kept the CRT on to display the volume and tuning indications, so you got a constant 15.7 kHz whine along with the music.

Which is why it was better to have a plain old TV. The clock function was built into the scrolling program guide!

 

[michael hagerty]

Who needs either when you're traveling with a phone? Yes, I know there are Luddites, privacy paranoids, and just plain poor folks who don't have smartphones, but are hotels losing business just because they're not putting radios in the rooms?

In fact, if your room has a TV, there's your clock!

Well, only if you turn the TV on, which is a pretty inefficient way to get the time.

I use my phone as a clock and (when needed) as an alarm clock. One of the hotels where we stay regularly in the Bay Area does still have clock radios by the bedside, but I'd never miss it if it was gone.

 

[michael hagerty]

Front desk/concierge.

Exactly. If I check into my room on the umpteenth floor and there's something missing or something wrong, I don't want to have to schlep back down to the lobby to get it dealt with. Yeah, I could call the public-facing number for the hotel on my cellphone, but it's a lot quicker to pick up the phone, press one button and be immediately connected to the desk.

 

[CTListener]

Well, only if you turn the TV on, which is a pretty inefficient way to get the time.

I use my phone as a clock and (when needed) as an alarm clock. One of the hotels where we stay regularly in the Bay Area does still have clock radios by the bedside, but I'd never miss it if it was gone.

I was addressing the problem that technophobes and other outliers who travel minus phones might have in hotel rooms with no clocks or radios. Turning on the TV (and finding the channel guide) is inefficient, but what are the other solutions? Using the landline phone in the room and asking the person tending the desk what time it is? I'd rather check the TV than annoy someone who might be in the middle of checking someone in when I call.

Another possibility, of course, is that even the Luddiest of Luddites might still own a wristwatch.

 

[michael hagerty]

I was addressing the problem that technophobes and other outliers who travel minus phones might have in hotel rooms with no clocks or radios. Turning on the TV (and finding the channel guide) is inefficient, but what are the other solutions? Using the landline phone in the room and asking the person tending the desk what time it is? I'd rather check the TV than annoy someone who might be in the middle of checking someone in when I call.

Another possibility, of course, is that even the Luddiest of Luddites might still own a wristwatch.

I was about to say.

If they have literally no device on their person by which to tell time, I'm gonna guess that time is just not that important to them.

And relying on someone who is that much of a technophobe/Luddite to say "I know! I'll turn on the TV, tune to the program guide and look at the clock that's embedded in it"....well, c'mon.