Home away from home

When we travel, hotels become our homes away from home. Because we typically pay a lot of money for the privilege, we expect the room and amenities to be to our satisfaction. When that isn't the case, we expect problems to be remedied immediately. Unfortunately, in an imperfect world, that doesn't always happen.

My stay at the Universal City Sheraton this past weekend was not without issues. The hotel is under renovation, and on Saturday morning, the hammering began. The staff was responsive, however, and soon switched me to another room.

We all have our hotel horror stories, and not all of them end well. My problems were not significant, but could have been worse. Sometimes the hotel staff just doesn't care. Frommers.com ran a story in their newsletter today that shows "satisfaction guarantees" sometimes offer neither satisfaction nor a guarantee.