Rental Cars and Hotel Room Clock Radios

A politically-incorrect essay by Dave Ratisher, February 10, 2004

Ever drive through an, uh, "urban" section of a town, and notice that many cars are outfitted with super-booming stereos, and the drivers always seem to be driving with their seats low and almost fully reclined? If you've seen it (either in person, or in an "urban-themed" movie or TV show), you know what I'm talking about...it's the "cruisin' the 'hood" position. I even surfed the web while thinking about this essay and found some hip-hop song lyrics that made direct reference to this "urban cruisin' position". So what does this have to do with rental cars and hotel clock radios?

Well, I've observed that when you travel to almost any city/airport in the USA and rent a car from virtually any rental car company, invariably when you get into any car, the seat is positioned low and almost fully reclined, and when you turn on the radio the bass and volume are cranked all the way up and it's tuned to the local hip-hop/rap or Tejano/Salsa station. Basically, by default, you're set up to "cruise the 'hood".

So after you adjust your seat and radio for the "non-urban-cruiser" setup that most Americans (and certainly most business or leisure travelers) require, you head off to your hotel and check in for the night. You want to set your room's clock radio to a reasonable station for the next morning's wake-up, so you turn it on to start to look for a local station. Invariably, the radio's got the volume cranked all the way up, and it's tuned to the local hip-hop/rap or Tejano/Salsa station. So, you fiddle around the dial for 10 or 15 minutes (exhausted from what's been a long day already) and finally find a suitable station and volume level for the morning (and have you ever noticed that in most hotels, in almost any city, the reception's only good enough for MAYBE 5 or 6 stations, and at LEAST 4 or 5 of those are hip-hop/rap/Tejano/Salsa?). You wake up OK the next morning and go about your business for the day, and then return to your room for another night and reset your wake-up for the next morning. The next morning, the radio comes on and you're JARRED out of bed by the local hip-hop/rap/Tejano/Salsa station cranked up at full volume...because during the previous day the housekeeper changed the radio on you, and you FOOLISHLY assumed it would be on the same station and volume you spent 15 minutes setting up the night before.

It's very politically-incorrect to point this out, but reality is reality, and like it or not, most business travelers, and probably a majority of leisure travelers as well, are NOT of the demographic groups that are typically hired to work as rental car porters, nor are they of the demographic groups generally hired to work as hotel room housekeepers. Yet, these problems are allowed to continue and even escalate because either (a) we spend enough energy going about our other business while traveling that we don't think to raise the issue with folks who can help solve the problem until the NEXT time it happens (and then we conveniently forget about it AGAIN!), or (b) we realize it's politically-incorrect to point out an issue clearly related to the work habits of particular ethnic and demographic groups, so we suffer in silence.

Are the issues of rental cars and hotel clock radios trivial in comparison to larger and graver issues such as airport security and terrorism fears and other bigger issues we deal with either directly or peripherally during our business or leisure travels? Of course. Still, when you consider the indignities that travelers are forced to endure on a regular basis that we CANNOT control, the question begs: If travel is going to be SO unpleasant and SO stressful as it is, why put up with something that CAN be corrected, if only it were brought to the right folks' attention?

My experience in communicating this issue to members of management of these facilities is quite typical: The first reaction is generally, "Gee, no one has ever mentioned that to me before; I didn't know it was a problem." When I retort that it's news to them probably because it's not something folks generally think of until the NEXT time it happens to them, or because it's a politically-incorrect issue to bring up, and then when I also ask them to take their "manager hats" off and put their "consumer hats" on and think about their own experiences, the reaction then readily turns to one of being quite able to relate to and understand the problem (especially when presented in terms of who's spending those business- and leisure-travel dollars). Although I've been finding that it's still hard to see results on the rental car problem (mostly due to constant turnover of management staff at the locations, and of course turnover of the staff members responsible for porting the cars), I HAVE seen real results at the hotels I frequent...I have seen tangible evidence that the housekeeping staffs HAVE been advised of the issue and customer dissatisfaction of it, and the corrections have been made. And all it took was for the issue to be articulated in a firm, but constructive, manner...and for correct Standard Operating Procedures to be implemented by management for the staff to follow (much in the same manner as housekeepers having SOPs for how to place the towels, etc.).

I also have one other technique that I employ, when I'm unable to connect with a hotel manager during a given stay: On the first night of a several-night hotel stay, I leave a note under the foot of the clock radio that says, "Please do not change the radio station. Thanks!" When I'm fortunate enough that the housekeeping staff can coherently read English, I've found that this also works pretty well. I'm also sure that if the housekeeper du jour is one who likes to change it, it probably pi$$es him/her off, but guess what: As long as my room seems to be clean each day and nothing's been stolen, I really don't care if I've spoiled the 15 minutes or so that the housekeeper has to spend in my room.

So, suffer in silence no more! Make it your personal crusade to let the managers of the car rental facilities and hotels know about the problem in the first place (since no one has probably made them aware of it already (unless, of course, I'VE been there already!)), offer them constructive recommendations on how the problem should be resolved through correct SOPs (and WHY it should be resolved, in terms of keeping customers happy enough to maintain current and future business), and make sure they understand that while the issue may seem trivial in terms of the "bigger picture", it's a READILY CORRECTABLE problem if only proper attention were paid to COMMUNICATING THE SOLUTION to the members of the staff responsible for causing the problem, and for enforcing the solution.

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