Travel Tips

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Whether you’re leaving town on a business trip, hitting the road for a summer vacation or headed around the world, Peter Greenberg has got you covered. As Travel Editor for the Today show, the Emmy-winning journalist known as the “Travel Detective” offers these helpful suggestions to make your next hotel visit safer, quieter and better all around.

Question No. 1: How close is my room to the construction? Keep in mind that just about every hotel has a floor or a wing closed off at any given time for renovation or reconstruction. It’s the cyclical nature of hotel operations. If you don’t ask that question, you stand a much bigger chance of being given the keys to the jackhammer suite!

Question No. 2: If you like great water pressure in your bathroom (and who doesn’t?), you can’t leave the front desk without asking the person behind the counter to find out which of their floors has a “booster” pump. Sound strange? Read on. Most high-rise hotels cannot maintain consistent water pressure on every floor, and as a result have installed booster pumps on different floors. All you need to do is find out which of the floors have the booster pumps and ask for a room on that floor. Then, when you check into your room, go into the bathroom and turn on the shower faucet. Chances are very good that the pressure will resemble that of a fire hose! Happy showering!

Question No. 3: Ask if the hotel will “bundle charges.” Keep in mind that just about everything in a hotel is negotiable. Ask the hotel to bundle your communications charges, so that for about $12 a day (or less) you get Internet, local and domestic long-distance charges “bundled” into that one fee. Or, if the hotel already has something called a “resort fee,” make sure the fee includes telephone and Internet. Remember, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Question No. 4: It’s not really a question, but it’s just as important. Always try to stay below the eighth floor in any hotel. Why? There’s not a fire department in the world that can effectively fight a fire above the eighth floor. In the event of a fire, elevators shut off, and it’s a very long way down! And if you insist on a “room with a view” above the eighth floor, keep in mind that in the event of a fire, you’ll have an excellent view, all right—of the fire department unable to get to you!