The ultimate crew hotel

[jbayfan]

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this question but we are trying to find out what flight deck and cabin crew would consider the ultimate crew hotel. We would like to develop a hotel in Johannesburg as we have noticed how unhappy many crew are with their current hotels and locations.

What would you want to see in a dedicated crew hotel?

Forget what a normal hotel occupant would want and let us know what you feel is important to you as crew!

[Serenity]

Peace and quiet!!!
Good insulation between rooms so you can`t hear next door and doors that close quietly!!
Also a good gym, free wireless interent and good quality, well priced food!!

.. and a company thats willing to pay the price for a reasonable hotel, not just the cheapest most basic one going!!

thanks!!

[daz211]

1. Tea and Coffee - in room.
2. Tv with SKY News and Flight arrival/Departure info.
3. GYM.
4. 24hr Breakfast.
5. Room to Room phone.
6. Anytime check-in/out.
7. A bath not a small/short one.
8. Wifi (free).
9. Fridge.
10. ironing board.

[Mr Angry from Purley]

Daz 211
You missed the most important requirement - 11/ free food.
:\

[JAR]

Secondary door so that "room serbis" knocking next door and cleaners shouting along the corridor to each other can't be heard.

[BlueTui]

Thick good quality black out curtains

Decent aircon with remote not wall mounted controls

[starbag]

A decent fridge in each room, and an ice machine on each corridor.

Edible room service

Decent quality bedding and mattresses -try the Dorint at AMS - best night sleep ever!!

Full size ironing boards and irons with no cr*p melted on the plate in each room

Decent selection on TV channels

[galaxy flyer]

The one with the best points system--Marriott.

[Tinstaafl]

Electric kettle/jug to boil water for tea. *NOT* those infernal coffee machines loved by US hotels. They don't reach boiling point and no matter how many times you wash the parts they still impart a nasty coffee flavour to the tepid water.

Milk, not creamer or half&half in the rooms. UHT is OK although fresh in a fridge is better.

Free wifi with routers compatible with Linux and other, non-M$, devices

Soundproofing

Alarm clock that works.

24 hr check in/out

Somewhere to eat at odd hours.

Close to the airport. Don't know about others, but using 1 or 2 hours of my minimum rest period between the airport and sleep isn't welcome.

[Northbeach]

Quiet rooms, soundproofing between rooms. I don't want to hear the person next door using the shower.

Doors at the end of the hallways to isolate the rooms from ambient hotel noise.

Clean comfortable rooms good airconditioning and heating.

Full size ironing bord and iron.

Excellent work our facilites or day passes to a nearby full service gym.

Interesting location with easy walking distance to a few different places to eat and shop/sight see.

Internet access throughout the facility.

Ability to block out the outside light when necessary; curtains & shades that actually block out most if not all of the mid day light.

Option to get some food at odd hours (local time).

[Winch-control]

I believe this is the latest proposal for BA CC whilst down route....
http://www.outbackcampers.com.au/images/photos/bugproof_swag/bugproof_swag_main.jpg
Close to water, nice and peacefull:D

[Der absolute Hammer]

Where in Johannesburg? Downtown?
Armed guards on 24/7.
24/7 transport to both FAJS and FALA.
Transport loaded from within hotel boundary, not from pavement.
Acess to building only by ID presentation.

Hotel within a shopping centre.
Safe in each room.
Trouser press.

You'll probably find that a prayer room would be appreciated by some.

[welliewanger]

Most points have already been made, but I'd add:
- Staff with at least half a brain.
- Proper breakfast (free if the hotel's not on a proper points system)
- Not isolated.
- Shower which maintains a constant temperature (no need to dance the Hokey Kokey!)

Points I'd like to second:
- Blackout curtains.
- Quiet.
- Good gym.

[con-pilot]

The answer is very simple.

Embassy Suites Hotels.

Why?

Free* happy hour, all you can drink every night.

Any questions? :p




* There are some areas in the world that do not allow free adult beverages, in that case the cost is a penny a drink.

[redsnail]

Pleasant efficient knowledgeable check in staff. :ok:

Easy access to cinema/shops or ground transport.

24 hour hot food service.

Every thing else has been posted. :ok:

[welliewanger]

And an overnight laundry service. Unscheduled nigh stops without a change of clothes aint nice. And our FA would like makeup remover and other "girly stuff" available for the same reason.

[ETOPS]

My favourite hotel is the Sandton Sun which is in......................JNB :D

[Manual Reversion]

Not with the noise from the building work they're doing to be ready for the World Cup.

[Max Angle]

In Europe (Germany in particular but AMS also great) the Dorint chain seems to tick all the boxes for crews. Nice quite rooms with well built heavy doors, good pool and gym and most importantly a 50% discount on drinks and 25% on food which is of excellent quality.

[Wyle E Coyote]

Apart from the basic comfort issues already mentioned, location is major factor

My biggest pet peeve is being booked into a hotel in the middle of bumf*@k nowhere, especially when in a non English speaking country. Having a mall, or restaurants and bars close by makes all the difference. I need to get some rest, but I don't want to spend all my time in the room.

And for JoBurg, I have to reiterate the previous post, A guarded lobby with a card entry system is a must. (and I'd sleep better with a gun under the pillow for that matter;))

[Gulfstreamaviator]

Did EGKB ever get the terminal hotel project under way... There is a need for the facility, and with Rizons' FBO, I would be very interested in how they finally intergrated the crews needs....

Many years ago Whitbread were seeking new hotel sites, and this site was offered/suggested.

glf

[gas path]

Surely it should be as close to the airport as possible to save time and transport costs.:\:E

[RAPA Pilot]

Free porn, no realy. Stopped me going out an getting pissed in Klaganfurt, so added to flight saftey in my opinion.lol

[cortilla]

Easily accesible plug sockets (with adaptors in the room). Have stayed at so many hotels where I've had to crawl under the bed or pull back the mini bar/tv just to get to a socket so I can charge my phone/computer etc.

Oh (and this is just my personal gripe) a bath/shower combo where I can actually sit in the tub with my knees not around my head (big tub) and where the shower head doesn't dig into the small of my back.

[Tmbstory]

As someone who has spent more than enough time in crew hotels, my main concern was " hot water" to be available on a 24 hour basis.

Tmb

[parabellum]

and where the shower head doesn't dig into the small of my back.


Cortilla - Ever tried sitting at the other end?:)

A range of adapter plugs, unless secured by chains, would last about a week in the average crew hotel.

[Inspecthergadget]

Whatever you provide for aircrew they will rarely be happy.

But having said that you can learn a lot from what NH Hotels do for crew in Hoofddorp and Amsterdam
Schiphol, Kruisweg 495. 2132NA Hoofddorp - KLM use this hotel for their UK crews.
Amsterdam, Hobbemakade, 50. 1071XL - This is a 4 Star hotel and provides quality services for crew. Many japanese airlines use it.
NH Museum Quarter Hotel in Amsterdam - 30% off, NH Hotels Official Site (http://www.nh-hotels.com/nh/en/hotels/the-netherlands/amsterdam/nh-museum-quarter.html)

No i don't work for NH but maybe i should.

[CJ1234]

ultimate hotel? how about the thistle at aberdeen?
:}

[jbayfan]

The idea is to locate the hotel within a 10 to 15 minute drive of Johannesburg Intl Airport.

This would be a new build and would primarily be a crew hotel but excess rooms would be sold to the public.

The following are our primary objectives and proposed features:

- Safe, quiet location
- Aviation theme
- Close to a shopping mall or restaurant complex
- 24 hour security guards
- State of the art soundproofing and blackout curtains
- Eco-friendly
- 24 hour room service with a crew style menu (low cost)
- Cafeteria where low cost meals can be consumed off the crew menu
- A large crew lounge with tea / coffee facility and free all day snacks
- Aviators pub with pub meals and discounted alcoholic and other drinks
- Hourly shuttle service between the hotel and shopping malls
- Pool area styled around the best we have seen at crew hotels overseas
- State of the art gym with modern equipment
- Wifi throughout the hotel (free subject to each airline's requirement)
- In-room satellite TV with movie and news channels
- In-room TV display of flight information wired from the airport
- In-room fridge, kettle, tea/coffee and ironing board and iron
- Electrical outlets common to all foreign plugs
- Generator backup for power outages
- Bath and shower in every bathroom
- Superior beds and linen
- Top floor suites for flight deck crew and pursers
- Customised day excursions for crew on layover such as Sun City, Gold Reef City etc.

This just about sums up what we feel should satisfy most crews as there will always be someone who is unhappy.

Any suggestions for features we may have overlooked would be appreciated.

Cheers

[forget]

Der Absolute Hammer said - "You'll probably find that a prayer room would be appreciated by some".

You missed that, and he's right. Make it some distance fom the bar.

[Old Smokey]

Plumbing that doesn't require an Engineering Degree to operate.

Logically located light switches.

That's all:ok:

Old Smokey

[sk8erboi]

Please put electrical sockets within reach of the bed!!

[LH-OAB]

Decent lighting system, subdued for relaxing and bright for reading/working.

Decent worksurface/desk (with said bright lighting).

Staff immediately available 24/7. I don't want to wander around a dimly lit foyer/closed reception at 2am looking for staff.

Speedy room service.

BLACKOUT CURTAINS AND SOUNDPROOFING.

Windows that open (with no security concerns)

Bath AND shower

Tea/coffee/hot chocolate/biscuit facilities in room with sufficient supplies of each. Why 4 coffees and 4 teas but only 2 milks??????

Good service and brainpower.....a reference to the day we ordered a packed breakfast for our stupid o'clock checkout. Firstly, the sole member of late shift staff forgot to pass our order to the early shift. Secondly, the early shift who kindly agreed to throw together a breakfast-in-a-bag but forgot to include spoons for the yogurts and butter/any topping for the bread.

[ehwatezedoing]

The 24hr breakfast is a good idea.

Some things to add to the list:

-Remove any 'ding' sound from the elevator's door.
Or do not book crews near elevators.
-Two different cards for the "do not disturb" sign and the "please clean the room".
There is always one silly burger who will find funny to turn the sign around.
-White bed sheets, to show they are clean.
-Good quality paper toilet please, not one where my fingers will punch trough unless I fold it in 10.
Or one that will make me thing I'm wiping myself with the local news paper.
-On the same vein, good quality soap. If someone is staying more than one day, this soap doesn't need to be throw away and replaced by a new one everyday.
-Outdoor Pool/relax place.
-Skip the Aviation theme idea. If someone crave for it send it back to the airport :p

What's been told already:
-Sound proof.
-Good air conditioning.
-Good & free Wifi (with a password that doesn't need to be reset every 1/2hrs)
-Sockets, sockets, sockets.
-Bath/Shower combo with steady (hot) water.
-Tea cattle.
-Near restaurants.

Thanks for asking by the way :ok:

[jetjockeyusa]

Depending on where you fly to, a brothel can be rather entertaining and comfortable. Especially when 2 come for the price as 1 back home.

[ABO944]

A sink in the bathroom in Vilnius would have been nice!!

I was so shocked I even looked in the wardrobe, thinking someone was having a laugh or something!

[Mathew Drake]

Dear Pilots,

My name is Mathew Drake and I am a student at the Hotelschool of The Hague. At the moment my group and I are providing an Amsterdam hotel with a report on becoming the most prominent crew hotel of Amsterdam. For our research I would like to know from you what pilots want when visiting a crew hotel.

I hope to receive all replies as fast as possible.

With kind regards,

Mathew Drake

[rottenray]

Not a pilot, but when I did a lot of traveling for business years back the following made for much nicer stays...

1 - Room on a floor which isn't populated by tourists or families with lots of kids - I don't need the rampaging through the hallways at any hour of the day. Oddly, some motel chains are much better about this than some of the big hotel chains are.

2 - Adequate furniture - I've seen many "business class" rooms which had nowhere to lay a suitcase AND use the table/desk at the same time. And more than 3 hangars in the armoire is always a nice touch.

3 - Adequate and quiet climate control - I always find it amazing and aggravating when I can't keep the room temperature between 68 and 75F, or when doing so makes me think I'm sleeping near the runway or rail line. I don't care if it's wall-mounted or what, so long as it does its job.

4 - A refrigerator that is ON and COLD and CLEAN when I check in - I hate having to fiddle with these things. There is one international chain which was famous for a long time for keeping their inroom reefers "off" between guests, which makes them stinky.

5 - Bed frames that don't have skin-killing protrusions hidden behind the bedspread... I don't know where they get some of this furniture, but some of it is truly dangerous to toes and shins.

6 - A small nightlight or built-in night lighting, and room lights that work and give adequate light.

7 - Amenities like ice machines, soda machines, et cetera, on each floor. If you're on the floor with the only ice machine and soda machine, you'll be hearing the rest of the guests using it all night.

8 - Either Wi-Fi that works or a hard Ethernet connection that works without a prolonged session of troubleshooting. I'm not staying there to solve the hotel's problems, I'm paying for a room with included connectivity.

9 - Shift staff that isn't surly, inebriated, sleeping, or preoccupied with something other than their duties. Many managers will "hide" the ones they're afraid of letting deal with the public on the midnight shift, instead of just firing them and getting decent help.

10 - Elevators which are labeled with common sense, as in "Parking" and "Lobby" instead of "G1" and "G2" or other hieroglyphics meaningless to the traveler who is only spending ~30 hours in the building. Also, signage that indicates direction of room numbers somewhere near the elevator.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Windows that open, I find aircon really dries my throat when I sleep. Spent 3 days at the Gateshead Hilton recently and the whole place was hermetically sealed and very claustrophobic as a result.

Food/room service providing any type of meal, not just breakfast at any time.

Quiet corridors.

A place to work with good light.

Easy access to town.

Free WiFi.

Friendly, cheerful staff.

A priority check in/out for aircrew.

A blind eye turned to raucous room parties!

[ThreadBaron]

I'm trying to imagine what airline management's response to this question would be.

I keep coming up with a blank.

Mathew

Your answers are all around you. You did not even have to post, mate.

[johns7022]

+1

Embassy Suites

[Wyle E Coyote]

- Aviation theme

I really wouldn't bother with that if you trying to get professional crews in. If you're targeting transiting aeroclub guys who live, breathe, and sleep all things aeroplane related, then got for it. Those of us who fly for a living really don't want all that tacky aeroplane memorabilia around (and I'm not sleeping in a kiddies aeroplane bed...... and if you have one of those clocks that looks like an altimeter I'll vomit all over it)

If you were targeting travelling doctors, would you make it look like a hospital?

I don't even like going to aviation themed bars..... they tend to attract w@nkers

everything else sounds great.

[jbayfan]

Thanks for all the feedback. We have taken note and the aviation theme has been turfed.

We have located the site for the hotel and are in the process of contacting the prominent foreign airlines to gauge their interest and to find out how long they have left on their current contracts.

Here is what we have so far:
The site is located 15.5 kms from Johannesburg International Airport and the driving time will average 15 minutes. It is located within an upmarket suburb and will have great views of Johannesburg.

The hotel will have between 200 to 250 rooms.

It will be attached to an upmarket and chic shopping mall with direct access into the Piazza where some of the best restaurants are located.

The mall has 130 stores with over two dozen restaurants and two cinema houses.

There is also a 24 hour gym (Mon - Fri) with a heated olympic size swimming pool. The gym closes at 9pm on Fridays and 7pm Sat and Sun. We will decide at a later stage whether we will contract to the gym or build our own, but will probably go with the gym in the mall.

The surrounding area is very safe and guests can walk outside with no fear for their safety.

We have noted the suggestions on this site and will incorporate the majority of them into the design of the hotel.

We are looking for 90% of the occupants to be contracted airline crew members.

SORRY, no brothel!! But we can arrange transport to Teazers or The Lollipop Lounge :ok:

[parabellum]

You can now expect a flood of 'Evaluation Teams', comprising junior management and representing CC, Flight deck and Finance all coming to you for a 'Freebe' stay!;)

[40&80]

And a notice to crew banning them from visiting Teazers,
and the Lollipop Lounge.

[DownIn3Green]

JBfan...

My record for 1 year was 282 nights in a hotel in one year...

Many of those were in the Dorint in AMS, and many, many more were in Embassy Suites throughout America and 1 in Puerto Rico...These are Super Night Stops!!!

Many on this thread have danced around it, but the bottom line regardless of where you are laying over is QUIET!!!

Other amenities will follow, but after a Red Eye from Philly to L.A. with 3 stops on the way, I don't need to eat breakfast (dinner actually, and the LAX Holiday Inn Chef was pretty good with that at 0830 local) and then go to my room with maids talking and making noise outside my door...

A seperate wing for "AIRCREW ONLY" with instructions from management for the staff not to enter that wing unless called by the room occupant...we all sleep at odd hours, please let us do so!!!!

[Paul Wilson]

Not crew, but having some thoughts -

Cleaning has to be an issue, it needs to be done, but can be noisy. Perhaps rather than big corridors of rooms, have smaller ones, but more of them. Think about filling these up by check-in time.

e.g. the 04.00 - 08.00 corridor - no one cleans any of the rooms until 16.00hrs (even if some occupants checked out at breakfast time) you will know when you check in that a cleaner will not be down the corridor, vacuuming next door, until you have had 8hrs minimum. Don't label it as such, just sort it out on the internal systems, if you run out of space the last thing you want is a crew checking in at 03.00 seeing that they are in the 14.00-18.00 corridor, hopefully everything else you have done will keep them happy!

The other plus with the above arrangement is that most people arriving at the same time will have a similar pattern of sleeping over the next night or 2 = less disturbance for all

How about do not disturb/please make up room lights? Green and Red LEDs, small labled switch in the room 3 position Off/Do Not Disturb/Make up room, lights up LED in corridor.

Hangers, more of them - if I'm staying for three days I need 3 for shirts plus one for the return trip, 2/3 for trousers, one for suit/uniform jacket, one for a casual jacket, one for coat and a couple for T-shirts/casual shirts. That's 12 - I may be an extreme case! But I do wonder why many hotels seem to think that 6 for a double room is sufficient, the good lady has terrible trouble finding somewhere to put her stuff;)