Silence!

By Marjolein Schipper

How important is a quiet hotel room to you? Do you get irritated by hotel staff stomping through the corridors early in the morning? (At least, that’s how itseems). Or by neighbours who are so intent on each other that everyone else is allowed to share their pleasure.

When you read this, I have already been staying for almost three weeks in Brazilian hotel rooms. Because I’m following the Dutch football supporters during the World Cup. An interesting experience, including having breakfast with bacon and sausage but no eggs (‘no eggs today’), WiFi which was suddenly cut off and hotel staff who do not speak one word of English. ‘Vin? Vinho? No comprendo!’ But I have to say one thing about the rooms I stayed in so far: they were very quiet. When I closed the windows it was as if I closed a vault. Not even the slightest noise could be heard. Which was just as well because in a city like Sao Paulo a ten-lane motorway is nothing special. And the traffic is continuous, day and night. No sound either from the neighbours. Very agreeable and conducive to a good night’s sleep, just like curtains which properly close out the light. But is this something you take into consideration when you book a hotel room? I always look at the location and things like WiFi and a mini-bar, but noise? Yet now there are entrepreneurs who have taken the initiative to create a ‘Quiet Room label’. A classification which will help you determine whether a hotel room is indeed quiet and silent, or so noisy that you can hear every footstep (or worse) of your neighbours. What do you think? Is this type of label something you would welcome? Or do you think it’s nonsense, because a hotel is after all a collection of rooms where you have to be prepared for a bit of noise? What are the noisiest hotels you know, and where could you relax in a veritable oasis of peace?

Let us know on info@quiethotelrooms.org.