I would love a service that reports on the noise level of hotel rooms, apartments for rent etc.. I am far more sensitive to noise than others. And in my nomadic existence the most annoying thing for me was noisy places. Even in renting out apartments on a regular lease I had serious problems with extreme noise issues.
Reading reviews will provide some level of noise warnings when past travelers complain about noisy conditions. But this is time consuming (reading through lots of reviews to try and see) and not very accurate. Technology could provide a better alternative, even if it still isn’t perfect.
No solution is going to be perfect but it would be nice if there was a device that you could put in rooms and it would measure the decibel level and record loud noises. I would image smart engineers could design it to automatically categorize many noises. The device could then provide a report of how noisy it is and what kind of noises were recorded.
The idea is the device could be placed in empty rooms/apartments and create a record. That record could then be shared with prospective renters. I realize there are issues with making this work. But I think the market is significant.
One big market to consider (likely the biggest by far) for selling such a device and service to would be large hotel chains. They could gather data on noise issues in their rooms. They could make improvement and measure the improvements. They could gather data on what measures work and which don’t. They could use data to guide reservations for those expressing a desire for a very quite room to the rooms that best fit their needs. I also think for apartments there could be a bit market.
I realize the number of people that noise is as big an issue as it is for me is small. But there are a reasonable number of people that are bothered by noise that such a service would be worthwhile I think.
I sure hope someone fills this need. And if someone is already offering such a product and service I hope the market adopts it quickly.
Noisy fans are good for providing white noise to cover distracting noise. That is very helpful in many cases. It isn’t so great at covering up loud hallway noise (though with the right room setup and fan placement it can be ok in some rooms). The integrated units in the walls can be decent but for example are usually not good for dealing with hallway noise. And also some are designed so you can’t run the fan all the time (it only goes on if cooling or heating is needed): if you are creating a hotel (or the heating and AC system) make sure the fan can be set to run at all times.
Related: Gadgets to Mask Noise and Help You Sleep or Concentrate – Turn Windows Into Sound Canceling Filters – Dealing with Noise Pollution in Your Condo – Finding Places to Stay to Stay with Decent wifi
Hotels are suppose to provide a pleasant nights sleep. That is common sense. Also there advertising shows they know this is one of the things people expect. It seems to me they would greatly increase the possibility for that without making it so easy for noise in the hallway into your bedroom. Many (even very expensive hotels) don’t have good seals on the door so there is an air gap right into the hallway. Thankfully at expensive hotels this has improved some. They could greatly improve blocking out that noise by putting a second door so that you have a vestibule in the room.
This improvement could also be designed so that when that second door is open there is no impact. So you have a little hallway and when the door is open it lays flat against the wall. If someone doesn’t care to reduce noise they can just leave it there. But for those that care about reducing noise they just close it when they are ready for bed or want quiet.
I realize in some very small rooms this might not be an ideal solution but it could be a huge improvement for many hotels yet few do such a simple thing. It does add cost so for very cheap places it might not make sense (though the marketing could separate you from peers).
Another item found in many hotels that annoys me (a little bit) is a normal sink with a facet that literally (really literally not the new non-literally meaning of literally) pours the water 2 inches from the edge of the sink. Instead of having a sensible facet that even reaches say 20% of the way into the sink they have a tiny facet that I can’t image any reason for using except maybe is saves $1 in cost (multiplied by each room) at just the expense of being annoying to use by everyone for the lifetime of the facet. Why won’t they just put in facets that let you actually wash your entire hands easily instead of having to put the tips of your fingers under the facet to redirect a bit of the flow of water to reach your palms to wash your hands. It is just so silly. Even very expensive hotels do this. They do it a bit less now than 20 years ago but still, far too often.