A new study from J.D. Powers & Associates surveyed almost 50,000 people about their most recent hotel stay. When asked for their single biggest complaint, the most common response had to do with noise. 

I was thinking about some of the questions that Lisa Matte raised in her recent blog. Number six was “What sound or noise do you hate?” While I can think of some sounds that bother me–nails on a blackboard, nearby jackhammers, people yelling at each other–I realized that what really bothers me about noise is how inconsiderate it seems; the more inconsiderate, the more it bothers me.

A lot of the noise we consider inconsiderate comes from people living in their own bubble.  Cell phone talkers are of course a prime example. Most of the time, they’re not actively thinking, “I’m going to invade your space and share my private conversation and the heck with you;” they’re in a bubble that only includes themselves and the people they’re talking to. When I’m backed up at a stop sign in a residential neighborhood behind a car that’s not moving for no apparent reason, I honk to wake the driver up; at the time, the street is my bubble, and I don’t think about whether I might wake a baby in a house nearby. If my neighbor decides to hang a picture at midnight, he’s probably in a bubble of inspiration–aha, THAT’s where to put it!–and not intentionally making the building vibrate.

For people who travel, a hotel room is one big bubble. It’s our retreat, our escape, our quiet place, and we don’t like having to acknowledge our neighbors. We don’t want to hear them; we don’t even want to give them another thought.  One of the biggest luxuries a hotel can offer is that sense of peace and quiet brought on by great construction, lots of soundproofing, and staff who speak in modulated tones. But that still can’t protect you against the middle-of-the-night room-to-room wrong number, or the early-morning departure having a  loud conversation right outside your door. “Show some consideration!” we want to shout.

Airplanes are, increasingly, providing premium-class passengers with noise-reduction headsets. But what we really need is noise-reduction mindsets among our fellow travelers.

-Mary Hunt, Editor, eFlyer