Maid to Order

When I was growing up, staying at a motel was a real treat. Although I have to admit, most of the time when we stayed at a motel, Tom Bodett left the light on for us. Still, even though Motel 6 didn't have that much in amenities, it was a thrill to stay at a motel, and occasionally my parents would even spring for the extra dollar or two in order to have color TV in the room.

As I grew older, my tastes in motels changed. No longer am I satisfied simply with the fact that I'm staying in a room with a television. Now I have a few more requirements.

1. I want a comfortable bed. We have a sleep number bed at home, and if I'm not going to be in it, then I want to be in a bed that is just as comfortable. I want a soft bed rather than a marble slab.

2. Along with the soft bed, I want plenty of pillows. I usually bring two from home, but I also usually use at least four pillows when I am home. So I want some nice fluffy ones in my motel room. And not the kind that are as flat as pancakes by morning either.

3. Speaking of pancakes, I want a complimentary hot breakfast. Don't just throw out some small cereal boxes and a couple of rock hard bagels. We need a waffle maker and the option to have an egg breakfast sandwich, even if the eggs don't look anything like what a chicken would naturally produce.

4. I also like a microwave and refrigerator in the room. You never know when you're going to need an emergency bag of popcorn or a can of soda that's colder than room temperature.

All of these items are important, but the thing I enjoy most when I have to stay at a motel is maid service. Like any wife and mother, it's hard to simply sit down and relax in the evening when you have dinner to cook and clean up, laundry to do, dishes to wash, etc. Nothing thrills me so much as leaving my motel room and coming back an hour later to beds made with crisp clean sheets and a stack of clean, nicely folded towels waiting for my use in the bathroom. Now THAT is relaxation!

My husband and I spent several days in a motel recently when we traveled back home to Alabama for him to preach in a conference. The first morning at the hotel I came back from the fitness room to find the maids working on the room across the hall from ours. I really wanted a shower and I really wanted a clean room, so I asked the maids if they'd be willing to come back to our room in about an hour. They agreed so I took a shower and then hubby and I left to meet some friends for lunch.

When we returned, the bed was made, the bathroom gleamed, and a nice fresh stack of towels were neatly folded at the sink. Since I had made a special request of the maid service, I made sure to leave a nice tip in the room. They did their job, they worked around our schedule and we got a clean room. Everyone was happy.

The following evening was when my husband was supposed to preach in the conference. I knew he would want to have peace and quiet most of the day to do some studying, so I made plans to go out with Stephanie and the grandkids in the morning, meet hubby and some friends for lunch, and then spend the afternoon with another friend.

Before I left that morning, I left some money on the desk and asked hubby to leave it for the maids when he came to lunch. When I returned that afternoon, there was a strange smell in the room. Actually, it wasn't that strange a smell because that odor shows up at my house all the time. Hubby had just returned from a good solid workout, so it smelled like a locker room.

It also looked like a locker room. Used towels from that morning were piled in the floor of the bathroom. The bed wasn't made and an open suitcase was sitting on top of it. Things were strewn around the room and the tip was still on the desk.

"Didn't the maids come?" I asked.

Hubby assured me that they had, but he hadn't wanted to be bothered at the time so he told them to just give him a couple of clean towels and don't worry about the rest of the room.

I was as disappointed as if I'd gotten no presents under the tree at Christmas. We were leaving the following morning, so this was my last opportunity to enjoy a maid cleaning up after us. Instead I ended up cleaning up the room and making the bed while he was in the shower, then cleaning up the bathroom while he got dressed. Once again I felt like Tom Bodett left the light on, but everything else was up to me.



So what do you like in a motel room? Where do you set your standard of service?