Why do hotels place their wall mounted AC units right next to the desk where one checks email, makes blog posts, eats their take out, and drinks their wine?But yesterday I devised a means of blocking the intrusive air from hitting me in the face and the side of the neck - which inevitably would have caused a neck cramp from asymmetrical cooling. Turn the ottoman on it's side (Ever since they left Vienna, their empire has been in decline), top with 2 superfluous pillows, and the air flow is diverted.
I've tried putting towels over the vents in the past, but that leads to icing up the coils, and then the AC shuts down, until the ice melts off (in chunks) and it a pain. Don't block the airflow on the AC unit, divert it, after it leaves the AC unit.
Always seems incredibly inefficient to have an entire a/c unit in each room as well.
ReplyDeletethe South Korean model, in the international hotels I've stayed in the cities of Changwon and Pusan had central AC, controlled from the lobby, with a "for show" thermostat in the room. Cooling / heating was provided by a chilled water loop that barely worked. I'd try to set my thermostat for 72F, and it would not go below 78F. I used a hair dryer to "fake out" the t-stat, and the lobby monitored system saw this, and then turned UP my room's temp to 85F - that's what I must've wanted on a hot humid June night, no? Right before my eyes, it automatically changed from 78F to 85F... so needless to say, I am a fan of individual room air conditions that work... an not a fan of Southern South Korea hotels. =)
ReplyDeleteNice excluded middle. I'm pretty sure those wouldn't be our only two solutions.
ReplyDeleteThe middle way is often preferable, but the US is a highly polarized and egocentric market. My car, my cell phone, my McMansion, my AC choice... I think a shared system in the US would go over like a turd in a punch bowl.
ReplyDeleteA centralized chiller loop would be more efficient, combined with individual room controls that really allowed actual room control / preference (as the bath/showers have, universally in the US) ...I've just not seen it in the hotel chains in which I've stayed.