Often it seems easier to rent discount hotel rooms or find cheap vacation packages than it is to find a quiet hotel room. Noise was the number one hotel complaint of respondents to the 2011 J.D. Power and Associates North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.
Noise was a bigger issue than smelly rooms, slow Internet connections or rude staff.
Common hotel noise complaints concern noisy parties, the rackety sound a heat/air conditioning unit makes and the buzzing of certain types of light fixtures. Other irritating noises includes slamming doors, chattering hotel staff, amorous couples in a nearby room, revving car engines outside, leaking toilets, and dripping faucets.
Even other guests snoring is sometimes an issue. Crowne Plaza has installed snore monitors patrolling hallways at some of its British hotels and is testing snore absorptions rooms in many of its European properties.
Some guests have found that the better (often more expensive) the hotel the quieter the rooms, or at least they offer more responsive staff to quickly address a noise problem.
Frequent hotel guests tend to quickly report noise problems to hotel employees. Often they have remedies of their own, including ear plugs, reserving corner rooms on top floors, unplugging refrigerators, and requesting a room far away from ice making machines and elevators.
There is an iPhone app called White Noise that features jungle, beach or rain shower sounds to help tune out annoyances. www.cheapfares.com