Off-topic: Hotel sink stoppers

I promise to get back on-topic right after this posting — I have some catching up to do, what with John Hagel sounding off about Web 2.0 and SOA, with everything else that's worthy of comment in the SaaS world, and with my Wither ... series of postings still to complete.

But first, I want to talk about hotel sink stoppers, and the way they never stop the sink properly.

I'm currently on a business trip on the US West coast — which is why, what with a combination of jet lag, a tight schedule and being a bit out of practice at juggling trip downtime and WiFi hotspot accounts, I haven't been able to post for several days. However I can tell you that, having amassed a sample size to date of four hotels, it's becoming clear that non-working sink stoppers are the default in American hotels (and from my trips in Europe I can tell you the same applies there).

Having had sink stoppers at home that work, I know for certain that this is not something that can be blamed on the equipment. Nor is it down to the kind of establishment I'm staying in. This morning, I'm staying at a very classy hotel in San Francisco called the Palomar, which is above the Army & Navy store on Market and Fourth. The sink equipment is by Kohler. We're not talking about cheapskate materials here, or lackluster management. The rooms at the Palomar are superb. But the sink stopper sucks.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't like to wet shave with the water running. I want to fill the basin with proper hot water and then I want the water to stay there while I shave, without me having to top up every 5 seconds. The stopper here at the Palomar lets the water out almost faster than it comes out of the faucet. And yet this hotel, like every other in the country, makes a point of its green, water-saving credentials when it comes to not washing your towels or changing your bed linen every day. That message rings kind of hollow when they can't even be bothered to make sure the sink stoppers work.