[COM] Holiday Inn Express | Hindley Street | 39m | 11 lvls | Hotel

[crawf]

My personal pet hate - new hotel buildings with no balconies! WTF. Even for some rooms? Why.....

Because people go out there to smoke / set fire to things, and jump / fall off them. It's a liability thing, several hotels around the World have been removing open balconies in recent years.

Especially in a high profile entertainment precinct like Hindley Street.

If I was a guest, my priority would be for the windows to be double glazed rather than having a balcony.

[how good is he]

Windows can still be double glazed regardless if there are balconies. So guests smoking inside the room is also preferable, not. For me, sitting outside people-watching on an entertainment strip like Hindley is far prefable than being couped up in a room just watching a TV - you may as well just stay home.

[crawf]

Windows can still be double glazed regardless if there are balconies. So guests smoking inside the room is also preferable, not. For me, sitting outside people-watching on an entertainment strip like Hindley is far prefable than being couped up in a room just watching a TV - you may as well just stay home.

Double glazed for sleeping.

[YellowRoad]

This hotel should be big with out of towners coming down for the weekend in need of a cheap place to sleep. Not fussed by the lack of balconies nor the design of the tower in general. The street level activation on the other hand looks great. Hopefully we find out what's going there soon.

[monotonehell]

I forgot one of the justifications they've been throwing out there for no balconies: Air conditioning costs being greater when guests leave doors open.

[serca]

Windows can still be double glazed regardless if there are balconies. So guests smoking inside the room is also preferable, not. For me, sitting outside people-watching on an entertainment strip like Hindley is far prefable than being couped up in a room just watching a TV - you may as well just stay home.

Ideally all hotels would have a balcony but I don't agree about the need for them. Unfortunately too many peanuts out there have made it a liability. There are balcony bars around the CBD if they want drink on a balcony. Also people can't just "stay at home" because a majority of the guests will be from overseas or interstate making that one difficult.

As for people smoking in hotel rooms it's just feral, disrespectful and bloody annoying

[how good is he]

Even if they had French doors that opened (internally) with a steel balustrade (so balcony-like), so you could let actual fresh air in! The Playford (prev. Sebel) rooms facing Victoria St have them. They add no cost to the build or extra floor space yet are so much better. I should have also added the thing that compounds it is they have no windows that actually OPEN/SLIDE (all fixed) in rooms not much bigger than a prison cell. But I guess that's what you get if you want cheap/budget rooms. But it still amazes me a 5-star hotel was built (Intercontinental- prev. Hyatt) with no balconies or opening/slide open windows & despite the best views & outlook in Adelaide.

[monotonehell]

Even if they had French doors that opened (internally) with a steel balustrade (so balcony-like), so you could let actual fresh air in!

That's what they had at the former Wrather's Hotel, now fully Disney Hotel next to Disneyland in California. A few years ago they sealed all the not-really-a-balcony balconies because of the air conditioning costs of guests leaving the windows open with the a/c on.

[Llessur2002]

I dunno - as much as I'd love the option to get fresh air into a stuffy air-conditioned hotel room, I think there are very good reasons why tall buildings available to the public for $100 a night:

1) People jump out of them
2) People fall out of them
3) People drop things out of them

If I were opening a budget hotel on a popular nightlife strip I wouldn't have any opening windows or balconies either. The potential costs (financial, legal and reputation) in case of any of the above would far outweigh the benefits IMHO.

If I were building two-level luxury hotel overlooking Cradle Mountain or similar then I might think differently.

[Norman]

From just before Christmas:

[mshagg]

Windows can still be double glazed regardless if there are balconies. So guests smoking inside the room is also preferable, not. For me, sitting outside people-watching on an entertainment strip like Hindley is far prefable than being couped up in a room just watching a TV - you may as well just stay home.

There's definitely a place for balconies in hotels and many I've stayed in for work over the years have had them. But not at a Holiday Inn (or a travelodge, ibis etc). Their service offering is exactly as you say - a room with a bed and a TV. If you want quality amenities then up the budget a bit.

I dont think the liability thing is really an issue, just look at the target demographic for oaks serviced apartments (i.e. how many steresonic bros can you cram in to a 2br apartment on a long weekend).

[Norman]

A few photos from Friday:

[ghs]

One of the issues with balconies is that it only takes another building to go up next door
in order for the balconies to become redundant. Vision on Morphett is a good example of this.
The building to the south of Vision has balconies (looking North) which would have had splendid
views a couple of years ago before Vision was erected. The residents now go out onto their balcony
and they're staring into a lovely blank wall.

[arki]

One of the issues with balconies is that it only takes another building to go up next door
in order for the balconies to become redundant. Vision on Morphett is a good example of this.
The building to the south of Vision has balconies (looking North) which would have had splendid
views a couple of years ago before Vision was erected. The residents now go out onto their balcony
and they're staring into a lovely blank wall.

Because windows with once 'splendid' views that have now been blocked out by a blank wall are so much more appealing than a functional balcony #ghslogic

[timtam20292]

I'm failing to workout which building with balconies you are referring to.