Adam Hyman on the difficulty with hotel hair dryers

I’ve been lucky enough to stay in quite a few hotels recently. A combination of work and pleasure has meant I’ve checked into eight hotels across the UK, Paris, Italy, and Greece. They ranged from the height of luxury to more no frills, bougie establishments. All served a purpose: somewhere for me to rest my head for the night and have a warm shower in the morning. 

I love a hotel. Both the romanticism around them and the escapism. You check-out of your daily bubble and are transported into a different world from the time you are greeted at the front desk to the moment you say goodbye.  

Of course, your usual daily routine goes out the window: room service, eating a club sandwich with a glass of wine in bed seems normal; leaving towels on the floor is almost, almost excusable; and turning on CNN to see news that isn’t the BBC is an educational treat. 

But however remedial and affirming these stays might be, I have one consistent bugbear: the hotel hair dryer. 

First up, there needs to be some universal rule as to where hair dryers are located. Because finding them is often a thankless task. Wet, in a towel post-shower or bath, and the hunt begins. No sign of one in the bathroom, so it’s off to the wardrobe. Nope. A rummage through some drawers. Nothing. Finally, you find it in what looks like a shoe bag hidden away in some secret compartment. It’s like a hairdresser’s Easter egg hunt. 

Next up, the unravelling of the cord. This is often easier said than done. Especially when housekeeping has done some apparent ropework with the plug that a sailor would be proud of. Oh, and I wish staff wouldn’t hide the thing away each day if you’re there for more than one night. 

Anyway, you’ve found it now, and a few expletives later and then you’re ready to dry your hair. But wait. The plug…? 

Outside the UK, they allow hair dryers to be used in the bathroom. Rightly or wrongly, they trust us to use electrical equipment without falling into a foamy bath à la Mel Gibson in What Women Want. Back in Blighty, this is clearly too much of a risk, so the art of drying your hair often includes discovering how far the lead stretches from plug socket to mirror. If Nicky Clarke did yoga. 

You know you’ve struck gold when you find a little leather box. That means one thing: a Dyson. That distinct hum it makes encourages confidence; you know you’re in good hands with all those settings and attachments. But so often the hotel hair dryer is a complete let-down. There’s a real sadness to the ones connected to the wall like an old telephone, with no heat options or intensity levels.  

But however trying hotel hair dryers might be, they are always outdone by the bedside set up that doesn’t have a plug to charge your damn phone. Now that’s a lot of hot air. 

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