What do many hotels have against stairs?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 22 Jul, 2023
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If the building has an elevator, stairs are a code requirement in all but the most ancient of buildings.
Bottom line is – if you see an elevator, there are stairs to lead to each floor the elevator services.
This doesn’t mean the stairs are available for general use. This was the case when I stayed at a hotel in Budapest. I ended up using the stairs as the elevators were very slow – only to find out I cannot exit onto the floor because the door will trigger the fire alarm.
This really depends on the hotel. Lower end hotels and especially motels do have stairs, particularly when they are built on an outdoor model (like an apartment complex or some area that doesn’t have real winters). All of the nicer large hotels will have stairs, but as you noticed, there may not be entrance on the first floor. I’ve been to hotels where we had parties spread over multiple floors. Often the party goers will use the fire escape stairs to move from floor to floor. In larger hotels, this can quite a time saver. The stairs went to every floor but the first floor (because the are designed exit directly out of the building to safely, not to a lobby that might be a place of chaos in a fire).
Because they are not used. The vast majority of people do not use them. With luggage of course not. Elderly, handicapped, non-sporty people neither. The staff does not use them since they have to use the service lift. I am personally always surprised how many people prefer to wait for and take an elevator even if an escalator exists to go up/down only one floor.
On top of that, when they build stairs, they should suit the hotels branding aspirations. That means that they will take more space than a simple functional one and should ideally not be cased in with walls all around but open and light looking. But the space such nice, guest-suitable stairs (as opposed to emergency stairs) require costs a lot of money. You can use this space for rooms and other facilities that get you more rental income or amenities for the guests instead.
It is simply a bad return on investment.
Stairs to the lower floors are only available in newer hotels when there are function rooms on the one or two floors above the reception and they want to have a “grand staircase” for wedding couples or conference groups to take pictures on. And then they end there.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘