10 Tips For A Better Hotel Rest

We have odd hotel hours. We might check in at 2 a.m. and check out at 10 p.m., so getting a good night’s sleep may be a challenge. For example, at 8 a.m. the “attack” of the morning staff begins. The housekeeping army is on full offensive (and fully offensive. The whining and banging of vacuums, slamming of doors, and the yelling of instructions to one another are enough to drive you crazy.

In Europe, I have been awakened many times by hotel staff checking for a depleted mini-bar. Can you imagine waking up to some strange man at the foot of your bed counting drinks? The “Do Not Disturb” sign may be on the door, but that minibar counter seems to have a waiver.

I value sleep immensely, so through the years I have gathered some tricks to the art of sleeping away from home. The following is a list of tips for a happier hotel rest:

1. Room choice. Don’t get a room by the elevator or ice machine. You will feel the vibration all night long. It may not be apparent at first, but, believe me, when the lights are out; it will be. One more thing: if the hotel has a disco, make sure you get a room at least two floors away. I can’t tell you how many nights in South America I tried to sleep to the beat.

2. Do Not Disturb sign. If your room does not have one, call the concierge or make one out of the hotel stationary paper. Without it, housekeeping will drive you bananas in the morning. I’ve lost count of the number of times a maid has caught me as I stumbled to the bathroom, naked.

3. Earplugs. Yes, my top in-flight tip is also one of my top hotel tips. It’s very important that you get used wearing them. Put them by the bedside table. Bring a back-up pair, just in case.

4. Party time. If there is a party going on next door, do not, and I repeat, do not call security on the assumption they will solve the matter. Instead, I recommend packing your bags, returning to the front desk, and requesting another room. It’s very easy for the front desk to say that they have no more rooms on the phone, but much more difficult to say it in person. If you feel inconvenienced by the revelers, you could always remember their room number and then give them a call early the next morning.They are bound to be in mid-sleep with a hangover waiting. The same goes for the loud couple next door going for the sexual marathon record. It’s fun to listen to for the first ten minutes but will make you cringe when it goes on for hours.

5. Television timer. If there is a timer function on the remote control, set it no matter how awake you feel. Waking up to a horror or war movie on high volume is a scary experience.

6. Operator. Call the operator and ask for a “do not disturb” on your phone line. Wrong-number calls will abound and are apt to ruin your slumber. You can request a “do not disturb” until a certain time or until you call and cancel. Alternately, you can merely unplug your phone.

7. Trailblazing. Clear a path from the bed to the toilet. This is so you don’t have to turn a light on or stub a toe on the way to your nightly visit.

8. Liquids. Keep a glass, or better yet a bottle, of water within hand reach. Looking for some in the middle of the night might ruin any chance of getting back to sleep.

9. Curtains. Close the curtains all the way so the sun doesn’t wake you in the morning.

10. Alarming. Check to be sure that the alarm clock has been turned off. There are people who get a kick out of setting it for the middle of the night as a practical joke for the next guest. Not my type of humor, but it’s out there.

If you value sleep as much as I do, these strategies are well worth considering. Sweet dreams!
David Brights writes for www.showcheaphotels.info where you can find out more about cheap hotels and other topics.

Website Navigation - Some Tips

Navigation (and page titling and headlines) needs to tell visitors immediately:

* Where I am
* What is here
* Where I can go next

There are many ways of presenting navigation: down one side of the screen, along the top and bottom or in a frame. However, think of the search engines, as well as visitors as most search engines don't like frames or java script - which they can not be understand. As search engines need to read the links to index the site properly and you want good organic listings, java script is not a good idea and anyway some visitors will have it disabled.

So here are some more 'top tips':

1: It is important to allow instant access to the rest of your site from anywhere within it. Ideally, you should be able to go to any page in a maximum of two clicks and one is better. Motto: the less clicks the better.

2: Use the same navigation scheme and elements on all pages. Create a common navigational look to ensure that your users can use your site navigation effectively.

3: Wherever possible, use text navigation. Think about the tradeoff between text and graphics. Text based navigation works better than image based navigation because it enables users to understand the link destinations in detail. Too many sites have beautiful and fancy images for navigation that mean nothing to visitors. (Ever been abroad and been confused by their roadside or 'restroom' images?) Research also shows that 'breadcrumb trails' positioned under the page title (at eye level and closer to other links on the page) are used more than breadcrumb trails positioned at the top of the page.

4: Keep navigation elements (elements meaning different navigation 'lists') in close proximity and help users to develop a mental model of your web site.

5: Use the right margin for your web site's main index. Research shows that users are lazy and click on topics in the right margin more than topics placed on the left because they are located much closer to the scroll bar and they don't have to move their mouse so far! This allows users to quickly move the pointer between the scroll bar and the index items. These benefits are particularly strong for laptops with those horrid fingertip based mouse controls.

6: Separate important items from housekeeping links. Housekeeping links are the things people may need to find from any page but that don't need to be prominent. For example Privacy Policy, Site Map, FAQs and Contact Us can appear in the header or footer of the page

7: Make links easy to find. Don't expect visitors to mouse over every word on the page to discover if it is a link or not. Links don't have to be underlined, but do make them a different colour so that they stand out from surrounding body text and add a hover colour to links so that users can see what they are about to click. Use new windows (pop ups) sparingly.
Richard Hill is a Director of E-CRM Solutions, that specialises in CRM, direct and internet marketing [www.e-crm.co.uk] for SMEs. He is non-executive Chairman of Innovantage [www.innovantage.co.uk] a business intelligence company and a non-executive director of Innovecom [www.innovecom.com] a computer networking company.

Homeowner's Guide To Earth-friendly Pest Prevention

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management is an environmentally-friendly approach to pest prevention and control. It employs common-sense techniques based on pest lifecycles and how they interact with their environment. Using this knowledge of pests can help you successfully prevent pests in the most economical manner, and in a way that poses the least risk to other people, your pets, your home, and the environment. Good housekeeping is a great example of Integrated Pest Management.

Pest-Prevention Housekeeping Tips

1. Vacuum. Vacuuming not only helps your carpet and floors look better; it also helps eliminate pests and their food sources. When you vacuum, you suck up crumbs and pieces of food that are normally nearly invisible, thus taking away sources of nourishment for pests. Small pests, such as fleas and bedbugs, may also be in nestled in your carpet or in the corners of a room. It only takes a couple of pests to cause an infestation, so it is to your advantage to thoroughly vacuum your home on a routine basis.

2. Food storage. Exposed food on a kitchen counter is an open invitation to hungry pests. Store all unrefrigerated foods in airtight plastic containers or sealable plastic bags. This includes cereal, flour, pasta, cornmeal and rice.

3. Crumb patrol. When preparing a meal, clean your counters and cutting boards as soon as possible. Wash dirty dishes after every meal. If you are not able to wash them right away, rinse each dish well before leaving them in the sink.

4. Throw away trash. Trash provides hiding spots pests may find welcoming. Throw away your trash on a regular basis. When throwing food away, only place it in a trashcan that has a lid. If you are throwing away spoiled food or food you think may spoil in the trash before the next pick-up, consider leaving it in your freezer and throwing it out shortly before your trash pick-up is scheduled.

5. Clothing storage. Moths, silverfish and cockroaches eat clothes made of natural fibers like silk, cotton and wool. Before storing sweaters, blankets, fabrics and other materials made of natural fibers, wash them well. Then, store them in a lidded, airtight plastic bin or in a sealable plastic bag with a pack of silica gel to keep out any moisture.

6. Humidity control. Roaches, silverfish and other pests thrive in humid conditions. Pest prevention techniques that help control humidity include fixing leaking plumbing, not allowing water to pool (such as in houseplant trays) and using the fan in the bathroom when you shower. It's also wise to use fans and dehumidifiers in your home to help keep the humidity at bay.

7. De-clutter. Any clutter in your house, such as the kind commonly found in garages, can be a home to an unwanted pest. Keeping a cluttered home can make effective integrated pest management difficult.

8. Seal holes in the wall and floor. Pests can enter you home through holes as small as 1/16-inch wide. Use caulk to fill in cracks in your walls, baseboards and cabinets. Wire mesh can also aid your pest prevention efforts-fill holes where pipes go through the floor, ceiling and wall.

9. Woodpiles. Never leave piles of firewood in your home or stacked on the ground next to your home. Wood-eating beetles and termites can easily hide under the bark of firewood, and you can inadvertently introduce these pests into your home by leaving it in your home unburned. Keep firewood away from your home and elevated off the ground to keep it dry.

10. Landscaping pest prevention. Keep your gutters free of debris, clear your lawn of leaf piles and twigs, and cut back trees that overhang your roof.

Integrated pest management is about knowing what pests want and not giving it to them. Pest prevention, however, may be ineffective if you already have an infestation. If your home is already infested with pests, take the next step in integrated pest management and contact a green pest control service to remedy the situation.
Looking for Lakewood pest control experts to help get rid cockroaches or other pests in your Colorado home? Alpha Ecological is the place to find eco-friendly pest prevention program information.