The lighting above us.

December 20, 2007 8:56 AM

In Slate's Explainer column today, they have the unanswered questions of 2007. Most are inscrutable, unanswerable or ridiculous... but I've wondered this one myself too many times to let it go: "Very rare to find a hotel room with a light on the ceiling, they're usually floor lamps or desk lamps. Is there some structural reason for that?"

Is there? I've always found it awkward to enter hotel rooms at night, where the lightswitch turns on some hallway lamp, and then you have to hit the corners of the rooms to get to the other lamps -- as opposed to home or work, where you flip the switch and there's instant light that covers the room. Is this purely aesthetic, or is there actually a practical reason?

posted by eschatfische to society & culture (14 comments total)

Easier to replace because of damage and easier to redecorate.
posted by Mitheral at 8:59 AM on December 20, 2007

Great. Thanks. Now I'm going to have to worry about all this shit.
posted by nax at 9:06 AM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

The simple answer is that hotels/motels are attempting to recreate the atmosphere of "home" in each room. Specifically, the living room, which in most houses and apartments has no built-in overhead lighting. Using multiple floor and table lamps allows either the hotel or the guest to move the lighting around to (theoretically) create the desired mood/atmosphere.

Furthermore, the current trend is to increase the level of "customization" available to the guest by equipping the lamps with longer power cords, making it possible to place lamps just about anywhere in the room. In our hotel, the lamps are fitted with 25-foot cords. Same thing with the telephone - a longer cord allows a guest to move around the room while talking on the phone, just like they would be able to do at home.

From a SDMB thread on this very subject, as stated by the general manager of a hotel. (Scroll down to post #19.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:06 AM on December 20, 2007

I'm going to guess the most prosaic reason: because it's easier to change the light bulbs on desk/floor lamps.

Hotels have a small window of time to clean up a room and sending out a guy with a ladder to change a bulb in a ceiling lamp will take a lot longer and be a greater hassle than just stocking the maid cart with fresh bulbs.
posted by jamaro at 9:18 AM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Also, maintenance doesn't need to drag a ladder up to the 23rd floor just to change a lightbulb - the maid can do it with the folding stepstool on her cleaning card.
posted by luriete at 9:18 AM on December 20, 2007

Another reason, from a construction standpoint, is that often hotels are built with a precast or cast-in-place concrete floor/ceiling assembly. This makes it much more difficult to put a light fixture in the ceiling, unless you build a gypsum board ceiling below the concrete deck.
Typically you need around 6"-8" of clearance for a commercial light fixture, and architects/owners do not want to lose the ceiling height. Also, there is obviously significant added cost in framing a ceiling to conceal the light fixture and associated conduit. It is much eaisier (read cheaper) to use wall mounted fixtures.

An exception is the bathroom. Usually there is a lower ceiling to conceal required exhaust fans and (sometimes) the heating/cooling unit for the hotel room. Hence, you usually have room to install a ceiling mounted (recessed) light fixture.
posted by katocolon at 9:36 AM on December 20, 2007

Structurally, hotels have concrete slabs for floors/ceilings. Money and time are saved in construction by not installing junction boxes and conduit for ceiling lamps in the concrete.
posted by partner at 9:39 AM on December 20, 2007

I'd imagine that it's easier to clean desk lamps than overhead lights.

In my dorms in undergrad there were overhead lights with a glass bowl lampshade - the summer cleaning crew hated getting up there to clean them.
posted by porpoise at 9:42 AM on December 20, 2007

I'd probably incline towards the structural explanation: poured concrete floors/ceilings. Though the aesthetic explanation --

Specifically, the living room, which in most houses and apartments has no built-in overhead lighting.

is pertinent to a related question: why there's no bloody overhead light in my living room. Are ceiling light fittings in lounges/living rooms really that uncommon in the US?
posted by holgate at 12:16 PM on December 20, 2007

Are ceiling light fittings in lounges/living rooms really that uncommon in the US?
Can't say for the US, but almost every living room I've seen in Canada doesn't have overhead fixtures. My current one does not and it annoys me to no end.
posted by Meagan at 1:04 PM on December 20, 2007

I can't think of a place I've lived where there was overhead lighting in the living room. Kitchen and dining room: yes. Bathrooms always have some kind of built-in lighting, either on walls or ceiling. Bedroom: sometimes yes, sometimes no.

As an aside, the only hotel rooms I've stayed in that had overhead lighting were cheap motels, and the lighting was fluorescentdreadful.
posted by iguanapolitico at 2:29 PM on December 20, 2007

Wow. When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a barrel roll or an inside loop? I'm going to be wondering about that myself now.

Oh, and it's cheaper for the hotel, no matter what the hotel manager says about making the place like home. My home doesn't have remote controls that are screwed to the top of the nightstand, or a mini-bar with overpriced candy in it. If an overhead light gets broken, it's harder to fix. Plus, if a lamp is broken, they can easily just add the price of a new lamp to the guest's bill at the end of his stay.
posted by misha at 4:02 PM on December 20, 2007

Are ceiling light fittings in lounges/living rooms really that uncommon in the US?

Yes, this is intriguing me! Is this USA specific? I can't think of a place I've lived or visited in Australia that didn't have overhead lighting in every room, and this includes all the hotel rooms I've been in. I'm sure I would notice if a room did not contain a light fixture in the roof. Yet this is apparently what I am about to experience if/when I travel to USA shortly!

Assuming this is USA specific: Could it really be for structural reasons? Wouldn't the same considerations apply in Australia?
posted by hAndrew at 6:50 PM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think the assumption is those big American hotel/motels, where the rooms are often stacked like shoeboxes. (To be contrary, seems like every cheap hotel room in Europe has a single-bulb light fixture hanging from the ceiling.)
posted by Rash at 5:23 PM on December 21, 2007