For better or worse, vibrating beds in hotels and other once-common amenities are getting the boot
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Vibrating beds
The name of these relics, Magic Fingers, is even more absurd than the concept. But in the 1960s and ’70s, more than a million hotel and motel beds across the United States were equipped with these bed-shaking contraptions, which were the brainchild of inventor John Houghtaling. For a mere quarter plunked into a bedside coin box, guests could transform their regular mattress into a vibrating bed, at least for 15 minutes or so.
In the golden age of the American roadtrip, Magic Fingers vibrating beds were considered a novel luxury amenity for travelers tired and achy from a long day of driving. Their relaxation benefits may have been dubious, but they sure were entertaining! Of course, my brother and I also entertained ourselves by running down the hall to the ice machine to refill our ice bucket. (Who knew we needed so much ice?)
By the late 20th century, the appeal of Magic Fingers had faded in favor of premium bedding and pillow menus. Today, you have to venture to a retro lodging, like the Flamingo Motel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, or the Roadrunner Lodge in Tucumcari, New Mexico, to enjoy the kitschy delight of this vintage hotel throwback.
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Old hotel keys
Remember when you checked into a hotel and were handed an actual key, often attached to a heavy, tasseled key chain? There’s a very old world European charm to these antique hotel keys, which guests would typically leave at reception when they went out for the day, rather than carry the weighty item around. As time went on, old hotel keys started getting a plastic keychain, but those days are mostly over.
“Key cards are definitely the norm now, and some hotels are even using wood or other eco-friendly materials to make them,” Itzkowitz says. Electronic room keys reduce loss (because they cost the hotel pennies) and can be remotely deactivated. They also cut down on in-room theft—if you misplace your key card, there’s no room number on it for a crafty burglar to exploit.
However, these vintage amenities still have their place, Itzkowitz says. “I recently stayed at a new hotel in Tuscany with actual physical keys, which have become a signifier of a certain retro style at hotels.”
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Paid Wi-Fi
Once upon a time when the internet was new, especially in the early aughts, hotels routinely made you pay for dial-up, DSL/ADSL and later, Wi-Fi. Some set data usage limits or offered free internet only in the business center or some other common area. Even when wireless internet became the norm, Wi-Fi fees were common until fairly recently.
But now that we’re more connected to our devices than ever, in-room Wi-Fi is just an expected amenity, like hot water or air conditioning—and few hotels have the gall to charge for it. Some may offer basic Wi-Fi for free and charge for premium service, others may offer Wi-Fi as part of their resort fee—which you have to pay for anyway. And many chains, such as Marriott, IHG, Hilton and Hyatt, offer free Wi-Fi to their loyalty program members. But since those memberships are also free, signing up for gratis connectivity is relatively painless.
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Single-use plastics
This change can’t happen soon enough. To boost sustainability, and ultimately reduce costs and waste, more and more hotels are switching from single-use plastics—typified by tiny shampoo bottles and individually wrapped mini bars of soap—in favor of refillable containers for bath products.
“Personally, I love to take home the little bottles of lotion from hotels, but full size, refillable bottles of bath products are undoubtedly more sustainable,” Itzkowitz says. A study by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) found that nearly half of all member hotels have a bathroom-amenity recycling program.
The transition may be slower for low-cost hotels that have less upfront money to invest in refillable solutions. But in the next few years, Itzkowitz says you can expect to see “those tiny plastic bottles going the way of the payphone.”
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Overpriced minibars
The fear of accidentally being on the hook for a $20 bottle of water from your hotel room minibar is real, and it makes many people shy away from opening them at all. Why pay for exorbitantly priced drinks and snacks when you can call DoorDash or UberEats and get anything you want? The conveniences of modern life have fully creeped into hotels and motels, that’s for sure.
Between guests complaining about the costs, the extra work for housekeeping and the hotel having to add charges after a guest has checked out, more and more hotels have ditched minibars altogether. Or, they simply leave in-room fridges empty like the (older) old days.
Another option, particularly for high end hotels, is a completely complementary minibar. That goes for the Hotel Gabrielli in Venice, Italy. “‘Did you consume anything from the minibar?’ is the stupidest question to ask someone when they’re checking out of a five-star hotel,” Pisani says.
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Smoking rooms
Sorry smokers: There are fewer and fewer hotels out there where you can light up in the privacy of your own room. While nearly 100% of hotels offer smoke-free room options for guests, according to the AHLA, more and more properties are entirely smoke-free. Many states, such as California, New York and Arizona, have broad indoor smoking bans, but several hotel groups, like Marriott and Westin, are smoke-free regardless of state or local laws.
Smokers may be able to light up in designated outdoor areas, but these are often not the most scenic or pleasant areas on the property. But hey, it’s another good reason to kick the habit, right?
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Exterior corridors
The exterior corridor design, where room doors open directly onto the parking area (or overlooking it, if on an upper floor), were a hallmark of the motel era. These rooms are convenient for loading or unloading the car, and hitting the road bright and early. But they also pose safety concerns, particularly for the record-high number of solo women travelers out there, and they can be noisy compared to carpeted interior corridors.
Exterior-corridor lodgings experienced a brief resurgence during the pandemic, but they’re becoming increasingly rare and almost entirely absent from new hotel construction. Looks like you’ll have to drag your suitcase through the lobby, after all.
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Front desk staff
In the last few years, I’ve checked into hotels in Rome, New York City and Reykjavik, Iceland, without ever engaging with a hotel staff member. And this was before the AI tsunami that’s happening across industries. Remote or digital check-in gained steam during COVID-19–era staffing shortages, and the pandemic also fueled the appeal of contactless check-in.
Nature abhors a vacuum, so in stepped technology solutions that could take the place of front desk staff—albeit without a warm smile and greeting. Expect to still find doting staff at high-end hotels, but more and more, trendy city and concept hotels are going for staff-free check-in experiences.
Additional reporting by Meghan Jones.
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Sources:
- Laura Itzkowitz, travel writer, hotel expert and author of the New Roman Times; WhatsApp interview, Aug. 24, 2025
- Salvatore Pisani, area general manager for Hotel Gabrielli–Starhotels Collezione and Hotel Splendid Venice; in-person interview, Aug. 19, 2025
- Downtown Coeur d’Alene: “Flamingo Motel”
- Roadrunner Lodge: “Our Rooms”
- AHLA: “New Hotel Trend Survey Reveals Major Advancements Across the Industry”
- Waste Direct: “Hotel Waste Statistics 2025”
- CNBC: “Why Americans fell out of love with the hotel minibar”
- Hotel Management: “Exterior-corridor hotels: Down, but far from out”
- Brittany Ferries: Solo Travel Statistics 2025″
- Straiv: “The hotel reception in transformation”
