Why Can’t We Open Hotel Room Windows?

In 1980, Nancy Reagan penned a newspaper editorial in which the soon-to-be first lady detailed her struggles on the campaign trail with presidential candidate (and former California governor) Ronald Reagan.

Among her complaints (sleeping in strange beds, hopping from town to town, keeping odd hours), Nancy zeroed in on one familiar to travelers: “Hotel rooms with windows that are sealed and can’t be opened,” she wrote, “... leaves me with a claustrophobic feeling.”

Indeed, most hotels, motels, and other lodgings across the U.S. and around the world have sealed windows in guest rooms. They have no apparent means of being opened, leaving guests feeling like a hermetically-sealed collectible comic or baseball card. This is despite guests insisting they prefer windows that open in surveys dating back to the 1990s, if not earlier.

So why are hotels so opposed to customers getting fresh air? Why do patrons need to dwell in the stale air of the previous—and potentially odorous—prior occupant?

Why Hotel Room Windows Don’t Open
A Breath of Fresh (Recirculated) Air

Why Hotel Room Windows Don’t Open

The lack of fresh air ventilation in hotel rooms comes down to several reasons, but almost all of them share the same overarching motivation: reducing liability.

The first and perhaps most obvious motive is discouraging people from self-harm. A window on a floor several stories above ground level may prove tempting to someone contemplating suicide.

Such a situation can be inflamed when a hotel is located at a popular tourist destination, like Las Vegas. In 2008, a study published in Social Science and Medicine found that people visiting Vegas had a two-fold increase in suicide risk compared to people visiting other spots. (Theories abound as to why, but it’s likely less about gambling losses and more about wanting to be away from home when suicidal ideations are present.)

But intentional falls are only part of the issue. Consider that people traveling may also enjoy a drink (or three) in Vegas or elsewhere and subsequently find themselves discombobulated or unsteady, making them more of a risk to suffer an accidental fall. The same explanation holds for children, who might be left unattended just long enough to lean out of a window. Whether due to a guest’s desire for self-harm, inebriation, or youthful curiosity, an open window located in a third-story room would inevitably become tragic—and likely litigious—for the hotel proprietor.

This is hardly a hypothetical. In 2015, a man idling in a valet area of a Los Angeles hotel was seriously injured when a woman fell on top of him from an 11th story window. He sued the hotel, with his attorney arguing that the windows should not be operational given that they were located above a pedestrian area.

Nor is this area of law a new development: A man once sued a San Francisco hotel after a chair fell from a hotel window and struck him back in 1945.

The safety issues extend not only to people falling out, but people coming in. Rooms on the first floor of a hotel where accidents aren’t really an issue instead introduce an opportunity for burglars—particularly if guests leave a window open and then head out.

Avoiding litigation is certainly reason enough to make the windows inoperable. But another motive exists.

A Breath of Fresh (Recirculated) Air

Hotel rooms are conditioned spaces. Management keeps rooms warm in cold weather and cool in warm weather, blasting air conditioning so guests can remain comfortable. It’s a key reason modern construction turned toward sealed spaces in the 1970s.

The consequence of this comfort is in the hotel needing to have some degree of climate control. If someone were to blast the AC and then leave a window open, the property’s energy usage would skyrocket. The same holds true for warm air coming into a room that has an open portal to frigid temperatures outdoors. While a lot of guests would have the presence of mind to trap conditioned air, others wouldn’t. After all, they don’t have to pay the energy bill.

Operable windows come with another expense-related caveat: The more something moves, the more prone it is to mechanical wear. A sealed window is, by and large, likely to last longer and thus be less expensive than a functional window.

Given these factors, it’s not really surprising hotels opt to keep windows shut. It’s rare to find a one-size-fits-all solution to alleviate everything from death to heating and cooling expenses. But that doesn’t mean all hotels subscribe to the philosophy. Some may have semi-working windows equipped with devices known as window restrictors. These cables work somewhat like chain locks on doors, allowing for minimal opening of a few inches—enough for some air but not wide enough to permit an accidental fall.

Some hotels may even permit you unfettered access if you relieve them of any responsibility. In 2019, Sydney Morning Herald author Tim Richards wrote that a hotel in Hong Kong unlocked his room window after he signed a waiver.

Failing that, your best bet for fresh air is to find a hotel room with some sliding glass doors and a balcony.

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