Have you noticed the way that hotels have 'modernised' certain aspects of the service they provide yet, at the same time, managed to magically retain the same levels of general incompetence as before? Well, perhaps you haven't, I have though...maybe i'm being picky (which, let's face it, is rather likely ;)) but I digress :) so let's consider the two main things i've noticed shall we?

1: Hotels have abolished the old fashioned methods of filing and keeping their customers details (ie. stacks and stacks of paper stored in cavernous filing cabinets) with the obviously superior and more efficient method of using computers...so does this mean that they don't lose your details, get your name wrong, give you the wrong room key etc? Of course not...it just means they do it in new and different ways :)

2: Room keys...hotels always used to have normal keys that were handed out to their customers which, invariably, the customers lose meaning they have to have replacement keys hanging around and there was also the possibility of either the theft of the keys or picking of locks...so they moved to their modern counterparts...keycards...specially made, coded cards that will only open the specific lock it's coded to...so these keycards are given to the customers who, invariably, lose them :) and whilst the likelihood of someone picking a computer controlled lock *is* a little more remote than a normal lock, there's also the small problem of what happens when your fancy computer controlled lock runs out of batteries and *nothing* will open it...which is exactly what happened to me...6 trips to the front desk to get replacement keys before the manager brought the master key up and stood there with a baffled expression on his face as his fancy super key got no response from the fancy super door whatsoever! 45 minutes later I eventually got into my room...they practically had to knock the door down to get me in!

I think it's just a case of no matter how much things advance technologically, there will always be the obvious shortcomings of the user :) I think Albert Einstein said it best when he said; "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."...exactly right ;)