Staying in foreign countries on business—even in upmarket hotels—often means dealing with radically different ideas about customer service. One thing that I've noticed recently is that in many places in Europe and Asia, hotels require you to put your plastic electronic key into a slot in the room in order to activate your electricity. That's all well and good when you're in the room, but when you go out, it means that your A/C goes off and your appliances stop charging.
When first faced with this problem, I tried to persuade the hotel to give me another room key so that I could leave one of them in the slot while I went out. But after getting nowhere, I started trying other cards from my wallet in the slots. All of them worked every time. So next time you're faced with the option of having a charged laptop or leaving the room, replace your room key with your Costco card, and you're good to go.
(Image courtesy of thisisbroken.com)
