Today I had an early start with a job in Seattle, so I drove over last night to avoid having to get up at 5:00am this morning. My thinking was that I could have a nice dinner, get a haircut, then check into a hotel and relax... getting to wake up at 7:30am instead.

It was a good plan.

Except this is me we're talking about. let's have a quick run-down of my previous five hotel visits...

• Lost my reservation, ended up in a stinky smoking room.
• Kept awake ALL night by partying neighbors.
• Awakened by a fire false-alarm at 2:00am.
• No hot water. Restaurant closed.
• Shuttle took 50 minutes to arrive.

And now last night?

• Blown transformer, NO ELECTRICITY OR INTERNET ALL NIGHT!

I had just checked in and was exhausted from the drive. So I decided to take a quick nap before going out for a late dinner and retrieving my suitcase from the truck of my car. First thing I did was remove my pants so they wouldn't get wrinkled. Then I went to the bathroom.

Which is not something I would usually feel the need to share, except...

=BZZZZZZZ-CLICK= No power.

Fortunately I had dropped my iPhone on the bathroom counter, because my room was now pitch black. And peeing by the light of your iPhone beats peeing in the dark (there's an app for that). Once that was taken care of, I felt my way back to the bed and waited for the power to come back on. But it didn't. So I spent the next 20 minutes on my hands and knees using my iPhone as a flashlight to try and find my pants so I could leave.

Except I couldn't find my pants.

So for the next hour I occupied myself with my iPhone and a dying battery.

Finally, I heard people in the hallway and saw a light under the door. It was then that I did something I never thought I'd do... open the door in my underwear and ask a guy to shine his light in my room so I could find my pants.

Which were draped across the television for some reason.

Now that I had pants, I made my way out to my car so I could retrieve my suitcase. And the leftover Mrs. Fields' Cookies I bought to tide me over until dinner... which suddenly became my dinner, because it seemed way too late to go out to eat.

Then, just as I was falling asleep...

=BZZZZZZZ-CLICK= The power comes back on.

Along with every light in my room. Just try getting back to sleep after that.

After my morning appointment, I went back to the hotel so I could check out. As expected, there was no apology. No asking how my stay was. No sympathetic "sorry for the power outage last night." Nothing. Time was I'd have been offered some kind of compensation... like money off my bill... or a discount on my next stay... or a free meal coupon... or, at the very least, an apology. Because, for better or worse, even if it's not their fault, situations like this reflect poorly on the hotel and it's in their best interest to keep their customers happy.

Or at least it was.

Not so long ago.

Business travel is most decidedly not like it used to be.

But I did stop at IKEA for some fresh Cinnamon Buns and a new supply of Swedish Fish candies before driving home... so I guess my trip wasn't ALL bad.