Seth Godin is talking about the use of color in airport design and how it can ease things for travelers, but the same holds true for conference signage, doesn’t it? Why not mark your session tracks with color? And your conference’s Web site (reg info in green, content info in red, like that)? Love this idea.

Check out Hospitality Net’s 10 Annoying Hotel Room Designs. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I don’t think I’ve experienced #1, those shower half-doors. But that would be annoying. The rest I can vouch for. Can I add a few? Such as:

1. Windows that don’t open
2. Hair dryers that are so cleverly hidden I never can find them
3. Alarm clocks that would mystify a rocket scientist
4. Alarm clocks that look like they’re set, work on a test run, then don’t go off in the morning
5. Really dim bedside lamps you can’t read by
6. Wall art so bad it hurts the soul (which there seems to be much less of lately — thanks!)
7. Ridiculous numbers of pillows. Big ones, small ones, round ones, big tubular ones, pillows with fringes, satiny pillows … I’ve filled the couch, chair, and desk with them and still barely have room to put my actual body on the bed. I think they multiply at night like tribbles, too; I swear, one time I had to pull out a little one that was half in the coffee pot, and I know I didn’t put it there.
8. Remote controls that force you to go back to the hotel menu every time you want to change to a different network channel. I had one of those recently and almost went completely bananas before giving up and picking up my book.

Enough about me — what are your pet hotel peeves?

I just got a press release about my company’s selecting housing and registration vendors for our corporate shows. That’s never happened before! The funny thing is that I didn’t know until I got the press release, since I’m not actually involved in planning any meetings through our corporate events department. Just one of those surreal little moments that make life interesting.

Stay cool (it topped 100 degrees here today) and if you’re in Hurricane Earl’s possible path, stay safe!

Update: Here’s the skinny on the announcement.