Hotel search engine that allows to search for rooms with a desk?

Question

Some background: I am planning to go to Finland during February / March next year to watch skijumping at the Nordic World Ski Championships. As Lahti (competition venue) will be fully booked with teams / press / etc., I am considering staying in Helsinki and only going to Lahti for the competitions. Looking at booking.com, there are lots of options from cheap to expensive all over the city.

However, I have one very special request: I need a desk. I'm a teacher and while the NWSC takes place during school holidays at my place (lucky me :) ), I won't be able to not work at all during the week I'm planning to stay in Finland; and for several reasons I strongly prefer to work in my hotel room.

Hence my question: Is there a hotel search engine that allows me to specify this search option / filter the results accordingly? I don't want to look at the description / pictures of hundreds of hotels and to find out if a certain hotel room has a desk. I can see that booking.com lists desks in the room description, but unfortunately doesn't allow to filter for it.

Answer 1

I'm not aware of any hotel search engines that allow you to search for a desk, or filter on a desk.

However, in my experience most hotel rooms have a desk. (at least in well known brands) I usually stay in hotels from known brands (Marriott, Hilton, Best Western, Choice hotels, Radisson, ...) and have yet to encounter a room without a desk. I have read that Marriott is redesigning some rooms and these would no longer come with a desk, still these are currently rather exceptions.

My strategy would be to search for hotels that fit your other criteria and then contact the hotel to make sure the rooms come with a desk. It would allow you to ask some other details about the desk (ergonomy, ...?) and you could also have the reception make an additional note on your reservation that you absolutely need a well-sized desk as you will be using it multiple hours/day.

I think this strategy gives better guarantees to a proper desk than just relying on search-engines.

Answer 2

I think your best bets would be:

• AirBnB (you can search for a place with a place for a laptop, and that means a desk)
• Searching on Booking.com for apartments instead of plain rooms. The cost is the same, more often than not.

Small notes:

1. After all my traveling in Europe I've yet to find an hotel which has not a desk

2. I suggested Booking.com because it is the one I know best. Obviously the same search criteria, when present, is valid for other search engines.

Answer 3

Booking.com has a filter for desks now:

However, what is called "desk" and how ergonomic it is for more than an hour of laptop work, can vary a lot. The amount and variety of counter-ergonomic desk/chair arrangements are astounding. I've personally encountered each of these in my travels:

Desk

• desks with drawers that don't allow for any space for your legs:
• width so narrow it's basically a mantle:
• wobbly desks (uneven floor, or fancy designs with only 2 legs)
• poor surface
  • cold (glass)
  • too rough, sticky or uneven for a mouse to glide well
  • edges that cut into forearms
• round shape and radius too small, so you can barely fit a laptop and your arms will fall by your side

Chair

• hard surface (hardwood, metal, stone/cement benches) without a cushion/pillow
• high back so you can't tilt your head back or relax with the hands clasped behind your neck
• no back (bench)
• no waterfall edge under knees (cuts circulation)
• no armrests (you'll feel the need if you work for more than a few hours)
• no ventilation so you sweat on it
• chair feet without a cover, which sound like nails on a chalkboard when you move the chair to get out of your seat

Trip.com has an absolutely inane room facility filter option: Computer. Of course, no rooms ever match that, and I submitted a suggestion to replace it with Computer DESK.