Forum: travel.stackexchange.com
Tags: <food-and-drink><hotels><regulations><power>
Title: Cooking inside a hotel room
Question: We are looking for a hotel for a two weeks stay. We would like to cook our own meals on an electric stove (with no fire). Is it usually permitted to use such high-power electric equipment in a hotel room?  (In case this is relevant, we are going to stay in Glasgow, Scotland).

Answers:
sents: text: The simple answer is, no, this won't be allowed in any normal hotel-hotel.
text: Very simply, use holidayrentals.co.uk or airBnB.com to rent a "gite" instead.
text: You'll save more money and it will be far more suitable for what you want.
text: You can instantly find examples of what you want, https://www.homeaway.co.uk/p78239
text: You mention a TWO WEEK stay so, indeed
text: , it is very likely you would want to get a holiday rental, not stay at a hotel.
text: Note that in most world regions now, there's a category of "apartment hotels" (sometimes "suite hotels" or "long stay hotels" or "business hotels" or "aparthotels" or "apart-hotels") that indeed have kitchens, example http://glasgow.frasershospitality.com/en/gallery.html (go to the third photo!)
text: and this can blend through to just renting a "serviced apartment",
text: so: http://www.premiersuitesglasgow.eu which of course have kitchens, priced for corporations though.
text: You are basically the perfect customer for holidayrentals.co.uk or airBnB.com.
text: TIP - book EARLY as the small owners of holiday apartments, sell out weekends and short stays you know?
text: So it's hard to book two whole weeks, in some cases.
text: TIP - for two weeks you can definitely pay less!
text: Just politely email and say "how much as you asking for a two week stay?"
text: Good luck!
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/19233/Fattie
score: 59
sents: text: It's not just a matter of "high-power electric equipment", but of smell and dirt too:
text: cooking is not an activity easy for the enviromnent, especially when with "environment" we mean "a room the size of two beds and a wardrobe".
text: And although some hotels could allow for it, why not simply searching for an apartment?
text: Either on AirBnB or just on a booking site like Booking.com, you'll find lot of places with a stove included and you are allowed to cook whatever cross your mind.
text: Or, you can find (but they are a bit rare) hotels with a floor kitchen and a common space to stay and eat.
text: I once found one in Barcelona and it was really really good.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/27919/motoDrizzt
score: 19
sents: text: While I'm not familiar with the situation in Scotland specifically, it sounds like what you'd want is an extended stay hotel -- the ones I've stayed at within the US will tend to have in-room kitchens with at least a stovetop (no oven), a full-sized refrigerator, and at least a small set of pots and pans and cooking utensils.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/4765/bogardpd
score: 13
sents: text: For a room to be usable for cooking it has to fulfill 3 important criteria: Availability of sufficient power source (eg a powerful socket).
text: Moisture-resistant furniture and ventilation to remove the moisture that is released when cooking.
text: Sufficient fireproofing, that is not having easily flammable things like beds too close to a cooking station.
text: It's pretty obvious that typical hotel room fails at least points 2 & 3.
text: The closest thing would be a bathroom, but I guess you wouldn't like to cook next to a toilet.
text: That's 2x "no" and one "maybe"
text: - if you can find a socket which allows such power draw.
text: Which results in no, you can't cook in a hotel room .
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/27261/Agent_L
score: 5
sents: text: TL;DR
text: Don't in a hotel, use a hostel for cooking In the UK, there is only one type of socket commonly found, the 13A 230V, which is rated at just over 3kW.
text: (International type G, but no-one calls them that.
text: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country ).
text: It is possible that the up-stream breaker (normally 32A) is not rated to allow all its sockets to draw 13A, as the hotel will expect them mainly to be used for charging devices.
text: However, as they are likely to provide clothes irons for guests use, the socket will be able take at least 1kW.
text: The main problem you are likely have is that almost all hotel rooms have smoke detectors; The hotel management are likely to take a very dim view of triggering it.
text: Stick to instant meals that can be made with hot water, there will be a small electric kettle in the room.
text: However, If you DO want to cook when on your holidays, you can book into a youth hostel.
text: They welcome guests of all ages, some have private rooms (dorms are more common), and there is a communal kitchen for you to use.
text: Some restrict how many days you can stay at a time; you may need to split your holiday over 2 hostels.
text: For all hostels: http://www.hostels.com/england or http://www.hostelworld.com/
text: and there are probably other search sites for them.
text: The largest association; you'll need to join either in the UK, or at home.
text: http://yha.org.uk
text: (England and Wales) https://www.syha.org.uk/
text: (Scotland).
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/47175/CSM
score: 5
sents: text: If the room has a stove and/or an oven then yes, you can cook in it.
text: They won't install a stove if it wasn't meant to be used.
text: As others have said, most hotel rooms do not have kitchenettes.
text: The closest I've seen in the US is Extended Stay hotels that have microwave, a fridge and a two heater stove but no oven.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/43474/ventsyv
score: 1
sents: text: You can not cook food in most hotel rooms, many will even object to bringing externally bought food and drink to your room.
text: This makes sense when you remember that a significant part of a hotels business is about catering for you.
text: Some hotels will have a small number of self catering rooms but these tend to be for longer tenancies and you must book them explicitly.
text: It sounds like what you want is not a hotel, but what is usually known as an aparthotel.
text: You can also look for 'self catering' accommodation.
answer_details: author: travel.stackexchange.com/users/11740/Paul Smith
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Most normal hotels will not allow this, and may even object to bringing food from outside the hotel. However, you could try some youth hostels with common cooking facilities, extended stay hotels and aparthotels with kitchen areas, Airbnb, Holidayrentals or other self catering accommodation.
Cooking is not permitted in hotel rooms unless they are fitte with a cooker. Only instant meals are permissible. Travellers wishing to cook for themselves should prefer apartment rentals, hostels, long-stay hotels or aprthotels, all of which have cooking facilities.