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I need an extreme silence for my work and therefore I wanted to book a room in a hotel or any other facility that has the minimum possible other rooms.

Is there any specific filter at Booking.com or AirB&B or any other booking service that would allow me to search properties sorted or filtered by the total number of rooms?

EDIT: By "extreme silence" I mean securing myself from human interactions (ie. loud music, late night talking etc.) only. I can work without any problems in non-human sounds like machines or nature.

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    You may need to select in an other way, I have been in hostels (often quite noisy) where it was very quiet and you could not hear the other guests and I have been in small hotels where you could hear the street noise and other guests, and being out in the countryside does not help if next door is a farm with equipment running.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 17:29
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    @Willeke Agreed, but I forgot to add (corrected) that it is human sounds-only problem, if I may say so. So country side with nature and farm machines is not only a problem, but is also most welcome since I sync myself pretty good in the white noise. While I agree on your statement (that even a tiniest hotel can be very loudly), I think that you agree with me that the less number of room / occupants you have, the lesser chance for annoying human sounds you can expect, right?
    – trejder
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 18:56
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    When I google a location with keywords like 'booking', 'airbnb' and 'quiet' there are a lot of results. Also AirBnb seems to have more filters across the top of their page than booking.com.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 19:15
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    In any correctly soundproofed room in any decent hotel you will rarely hear your neighbours unless you’re in a big party zone. On the other hand, in a bad location, you only need a single noisy neighbour to be annoyed all day (or worse, all night). I question the validity of your query: I’ve stayed in hotels with hundreds (thousands?) of rooms and never heard a neighbour…
    – jcaron
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 21:35
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    Ever considered taking up sailing, and just going to the middle of an ocean?
    – user29788
    Commented Aug 13, 2022 at 23:09

5 Answers 5

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Is there any specific filter at Booking.com or AirB&B or any other booking service that would allow me to search properties sorted or filtered by the total number of rooms?

No. It's too difficult to define what exactly "number of rooms" mean: on the same floor, on the same apartment, guest rooms in an entire hotel, rooms rented out by the same AirBnB host, in the entire building, etc.

Even if there was a filter, it wouldn't help you. Your problem is primarily about behavior and construction quality, not room layout. It only takes one bad neighbor.

I can work without any problems in non-human sounds like machines or nature.

That's a thing you can leverage. My first line of defense against unwanted sound are noise cancelling earbuds or headset. Not only do they reduce any external noise drastically (if you have good ones), you can also mask any residual sounds with whatever you find pleasant or relaxing: music, pink noise, nature sounds, the voice James Earl Jones, etc.

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On AirBNB, set the type of place to "entire place," and then use the map to look in a rural area. Also, some listings give outside images that might give clues. And there might be clues in the reviews by previous guests.

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  • AirBnB does not show exact locations until guests are confirmed, which can throw off the search. I've seen their map locate apartments a mile up a mountain in a forest. airbnb.com/help/article/2141/customize-your-map-location
    – John Churchill
    Commented Aug 17, 2022 at 2:52
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    That's why I said rural area rather than viewing an aerial image of the neighborhood.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Aug 17, 2022 at 5:28
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A modern hotel will almost certainly have been built with proper soundproofing, such as staggered studs and acoustic insulation panels. The primary sources of noise will be through the door to the hallway (people walking to/from their rooms, or potentially even just hanging out in the hall), and the windows (traffic/sirens/etc).

When you book, and when you check in, specifically request a room at the end of a hall (to minimize hallway noise) and on an upper floor (to minimize traffic noise). This may require you to pick a higher price-point room. Say that you want as quiet a room as possible. They know their hotel.

And if you do encounter an unwanted level of noise, call the front desk and ask to be moved to a different room. (Be specific about what you want. Don't ask "can you do something about the noise", because they'll hear that as "Do something about those people, I'm not willing to move".) If it's the late evening by then, they'll be in an optimal situation to help you, because they'll know which available rooms are surrounded by unoccupied rooms, and because they've got a lot more leeway to upgrade you in response to a nuisance than they are for checkin-time whims.

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  • Not to drag this too far off-topic, but aren't most hotels (in the US, at least) built with concrete floors and concrete/CMU walls to reduce the spread of fire? I do agree with the top floor & corner room requests. Those are often "suites" or "penthouse" and may cost more. However, silence is golden, both in its pursuit and cost.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Aug 15, 2022 at 12:24
  • @FreeMan Floors, definitely. Walls, I'm not so sure about. But in any case, there are ways to mitigate noise through concrete.
    – Sneftel
    Commented Aug 15, 2022 at 12:27
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The filter is price. Expensive business hotels aren’t gonna let guests disturb other guests, would have solid walls between rooms and wouldn’t even attract a trashy crowd.

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    I've certainly had noise issues in expensive hotels. In my experience price and noise don't correlate
    – Hilmar
    Commented Aug 14, 2022 at 11:33
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    Maybe there is a price point at which this becomes true, but after a year of full time travel I can definitely confirm that this is not generally true.
    – David Mulder
    Commented Aug 14, 2022 at 12:21
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    Yeah there is definitely a correlation. Noise might still happen but nowhere nearly as much. Also depends on how much you’re willing to pay. I’ll admit it was a bit based on this being a weird demand from OP, very much focused on how they they require absolute silence too. If your demands are extreme then be prepared to pay extremely high costs.
    – Sebastiaan van den Broek
    Commented Aug 15, 2022 at 8:54
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    There's different kinds of noise. At (deservingly) expensive business hotels you'll still hear drunken businessmen out in the hall staggering to their rooms at three in the morning; and you'll hear their luggage clacking out at five in the morning. But you won't hear anything through the walls, and you'll have the floor to yourself most of the day.
    – Sneftel
    Commented Aug 15, 2022 at 10:05
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    In expensive hotels you also run occasionally into an "entitlement" issue: "I've shelled out $600/night for this room and I can do whatever I want". Staff can be a bit reluctant to tell a high roller to STFU.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Aug 16, 2022 at 15:50
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Very location and budget dependent.

In resort areas, i.e. tourist destinations outside of cities, you can often find cabin/chalet based hotels, where your immediate neighbors are separated by a garden with gaps of 5-10m.

That should be enough to keep out most noises, unless you get exceptionally unlucky with your fellow guests. Not cheap.

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