There was mention of hotel pianos, and how the clientelle at hotels
could afford nice pianos (pending a good experience with the hotel
piano).

I work in the Hotel entertainment field, and I'll be the first to tell
you that most hoteliers won't invest much money in entertainment systems
for their guests.  As an example, the movie systems you have in a
guest room (the pay-per-movie systems) are not owned by the hotels,
but are operated by firms like mine.  We pay to install the systems,
operate the systems, and program the content.  We have to pay
revenue shares to the hotel, and to the content providers
(ie: movie studios). It is our responsibility to keep the systems
running (especially at properties with a "satisfaction guaranteed"
program!).

To make a long story short, if hotel pianos were to be well maintained
they would have to be cared for companies that would place them
in the hotel.  The hotelier's main concern is the comfort of their
guest, not the condition of ancillary equipment.  The fact that the
pianos will make no cash (ie: no quarter slots or pay-per-play feature)
means that the only person who has a stake in the condition of the
instrument is the dealer who may get follow on business from the
placement.

Hotel staffs are traditionally undertrained (high turnover) overworked
(boy, do those guests make a lot of demands ;-) and unable to
deal with issues like an out-of-tune piano.  If you come across
a badly tuned piano in a hotel, try telling the concierge about it,
their job is to keep you happy (don't be shocked if the piano
gets shut off as the solution though).

Scott Currier