Let's ban these hotel amenities now!

Here's what we should replace them with

illustration by Dustin Elliott

Why do hotels have so many amenities guests don't need — and why do they lack the amenities they want?

Take landline phones, for example. 

"They're only convenient when you want to call the front desk," says Tim Pylant, an architect from Austin, Texas. 

Yet it's hard to find a hotel without phones in their room. Some forward-…