Hotel luggage space query

We took a 3½-week trip to northern Vietnam and Indonesia, April 3-28, 2014. The tour was with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/955-1925), which did a very good job and which we’re happy to recommend.

Our hotel experience, however, brought to mind a persistent question we’ve had for many years. Why is it that hotels offer space for only one suitcase in each room?

Wherever we’ve been, in the US and abroad, each hotel room offered one luggage rack and/or flat space for luggage, and that one space was large enough for just one large suitcase. There’s no “official” flat space for another large suitcase or even a smaller one. 

What gives? Even in rooms with two beds, which presumably have two people sharing the room, it’s the same: one space.

As a result, we use desktops, wet bar counters or whatever might be available. We’ve even asked for a portable luggage rack, which not all hotels have.

I realize this is a small problem, yet we can’t be the only people who’ve noticed this.

Can anyone explain this?

JOELLYN ROSS & ABRAM ENGELMAN, Baltimore, MD