My wife and I travel all over the world. Her company pays for most of it but they want to minimize costs. They try to get inexpensive rooms wherever they can. They all seem to be fine with a reasonable bed and a shower and some are fabulous. We usually stay after her work is over and tour around and pay for it ourselves. We are not cheap in the slightest and eat the best restaurants and tour the best sites. I am always thankful that you can spend 80-100$ on a room and have much more fun with that extra $100 - $200 you would have spent on that hotel actually doing fun things and going to great restaurants and seeing the sites. What do some tourists see in an expensive place where you only get a (possibly) better shower and a (possibly) larger room that we would have never spent time in anyway?
Domestically, I guess they just have no housekeeping skills, so it’s possible for a hotel to seem like a treat. Me, I take my own apartment over the Ritz any day. If a hotel is clean, convenient, and quiet, I’m happy.
On the other hand, I have horror stories to tell about cheap European hotel rooms. It can get pretty hairy, if you don’t pay enough.
I guess it just depends on where your priorities lie. When I go on vacation I like to eat, drink, get spa treatments, and sit on my ass. So to me, a nice, comfy, fluffy, luxurious hotel room is nice, because I do actually spend a lot of time in the room, ordering room service and Pay-per-View movies (no, not that kind) . . . and an in-room massage where possible (I mean, why walk down to the lobby if you don’t have to? ;)).
On the other hand, if I’m on a road trip, and all I need is a place to lay my head for a few hours before I hop up and into the car again, I’m more than happy with a Motel 6.
Mrs Blather and I tend to go the Motel 6 route but spend lots of money for good restaurants. In big cities having a good location is more important to me than having a great room as long as it is clean and safe.
I like kitchens or kitchenettes or, at least, a fridge and microwave, at least if we’re staying a few nights. For just one night, I don’t much care where it is so long as it looks and smells clean.
In the US, I agree with you. A complimentary breakfast is nice, though, especially if the hotel isn’t in walking distance of shops and cafes.
In Europe, whole 'nother story. Mr. Neville and I stayed in a hotel in Florence where there wasn’t an ensuite bathroom, and some of the other people we were sharing the bathroom with took hour-long showers. I’m now more than willing to pay extra in Europe to get an ensuite bathroom.
We’re tightwads and usually do the Motel 6 thing. Even worse, if they are more kids than beds, we make them bring sleeping bags and sleep on the floor. They’ve never seemed to mind because 1) we’re usually scraping money together to go anywhere and 2) that leaves more money for fun stuff 
What’s worse (not!) is that we even pack a cooler or two with breakfast, snacks and sandwich makings and try to eat out only once per day (granted, at a relatively nice place).
As long as the room is safe, clean and has hot water we’re happy.
We tend to be Holiday Inn Express people when traveling for work. Clean, nice, well-lighted and can check out quickly. But for vacation? There *must * be room service. With those neat little salt and pepper shakers and tiny little jars of marmalade. It doesn’t take much to impress me - I’m from Montgomery!
I think my brother summarized it well… give me a good bed and a good shower… and the rest doesn’t matter as much.
I’ll always stay at a Motel 6 or something similar when I’m travelling, at least in the U.S. And in Europe, I don’t really mind sharing a bathroom. I’m not going wherever I’m staying to see the inside of a hotel room. I’d rather use my money for other things. Nice dinners, etc.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, insists on the best hotel room in town, wherever we are, even if the only thing we’ll do there is sleep. It’s an ongoing source of friction between us, especially because she makes about twice as much money as I do, and an expensive hotel room has less impact on her budget than on mine.
She also likes it when I pay for stuff. She very much likes that old-fashioned man/woman dynamic. Seems like if I’m paying, I ought to have more leeway in deciding where we stay, but apparently it doesn’t work that way.
My wife and I haven’t travelled anywhere out-of-state yet, but we’ve been to Orlando several times, and stayed in a Motel 6. All we require is a bed. I don’t care about room service or whatever else you get in a $$$ or $$$$ hotel. Don’t miss it because I’ve never had it.
My brother, OTOH, is an experienced traveller, and he never deigns to lay his head in a place that costs less than a month’s salary, and has several rooms, furniture, flowers, you name it. And let’s see, you wake up in this place, get ready, leave, stay out all day and come back in time to go to bed. Next day, same thing. What the heck is the difference, except for a couple of grand that you’ll never see again?
If I won a stay in a posh hotel I’d take it, and love it. For myself though, I always go for the cheapest ensuite conveniently located place I can find… that takes online bookings. I hate making reservations over the phone.
That said, I would pay a tiny bit extra for a hotel rather than a B&B, because I prefer the anonymity - I hate the small talk you sometimes have to make with B&B owners.
When travelling, I prefer a B&B - I find them more comfortable than a hotel, and they tend to be cheaper and you get your breakfast (and depending where you are, it can double as lunch as well, they give you so much!)
I’m not too picky though - as long as it’s clean and has a private bathroom, I’m happy.
I have stayed in a couple of the really posh hotels downtown and in Banff for romantic evenings and whatnot. Except for the spa tub, I wasn’t that impressed. Although room service is nice. 
I travel around the world a little, and sometimes other people are paying. I’m always at pains to explain that all I need is a bed and a shower, and somewhere safe to stash my luggage while I’m out. When I’m arranging my own trips, I always try to find the cheapest hotel commensurate with these basic requirements (which, thanks to the web, is easier than ever before.)
Sometimes, other people have paid out for me to stay at really fancy five star places. It’s true that now and again it can be nice to stay at these ‘luxury’ places and take advantage of the range of facilities and the higher standard of service, but the truth is I don’t really want them or need them or feel much benefit. I’d prefer to stay somewhere simpler and cheaper and have the extra money to spend!
Exception: Kuta, on the beautiful paradise island of Bali. I stayed at the Kuta Paradiso, probably the most up-market and luxurious hotel I’ve ever stayed in. And if I ever go back, I’ll stay there again, even though it is expensive. Why? Because it’s perfect, and really feels like paradise. (I have no vested interest.)
I just spent three months in India staying in two dollar hotels. These were sometimes along the lines of cold shacks with kerosene lamps, plywood partitions, buckets of water on the roof for bathing and an outhouse across the pig field. Usually it was a hard bed with a sheet, sturdy lock, cold shower, squat toilet (really, not so bad, and actually prefferable in a place with dodgy plumbing and uncertain hygene), sink, a couple geckos and a roach or two and a few strange stains on the walls.
Anyway, just give me a place to sleep. Hot water, toilet paper, mosquito nets, blankets, towells, televisions, air conditioners, room service and the like are all nice, but if I can stay longer by forgoing those, I will.
When travelling for work however, I can see wanting some luxery. A hotel will never be as comfortable as home, but when you have to spend a lot of time away from home just living your life it seems like you’d start longing for as much comfort as you can get.
If I’m on holiday, cheap and cheerful is fine by me, as long as the shower works and the bed is clean: I’m going to be out all day and half the night, and I can’t see the room when I’m asleep, so who cares? Ah, Khao San Road in Bangkok - the backpacker’s Mecca, and the health inspector’s nightmare…
I’m always searching for the cheap places to park my ass in, too. Are there any websites that help you find the cheapest bargain hotels, motels and B&Bs?
To me, it’s worth paying enough to get a 2 star hotel with the middle class American basics (hot water, clean sheets, ensuite bathroom, heating/cooling). After that the price goes up way faster than the benefit.
If I had to choose between blowing an extra $200 on vacation on a night in a posh hotel and a night in a really nice restaraunt, I’d take the restaraunt every time.
A good trick to get the expensive hotel experience without all the cost is to go to the nicest hotel in the city and order a few drinks at the hotel bar. That way you can soak up the opulence (sp?) and people watch the high & mighty, but only be out a few tens of $ for a couple of martinis instead of several hundred for a room.
In Japan, cheap is definitely the way to go. Business hotels, even if they’re $30 a night, are clean, comfy (a bit cramped), and in my experience have more ameneties than the Royal Hawaiian (those guys don’t even give you so much as a cheap toothbrush!). The front desk staff have always been friendly and helpful, too.
The famous capsule hotels are nice as well, if you don’t mind communal baths (not mixed, however). You get a bunk with a soft, clean mattress, a TV, a radio, video rental, climate control and wake-up call. A good night’s sleep if you’re not claustrophobic.
I agree with you. When I travel, it is for two reasons:
(1) Business: on business, I am out of the room the whole day…so as long as the place is clean and has a good bed, I don’t care what it is.
(2) Pleasure: when I am travelling for pleasure, I am out and about. The last place zI want to be is in a hotel room…why go to Hawaii to spend the day indoors? So ditto the above.
As the guy who advertises for Super-8 Motels saya, “our rooms are just as dark as the $400.00/night rooms!”