Nope, you aren’t the only one. The quality of the hotel ranks very low in my priorities. The price difference for a slightly more comfortable place isn’t worth it, IMO. I’m just there because I need a place to sleep. I need a bed, a roof, some light, a bathroom, hot water. Preferably no cockroaches. Actually the bed is an option. A mattress on the ground would do just fine.
Generally speaking, I’m unwilling to spend more than 50 €/night. That’s a top, not an average.
I can think of a couple exceptions. I could be willing to pay significantly more for staying in a historical building, like the spanish paradores. I could also be willing to pay significantly more for an especially romantic sojourn.
If it has no cockroaches, decent linen, a door that locks, a bed I can lie on, and sufficient quiet for me to sleep, I’m golden. Paying extra for ostentatious frippery would be an affront to my Scottish soul.
My best find so far was a perfectly comfortable hostal in downtown Madrid for €18/night. I recommended it to another traveller and he raved about it. He said it was like the Ritz at one-tenth the price.
my girlfriend and I like to occasionally get out of town for a night or two, and stay somewhere nice after a gruelling work week. This past weekend was one of those…and it was horrendous.
We stayed at a Ramada…in Ontario. We just wanted a whirlpool, swimming pool and sauna, some nice food…typical relaxation stuff in a cold, wet autumn here in Canada.
It cost us $150 Canadian, and the whirlpool was out of order, the saunas(yes 2 of them) also out of order, a musty, smelly, dusty room, and no place to eat in walking distance except slices of pizza…
Jesus…and no discount on the room after driving a long way there. I don’t know what to think…except, “hey. We got screwed!”
I like a nice hotel, but it’s gonna be a little while to recoup the loss and be able to go somewhere else…
And, THAT’s why I have no money, and my guest membership runs out in a week. I’ll no longer regale you with my stories of life in cold, wet and expensive Niagara. Motel 6 here we come.
I don’t care much about the room, but I like there to be room service and a restaurant on site. I probably won’t be in the hotel for lunch and dinner, but it’s nice to be able to order breakfast in my room, rather than go out ‘foraging’ first thing in the morning.
The neighborhood makes a difference too. If the hotel is in a busy urban setting with a half dozen restaurants and cafes in easy reach, then I can dispense with the room service. But nothing is worse than being in a strange suburban motel or motor hotel where there are few nearby services and everything closes down early. Especially when you arrive after a day-long drive.
I work at a budget chain hotel with a number that is higher than seven in the title. Our rooms are spacious, clean, comfortable and it is a thourougly decent place to stay. However, we are struggling to fill our rooms.
Next door is a very “comfortable” middling chain. Their rooms are spacious, clean, comfortable and in every respect just about the same as ours. Their continental breakfast is a bit more elaborate and they have better coffee supplies in the room. Otherwise they are pretty much the same.
I worked there for a while, and for some reason they are always full- even though they charge $20-$100 more a night than us. It’s a bit of a mystery to me why people are so happy to shell out extra money for the same darn thing.
Perhaps they have a corporate agreement if they’re part of a chain? Or perhaps they simply advertise better, accept bookings over the internet or have a better reputation?
I paid about US$12 for a hotel room in Thailand. It was enormous and was very, very clean and safe. It had great security, cable TV with about thirty channels, air conditioning, en suite, crisp fresh linen, balcony with a kinda okayish view, 24 hr room service, nice semi-open air tropical bar downstairs…
I know this had to do with the country being a relatively poor one, but the ritzy hotels all still seemed to be charging western rates (several hundred dollars per night).
www.hostelworld.com is not bad for money saving places – hostels and cheap hotels and some B&Bs. It’s helped me a lot over the years. I do not know if it is the very cheapest site, though.