Re: hotel rates.
$150 Canadian per night is midrange? That’s what I was afraid of. It would seem to price me, as a single traveller, out of the hotel market even now. (Presumably, couples and groups can all stay in the same room at a lower proce per person.)
I had the impression it was a somewhat last-minute thing for my sister, and she paid more than she might have. And, this was eight or nine years ago.
Well, I was thinking of what I’d choose if I were working for myself, running my own business. Unless I were really on a shoestring budget (in which case, I might stay at a hostel, unless that somehow made me look like a clown to clients) I’d probably put myself–on my own dime–in a hotel.
Sunspace, if you’re talking the Toronto area, the corporate rate for a standard room at the downtown Toronto Hilton or Sheraton is $200 per night. If you want more than the basic room, the price goes up from there. I’ve also stayed at the King Edward while going to a Toronto wedding, and I think I paid about $250 a night booking through Expedia.
Were you at Noreascon Four in Boston in 2004? Sign there telling people it was not the room they were looking for. People of course started putting it in different languages, including both Tolkein elvish scripts, Klingon, and Esperanto. The best part was the correction to the Esperanto grammar. That was a fun con.
As for the OP, I have stayed in everything from 1 to 5 star hotels, hostels, and B&Bs in various parts of the world. The high end hotels are usually involved with SF cons so much cheaper than normal.
For just traveling on my own for vacation, low end hotels are fine, I don’t spend much time there anyway. And when I am really on a budget, hostels work out great. Despite not being much of a mixer in social situations, the common rooms are nice to meet people. And they are not just for kids. I have met couples in their 60s, as well as quite a few older people traveling alone. You just need to check the current ratings to see what range of people tend to stay there.
None of the HI hostels I stayed at in Spain had such a policy.