When, in general, is it worth it to go all out and spend big money on a hotel room vs staying at one thats more economical? To me all a hotel room is for is a place to sleep, use the bathroom, use wifi, and keep my stuff so as long as its clean I’m ok. We arent ones to use the pool or exercise rooms.
But then we dont travel much while I know some of you do it more.
I tend to think like you on this. If I’m ever travelling, I go cheap - as long as it’s clean and comfortable, then I don’t really care*. Generally when I’m away, I’m spending the day out doing things and the evenings I’m usually in a bar/restaurant or whatever. As most, I’ll spend half an hour reading in the hotel room before bed. Beyond that, I’m either sleeping, showering or getting ready to go out.
That said, my in laws, for example, like to spend their evenings relaxing ‘at home’ - if they’re not actually home, then the hotel room acts as a surrogate. Therefore, a nice room is important to them.
shrug If a nice room is important to you and you’re willing to pay the money, then what’s the harm, I guess?
*When I was younger, in my backpacking days, it was a point of pride to get the cheapest place possible, so I’ve slept in some right fleapits in my time. I think the zenith of this was a hotel in the middle of Cairo that I was paying about $2 a night for. I think the best I can say about it is that the room had a bed. And a roof. The lobby was literally a pile of rubble that they were ‘refurbishing’ - a process that looked like it had been going on for years. Still, $2/night!
I’m someone who is not entirely comfortable out of my own environment. I have my little routines, and when they are disrupted it produces a lot of anxiety. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy travel and seeing new places, but if I can ease the anxiety by staying in a place that’s comfortable and provides me with amenities, it’s worth it to me.
I once attended a wedding where the bride, a good friend of mine, had arranged for me to stay at a Bed and Breakfast. I ended up with a bare room that contained a bed and little else, not even a T.V. I had a book with me, but I had an evening and morning before the wedding with no planned activities. I ended up going to a local Kinko’s to get online. I would have much preferred to pay extra money and have a nice, comfortable room to enjoy.
You probably want it to be reasonably close to whatever you’ve traveled to see or experience. That can cost you, in areas where property values are high. You probably also don’t want it to be in a high-crime area.
A more expensive hotel room might have amenities like air conditioning that a less expensive one doesn’t. In some inexpensive hotels in Europe, you might not get a private bathroom (or at least this was the case about 10 years ago). After a bad experience with a hotel with shared bathrooms in Florence, I’m less willing to save money this way.
Do you have kids traveling with you? Do you and your wife keep roughly the same hours on vacation? If you have kids or one of you might want to sleep while the other does something else in the room, a hotel room that isn’t just a single bedroom can make sense. This is especially true if this is a work trip for one of you but a vacation for the other.
I agree. As a former road warrior, I can tell you that even the difference between a Marriott Courtyard and a full service Marriott is major. Mattress comfort/quality, linen quality, attention to detail re: cleaning, large showers with better showerheads, fluffy bathmats, services like a concierge lounge with food, drink etc all add up to a much more comfortable stay.
Traveling for business. When clients ask what hotel I am staying at so we can meet in places that do not take me across town.
Christmas in Montreal visiting family, a suite is usually needed for the kids in a location across the street from the best shops.
What’s “big money” to you versus economical? Are you talking $100 instead of $50, or $500 instead of $200?
I tend to prefer hotels in about the $100-$120 per night range (not-big-city areas), because it seems like cheaper ones are noisier (less solid construction), and/or have less comfortable beds, and/or are less clean. That seems about the price point where you get a good hot breakfast rather than stale donuts and juice (or nothing at all), so there’s added value there.
Pricier $200 hotels may be more comfortable still, but usually not enough for me to spend more. I will, however, spring for a pricier hotel if it’s in a location I like, such as staying downtown in a big city.
It depends on how much of my day I’m going to be spending there.
If I’m going to be spending just enough time there to sleep, shower, and change clothes, and I’m picking up the tab, then it can be pretty minimal, so long as it’s clean.
But if I’m at a conference or if we’re on vacation, there’s usually a decent amount of down time, so I’m going to want a comfortable place to hang out in between other activities.
We stayed in one once (I think it was $30 a night with a coupon back in 2003). The room was clean, so I had no complaints about that, but the beds were hard, the sheets and towels scratchy (and they didn’t give enough for the two of us to shower), and they gave you a single bar of soap. It wasn’t a horrible experience, but it wasn’t much fun.
I usually stay at hotels for about $100-125 a night. That’s usually just fine for our purposes.
I have stayed at better ones on business trips (the Venetian and Mandalay Bay in Vegas, and the Renaissance in San Francisco). The rooms and amenities are definitely nicer – bigger rooms, more comfortable beds and bedding, more pillows, etc. But I wouldn’t have stayed there if I were paying – those things were nice, but not worth paying extra.
I’m ok with spending up to $200 on a hotel room, depending on where and when, etc. But I do not at all get the $500 hotel rooms. Like the OP, I am there to see the sights, not the hotel room. We are usually out of the room by 8 or 9 am and don’t come back - except maybe to nap a little in the afternoon or change - until midnight or so. Really it’s just a base of operations.
My cheapest was at a youth hostel in Regina, Saskatchewan which had $5 a night in a bunk bed. I had the best time meeting up with all the international students.
One we stayed at in Hawaii was actually free if you did some work.
Generally if I’m traveling, I’m also accompanied by a husband and two kids, and all of us share a room. So I like a big room (unless, of course, I’m staying in an exceptionally expensive city). It’s nice to have a little bit of elbow room so no one gets screamy. For most hotels, a larger room = nice room.
If I’m traveling for business, I generally need wifi and my company has relationships with reasonably nice hotel chains (think Holiday Inn, Hiltons, etc.). So by default I get put in those hotels. I can’t think of a time when I’ve traveled by myself just for kicks.
You answered your own question. If the hotel room is just a place to sleep for you, then indeed there’s no point in paying extra as long as the shower water is warm and there are no cockroaches. That’s how it works for me also.
But there are also people for whom the hotel stay basically is the reason for the trip. Their vacation plans consist of: lounging at the hotel pool, getting a massage as the spa, swimming a few laps in the aforementioned pool, having a cocktail at the hotel bar, etc. Maybe use the hotel’s fitness equipment if they’re feeling particularly active that day. During the afternoon, there may be an excursion of a few hours (organized by the hotel staff) while the rooms are being cleaned, and that’s the only time they leave the hotel’s premises.
If that’s the type of vacation you prefer, then obviously you’re going to have higher standards for the hotel amenities. If the hotel has a higher level of luxury than what you’re used to at home, that can be an enjoyable experience in itself – makes you feel like a VIP for a few days.
It’s the same with ferry trips. Last time I went from mainland Europe to Newcastle, we decided to take the ferry because of practical considerations: it’s slower than a plane but it’s like having a hotel room which takes you to your destination while you sleep, and you can bring your own car so the total trip price is a lot lower than taking a plane and renting a car at the destination.
But while on the boat, we learned that for a large percentage of the passengers, the ferry trip itself (marketed as a “mini-cruise”) was their reason for going: they went to Newcastle during the day and back at night on the same boat, keeping the same room. During the day they had a few hours of sightseeing around Newcastle but that was hardly the highlight of the trip, and in fact there was a FAQ about whether it was allowed to simply stay on the boat while waiting for the return trip (answer: no). So the on-board attractions like the band and the mini-casino, were just a mildly amusing distraction to us, but the primary reason for the trip for those passengers. Different strokes for different folks.
When I was travelling in Europe I would have no qualms spending an extra 50-75 a night more so that I could walk (or tube) to places that I wanted to see, vs being in country and having to take a cab everywhere I wanted to go.
But as for the room itself I don’t see too much of a point in spending a lot of money on a room
I used to think I couldn’t sleep in hotels. This problem vanished entirely when I stopped being cheap. I’m going to quote a jackass here: Katt Williams has a routine he calls ‘Be good to your star player’ He’s right. Like some earlier posted alluded to, there is noticeable differences in comfort, quality and amenities.