I’ve only stayed in fancy hotels a few times on business trips. And every single time, they screwed up my bill by adding on charges that were not justified.
For example, charging me for parking when I had no car. Charging me for internet access when I had no PC.
Not sure if this is standard crap or I just was “lucky” to get these charges.
I’ve been to Chicago once. I stayed at an Embassy Suites (a suite, valet parking, real breakfast and some happy hour type thing included) for somewhere in the $100s. I was happy.
I don’t stay in hotels much. The one time in my life that I did was because I was planning to kill myself and decided to do so when I had run out of money and was far from home. Since the whole point was to run out of money, I guess I could have splurged. Oh well. I mostly just drove until I was tired and stopped at any random Holiday Inn/Motel 6. whatever.
I didn’t care too much about my comfort at the time. If I cared about comfort and cleanliness, I think that might be a reason to pay more. But it’s probably not the difference between a $500 and $100 room but more like the marginal utility between a $50 room and a $100 room.
I tend to the opposite end of the spectrum - I’ve driven cross-country in an Ariel Atom quite a few times, and after a full day behind the wheel, I’m looking for someplace comfortable to stay. Preferably in a neighborhood that’s good enough that I don’t have to unpack everything from the car so it doesn’t get stolen. And after a day of rain (Why do they call them “bucket seats”? Because they fill up with water!) the last thing I want to do is sleep on something that is about as soft as a stack of plywood.
On those trips, I would normally stay at a Hampton Inn. If I got stuck in the middle of nowhere, I’d end up staying at someplace substandard - after 400 miles in the hot or cold, the next place down the road is “good enough”.
Every once in a while I’d make arrangements to stay someplace extra fancy - I spent a night in the Library Suite at The Ahwahnee, for example. But since I usually didn’t know how long it would take me to get from Point A to B, booking fancy things like that was usually impractical.
Which Atom have you got?
You’re my new hero if you drive 400 miles in a single day in one of those!!
Ok - I just looked at your blog…
Farking Arse - You are da man!!!
I’ve stayed in two very swish, expensive hotels. The first overlooked Kensington Palace Gardens and was around £400/night. I wasn’t paying, I’d won a competition and the prize was to go to a televised music awards show by limo, free drinks and a night in a posh hotel. It was very average, the furnishings very expensive but had seen better days, and a pint of lager was £9! Fortunately I wasn’t paying for any of that.
The second was the Europa in Belfast, and I stayed in a room opposite the Clinton Suite. That was nicer but I’m glad I wasn’t paying the £1,800 to stay there for a week - work was. The room had a tv, chair, bed, bathroom and had been renovated well, as it’s the most bombed hotel in Europe, but I spent most nights in the Crown Liquor Saloon opposite. 
Atom 2 (Brammo) w/ 300HP. Sold as of last spring.
400 is about par for the course. I think my record is about 600 (I’d have to go back and check). 600 is pretty grueling, though.
633 miles is my maximum, took around 14 hours, from Croydon in south London to Achnasheen in north Scotland. It was in a large, family automatic so pretty comfortable all of the way.
I was just at the Europa a couple of weeks ago, in one of their ordinary rooms. It was pretty nice, good view, but not the best hotel I stayed in during that trip (Portmeirion wins the contest easily, but Cabra Castle and the hotel in Londonderry were also better in terms of space, comfy beds, and general amenities.
It completely depends on why I’m getting a hotel room:
If it’s a road trip and we’re simply stopping for the night to get some sleep, then I’ll rock a Holiday Inn Express or whatever. The room is just a utility, and I treat it as such.
If we’re going on a vacation, then I’m going to pay whatever it takes to stay at the coolest place I can find. Sometimes that’s pretty pricey and sometimes it isn’t. For me, the whole point of vacation is to see and do things I wouldn’t normally get to do! I’m not going to go on vacation and stay at a low-mid tier chain hotel, just like I’m not going to go on vacation and eat at Olive Garden or Applebee’s. If I’m not experiencing anything new, why did I leave home?
Yeah, I found the room pretty uninspiring but clean and new. The restaurant and bar I thought were nice places to be.
I was pretty much a budget traveler when younger and was fine with that. As my wife and I both run businesses, our main limiting factor now is how much time we can take off, usually not as much as we would like.
So when we travel how nice the room is, is a big deal, and part of the experience. I usually upgrade, but was happily surprised recently when we stayed at the Palazzo in LV, and their base room starts at 750 square feet, including a living room. It was lovely.
This topic reminds me of travelling on a cruise. Many people will take an interior room because again, why spend money on the room when the trip is about the rest of the ship and travelling places? But these interior rooms are very small, and have NO window. You have to get out of your room and into the common area to even see if it is a nice day. To me it is like sleeping in a closet. We spend the extra for a balcony room. Nothing like sitting on your balcony while in motion and watching the world go by.
I don’t stay in flea pits. If you are going away for a substantial amount of time, it does become tiring and a decent place to stay is essential. As an example we stayed in D’Angleterre in Copenhagen last trip.
Yep, it stretched the budget but no way did I regret it. You often get far more central locations, more room, better facilities all round.
Also, in Europe you would find that hotel rooms are often far smaller than the USA. Space is a premium- and the facilities can be antiquated.
Yeah, I’m one of those for whom it doesn’t make a difference. I can see why some people like them, but I can be a cheap son-of-a-bitch and I’d rather save that money or use it on some other aspect of my trip. If I’m spending much time at the hotel other than sleeping, that’s not a trip I would be taking. Maybe when I get older it’ll change, but I don’t need much in terms of creature comforts when it comes to accommodation. If I’m spending significantly more than $100/night on a hotel, I’m not happy. My wife is similar, so this makes traveling together much easier.
$100 a night is what it takes to avoid disasters. I used to stay in cheaper places, but after bedbugs, pubic hairs, and all sorts of filth I now stick to Holiday Inn Expresses instead of lesser properties.
Like many of the other responders - it’s a balancing act and depends on each individual situation.
Last trip I was on we were traveling with another couple and decided to save $150/night/room by staying outside of the city and taking cabs. We spent about $100/day on cabs but that’s still a $200/day savings and it was less than 20 mins each way into town. Might not have been worth it for one room, it would have been a close call, but for two it was an easy decision.
For vacations I do a crazy amount of research, where we stay is a big part of the trip. My husband and I both are much nicer people after a good nights sleep and there is no sense in being on vacation if we’re going to be irritable the entire time. When it’s more than just two of us, either travel with friends of with the kids we tend to rent apartments if I can find one in the right location. I find that they have the amenities I care about (comfy beds, space to have some alone time and wifi) and are cheaper than hotels. If I can find one on a subway line it’s a win/win, better accommodations, less money and not much of an increase in transportation costs. I do find that this is easier each year as more information makes it onto the internet. I used to have to trust rental listings to know if there were restaurants and shops nearby, now I just look 
Work travel I do less research and it’s mostly about location and comfort. We have a couple of fairly high end chains that we have corporate rates with so it’s easier and I appreciate that.
I guess for me, the issue is that the cost of a hotel room is so out of line with everything else I spend money.
If I spend $200 on a meal, it’s going to be one of the best meals of my life. If I spend $200 on a souvenir, I’ll come home with something really nice. If I spend $200 on a show ticket, it’s going to be a memorable seat.
But if I spend $200 on a hotel room, I get a nice bed and a clean bathroom. For a night. Woo hoo.
I spend $100 a night or more on rooms deliberately because under that, more often than not there are noise-related problems with the room. Only exceptions are if it’s a place I’ve stayed at before or if there are no other options. Hampton Inn is exactly at that price point and honestly, even when it is full, the rooms are big enough and the clientele quiet enough that I don’t have any problems.
I also avoid Ramada inns because they also tend to be loud even though they hover around $100. Probably because they are the cheapest chain of hotels (as opposed to motels), so people who want the cheapest hotel to party at choose the Ramada.
I’ve paid more than $200 a night because of a prime location. It’s an Embassy Suites, but even with the free happy hour, elegant decor, room service, and very spacious rooms, if there were a Hampton Inn right next to it for $100 a night, I wouldn’t pay more than $140 for the Embassy.
Location is so key that I can’t think of a place whose amenities (beyond being sleepably quiet) make the price worth it alone. All places I’ve seen that had room service/built-in restaurant, nice aesthetics, or resort-style things to do were also in a good location, either conveniently downtown, or at Disney close to the parks.
One day I will stay at one of the Disney resorts on the Monorail. They’re upwards of $300 bucks a night, but if they weren’t so convenient to the parks, I couldn’t see myself paying more than $200 a night for them.
If I’m alone I’m usually fine as long as it’s clean, the bed is comfortable and there are no bugs.
If I’m traveling with family or bunking with another person, I’ll go for an upgrade or for the better place, just to have more room. A suite, maybe.
I have stayed in a couple of top-of-the-line rooms (a presidential suite, an “executive” suite) and it was nice, really, really nice. But this was on someone else’s nickel. I don’t even know how much the room I stayed in at one hotel would have been, had I been paying for it myself. I do know that the Clintons stayed in that room when they were in that city. I hope they had better luck with that one shower than I did. The water just would not get hot. Fortunately there were two other bathrooms and two other showers so I used those for the duration.
I almost always stay at Hampton Inn, and I’ve only had a problem one time. But that one time was the Hampton From Hell: Post 1 Post 2
On the other end of the spectrum, by chance I stayed at Hampton Inn Col Alto in Lexington, VA - it is a 10-room manor house from 1827 - pictures of my room. Yes, that’s a real fireplace, and they actually come by with the “bed warmer” gizmo to warm between the bed covers before you retire for the night.
