Does anyone ever unpack their suitcases and fill up those nice closets and dressers they have? I can see if you’re there for a couple weeks or something, but for a few days? I don’t think I ever have except for the couple week or more stay I mentioned.
Not arguing with you Sven; I guess we all have our priorities.
I’ve just returned from Toronto, where I spent just a little less than $200 per night in a fancy hotel. And I did get the nice bed and clean bathroom.
But I also got the subway right next door–great, because I could use it to get everywhere I needed to go–no need for a car. Location worked well in other ways, as there were a myriad of restaurants with a variety of different cuisines within walking distance, as well as various tourist attractions for my off-hours. The hotel itself was no slouch, with (among other bars/restaurants) a nice, quiet bar (no TVs or rowdy sports fans) where I could unwind after my day. Security was ever-present–when I forgot something and went back to get it from my room, the maid was cleaning up. She wouldn’t let me in until I produced photo ID to her, proving that I was the rightful occupant. And she had a radio to call bigger people in case I wasn’t who I claimed to be. The front desk quickly and easily took care of a small discrepancy with my final bill upon checkout. A phone call from my room as I was leaving it for the last time, arranged ground transport to the airport. When I arrived on the curb outside, it was, “Mr. Spoons? Your car is here.” It turned out to be a limousine, with a flat rate to the airport that was better than a metered cab.
In the end, it seems to me that your “room rate” at such a place gets you more than a nice bed and a clean bathroom. It gets you peace of mind about your belongings left in the room, it gets you real people (not recordings) at the other end of the phone, it just makes things easier.
As I said, we all have our priorities.
Agreed. I am the outlier here, and clearly the whole world isn’t crazy.
Off topic but I would dispute that. The whole world is indeed crazy 
My rule of thumb is simply to go with the level of luxury commensurate with the rest of my trip and my overall budget.
Even when I was a poor student backpacker, I never made a fetish out of staying in the cheapest possible place, just to save some cash - I figured I was, after all, travelling for my own pleasure, so why be miserable? At the time, this was near-heresy among the backpacking set! 
My favorite example of this was in Malaysia - I was staying on an island off the coast. There were two choices of place to stay: a bunch of A-frames on the beach, and a teak house. I looked at the A-frames - nasty, buzzing with mosquitoes, with a stained matress - $2 a night. The house had a nice, tasteful room with a fan, mosquito net, and your own bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the beach - at double the cost: $4 a night. There were no takers - all the backpackers turned their noses up at this extravagant cost - so I snapped it up. 
Students are stupid, who would have thought.
I pay for comfort and cleanliness. Extravagance is welcome, but let other (clients, companys) pay.
For me, I think of it as paying for the experience, just like with a concert or meal. I like staying in a nice hotel right in the middle of where I want to be. I like walking out the front doors and the city is right there. I can pop back and change clothes for dinner, or grab a book and head to the park. What’s weird is, I’ve stayed in plenty of low end place and I don’t mind them, either. It’s the really boring, you could be anywhere on earth kind of places I hate.
I always hang my clothes as soon as I check in. Reduces wrinkles, makes them easier to get when dressing, helps me separate the dirty from the clean.
AND, since I tend to wear things more than once on vacation, it airs them out until the next time I wear them.
I’m divided on this subject. In the USA my company, which has a lot of contract hotel chains, puts us in motels more than anything. In Asia (where I now live and work), we have 4 to 5 star hotels instead. There are a lot of reasons for this, but in the end, a night at an Intercontinental in mainland China costs about the same as a Marriott in the USA.
Oh, and a Marriott here in Asia is a pretty premium hotel compared to a Marriott in the USA.
Hell, I even enjoy Holiday Inn here in China and Thailand, compared to the mediocre, crappy “motel” that most Holiday Inns are in the USA.
I dread returning to my own country and having to stay in motels again.
In the USA, if I can find and old-style Residence Inn (Marriott), then I will be happy enough there. The old style, though, is paramount.
Oh… what’s so good? The space. After work, I want to feel like I’m home. Space for my clothes. A desk. Space in the minibar for making water cold. A clean shower. A bidet is a nice extra.
Most importantly: not hearing my neighbors.
Well, not “fill up,” but any dress shirts or dress pants, yeah, they always get hung up in the closet immediately. Clothes not subject to wrinkles may/will usually get left in the suitcase, but anything that wrinkles–of course it’s getting hung!
The lobby of the Four Seasons Kapinski smells delicious.
The Intercontinental in Bangkok keeps orchids in your room
The Shangra La in Taipei brings you a complementary dessert tray up to your room after a long week. And the view of 101 Taipei is incredible
(Now, I haven’t paid directly for any of those rooms, but they were darn nice experiences to have had - and if price isn’t an issue, I’d much rather stay at the Four Season’s Kapinski than a Motel 6.)
Always, even if I’m just there for a couple of nights. I did enough “living out of a suitcase” when I was young - hell if I’m going to do it at my age.
Yeah that’s true. Nice jackets, shirts & slacks get hung up. I guess I was thinking more of the dressers. I very rarely bother to unpack my t-shirts, socks & undies just to turn around and repack them.
I didn’t read the whole thread, so I apologize if I’m repeating.
I have had the opportunity to stay in some very nice hotels on the company dime. A standard room in a high end hotel room is larger than a similar room in a mid-range hotel, and much larger than a motel room. It is also generally more clean and well appointed - marble baths, premium bedding, high end soaps/shampoos/ towels, etc. But the real reason you pay more for a premium hotel is the impeccable service. The employees at high end hotels seem to anticipate your every need and provide them - sometimes before you ask. They make “small talk” designed to give them insight into your plans, they listen closely and they remember. For example, when we pulled in to a Four Seasons Hotel I mentioned to the valet not to park too far away, as we were planning to drive out to the beach soon. When we came back out in about an hour, the car was right by the door, running and loaded with beach towels, snacks and bottled water. Service like that is really easy to get used to, but it doesn’t come cheap!
The one thing that pisses me off about the higher-end hotels is that nothing seems to be included in the price, like Wi-Fi. For my personal economics, I’d rather have a smaller room with fewer creature comforts than pay more for a nice room and, in addition, pay for Wi-Fi, although it seems more and more hotels are getting away from this pricing model. Seriously, unless someone else is paying for it, I will never stay at a hotel that charges for Wi-Fi.
That last sentence is exactly why the hotels have the extra charge. If you look at hotels that have an extra charge for every little thing I’ll give you dollars to donuts that most of their business comes from either business travelers who are expensing the bill or groups and conventions who can include free wi-fi as part of their contract negotiation. For the little guy there is usually a way out of paying (included free though a loyalty program for example).
I work for a hotel management company that handles 4 and 5 star properties. Before I started my current job I chose hotels based on price and couldn’t understand why people would pay so much extra for a room. Now that I have a great rate and stay at our properties I get it. The additional service, upgraded room amenities (nicer bathrooms, quality linens on good beds, solid furnishings that are not press board), and improved service levels really make a difference. I can’t afford the great hotels in areas where we don’t have a property and whenever I have to stay at a cheaper place I cry a bit on the inside.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the luxury hotel suites. The ones that cost thousands per night. I was just reading about some of those and among the amenities you might get with your room were:
*multiple bedrooms
*multiple bathrooms
*a living room
*a dining room
*a meeting room
*outdoor terraces
*a butler
*a limo
*a recording studio
*a wine cellar
*your own pool
*your own fitness room
*your own library
*Your own elevator
*your own floor of the building
OTOH, how nice the hotel is doesn’t always correlate with the price. Back in the day we stayed at this new Marriott or something in Moscow. It was at least $500/night, and this was years ago. Okay on the outside, and the interior lobby area was nice enough, but the rooms dreamed of being Motel 6 quality and the water looked like weak coffee. It was sort of the only place in town for travelers who don’t know better or speak the language. You could rent a whole apartment by the month which might even include a girl friend/cook for one or two night’s hotel cost but lots of people are just there for a few days and just go with it. I think they charged $11/minute for phone.
Sure, I understand that. At the end of the day, it’s what is important to you. For me, none of that is important (seriously, I couldn’t tell you the difference between quality linens and non-quality ones, or press board furnishings and non), but I’ll piss my money away on drink and food (though I do tend to cheap out when it comes to that a bit), which others may find to be a waste.
I don’t remember the cheapest place I ever stayed at, but I do remember that the bath mat was paper. We knew it was the bath mat because it had the words BATH MAT printed on it. I took it home as a souvenir.
The towels were thin, but not scratchy. I can’t say whether the towels or room were clean because the wattage in the few lightbulbs in the room was so low.
I got talked into taking my son and his friends to Reno for his 21st birthday. We weren’t planning to stay the night originally. By the time we decided we weren’t driving home, we could only find one place with a vacancy that we could afford. There was some sort of auto show in the street that might have contributed to that.
Thinking of that bath mat still makes me smile.