Somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 a night at The Inn at Spanish Bay (part of the Pebble Beach Resort). We used to go there every year for a few days of luxury, back before the Kiddo was born.
We’ve paid as much as $120.00/night for nice B&Bs. For hotel/motel, out-of-pocket (meaning on our dime, not expensed), we keep it under $100.00. Of course, we routinely book using Priceline’s ‘name your own price’ feature, so we get rooms that typically go for twice that much.
Not counting the all-inclusive places, it’s probably the room we got for 2 nights at the Planter’s Inn in Charleston, SC.
I didn’t pay it but I stayed in a $680 a night hotel room in Mountain View on El Camino Real during the height of the dot com boom. There was simply so much demand, and so many companies with money, the places by the headquarters cost that much. The place was actually crappyer than many $70-$80 romm I have stayed in on my own elsewhere.
It was truly stupid. I told the company, just get me a $150 a night hotel room 5 miles away, and rent a car for me and I’ll save the company $2500. But no go, they couldn’t pay for a $35 a day car. So I got the $680 room and rented my own car. I still wonder why those dot coms went out of business. :rolleyes:
I don’t have an exact figure. I recently went to Paris on a deal that included airfare and 7 nights at a hotel for about $2500, so I figure that at least $1500 of that went for the hotel (>$200 per night).
Out of my pocket: rarely more than $100, and I grumble at that.
Paid for by work: one of the big chains (Marriott maybe) in Middlesex, England, just down the block from Heathrow (I needed a close place, cause I arrived late and flew out early the next morning). It was around $250 USD.
Paid for by anyone else: my girlfriend met me in Denver (I was on a business trip). She doing very well financially and wanted to treat me to a fancy resort. She picked the St. Regis in Aspen. She told me that the rooms had cost $900, but she got a deal and paid “only” $600.
FWIW, both of the expensive places had gaping holes in basic amenities:
The room in the London joint didn’t have an ice bucket, but they were willing to have room service bring one up. Not wanting to be obligated to tip the cost of a decent back-in-the states meal for something provided free at the lowliest flophouse, I used the sink.
The room at the St. Regis was cold as hell. I realize it was 10 degrees outside, but other “lesser” hotels have a fascinating device that allows guests to turn up the heat provided in the room (I think it’s called a ‘thermostat’?) But not the magnificent St. Regis! The front desk informed me that it “wasn’t necessary” for me to adjust the heat, because they took care of the room temperatures centrally. I bundled up and dreamed of low-class $30/night Memphis fleabags where I could relax in my underwear.
Spent somewhere in the $500s a night to stay at the Plaza in NYC for my 2nd anniversary several years ago. Room itself was nothing special, but great views of Central Park & beyond. When it came time to leave in our crappy old Toyota Corolla, I asked the valet to “bring around my pumpkin, I mean my car!” .
Suppose it was worth it to us at the time, but really a tremendous extravagance.
Another time I spent around $250 a night for a Travelodge on the ocean in Santa Monica. It was so much the manager couldn’t even say the number out loud, but instead wrote it on a card & showed it to me. I knew I was in trouble then, did it anyway. Had just driven down the Pacific Coast Highway for a week, pulled in w/ out a reservation, no computer access at the time, etc., & was just sorta saying screw it, I want to stay here. (Yeah, I’d say they saw ME comin’!) as much as I moaned when I got the bill, I still remember the awesome views of the Pacific, strolling the beach, and all that great So Cal summer vibe.
(Okay, I’m getting depressed now! :smack:)
Just under US$600 per night for three nights at the Peninsula, Hong Kong in March. Picked up from the airport in a dark green Rolls Royce Phantom, too. Unfortunately I had a spider bite on my foot and couldn’t really appreciate it fully (though the room was an awesome place to recuperate) - but the snobby bastards wouldn’t let me in the bar without my shoe on, which I couldn’t wear due to the bite.
60 quid in Chiswick outside London, which would’ve been ~$120 when the exchange rate was at its highest about 2 years ago and a little bit less when I stayed there again last year.
I’ve paid around $300 for rooms at the Broadmoor in Colorado, but that was for conferences and I was reimbursed. It’s certainly one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed at.
$350 a night for an oceanfront room at the Renaissance Wailea in Maui. It was literally a few feet away from the ocean. They’ve since torn it down. 
The most I’ve spent on a villa is around $700 night for a 2 bdrm ocean front villa.
I live in Ohio, so when I vacation I want to see and hear the ocean from my hotel room.
I paid $500 a night for a week at the Ritz Carlton on Maui and would do it again. Hell, the breakfast buffet alone came close to justifying the cost, but we also had an amazing view of the ocean.
I paid about $600 a night for a week in the Library Suite at the Witchery in Edinburgh. Right on the Royal Mile near the castle, it was an amazing place. Very luxurious, service far above and beyond what even the Ritz had provided, cool features like a heated marble floor in the bathroom and doors hidden behind false bookcases. I’d love to do it again, but they other themed suites that I’d like to try, too.
On my dime, $350 or so. On a business dime, upwards of $400, but only in places like New York and only telling the customer first; I don’t believe in raping expense accounts.
When I went to Rome, I spent about $30 a night in a youth hostel. It was still a fabulous time, but I want to go back and stay in a nicer place, where I don’t need to share a bathroom with people or sleep with my passport under my shirt. But I hate spending a LOT of money on a hotel because I do a lot of exploring and generally use the hotel as a home base for a bed and shower.
The most expensive place I ever stayed was a bed & breakfast in Virginia, for our honeymoon. The rate was $250-$275 a night (the weekend was more expensive). But… we stayed in the room quite a bit, so the huge bed and whirlpool tub and balcony were worth it.
Personally? I once paid $40.00 for a really nice room (all antique furniture and shining silks) built into the medieval sandstone fort in Jaisalmer, India. It was totally worth it…I got to live out all my Arabian Nights fantasies. Beautiful place.
Yeah, I know. I’m a cheapskate. I don’t think I’ve ever paid for a hotel room in the US, and abroad I try not to go above the $10.00 range. When I travelled with my mother in China, I know she shelled out for some very nice resorts and top-end hotels despite my insistance that you can get a perfectly useable room for ten bucks.
I just stayed 4 nights at a $70/night hotel on El Camino Real in Mountain View. It was less than half the price of all the other hotels there. It was so completely mundane and adequate, I loved it! The next 3 nights of my trip I decided to stay at a $150/night Holiday Inn across the street and while it was nicely decorated, I actually missed my cheaper hotel.
The most I ever spent on a hotel was $500 at the Renaissance in downtown Cleveland. I didn’t think it was worth $500. Not because it was in Cleveland (I LOVE Cleveland), it just didn’t feel that swanky. I mean, they didn’t even have a flat screen TV! It would have been better if I had a party there or something.
The most I’ve paid on expense account was around $400 a night for the Peninsula in Chicago. It wasn’t my choice; I was a last minute sub for someone else, and the senior person who planned the trip had booked it. It was amazing, but also so not worth $400.
I think the most I paid on my own was about $250 a night in Monterey, at the InterContinental near the aquarium. It was the location we paid for, and it was totally worth it.
The Regency, NYC.
2 room suite, $1,000 per night.
Too much, I know, but worth it.
Great location, great staff.
When my wife became dreadfully ill, I called the front desk for help. Within 2 minutes I was speaking to a doctor who asked “how may I help you?” We cabbed it over to his office 3 blocks away where he met us at 7am. You don’t get that at the airport Marriott.
Two days later, she ended up riding the amber lamps to Lenox Hill hospital. It may sound trivial, but the staff was overwhelmingly helpful, kind, and respectful to a poor lady being dragged through the hotel on a gurney in her translucent nightgown! And they didn’t charge us for that day she spent in the hospital. She’d been through enough already, they said.
Hey, you get what you pay for, right?
$375, twice.
the first time was for the four seasons in philadelphia, i was planning to stay at the marriott, but they got bedbugs, so i took it as a sign that i should splurge, and it was cheaper than the ritz or jw. i could have spent 40 bucks less but i wanted a view of logan sq. it didn’t meet my expectations for a four seasons, and pretty soon after i stayed there four seasons dumped it and started building a new one. now its a curio by hilton.
i didn’t learn my lesson, because on a 6 week roadtrip in the pacific northwest i refused to stay anywhere in seattle besides the westin wayyyy downtown. it was okay, but i’ve stayed in suburban marriotts nicer and there was an office building blocking my view of puget sound…and i was on a high floor…which, of course, i payed extra for.
i never spent less than $100 a night for a place that whole trip but that still was a quarter of the cost of the whole thing, gasoline and all.
The Four Seasons Toronto, 2007, for a wedding, well over 400CAD/n Quite nice, yes. But in a future visit to the city I’d likely save myself half of that.
Lost $9.5k once at blackjack during a seven day stay at the Bellagio in return for RFB (standard lakeview room).