Will you spend on hotels?

[livingalmostlarge]

How nice or not so nice hotel levels do you book? Is there a minimum? Do you look at price? Location? quality? Or brand?

I realized probably in the past year that we've been upgrading where we are staying. Before i wasn't picky. I was only picky about location. I care about the absolutely prime location and cheapest hotel without caring about brand.

But i'm starting to look at quality and picking nicer if location is the same. I am also now booking two rooms for us and the kids. People say suites but the second bathroom seems to be key for us with two teen girls. DH commented he will have trouble with us getting one room if i ever book 1 room again. He said he'd rather not.

Do you book suites or two rooms? only airbnbs? What do you find an acceptable amount to spend? What's the most you've spent?

 

[audreyh1]

For international travel we look for location and comfort and yes over time we’ve gradually upgraded to nicer rooms. In the US we go more for vacation homes at destinations, or even resorts in some cases. National parks we like the nicer lodges. If on a road trip between destinations we stay at nicer hotels, generally Marriott or Hilton if available. We don’t travel to larger cities so we never stay at the fancy big city hotels. Destinations tend to be nature oriented. However if we return to Santa Fe we’ll definitely try La Fonda on the Plaza now that I understand the historical context - so yes that’s a consideration.

Traveling with children is a whole other matter. It’s just the two of us. We do like plenty of room.

 

[marko]

Here's how we view it: The travel/vacation/visiting adventure begins when the car service comes to pick us up to the airport.

Instead of just focusing on the destination and what we'll do on arrival, the flight in First and the hotel are all part of the experience of being treated well. Feeling pampered is one of the reasons for travel isn't it?

As we've aged, travel is enough of a hassle nowadays without going looking for ways to make it harder. We look for downtown hotels which are usually centrally located or smaller boutique hotels that offer something special. (@audreyh1, La Fonda fits that bill!)

We usually get a suite of three or four rooms. I get up very early and DW sleeps late, so having a separate area where I can chill, have room service and read the paper/TV works for both of us.

Depending on the trip, it's just nice to have a real living room where you can crash on a rainy day without having to sit on the edge of the bed watching TV.

YMMV

 

[Flyfish1]

When we were traveling with two teen age girls we would get adjoining rooms instead of a suite. When they were little we would get a suite.

Now, we pretty much do international travel with Tauck and they typically book 4 or 5 star hotels. Very nice places typically. I personally love the older classic hotels with the beautiful spaces.

 

[Dtail]

Typically stay at the Hampton Inn or a Marriott. A couple of times we have stayed at a specialty hotel for about 700 per night for a few nights.

 

[Onda]

High-end condo (somewhere in EU) outside the tourist center, but very well connected to it. A place where locals live and eat, not where tour buses stop.
That’s the sweet spot for us: more space, better quality, quieter nights, real neighborhood restaurants—and still easy access to everything we want to see.

 

[DrRoy]

We have also been going more upscale on lodging for comfort, location, etc. The most I can think of was ~$500/day for a log cabin in Colorado for 3 days.

 

[zangbao]

For short trips I book nice hotels especially when traveling overseas, preferably Marriott. I'll book a 3-4 star hotels for longer stays for cheaper cost. Except in Tokyo. Courtyard Ginza cost me $400 a night last summer.

Not a fan of airbnbs. I don't like coming in to a property blind. With hotels, I know check-in works pretty much the same across the board. Plus I prefer to have the option of having room service, fresh towels and no cleaning tasks when I check out.

 

[Aerides]

I will often build a vacation around a hotel that looks nice. Yes, I will spend, but have a hard time going over 1k per night. Points help. A few years ago that was $500, but after 2020, travel got unhinged.

I generally find the nicest hotel in my location, and work from there. I will get the "cheapest" room at the better hotel, vs. a nicer room at a lesser hotel, and often get an upgrade since I stick mostly to one loyalty program. Mostly, not always. But I love a nice hotel, always have. Give me a gorgeous lobby bar for an after dinner drink and I am a happy woman. Or a large patio with a chaise facing the ocean for my morning coffee. Not hotels, resorts. In a city there's less difference between a nice hotel and a great one. Especially now I look at when the property was built or renovated. I don't like to pay Four Seasons prices for a 25 year old city hotel.

Better hotels are usually better locations, and extra amenities. Water without a price tag, restocked 2x daily, handed to you routinely on your way out every day. In room Nespresso and tea selections. Separate tub and shower, dual vanities. Balcony. Turn down service (I am never going to decline any maid service, bring it on).

Example: the past few years when visiting FIL, we stay at the Opal on longboat key. Nice enough, usually $400 ish which is not bad in season, has a nice lounge, pool (don't use this time of year). No complaints.

This year, we stayed at the new St Regis (insane price, used points). They upgraded me from "partial view" to a full gulf suite, and I'm only mid-tier. They have a nightly champagne ceremony so we had FIL and the family come over for that (no charge even though 4 of the 6 of us weren't staying there.) We walked around the pools to the outdoor aquarium and looked at fish and stingrays (who knew at a hotel??). Then a lovely dinner on site with expert service beyond most restaurants. Everyone commented how it was a special evening. I'll be happy to go back.

 

[levindb]

We may be outside the scope of the original questions, but we tend to travel for weeks or months at a time...normally during the colder months, Nov-Feb. We stay in a nice all inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic for Nov/Dec and they give us a 3 bedroom home for the two of us. Meals, alcohol, laundry and maid service are all provided. Due to a unique, large investment we made 15 years ago, these months are no cost to us other than tips. We tend to spend $250/week on those gratuities.

In Jan/Feb we stay in RCI condos and VRBO homes in southern Florida and Key West....normally close to water (intercoastal or canal) where we can kayak. We bring our own kayaks and bikes with us. We also cook most of our meals in these accommodations. Our RCI trips tend to be $350/week (this includes annual maintenance fees) and our VRBO is closer to $1800/week

We have also taken a 83 day cruise and have signed up for a couple more long cruises (60-80 days) in 2027/2028. These cruises are also all inclusive (meals, alcohol, tips, and excursions) and they tend to be much more expensive ~$10,000/week. This is the closest to hotel accommodations...except the hotel is moving from one country to another, and we only have to unpack once for the entire trip. The included excursions are the best part of these trips, where we tend to hike, bike and kayak in different environments.

 

[Ronstar]

On road trips, we will stay single nights at Hampton Inns along the road. For multi day stays, we stay at better places - recently the Bar Harbor Inn, Enchantment in Sedona, and some nice Airbnb's. I don't look at the price until I pick out the place. I think our most expensive stay was around $1300 per night.

 

[COcheesehead]

We typically pick a Hilton property because of our reward points. We’ve stayed at their Hampton, Tru, Home2Suites and their Curio resort properties. We have never been disappointed.
We would likely never dip below these levels of properties unless there was nothing else available.

 

[Midpack]

We usually stayed at Hampton Inns or an equivalent when we traveled all our lives, though there are a few locations where we typically splurged a little. And if we’re on a road trip just looking for a place to sleep before moving on the next morning, we still default to Hamptons.

Just in the last few years we’ve begun to choose nicer places to stay, probably about double the cost of a Hampton. We won’t do it regularly but last summer we spent 4 days at an Inn that cost over $1300/night. It was head and shoulders nicer in every respect than anyplace we’ve ever stayed, but it’s hard to say it was worth that. YOLO

 

[TripleLindy]

We’re more about location and convenience to whatever we are doing. We’ll pay for ski-in/out, and while those places are usually pretty nice, all I really care about is cleanliness and comfort. We don’t spend much time in the room. Same with hiking destinations. Jenny Lake Lodge and Moraine Lake Lodge are nice places, but the real attraction is the location and they command $1k+/night. Many Glacier Lodge is an example of a low end room, but a phenomenal location, so it also commands a high price, but not as high as Jenny Lake or Moraine Lake.

If traveling with family, we often opt for VRBO for houses or condos, especially on ski trips. I’ve been using VRBO since its inception and have never had a bad experience.

 

[COcheesehead]

We pass on VRBO having had enough bad experiences. We’ve paid hotel prices and gotten far less in return. The bed/bath were below par. We were expected to do our own clean up, garbage take out etc and follow a long list of rules. Maybe it was just the properties we picked, but we are turned off on the concept.

 

[Errollyn]

My first choice is always Drury Inn. If there's not one in the area, my second choice is Best Western. I've found these two brands to be a nice balance between price and quality. Plus Drury includes both breakfast and dinner, so it saves on at least one dining out bill per day.

 

[pb4uski]

When we travel, the spigot is open and I spend liberally but not foolishly but DW has trouble casting aside her frugal habits.

Most of our travel is by car and hotels are generally Hilton's bargain brands like Hampton Inn, Tru, Home2 Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, et al. We also like Drury.

I tend to prefer newer properties and try to stay for $150-200 night all-in or less.

 

[Midpack]

My first choice is always Drury Inn. If there's not one in the area, my second choice is Best Western. I've found these two brands to be a nice balance between price and quality. Plus Drury includes both breakfast and dinner, so it saves on at least one dining out bill per day.

And 3 free drinks each night! We just recently stumbled on Drury hotels, a screaming bargain!

 

[RetiredHappy]

We travel 3 months a year, mainly in 2bd 2b suites at Westin and Marriott, through timeshare. We just returned from Palm Desert and our usual Marriott 2BR villa is 1,700 sq ft, lockoff unit, which means separate rooms for the 1BR suite and studio, one with a full kitchen, washer and dryer, a large living room with fireplace and a dining area and the other with a kitchenette. They each have walk-in shower and a separate bathtub. We stayed for 3 weeks and should have been four but we had to cut it short due to my having to see my doctors urgently. Before then we spent Christmas week in a 2Bd 2Ba villa in a Marriott at Newport Coast, Ca. It is just 2 of us but this is how we travel.

In Europe, we usually get upgraded to a suite at the Westins because of my loyalty status (Titanium) even though I almost always stay with hotel points. In Asia, I never seem to get room upgrade. Breakfast is always amazing in Asia and a little less so in Europe, but they are free for us due to my loyalty status.

 

[Errollyn]

And 3 free drinks each night! We just recently stumbled on Drury hotels, a screaming bargain!

I don't drink, but yeah that's gotta be worth about $10-$15 alone, per adult. I think Drury is a Midwest company, but it seems like they're been spreading into other areas over the last few years.

 

[1242Vintage]

Much of my career I was on the road, tasked out to construction sites to untangle screwed up expensive messes. Wife was a "stay-at-home" Mom and our kids were in year-round schools so they would often tag along during their vacation time when the location was interesting. I usually booked a suite. Hilton is my go-to brand if available.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

DW and I have been together for almost 20 years. When we travel, we used to try to find rooms for around $50, but prices have gone up. Now we're happy if we can find rooms for $75.

We get separate rooms, so in chain hotels with taxes and fees, we're usually up to $175 per night. We find if we stay a little ways out of the city, we can find "Mom-and-Pop" style places where we can back our vehicle up right outside our doors. Sometimes these places will be closer to $60 per room per night, or $140-ish with taxes & fees.

We have pretty simple, if different ideas of what makes a decent motel. I would guess we're different than most people.

She likes there to be a TV with an easy-to-use remote that has channels like MeTV, AntennaTV, HGTV, Food Network, Game Show Network, and/or Cartoon Network. Stuff we don't have access to at home. Of course, a clean bathroom and a comfortable bed are important to both of us. She also likes to have an alarm clock so she can see what time it is when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

I could care less if my room even had a TV. I never even turn it on. I like it if there's a clock radio so I can see the time as well as listen to a local rock station on the radio. I like a free breakfast where I can either get or make a breakfast sandwich.

We both like it when there are working phones in the rooms so we can call each other if the need arises. We also both like to be able to set the HVAC units to constant fan, even when we're using heat or AC. Many times with these newer energy-efficient units I have to either re-program the thermostats or take the HVAC cover off to flip a DIP switch. Worst case scenario, I'm jumpering a red wire to the green wire to keep the fans running while we're sleeping. Then I have to change it back before we check out.

We also like to read in bed, and it seems like I always have to plug in the bedside lamps in every room nowadays. I'm guessing people unplug these so they can plug in their cell-phones and have them right next to their heads when they're in bed - and then never bother to plug the lamps back in for the next guests.

 

[imjustawarrior]

When we travel as a family, we go for a bed per person and at least 2 bathrooms. Location is important for these vacations. We will rent a condo or house if we are somewhere for a week or longer.

When I travel by myself, it is frequently to small towns in remote locations. I choose whatever is available. I'm fine with small motels if they get good ratings. They tend to be very efficient. My needs are minimal. I want a good night sleep and a hot shower. I find very little relationship to cost and meeting these needs.

 

[aaronc879]

Just to show that not everyone on here is rich I will include my lodging. I haven't been on any trips the last couple years to keep my expenses down but when I did travel or if I do in the near future my level of hotel would be the under $100/night category if at all possible. I'm fine with Motel 6 but try to stay at Wyndham brand since I have their rewards card. That would be places like Super 8, Days inn and Ramada. A Holiday Inn would be a treat and very rare. I'm almost always a solo traveler. I have stayed at extended stay hotels for under $500/wk. That worked out well

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Just to show that not everyone on here is rich I will include my lodging. I haven't been on any trips the last couple years to keep my expenses down but when I did travel or if I do in the near future my level of hotel would be the under $100/night category if at all possible. I'm fine with Motel 6 but try to stay at Wyndham brand since I have their rewards card. That would be places like Super 8, Days inn and Ramada. A Holiday Inn would be a treat and very rare. I'm almost always a solo traveler. I have stayed at extended stay hotels for under $500/wk. That worked out well

We used to stay at Wyndham Rewards properties, but they screwed us over too many times so we switched to Choice Rewards last year.