Do you like staying in hotels?

No. It’s like a nightmare for them and me. I do my best to avoid hotels. The best of them are not clean enough for me. It had been years since I stayed in one prior to last year’s evacuation due to hurricane ian. I admit that I was much more worried about staying alive for that hotel stay. Having a pull-behind trailer is the ticket for us.

No, I dislike even the best hotels. I don’t feel like they are clean. I don’t know what’s soaked into the mattress. And beyond all of that, I’m just too cheap. It’s been years since I stayed in one.

I have done this a few times, not a lot. It has to be an exceptional hotel; staying at a Days Inn or an Embassy Suites doesn’t cut it.

Once when I was promoted to Vice President, my ex and I stayed at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

Another time, I stayed at a delightful hotel in Sausalito.

I stayed at the Fairmont 35 years ago! I can’t believe it’s been that long.

Interesting that jellies bring up cleanliness. I’m usually the germaphobe jelly, yet somehow I ignore that for the most part in hotels. I do refuse room service most of the time so no new germs are introduced to the room during my stay.

The last time I was in a hotel, and I am excluding the youth hostels with shared rooms we were in during class trips, was when I was around 10.

My teenage daughter and I love to stay in hotels, as long as they’re nice hotels. If I’m looking for a place to stay, I do extensive research on TripAdvisor, looking at reviews and making sure that what I read is consistent with what I am looking for. I also look for where the hotel is located, what amenities they have, the neighborhood, the area, is it safe, etc.

Last year, we did a road trip to the west and I googled and reserved hotels for our stay out there. What I didn’t do, because I wasn’t sure how far we would get each day, was reserve hotels for along the way out and back. We stayed in some good ones, and we stayed in some not so good ones, and one outside of Chicago that was an absolute horror show, where we would have been better off sleeping in the car.

I’ve never stayed close to home for the sake of seeming like a vacation. I have stayed close to home during extended power outages, when we had no heat or when it was terribly hot and we needed some AC and safety from the possibility of falling trees.

I found a chain that we like, Staybridge Inn, which has a full kitchen in each unit so it’s kind of like a small apartment, like a studio. They have free breakfast, too, and free washing machines and dryers, which are all added benefits, especially when traveling with children.

@JLeslie for your local friends who stay at WDW or the beach, even though they could do a day trip, I’m thinking of WDW and how it takes so long just to get into the parking lot, and get from the lot to the gate. People who think living an hour away and staying on site is folly may have no clue how big it is, and dealing with the walking, the trams, the boat, the entrance, it’s so time consuming just to get in, I can see where it might be worth it to stay close and bypass all that.

@zenvelo I stayed at the Fairmont SF about 20 years ago. I got a package deal for a two bedroom suite and I think it was about 169 a night at the time. I also stayed at the Fairmont Boston which was almost as gorgeous. I would one day love to stay at the Fairmont Lake Louise, which looks like such a gorgeous setting.

Stayed 6 nights at King Kamehameha Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii last week. Paid $400/night (with Marriott member & AAA discounts) . Nice digs but such a huge waste. I was horrified that there is zero security in that hotel. Anyone can walk in and take the elevator to any floor.

Going to go back to using the Airbnb when possible. I stayed at the above hotel mainly for convenience (don’t need to rent a car) and to stay close to my canoe racing teammates.

@gondwanalon The Marriott where my former job has and always had their holiday party has the same issue with security. It’s a large Marriott conference center with a huge ballroom, and several restaurants, and anybody can come in and take the elevator to any floor.

The Staybridge that we like to stay in has a key card you need to use for the elevator, and it will only take you to the floor that your reserved room is on.

Yes. Hotels or motels.

I don’t necessarily like or dislike hotels and motels, sometimes they are necessary and I do fine if they are not visibly gross.

Hmm. Not within an hour, unless there was a reason (e.g. not enough room at home). It generally needs to be too inconvenient to just go home.

I like some aspects of staying in hotels. Some hotels more than others. I like seeing and exploring new places. Even wandering around hotel buildings and grounds.

But I also think hotels are overpriced, and seem to have become even more-so than they used to be, which rules out doing it for fun, and limits how much I’m willing to go to them at all.

If they weren’t so expensive, or I were ridiculously wealthy, I’d enjoy staying at hotels for fun, though, yes. But I’d tend to combine it with travel.

I used to like staying in hotels and used to go “Whileways” a kind of cheap off season break with accommodation and meals all included. They were fun at the time but don’t appeal to me now. I much prefer staying in Airbnb’s, they are in more interesting locations and are much more comfortable and relaxed.

I like nice hotels or even clean and comfortable motels. I also like nice AirBnbs. Since I live in a resort area, I don’t see booking some place near my house although I have stayed in hotels in NYC a few times. I was in The Fairmont in SF and Banff and the Ritz in Sf about 25–30 years ago, all as business reward trips.

@jca2 You’re right, it is time consuming to get to your final destination at Disney. If I need to be on time inside of a park to meet someone or for a reservation I need to leave my house 2 hours before, and for a dinner reservation or a ticketed event I would probably give myself even more time. In reality, from start to finish it’s really an hour and a half to actually be inside the park, except for MK. MK you have to park and then take the ferry or monorail to the park.

I stay in hotels down there sometimes. I usually stay for free on points a couple miles from Disney. Then we go to a park at night and the next morning. Next weekend we are going one day, but the friends we are meeting are staying two nights. They go for weekend stays every month, pay high dollar, and they just became DVC members (Disney time share basically). They don’t always go to the park when there, sometimes they just immerse themselves in the resort.

I think Floridians who go a lot often spend more time at the resorts than people who come down for 4–7 days. The whole thing is more laid back if you can go there a lot.

One friend of a friend go almost every other weekend to Fort Wilderness in their tent.

I travel a lot and I stay in hotels frequently. Some are fine, and some are not. If I’m going somewhere with the family to, say, Hawaii, we prefer to rent a condo or a house.

Not a fan of hotels at all. I will rent a whole house for the same cost and normally do.

Whether close to home, on vacation with family, or alone for a work trip, I love staying at hotels. It always feels like a treat and I don’t have to do any cleaning or cooking. Love them. And, if the bed is super comfortable, even better.

I like hotels so much, I used to just hang out in the lobbies of some of the really nice ones in Boston back when I went to school and worked in the city. It immediately relaxes me.

@cookieman Funny, I love having a kitchen in my hotel room. I don’t want to eat every meal out. Most people I know are like you, unless they have very young children or health problems and a well working fridge is important.

I love some of the lobby areas in large really nice hotels too. I might have to spend some more time doing that. I usually stay in moderate hotels though.

It’s a thing at DisneyWorld to go resort hopping, which is spend some time in the lobby and on the grounds of the various resorts and maybe have a meal there too. I do some of that. At Disney it really transports you if you’re in the right frame of mind.

Animal Kingdom Lodge you can watch the giraffe’s and other animals roaming around, The Polynesian you can get a drink and enjoy the Pacific feel of the place. Also, Coronado Springs Resort is beautiful and the tower lobby is stunning! Oh, you would love it. I enjoy the variety of resorts in one place. You would like it I think if you have never been to the resorts at Disney.

I like staying in hotels. Especially between 11am – 4pm.
I like sleeping in a clean bed, with awesome air conditioning and heating.

I never sleep well in strange beds until I have a few days to acclimate (read: get so tired that I just can’t keep tossing and turning anymore). So I would not stay in a hotel just to get out of my house.

No never, also a germaphobe. A nice bed and breakfast is more our style, we like the personal service and family atmosphere. They usually are spotless, and very luxurious, too.

I used to. It was fun and carefree, especially nicer ones on the beach or in big cities.

Not any more. Service SUCKS. You stay for a couple of days and they don’t change sheets or towels, but the price has roughly doubled.

Yes, hotels have their employment issues, but they way to win back customers is NOT to make things worse than ever.

@elbanditoroso Good point. The full service has gone away when the pandemic started, and it never re-started. Now it’s “let us know if you need more towels” and that’s about it.

@elbanditoroso I like that they don’t change sheets and towels unless I ask. That’s unnecessary and wasteful in most cases and they always do it if I ask.

I also like that they don’t come into the room and change everything and TOUCH everything every day. Some hotels I can choose room service or no service. However, I have to agree it is less service and hotel prices have increased beyond comprehension. Some rates I really don’t understand how people are affording it.

At Disney they do come into your room to inspect though, even if they don’t do much of anything. They try to make sure there is no mass shooter in their hotels stockpiling guns and ammo. Supposedly, that is the reason.

For me, they’re mainly functional. I’m mostly there to sleep, bathe, and have a place for my stuff. I don’t fuss too much about cleanliness. I’ll sometimes opt for character, but usually the place is already not much more expensive than a budget room.

When we had a family reunion before the pandemic, we all stayed in nice rooms and suites at a large hotel in town. Somehow, I got upgraded to a “junior suite.”

I learned on my last cross-country road trip that AirBnBs can work better for a group of disparate individuals because you can usually find a listing with multiple discrete sleeping spaces at a price that’s comparable to a hotel room with two queen beds.