WillTravel

Say you are able to arrange cheap 4* accommodations in City #1, and then you are going to City #2 where the same price gets you a very budget place (no private bathroom, no lift, no AC, no fluffy towels, etc.). Do you find the transition a letdown? Do you like mixing up the quality of accommodations on a trip, or do you prefer to keep the same quality all the way along?

Aviatrix

I'm getting a bit old for "no private bathroom", I'm afraid - but apart from that I do quite enjoy experiencing different types of accommodation on the same trip. It's nice to experience the whole spectrum of accommodation that a country has to offer (or at least a wide spectrum of it).

peachfront

I'm fine with it. If I didn't sometimes stay in budget accommodations, I couldn't sometimes afford the luxe accommodations. I've got to keep it down to a dull roar before my husband puts his foot down and tells me to get a job.

EmailKid

I'll do you one better.

Attended a meeting in Chicago, and stayed at one of the fanciest hotels in the city (forgot which one now, but it's the one where Oprah lived in a penthouse on the top floor at the time, about 8 years ago).

When on my own dime, I spent the next day at THE nastiest hostel of all time in the same city. I did just fine, and saved my $ for Chicago's good dining

EmailKid

LapLap

I seem to have standards that aren't covered by stars.

I like an ensuite bathroom (especially when crossing timezones as padding off to the loo 4, 5 or more times a night is both annoying and embarassing - and it'll be worse from now on as I've been forced to up the amount of liquid I drink).

I like my bed to be comfy, not too hard, with sheets that neither smell stale/dirty, nor too much of detergent or having been burnt in the drier.

I like it when floors and surfaces are neither dirty nor sticky.

I also appreciate it when the hoteliers have made the best possible use of the space available.

For this reason I preferred staying at the Marriottt Courtyard Downtown Toronto to the Le Meridien King Edward (where the bed was a touch too hard). - these were bought through Priceline and Hotwire BTW.

And I also preferred some of the 1* establishments I've stayed at in Japan to the Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo - where the bed was like an ironing board and the space was completely squandered by bulky and inappropriate furniture.


Unfortunately, the more I pay for a room, the more I expect.

I can be pleased pretty easily with a $30 room.

I'll need to be pleased twice as much with a $60 room to get the same level of pleasure and satisfaction as I did with the $30 one.

And so on, and so on....

If I've just been in a $150 room and I go from here to a $60 room it's rarely less than half as nice as the more expensive one, so I rarely mind the switch.

I do mind when the $150 room is only marginally better than the budget room - using the criteria I described above (and I mind an awful lot when the bed is actually less comfortable!!!)


In short... it usually works the other way around for me, it's more of a problem when switching UPWARDS from budget to luxe.

WillTravel

LapLap, what you say makes perfect sense to me. The expectation level I would have from a multi-hundred-dollar hotel room (if I ever paid that much, as opposed to getting it through Priceline or some other deep discounter) would be so extraordinary that I don't know how anything could match it.

LapLap

Oh dear! There's not much chance of either of us 'graduating' to regular posters in the Luxury Hotels forum, is there?

tlhanger

Except for the bathroom, must be in room, I can sleep anywhere if I am tired.

Dianne47

When in my twenties I stayed in places priced at $4-10 a nite, yes this was many years ago and the bathroom was "down the hall." I'm like the above posters and now want my own bathroom when I travel. But I still look for "value" and use lots of resources and strategies to find inexpensive but nice accommodation.

I've stayed at the Shangri-La in BKK for $65, thanks to Priceline. In Siem Riep I stayed in a little inn for $40 that was a total gem, with excellent service and free breakfast. I use VRBO to find casitas in Santa Fe and have a favorite large one with separate bedroom, kitchen, fireplace, and private patio for $65 a nite. I've stayed there a lot and the owner gives me the rock-bottom rate even at the height of summer.

I'm at the La Quinta Ben White in Austin right now, weekend rate $49 with free breakfast. I have a king room, large desk, free internet, recliner chair, large bathroom. When I arrived yesterday there was a sign at checkin saying "Guest of the Day" with my name and last initial on it. I was floored. I told the lady I was their "guest" and pointed to the sign. She gave me a gift bag with water bottles and snacks. I'm only a "gold" level with LaQ and I think the next higher level gets a bag for every visit, but I never got one before so it was a delight.

A couple of years ago I met up with one of my FT gal pals in NYC. We stayed at the Millennium Hilton in a big suite with two bathrooms and a fabulous view the first nite, courtesy her high status. I think we were charged $119 and she performed some kind of white magic on the desk clerk to get that particular suite. The rates were astronomical the following nites, so we moved over to the La Quinta where we had their largest room, QQ, for about $89 a nite. Yes, it was a big letdown after the chic suite, but so affordable and the room was extremely spacious by NYC standards.

I have favorite hotels all over the world, usually low-cost out-of-the-way inns or small properties that charge $28-65. Budget doesn't have to mean "cheap" with poor service. Often it means charm, quality, and surprising service. Just ask anyone who has stayed at any of the hotels (Alam Indah, Alam Jiwa and others) owned by Abu Wayan around Ubud, Bali.

peachfront

The bathroom can be down the hall. After all, when you stay with family, the bathroom is probably down the hall too. If someone is astonished and annoyed to discover that middle-aged ladies sometimes visit the bathroom in the middle of the night, ask me if I care. Besides, they must be visiting the bathroom in the middle of the night themselves or they wouldn't even know about it. Cut down on those beers, young man!

As long as I feel safe, I don't care much about luxury when traveling alone. However, since my husband has little vacation time, I do try to look for the little comforts he likes when he travels -- yes, en suite bathrooms, but also microwave, coffee maker, mini-fridge. Ironically, these too are more reliably found in your middle range chains than your luxe chains though. Hmmm. $500 a night for a suite that includes a kitchen at hoity toity place or $89 a night to have the same thing at a motel where hubby can park his car for free and enjoy free wireless internet? There's no doubt which property he'll enjoy more. So we agree with Dianne about the charms of La Quinta and similar chains. We almost always like them better than the supposedly more luxe places.

LapLap

Chuckle! It's young lady! And it's a penchant for green tea (not beer) that provokes all those toilet visits when my body's still adjusting to the 9 hour time shift (I don't get embarrassed with taking 2 or 3 trips to the bathroom, it's the 6th and 7th visit that make me feel self-concious, especially if the door creaks or if my slippers squeak on the corridor). And now I've been traumatised by kidney stones, I drink a LOT more than before. Ensuite WC for me onegai shimasu! Thankfully, it's rare when I can't find a budget room for two with a WC at a similar price for what it would cost somewhere with shared facilities. Eg: ensuite room for 2 at Ryokan Toukaisou, Tokyo costs the same as a double room, shared, at Hotel Juyoh.

Once I've acclimatised to the time difference, however, I'll happily go back to sharing - some of the most delightful hotels I've ever been to were traditional inns in Japan with shared toilets and even baths. But with western hotels, I've never felt the need to, not when travelling as a couple. I kind of feel sorry for some people who travel around Japan in luxury - those chats with older ladies in a shared bath are some of my most cherished memories of this country.

abmj-jr

Hey girl!

Just to tag onto this sentiment - during my most recent stay of 10 days in Japan, I spend the entire trip schlepping around the Kansai, staying in inexpensive business hotels as usual. Tiny little bathrooms, just about enough space in the room to turn around, a relatively comfortable bed and breakfast included. Had a ball. Then I splurged a bunch of HHonors points for a stay at the Nagoya Hilton Grand just before leaving. Had the most horrendous night ever on a bed that felt "like an ironing board." (nice quote, by the way. I'll steal it again. ) Plus, they wanted to charge me for Wi-Fi, which I got free everywhere else.

Point is, the comfort of the room trumps all of the fancy trimmings. Mixing budget with 'luxe doesn't matter to me as long as I get the relative value from each.

JR

Canarsie

I have done this many times.

If I am simply using a room primarily as a place to sleep for a few hours and have a place to clean myself, almost any accommodation will do as long as it is reasonably clean. This is where I attempt to keep my lodging costs as low as possible.

If I am going to spend significant time in a room, that is when I want to take advantage of comfort, amenities and extras. Then, I will stay in a better hotel property.

artemis021

I'm okay with it-it adds to the sense of adventure.

WillTravel

I guess not , but I like to read other people's experiences. And I'm willing to stay in such places if someone else is paying.

I suspect that if someone has a subpar experience in an expensive hotel (as reported for the two 4* or 5* Japanese hotels mentioned in the thread), someone might think that the only solution is to spend yet more money, rather than expecting that the quality might actually be better at a lower price. That's assuming they haven't had experience with lower-price places, and expect a more or less linear correlation of quality and cost.