[ds968]

The topic came up on another thread but I thought I'd vent here in the gripes section : I do think a top notch hotel with superior bedding ( great mattresses and pillows , luxurious high-thread count sheets ) quiet rooms, 24 hr service , yada, yada ,yada makes for an enjoyable night's rest even if it is only for five or six hours you might spend in the room, but I can't see any justification whatsoever for the cost most hotels charge for a day's stay. I have stayed everywhere from Four Seasons to Ritz to Montage chains and other boutique hotels some of which charged $ 1,300 + / night ( I was spending the company's money, not mine btw.., I'm not insane, lol ) to Holiday Inn Express or Courtyard by Marriot at $ 150 / night which has 24 hr service and a bar, and most of the amenities the other hotels have at a small fraction of the cost . The incremenral difference may be worth another $ 50 or $ 75 to me, but not more. Now, if I go on vacation to a resort where I'm going to lounge around for a long time in the room and around the premises, that's different , but for these kind of car get togethers I look for the cheapest option, short of a place with moth ball smell and bed bugs. Sure it may not have Frette 800 count bed sheets and marble countertops in your bathroom or slate from Italy in your shower, but again ...for six or seven hours I have a lot better use for my money than to spend it on a room . I was in Los Angeles recently and stayed downtown at a modest hotel with a $ 349 / night rate but added to that was $ 42 parking fee, $ 30 room service fee, whatever the hell that means ...( I always leave the maid about $ 5-10 per day , but no friggin' way would I leave a $ 30 / day tip , though it seems that's not a discretionary thing anymore .. ) then another $ 25 in taxes, and some other miscellaneous charges all of which which brought the cost close to over $ 450 a night . WTF, it's just a roof over your head for one night , not a week's stay .

I know people who cringe at the thought of paying $ 450 for a shirt or a pair of slacks which will last them for a decade, but have no problem spending that for six hours at a hotel ( and that price does not even include the " escort " , lmao ) . But I suppose like everything else the value is determined purely by what consumers are willing to pay for any given thing.

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[flash]

some of the hotels are out of their minds.  i recently stayed at casa del mar in santa monica.  it was supposed to be a weekend getaway, at a place we used to frequent.  it was $800 a night, but this was a special occasion, so i figured it was going to be worth it.    the "ocean view" was a sideways sliver view.  the bed was placed so that you couldn't see the tv without looking past the bedpost.  the room was really pretty small, and smelled old.  on top of that, they had taken a quint old world tuscan style hotel and turned into a floridian style nightmare. the restaurant in the lounge was so cheap looking and feeling that i might as well have been at a denny's.  the whole place was noisy.  the cool couches in the lounge were gone.  everything said "get them in and get them out".  it just lost its appeal.  truly sad.  i was so disappointed in the hotel, that we ended up checking out the next morning, and going home, ending our weekend getaway.

 

on the other hand, we stayed at a hotel in greece that was $7,000 a night, and was worth every penny, just to be able to tell your friends.  it was totally the "matt helm" suite, with two floors, a huge spiral glass staircase down the middle of the whole place, 2 full bars, living room, 3 bathrooms, spa, 2 balconies, a huge walk in closet, electric curtains, and stuff you only see in the movies.  straight out of the 70's ultra over the top everything.

 

it really depends on location.  i have no problem paying $400-$500 a night, if it's a nice place.  i agree though that compromises get made when you are only there a few hours.  i tend to add on days to these car events though, which means i spend more time in the hotel, thereby justifying spending more.

 

to me, it's all about treating myself well on my fun time.  if i won't, who will?

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[az968]

We had been looking for a resonable hotel near the Forum for a New Year's Eve rock concert (The Dead, btw). I wanted close to Forum in case none of us was capable of a long drive late at night and no high taxi or Uber $. Amazed at prices in LA these days. Best Western for $185 is what we ended up with - $185 for a Best Western!!!!  I guess I'm getting old and curmunonetry (is that a word?)  And I only wanted to borrow the room for a night, not buy the damn thing.  But, not staying in Motel 6 either. I remimber staying in Intercontenentals in Europe for a lot less. But very nice botique hotel in the old part of Barcelona was worth the $250/night cause it was cool to walk out the front door in the gothic section streets and have a sidewalk coffee.

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[JTP]

I've had very good experiences with Hilton Garden Inn and Holiday Inn hotels (Hilton and IHG hotel brands). They offer comfortable clean rooms and good quality hotel amenities for a reasonable cost. Government per diem rates for Nevada is $89-$136 per night depending on the time of year so that plus ~25% is probably a good range of prices to look for.

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[az968]

Yeah, Hilton and Mariott, and some Holiday Inns, are good chains with decent rooms and rates in their lower tiered properties.  I've stayed in Four Seasons and they are very nice but at a price.  I do agree with Flash that for an exteded vacation a nicer property is worth pampering yourself with (since my kids don't need the full inheritance I worked for), but on the road for a short overnight, I'll save my money for the destination.. 

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[ds968]

$ 7,000 / night ??!!!! So it's a decision between staying two nights in a hotel or buying a 968 ?


Remember, here we all use PMUs ( 968 Porsche Monetary Units ) to assess the comparative tangible or intrinsic value of anything else in this life

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[flash]

lol - that was not a typo.  there is a whole story behind it too, which can only be told over a glass of wine.

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[az968]

So the range of acceptable hotel prices for the gathering is between $50 - $7,000 per night? Can we narrow that just a bit? Maybe to something without a comma?

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[JTP]

D1R stage 3 supercharger kit or a night at one of flash's hotels? Tough choice...

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[flash]

roflmao - i'm not suggesting that anybody run out and book a $7000 room.  it was an experience, but i doubt i'll do it again.  i'm more the 400-800 kind of guy, and to get to 800 it has to be some place very special.  i think we spent a bit more than that at the danieli though, and we'll be spending more than that on a castle we are renting for an upcoming trip.

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[lbpesq]

I travel a lot throughout California for work and often stay in hotels if I need to be in court early in the morning. I'm not looking for anything fancy, but I want something clean and with some creature comforts. Whenever I'm going to a new location, where I don't already have a hotel picked out, I always check the reviews on tripadvisor.com. And I often stay in casino hotels as they are usually fairly new, good quality, relatively cheap prices, and have lots of amenities avalable.


Bill

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[968Syncro]

Some of our best "hotel" experiences were "Zimmer Frei" in Germany and England (bed and breakfast).      Sure wish we had more of those options here in the US.  On the other hand, last year we took two Air BnB homes, one in Boston and one in Jersey City (NY).  Both were overpriced and disappointing.

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[ds968]

The owners of AirB&B homes and the other major vacation rental site ( VR-something ..acronym ) are in tune with the latest local hotels pricing, and while typically they may offer a reasonable cost by comparison to the hotel, many are increasingly requiring a minimum stay ( 2 or 3 days ) .  And if conventions or other key events are in town, that discount all but disappears; they promote the B&B as a place where you might pay a little more, but where you'll have some

peace and quiet as opposed to the mad crowds you'll have to fight at the hotels .          

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[az968]

As long as we're ranting.......

My wife was making a reservation today near the Oakland airport. We try to avoid the booking web sites like hotels.com and reservations.com, we'll price shop on them but find that booking directly with the hotel is often a better deal, or at least they will price match.  So this time, after she had shopped around various hotels, she clicked on the wrong url and ended up on reservations.com and didn't realize it.  She selected a refundable rate that would allow for a change in plans and booked.  She then noticed the charge was for $15 more that she had seen earlier on the hotel's website.  And the ""changeable" reservation was immediately charged to our credit card, non-refundable!  That set her off big time!  Called reservations.com and got the reservation cancelled and the $15 booking fee reversed also.  So beware using these sites, you may find the actual charge is higher than direct.  She went back to the hotel web site and found a $20 lower rate available to boot. Also, the tax rate near the Oakland airport is around 20%! Ridiculous!

 

Now I feel better, thanks for listening.

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[ds968]

Wow, that is the reverse experience I have when trying to book directly with the hotel vs booking through Hotels.com ( which I probably use the most ) Expedia, Travelocity , etc. The hotels keep telling me there is no way, no how they can match , or for that matter even come close to the rates I can get online from those travel l sites. And we're not talking about a 10 % or 20 % difference, more often than not it's 50 % more when trying to book directly by calling the hotel's reservation line or the font desk . ( At least that's the case with hotels n the greater Los Angeles area which accounts for about 90% of my travel destination )

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[az968]

Wow, we got a $40 lower total cost for the night from the hotel directly vs the booking service, including the ridiculous CA taxes. My wife saved enough to treat me to dinner.

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[lbpesq]

I like tripadvisor for the consumer reviews. I've also got some killer deals through priceline's "name your own price". I also use priceline almost exclusively for car rentals. I usually get cars at a 40-70% discount.


Bill

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[Mark]

Wow, we got a $40 lower total cost for the night from the hotel directly vs the booking service, including the ridiculous CA taxes. My wife saved enough to treat me to dinner.

The hotel probably violated their contract with the booking service if it was something like expedia or booking.com. The hotels guarantee them the lowest rate. It does not stop a lot of hotels from giving you a lower rate though.


I don't stay at hotels unless it is for work and then I am working at the hotel so there is no charge for anything but running a nice hotel is expensive. Heck what they pay in IT costs is generally pretty high but the software we sell them helps maximize the dollars.

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