spinnaker

Putting together my summer bicycle tour in Oregon. My days of camping for an extended period are over. I also try to avoid the flea bag motels. But some times a flea bag might be the only game in town. Or an upscale hotels are the only opion.

On my upcoming trip I will be paying $150 or more a night. Yeah I can afford it but still cringe at paying that price especially since I am retiring soon and really trying to get this mortgage paid off before that happens. But the other part of me says life is way too short and enjoy it now before it is too late.

So how much do you typically spend on vacation when visiting a popular tourist location in season?

DiabloScott

What's a vacation?

genec

I hate paying anything over $100 for a bed... I'm gonna have my eyes closed, so why do I care how fancy the room is... My wife on the other hand likes to sleep in rooms that "famous" people have once occupied... So needless to say, I don't get my way all the time.

Now what really gets me is that the high end resorts tend to charge you not only high rates for the room, but then nickle and dime you for things like parking and wifi and coffee... etc. Like your Marriots and the like... where they charge $200 plus AND charge you for wifi, movies... etc.

spinnaker

Last year I stayed at the Swiss Hotel in Chicago on Amtrak's dime. Curious I went online to look at the rates. $320+ and that price does not include wifi and like only 4 channels on the TV (my guess you had to pay for channels too.)

As long as the place is clean it does not need to be fancy. I stayed at the Vagabond in Sacramento. I think I paid sub $200 which is really good for Sacramento. The place was a bit dated but super clean. Yeah I don't care what the room looks like either but when your feet stick to the floor and you need to dodge bullets when stepping out the door, I would look elsewhere.

spinnaker

If I had a family and responsibilities I would feel guilty and never spend the money. But right now it is just me.

late

Depends.

If I know the place is good, I'll go for a modestly priced place. But basically, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Some places are just plain expensive.

I try to schedule in a day off the bike on a cycling vakay. If I can find a place that has stuff like hot tubs, I'm willing to spend a little more.

u235

Zero usually. I use reward points. I earn more points than I'll ever use for pleasure travel. I probably only require a hotel for personal travel an average of maybe 2 nights a year. If not for points, I'm fine with just about anywhere if the value is there, I'll pay for a run down dump if the price is on par.

Juan Foote

Much like the days of affordable concert venues, I am forever stuck with the idea that you can actually find a room for one at $40 without bedbugs or crackheads. It is, indeed, not a fact. Those same manner of rooms have hit near the $80 mark. Something I would consider "nice" is near that 3 dead president mark IMO for this area. Something acceptable in between.

Maelstrom 

I work in the hotel industry and have for 20 years (specifically in the tech space), and let me tell you this is a point of contention. For both sides. It is LITERALLY 50/50 with people complaining about nickle and diming, and other people complaining they don't like the higher rates... and if you try to compromise with a resort fee, you get 50% of the people staying complaining

Stuff needs to be paid for, and none of the three above make 100% of the people happy.

Personally I hate the nickle and diming but the expedias of the world have forced the hand. With the cheap rates being the only measurement to get guests in, those extras have to be recovered somewhere.

Maelstrom 

Personally, I generally stay in hotels around the 150$ mark. 3 start limited service but higher end. (so not super 8, but generally not Westin either). I always... everytime look for hotels where I can pay for the upgrade on wifi. I also always put a DND on the door so housekeeping wont bug me.

I travel about 5 months a year professionally.. I am super picky about my hotel stays and know all too well how ****ty those 40$ rooms are. I stay in those when I visit hodunk canada... but won't do it unless I have to.. *shudders*

Rollfast

What is a 'vacation'?

Is that like when my family piled into a 1974 AMC Matador wagon and towed a trailer somewhere then our dog ate some of an electric blanket in the trailer and threw up in there outside of Twin Falls, Idaho?

Was that the year we ended up in Yellowstone, saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, tried to sleep through the most hellacious thunderstorm we ever encountered and the next morning a ranger informed us that the observation point we stood on dropped into the canyon?

Or when we drove to Kennewick, Washington to visit a friend we called an 'aunt' and my parents bought Star Wars episode IV t-shirts for my brother and I at the Kmart? The shirts lasted longer than the transfers.

Our vacations were almost like Malcolm In The Middle.

Stormsedge

Last year we spent $150-270 a night while visiting Texas. I've paid more than that in NYC, HI, Singapore and Hong Kong...but those were exceptions.

genec

What the hell is a "resort fee?" If I am staying in the room to sleep in the bed... what exactly is "resort" about that... See the thing that gets me about such "fees" is that they are not included in the room rate... so you check in, expect to pay $130 a night, as quoted, and then get hit with local tax, occupancy tax, "resort fees" and other extras such as parking fee, wifi fee, telephone fee and hell, blanket fee.

I just want a clean bed. Not a royal screwing.

The real irony is that the cheap hotels/motels don't charge those awkward unmentioned fees... Nor do they try to block my wifi or cell phone... like the expensive "resort fee" places do.
https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/trave...ine/index.html

What does a "resort fee" cover?

It's like the friggen cell phone company... oh sure the per line rate is "only" $40, but then there is the connection fee, the hardware fee, the interstate call fee, the George W Bush cell phone fee (some folks call them "Obama phones," but it was W that signed that into law). By the time they finish with the billing, your "only $40 per line" is more like "only $60 or $70 per line."

So what is a "resort fee?" Which part of the bed did that pay for?

(yeah, sorry for the rant, but that is a real sore issue with me...)

skidder

I like doing the San Luis Obispo- Orange County coastal ride a few times a year, and pay $150 - $200 for a room in the Southern California area. That's during non-holiday periods. Not meaning to plug a certain chain, but I usually stay at Best Western affiliated hotels - they are everywhere, have a good rewards points system, and I know the corporate parent is a stickler for their franchisees to keep the building services up-to-date (I can tell when upkeep is lacking). The last time I went over that was $225 for a boutique hotel room in Santa Monica, CA in a nicely restored old hotel. The room was small (like most old hotels have), but being a fan of cool old architectural detail that's being kept up-to-date made me willing to pay the price.

308jerry

Personally the last three trips we've taken, New Orleans, Louisville KY and Moab and went through VRBO or Airbnb. Louisville the motels were going to be 1100 for three nights, we stayed in a beautiful condo in Old Louisville for 360. New Orleans we stayed in a really nice condo on the end of Bourbon Street and Frenchman area for less than any of the motels in the area.
Not sure that's gonna work for you but check them out. We've had nothing but great places to stay......

Hondo Gravel

spinnaker

Block cell phone? I never heard of that and doubt it is even legal. What is bad about the resort fees is they spring it on you once you check in. I always ask when making reservations. I refuse to pay a resort fee. I have stayed at places with resort fee but the company was paying for the room.

Resort fees get you things like access to the gym. Most of my vacations are either bicycle or sailing related. At the end of the day I am so tired I am not working out in any gym.

spinnaker

Spoke to a fellow on the train out of Eugene. He also paid over a thousand dollars for 2 or 3 nights in Eugene. Both he and I must have been the only two people on the planet that did not know there is a huge Grateful Dead concert in Eugene that time of year. Fortunately for me, I had a warmshowers host for the night.

My brother was chef at a hotel right on Bourbon Street. I wish I had taken him up on an offer for a free room at the hotel. I figured there is always next time, until he moved on.

spinnaker

I found one in Metaline Falls. It was a mile or two out of town. Fairly cheap. I dd not expect much. It was all recently remodeled brand new everything. Probably the nicest room I have ever stayed in, in my life. Super clean and the most comfortable bed you can imagine. .

genec

My wife does stuff like that... old hotel, rooms that "someone" has stayed in before... but here's the bottom line... you glance at that decor for a few minutes checing in and out... and are asleep in perhaps a substandard bed... because it's "historic."

So what are you really getting out of it... a bad nights sleep and a thinner wallet... you'd be better off not checking in, but just exploring the lobby, and if they have it, going to the restaurant... you'll be awake (eyes open) longer, see more detail, AND sleep in a better bed elsewhere.

I just don't see paying more for less just because it is old... especially when your eyes are closed for most of the visit.

Yeah, I have stayed in old places (remember, the wife likes em)... like the Copper Queen in Bisbee, or the Hotel Dell in Coronado, or the Congress in Tucson... they all had water pressure issues, and odd smells, and cost too much. So what IS the draw?

daoswald

I recently returned from a trip overseas. I had a nine hour layover during the day in Los Angeles. I paid $175 to get a hotel just so my family and I could take a shower, and a nap for a few hours before grabbing some dinner and catching our final flight. After clearing customs we checked in at about 11:30am and out about 7:00pm, so it wasn't even an overnight stay (at least not in the timezone we were located in at the time); just long enough to rest a few hours.

When you've just gotten off a 12 hour flight, 15 timezones away, you'll pay anything to avoid sitting around the airport like a zombie, with young kids, for nine hours.

Frankly, $150 isn't bad nowadays. I rarely find rates at places I'd be comfortable in for much less than that, and often places cost more. But do consider AirB&B. Sometimes that works out better, particularly for longer trips.

genec

So if I don't use the pool, or gym, or spa, or sauna, or tennis courts... why do I have to pay a resort fee... I just want the bed and shower... heck, I won't even use the phone or internet(the latter likely not secure anyway).

And yes, such blockages ARE illegal... but the hotel has to be caught, first. Marriott got caught... who else is doing it?

Hondo Gravel

BikingTech

1974 Twin Falls, daaamn. How many buildings were there back then? I was there only once for a track meet in 1983, was not impressed.

Siu Blue Wind

Back in the day, someone here asked where he should go for his three week vacation and we all were saying "come to my state!" He ended up driving across the US and staying at different members homes each night. The person sponsoring would feed him at home, take him on his favorite ride in the area and the visitor would buy lunch or dinner, then sleep on the couch. Wake up and drive to the next person's place. It worked out really good and all he had to do was buy a meal and gas. And he got to see several states and meet the BF members he's been on here with all this time.

I wonder if some will let you stay on their couch.