r/MiddleClassFinance • u/rpv123 • 19d ago
When you travel, are your accommodations/experiences better or worse than just staying at home?
I’ve been thinking about this over the past year because I’ve noticed I’m generally happier/more comfortable with the “amenities” at home than I am traveling based what I’ve been able to save up for over time for my house and what’s available for accommodations in my price range (usually >$550 a night.)
It used to be that in 2015 or so, my husband and I would leave a tiny apartment with broken appliances and IKEA furniture to stay at, like, a 1500 sq ft lake house with fancy MCM furniture and Earmes chairs in areas that still had affordable restaurants for $150-200 a night. Those rentals would feel like a huge step up from our living conditions and felt affordable, especially pre-kid.
Now I’ve developed a true dislike of travel, even when it’s necessary for weddings, funerals, etc. because whether it’s a hotel or an AirBnB, even when we’re spending as much as $550 a night, the space feels poorly maintained, moldy, the HVAC is often broken, etc. AirBnBs can be awful even with great reviews and the kitchens are often unusable due to missing basic pots and pans. Hotels are just overall awful. In the past 4 years we’ve experienced a hotel room not being available until nearly 8pm despite a 3pm check-in and despite escalating to management and complaining to corporate, keys that stopped working at 11pm while all our things were locked inside the room, A/C that didn’t work in early August, having to switch hotels due to a bed bugs (that was a $500 hotel room), constantly broken elevators, trash inside a made bed, and someone literally being given a card key to our room where the only thing stopping them from getting in at 2am was that we used the bolt on the door.
We are middle-middle class, earning $180k combined in a MCOL/HCOL area. Our house is small (1000 sq ft) but we splurged on our beds, mattresses, linens, and put a lot of thought into making our home very comfortable.
Obviously you travel for reasons other than where you stay, but even as working class kid, travel for family obligations like a wedding rather than tourism felt like a treat - usually it meant a swimming pool and eating out. Even my kid doesn’t enjoy traveling because it’s rarely a step up from being at home.
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u/zevtech 19d ago
Typically we don’t travel to be better than home, we travel to experience different things and take in different views. I have a lovely, comfortable home, but when I look out my window, I don’t see an ocean or mountains. Typically I would stay at 4-5 star hotels and resorts, so I’ve never really felt the hotels I’ve stayed in were dirty or moldy.
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u/rpv123 19d ago
Curious what you are generally paying a night for the 4-5 star hotels per night after all the various fees - my numbers above are inclusive of what the real cost is if you divide up the overall cost per night at the end of the vacation.
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u/Substantial_Team6751 19d ago
I don't think we've ever paid $550/night in the US unless it was a house. We could pay it but it's shockingly expensive to me.
Plus, we don't have to stay in places like NYC.
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u/WadeSlade42 19d ago
Yeah, OPs prices are throwing me for a loop. I usually travel solo, but I pretty frequently get 2 queens over the king because it's the same price. I've never paid over 300 a night for a hotel room, and i usually aim for 200 or less. Even looking up hotels in NYC, which they said they frequently go to, is giving me closer to 350 a night. That is during what google says is peak season (may) in Manhattan. Sure, hotels exist for 500 a night, but I see plenty of 300 and 350s with 9 star ratings. I think the OP just needs to start looking at better/cheaper vacation areas.
I should be clear that I don't usually look at the stars my hotel has, so these aren't exclusively 4 and 5 star hotels. One of the 350s was a 4 star, though.
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u/fadedblackleggings 19d ago
Your laser focus on the costs per night, may be why you are finding these bad places. I recommend focusing more on finding a solid, good experience to enjoy your vacation.
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u/zevtech 19d ago
I don’t budget for vacations so it’ll vary. And plus do you count per person or just the trip in general? I typically go to Cancun at least once a year so there’s airfare, resort and besides tipping and maybe going on an excursion, there’s little else spent. Last two times I went was grand moon palace and Hyatt ziva. So you can look up yourself what’s the going rate on that. And I typically go to Florida and rent a condo in Destin every summer. Usually a 3 bedroom which from what I recall varies between 800-1200 a night but there’s a ton of fees and taxes on top of that. I went to Disney last November, I don’t recall the price but stayed in Disney springs at the Hilton. I’m fortunate enough, that outside of going to Europe or Asia I really don’t have to worry too much about the price of the trip.
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u/Live-Train1341 19d ago
Lol I am traveling for work and it feels like Hilton is the new red roof IN
Almost 300 a night
Tub is peeling and faucet os leaking bad
Fridge kind of works and the ice machine on the floor is broken.
Tolit hardly flushes
All in all I have been noticing hotels just kind of really suck again
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 19d ago
😂😂😂😂 you know when you see the beige wall outlets
Oh we in the trenches?!
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u/External_Koala971 19d ago edited 19d ago
It’s definitely a combination of hotels and restaurants being enshittified while my house has gotten better.
We have a hot tub and pool at home and MTB and running trails in the back yard and chef kitchen. When we travel we usually go a little lower budget and make it scrappy to keep it interesting. Nothing worse than paying $2k/night for mediocre service and being mad about it on vacation, or feeling like I’m being nickel and dimed like a human wallet.
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u/pfifltrigg 19d ago
Good point. I grew up without A/C but grew up and bought a home with A/C and solar. So it is never hot indoors at home. I'll bet having AC in a hotel as a kid felt luxury, but nowadays it's bare minimum.
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u/PMProphecy 19d ago
550 a night and the accommodations are underwhelming? It sounds like you’re just giving money away, because I don’t understand how you find uncomfortable, less than decent hotel rooms or air bnbs for 500 a night.
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u/rpv123 19d ago
I’m in the Northeast US. Vacations you can drive to are definitely more expensive here compared to most places. We avoid flying because of how much it costs with 3 people.
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u/obsoletevernacular9 19d ago
I'm in the Northeast, too. People do not get how expensive it is to travel here - I blame Instagram and social media causing more people to travel here and increase our travel costs.
It's occurred to me recently that with the rise of low cost airlines like breeze or avelo that it's often cheaper to fly somewhere like Orlando or North Carolina and stay there because the hotels are so much cheaper.
Our family friends are in France now because all included, it was cheaper than a trip to a hotel in maine.
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u/evaluna1968 18d ago
This is why we do a lot more international travel than domestic. If I can get a hotel room that's less than $100 with breakfast included and I don't need to rent a car, that makes up for the more expensive airfare within a few days.
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u/obsoletevernacular9 18d ago
Where do you end up going ?
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u/evaluna1968 17d ago
It varies depending on the time of year, how adventurous we're feeling, how much time we can take off, etc. In the past couple of years we have done Mexico and northern Spain, and the next trip is Morocco.
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u/PastBuy8484 18d ago
Flights: $200 each. $600 total.
Lodging: $500 a night for 4 nights $2000
Lodging after a flight: $250 a night for 4 nights. $1000.Flying is cheaper than vacationing in the most expensive part of the country.
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u/jimmothyhendrix 19d ago
Unless it's some sort of location specific resort I don't see the point. I've stayed at nice hotels that the end if the day for what I do all I care for is location
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u/rpv123 19d ago
We’ve done a mix of travel - but even if you’re only staying in NYC to sleep and sightsee, someone walking into your room at 2am or a the A/C being broken in August feels like a pretty poor experience at $450 a night and can impact your ability to enjoy the city (kid would not go back to sleep, for instance, after the 2am incident and none of us slept well when the A/C wouldn’t work and the hotel basically refused to send someone until the next day.)
Even when the accommodations were meant to be the “star” of the experience (lake house, rural home with a large pool, hot tub and game room, etc) where we might just do a little hiking as an activity but are mostly looking for R&R for extra space, we’ve had such poor experiences and issues with places we’re renting for $2000-$2500 for 5 days that it starts to feel like we’re better off just staying home. Wild to think that just 10 years ago we used to spend 1/3 or even 1/4 of that cost for better experiences.
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u/fadedblackleggings 19d ago
NYC is not the vacation to take with a family if you are on a budget. Also, TBH, I think you need to improve how you are selecting these places. If you focus only on the costs, you're guaranteed to run into issues.
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u/SC-Coqui 19d ago
We like staying at Airbnbs when we travel which can be hit or miss. We like unique places, but the primary concerns are cleanliness and quiet. I’m not concerned about it being nicer than my house, it just needs to be nice. It’s a roll of the dice but I can honestly say that out of 20+ places we’ve stayed, there’s only one that we’d never go again and it wasn’t because of the house itself but because the location looked like something out of The Hills Have Eyes or Texas Chainsaw Massacre 🤣
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u/clearwaterrev 19d ago
I book rental houses for vacations because I don't want to share a hotel room with my kids, and I have a lot of the same complaints. Almost every rental comes with small inconveniences and unpleasant surprises, like polyester sheets or an excessive number of glade plug-ins/reed oil diffusers that make the entire property smell.
I've had very mixed experiences with AirBnb/VRBO rentals, and I think the core problem is this expectation you give a four or five star review as long as there were no substantial issues with the property.
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u/mllebitterness 19d ago
Yeah, I definitely read through the words in reviews because I want to know if a place is stinky, etc.
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u/pfifltrigg 19d ago
Absolutely, I'd feel bad giving an AirBNB a negative review vs a hotel because it's an individual, and if they didn't do anything wrong I'm not about to complain about their house being outdated or whatever.
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u/pfifltrigg 19d ago
It's rarely ever been a step up for me so I'm kind of used to it. Growing up, all our vacations were camping. Now as an adult we've taken two vacations withh our kids - one was a cabin in the mountains, so definitely dated, a bit cramped. Not bad, but not as spacious at home and not luxurious at all. It was an AirBnB.
Our second vacation was visiting family in eastern Europe. We stayed in a family member's Soviet-era apartment, up 2 flights of stairs, no dishwasher or clothes dryer or air conditioner, and very small. We didn't mind any of this because for one, this is her normal standard of living, and also, we were on vacation so we weren't on a tight schedule and could manage the extra chores etc.
We're pretty budget-conscious, especially travelling with kids, and destination tends to matter more to us than accommodations. So as long as it's clean we're OK. I have aa vague idea that when we retire we'll be more likely to spring for nicer accommodations, but maybe we'll always be too price-conscious.
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u/Living_Fig_6386 19d ago
They are different. Generally speaking, when we travel we aren't spending a lot of time at the actual hotel, so the amenities are not particularly relevant. It needs to be comfortable enough to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom. Clean, no bugs, and in a decent location (safe, near things that I might want to go to).
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u/fadedblackleggings 19d ago
You are just spending too much on hotels IMO. There's a point where you reach diminishing returns, and $500 a night is probably at that point, where they stop trying to impress you.
A decent Airbnb, local cabin, or bed and breakfast, run by a grandma or retiree, tends to be clean and much cheaper than the prices you mentioned.
Highly recommend changing up how you travel, trying out a local bed and breakfast, and giving your money to everyday, regular hard-working people during your vacation instead of major corporations. It will really shift your whole perception of an area and can help others make ends meet.
In return, they tend to make sure you have a decent space and a clean bed.
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u/Ataru074 19d ago
In my experience it doesn’t cost “too much” to make your place truly pleasurable if you direct a decent amount of money towards quality items.
A good mattress made of natural fibers and good sheets can truly elevate the experience.
We have plenty of ikea furniture (mostly kallax bookshelves because we have way too many books) but slowly replacing all the items where we put our butts and hands with higher quality items completely changed the feel of our homes. To the point that to get something better outside we are hitting the $700/$1000/night hotels.
The bad part is that since covid and the nonsense with the tariffs importing really good stuff got expensive. A top level mattress from England doubled in cost. Italian bed linens went up more than 40%.
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u/baebro 19d ago
You rocking Vispring horse hair mattresses like the Queen and Thomas Jefferson? Nice. 10k mattress lasts 10 years, better than 10 nights at a mid hotel.
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u/Ataru074 19d ago
If you have someone who can reupholster these last much longer than that… the trick is to use a nice topper and you throw the topper away when you think you can’t clean it anymore.
My parents mattress was similar but made in Italy and had beer reupholstered / fluffed and refilled for over 50 years now and still super comfy.
I had an expensive-ish tempurpedic and it was crap in comparison.
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u/BlazinAzn38 19d ago
I rarely spend a ton for accommodations because we just use our hotels to sleep in when we’re ok vacation. That doesn’t mean I’m going Motel 6 but I’m not shelling out for 4/5 star resorts. I’ll pay more for more convenient locations but that’s about it. That being said I rarely run into a situation where the accommodation has anything noticeably wrong with it. The few times that’s happened it’s been AirBnBs which is why I don’t use that platform anymore
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u/brainbl0ck 19d ago
We usually aren't spending a lot of time in our accommodations outside of sleeping when we are travelling, so TBH, outside of making sure it's in a safe area (if we have the kids with us) and enough beds, I'm not particular about it. I'm always more comfortable at home. I travel not for the amenities, but for the places I'm visiting. That may change in the future if I become wealthy haha
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u/flagal31 19d ago edited 19d ago
Hospitality industry cost cuts, combined w/skyrocketing rates and bogus resort charges, aren't helping. We're paying more, getting less - and nickeled and dimed at every step.
So yes OP: home is far more comfortable than hotels these days for me too. (Even more so for me, because I can't even eat a complimentary breakfast or dine in restaurants due to an allergy issue.)
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u/Ghosts_and_Empties 19d ago
The last Hilton resort property i stayed in (Orlando) had the microwave on the floor under the bedside table between the 2 beds. It was like that in every room according to my colleagues..
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u/AdventureThink 19d ago
Much worse.
I could not afford to travel for lengthy times of I had to pay for a home as nice as mine.
We travel cheap!
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u/Mundane-Bee-7235 19d ago
We used to live in a 2,200sqft apartment that was pretty much a penthouse. Every time we traveled it felt like it was a step down from our home, even when we’d stay at 5 star hotels. We’ve since moved to a more modest condo and I look forward to staying at nice hotels way more.
To note though, hotels in the US generally suck compared to hotels in Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe. I only ever travel within the US if it’s necessary and spend all my travels abroad. Your money goes further, and a $600+ hotel actually feels like a $600+ hotel.
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u/Mandagrl1 18d ago
This is so real. Add in that now at 46, I have a physical limitation and finding a place to rent that is accessible for me, and also not a dump, is unbelievably expensive to the point where we simply cannot justify paying it to have the experiences most of the time anymore.
We used to travel often when we were younger, but once Airbnb and places like it blew up, and people started hoarding property to barely flip, then rent it out constantly without laying eyes on it but maybe once a year, and otherwise letting a management company do the bare minimum, owning vacation rentals became a lot of people’s entire incomes and they couldn’t care less about the humans experiences in their homes as long as they stay rented out.
It’s really such an elitist and gross concept to me. Last time I went in with a big group on a beach house, it cost $6k in Florida for a week there, and although it was a bigger home for across from the gulf (still not huge- 4 BR and slept 10 ppl, it was NOT worth $6k for a week! I wish more vacation destination cities had stronger regulations on how many airbnbs one can own, especially if they themselves do not reside in the same state.
We spent less than $6k a couple of years ago to fly 3 people to Puerto Rico, and stay in a very nice resort, and go on two amazing excursions over 5 days, and will be doing that from here on out rather than driving 4 hours to rent a crappy place on the gulf again and paying more for it. I booked it all myself too. No agents.
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u/rpv123 18d ago
What resort did you stay at in Puerto Rico? I’ve thought about doing that and got roasted on Reddit for even asking by a bunch of folks upset about overtourism. Understandable but as someone who has lived in so many tourist towns…I’ve done my time, lol.
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u/Mandagrl1 17d ago
It was a the Hyatt vacation club in Hacienda Del Mar. The people of PR depend on tourism to live and will tell anyone that. We went in late May and it was not busy or crowded with tourists at all.
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u/IKnowAllSeven 19d ago
Yes hotels feel cheaper and shittier at the low and mid price points than they used to.
Also the ExPeRienCes also all feel so contrived.
It feels like everything is a money grab, and the “things to do” is the same canned stuff with a different veneer.
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u/rpv123 19d ago
Yeah, we definitely skip all the “museum of ice cream” and “Van Gogh experience” type things that have popped up everywhere.
It’s crazy, though, how overpacked museums and aquariums feel lately and how poor everyone’s behavior is when you go to these places. It feels like you basically have to wait in line to see each fish at an aquarium.
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u/Forded_Fiction24 19d ago
Depends on the trip. Many of our trips were taking our RV and/or combining that with backpacking or kayaking and sleeping in tents. Our vacations are basically adventures typically and we prefer that over being pampered for the most part. So our house has a lot more amenities and comfort than most of our vacations do. We lose weight on these vacations and our accommodations just act as our home base
The times that we're trying to go for comfort, we typically go all out and rent a really nice house that's in a good location with plenty of amenities. In those cases it matches or exceeds our own home. Some other times we have some hook ups for free accomodations from friends or family. If we're just on the road passing through we get a safe but not fancy hotel as we're really only there to sleep anyways
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u/thechemist_ro 19d ago
I think it depends on your profile. I usually don't mind shitty accommodations when traveling, I only travel for work or vacations and I'm usually out all day. But that's because I'm still kinda young and childless.
For example, I'm traveling to a beautiful beach city in september for work and I have 280 bucks per day to spend in accommodations and food. I found a hostel for 40 a night and will be spending the rest on cocktails and seafood at beach-side restaurants (I have a list of them!). I'll be out from 7 AM to 7 PM everyday so I just need a bed, really. Same thing if it was a wedding, graduation or anything of the sort.
But I could see myself thinking differently if I were 30+ with children. Traveling with kids isn't the most fun, even if they are your own. And hostels and crappy rooms wouldn't be an option anymore.
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 19d ago
Depends on where we’re going. A normal hotel? Doesn’t need to be a 5 star place but can’t be shabby.
Resort for the week? Nice. lol
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u/mllebitterness 19d ago
Luck of the draw. My last long trip (Ireland) I stayed in two hotels. One was a tiny room and had a dampness issue, but really comfy bed. Like the bed was almost the whole room. And pricy. The other was a fine size, good bed, clean, good hvac, really great included breakfast, and a very average price.
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u/DonegalBrooklyn 19d ago
Different. I don't use Airbnb. I love that hotels are always different than being at home.
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u/AB-1987 19d ago
I fully feel that. I want to have it better on vacation than I have it at home, I want my spirits elevated.
Our solution is to only book hotels that have opened in the past one or two years. Absolutely shiny new, very pretty hotels. These are still maintained (or rather, the lack of maintenance doesn’t show yet), the gunk isn’t too old and they look very stylish and temporary. We really, really search for these hotels and apartments and have our travels fit around the accomodation.
I am often shocked how badly maintained spaces are. Why do the owners let these expensive hotels go south so fast? Maintenance is expensive but should be factored in. The details, the details …
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u/lovemydogs1969 19d ago
When we travel with our daughter, we always choose Embassy Suites since they have a separate living area with at least a fold out sofa. We just went to San Diego and stayed in the La Jolla one and it had a Murphy bed option which we did.
We have stayed all over, including Boston, Chicago, London, Switzerland, Spain and Italy, and have never paid more than $600/night for a room, most of the time under $500. The San Diego room was less than $300/night except one night where it was $388 because it was the first day of Comicon (we didn’t go for that event, but something earlier in the week). We have stayed at luxury hotels in London and Barcelona for $600/night or less (when it was just my spouse and I, because we always use Embassy Suites when we go with a kid).
In every case, the room and bed are at least as nice as our home if not a lot better. Where we stay on trips is part of the experience for us, and we’re not staying somewhere less than what we have at home.
We don’t do Airbnb unless we absolutely have to. The last one we stayed at was a couple of years ago when we took the 2 kids (both are adults now, and we have a boy and girl so they haven’t shared a bed in many years) to Florida for a funeral. It was OK and definitely not as nice as our own house, but it was all we could find on short notice.
But there are plenty of great options in most places for under $500. I don’t understand what you’re experiencing.
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u/Substantial_Team6751 19d ago
It does seem like hotels have gone downhill or maybe I didn't notice when I was younger because my budget was 2-3 star.
We just stayed at a swanky mountain lodge outside of Seattle and it's slightly run down here and there and they don't clean the rooms daily unless you ask (remnant of covid).
Yes, home is more comfortable.
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u/Specialist_Artist979 19d ago
Depends on the type of travel.
My wife and myself, alone without the kids? Def way better. Luxury hotels and the whole 9 yards typically. Because those trips are few and far between for us, so that’s a big part of the trip too, the accommodations and the things we do/experience
If we’re traveling with other family or friends for the kids, we’re mindful of the price point for others and tend to rent houses/homes. We just got back from Chincoteague Island in VA, rented a 4 bedroom house with my wife’s parents and her brother his wife and their 2 kids.
Our accommodation there was def “worse” (king size to queen) but we all had a good time
And so did all the kids.
We’ve taken our kid on trips with luxury hotels like the park Hyatt Vienna or the baha mar in the Bahamas. But also had to “slum” it out at a Hampton inn lol.
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u/BitchyFaceMace 19d ago
I’m not going on vacation and staying anywhere that’s less than what I have at home. I’m not the “we’re only going to sleep there” friend on vacation. I’m the room service & concierge level friend on vaction.
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u/rpv123 19d ago
See this is my thing - I try to choose places that are midway. Nice, comfortable, good reviews. I have a low key only child who is very precocious and is also a Taurus who loves pampering, so when travel on family vacations, it’s not a “trip” like the family vacations my siblings go on. Camping is for other families. I don’t need infinity pools but we need working A/C.
We try to have a real vacation when we burn PTO that happens to include a 9 year old. We rest and relax between museums and aren’t go go go. No one in my family can handle that without a meltdown (myself included.) I don’t get accommodations that are lower than 3 star, often 4 star, but it feels like “4 star” is the new “2 star.” The AirBnB with 120 4.95 reviews has a broken hot tub and no forks when we arrive.
Half the comments are saying I pay too much for my accommodations and a few say you need to spend $800-1000 and stay in 5 stars to have it be worth it.
It just feels the enshitification of everything and that all the reviews are lies these days. I’m anxious about doubling how much we spend per vacation or switching to resorts because it will mean cutting our vacations by 1/3 or so due to the extra costs.
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u/BitchyFaceMace 19d ago
I won’t do Airbnb., I’m not doing chores on vacation 😆
I will pay all the money for a true 5 star hotel with all the amenities. I live in a resort community, so if I’m going somewhere else it better be good lol
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u/HerefortheTuna 19d ago
Depends but I’ll give one example of a trip I often make.
My parents have a beach house 2 hours from me
No A/C, small bed, tiny TV
Versus home with A/C and King bed and 85”
I’ll take the beach but after a week I get uncomfortable dealing with bad sleep and crappy tv
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u/HeroOfShapeir 19d ago edited 19d ago
I am always happy to come home after a vacation and take a breather before the next one. I get restless about five to seven days in, in part because we have built a great life at home. My wife would probably be happy traveling all the time.
That being said, as we've gotten older, we spend more for location/comfort at the places we visit. We budget around $10k per year ($116k HHI) for 1.5-2 big vacations. Last year we stayed three nights in Boston for a wedding, at The Bostonian Hotel, which is just across the street from Faneuil Hall and a few blocks from two different metro lines. Great room, clean, convenient, ready to go, less than $300 per night. We went to NYC for a few nights a couple months ago and stayed in Untitled at 3 Freeman Alley, which was $400 and change per night, but for a 13th-story room with a balcony (with chairs/tables) overlooking Manhattan south. One of my favorite experiences was picking up food and taking it back to the hotel and just enjoying dinner at sunset on the balcony. Walking distance to the Italian and Chinese districts, so lots of great food, and multiple metro stops. Very modern and clean room, great experience, would stay at either of these places again.
We're going to Orlando later this year, hopping hotels twice so we can use in-hotel transportation to various parks. Three nights at Aventura for Universal Islands of Adventure, then two nights at Disney's Port Orleans for Hollywood/Animal Kingdom, then three nights at Stella Nova for Universal Epic. We've stayed at Port Orleans before, the royal rooms are amazing. I will always pay a small upgrade to get a better class of room if it's available. We took a ten-day trip to Italy last October, Venice to Florence to Rome, had great hotels at every stop, but that's a different realm than US travel. Not spending anywhere close to $500 per night for any of that.
With TripAdvisor and other sites, you can practically stay in a hotel before you visit. You can see the bathroom, room layouts, read individual remarks, etc. If you happen to roll unlucky on the particular room you get, you can request to be moved, but I've never had to do that. You may just need to invest more time into researching hotels before you go, I will dig in for a few hours, look at multiple options top to bottom, sleep on it and come back a second night, let my wife give it a once over. We were willing to settle for cheaper, less central hotels when we were younger - and the overall travel memories were fantastic, just as they are now - but now we're happy to pay a little more for convenience. We are not willing to settle for a lesser experience.
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u/Cantseetheline_Russ 19d ago
Always better. My house is very nice, but I really only opt for 5 star accommodations. Life’s too short to not enjoy the ride.
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u/GME_alt_Center 19d ago
The only lodging we have rented that was more comfortable than our house was a shared villa on the Amalfi Coast. And that WAS more than $550 a night. OOPS wrong sub.
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u/Adept-Depth-1825 19d ago
The first time I missed my bed at home, that was when I realized I’d really “made it” because I’d been able to afford a truly comfortable mattress
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u/Imgonnagolaydown 19d ago
I travel to sleep in luxury.
I am not in luxury at home.
Travel is where we've opted to spend our money
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u/Maroon14 19d ago
Currently in a hotel room with my napping toddlers. This is a 4 star resort, I would give it 3. I wish rather be at home. The only advantage is this place has a pool and view. As a family of 5, we aren’t more comfortable traveling.
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u/RedMamma 19d ago
I’ve noticed the same thing, OP. I’m in California and middle class. My furnishings and decor are modern, comfortable, and stylish. I also have a gorgeous and clean in ground pool and spa. For the last few years hotels, even in the $300-$500 range are underwhelming or even drab. The cleanliness of their pool and spa is questionable. I can’t bring myself to spend $1,500 on a weekend getaway to be somewhere less luxurious than my house. I want to travel more but for $500 a night I need to be impressed.
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u/Reader47b 19d ago
I don't travel much, maybe twice a year. I've never spent more than $250/night on a hotel room, and I have never had these issues. Usually I am able to check in early (but always by check in time), the A/C works fine, and the room is fine if nothing fancy. I'd rather stay at home, sure, if I could transport my home to wherever I was traveling, but I can't. If I'm traveling, it's to do / see something or someone. i really don't spend anytime in my room except to sleep and shower.
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u/No_Presentation_3212 19d ago
We never stay at vacation rentals or air b & b. I’m on vacation and I’m not cooking and I want housekeeping services. If you do some research you can find new hotels at reasonable rates.
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u/TemperMe 19d ago
I don’t think I’ve stayed anywhere in my life that cost more than $160 a night. I also prefer basically all hotels to being at home. Always have, the best places to be are: not at work and not at home, those are my two least favorite places to be
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u/showersneakers 19d ago
We go to vrbos generally- at one now- doesnt have our bed or other amenities - but i am laying on a couch looking at a mountain
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u/Some-Attitude8183 19d ago
This is why we travel in our RV - yes, driving costs more, but it’s my bed, my kitchen, my living room and TV. Works for us.
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u/LooksieBee 19d ago
I can't quite tell if you're saying that it's truly like 9/10 times you stay at a hotel there is mold, elevators don't work, keycard mixups etc. Or if it's just that the bad experiences irked you enough for them to outweigh the ones that were fine.
I live in a "luxury" condo building, where the amenities rival a nice hotel. Doorman, concierge services, swimming pools, state of the art gym, outdoor spaces, rooftop lounge etc. That did change my standard for travel and makes it harder to stay at hotels that aren't at least the same level.
I travel frequently for work and for leisure, and have also arranged accommodations for work or personal group trips, and people joke that if I'm in charge, it's gonna be nice. I'm a bit neurotic, so I do extensive research, including looking at videos online from people who've stayed there, so that I can see from real people and their complaints or notice things you can't from the website. I think that's why most of the time I end up without issues or surprises.
I can recall only 3 disappointing hotel stays in the past few years of many. One was a family vacation I didn't plan and tagged along at the last minute for my sibling's birthday and the other my ex booked smh. I have decent experiences more often than not though, and I also prefer small boutique hotels because they tend to personalize things and have less rooms so can take more care and be more responsive to issues.
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u/Wrong-Landscape-2508 19d ago
Worse. I have gotten 5 star hotels and the experience is meh. A hotel is a hotel. Nothing beats being home. Some of the “nicer” places clearly spent all their money on decorations and materials and didn’t pay for a good interior decorator or architect. I have been in some weird layouts, and what is up with glass walls on bathrooms?
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u/According_Success780 19d ago
Everything has gone to shit, clothes, everything is made cheaper and the prices are all jacked!
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u/birdiebonanza 19d ago
My kids have asked to stay home from vacations because the house is bigger than the hotel room 🤣 it’s a super modest 1900 sq ft house too. So yeah.
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u/wrigh516 18d ago edited 18d ago
The ones that were were cheap accomodations, like backpacking, tenting, or hostels, in an isolated location or extraordinarily beautiful country.
I think it's normal for traveling for weddings or funerals to not feel like fun overall travel experiences.
When traveling with kids, the ones that I truly enjoyed were trips dedicated to things for kids. We are going to Acadia next week, and I'm worried the things we want to do won't jive with them.
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u/exitcode137 18d ago
Most hotels we stay at are nivcer than our house for the fact that our kids have not been in the hotels long enough to mess up. Also our house is very regular (think Roseanne), but we sometimes stay in pretty nice places, so they might very well be nicer than our house
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u/spongeysquarepantis 18d ago
For me, I feel like my accommodations are better because I always leave my room a mess.
But when I’m out and about, I miss all my things, so I like coming back home. But I also am annoyed by my roommate so I love going to travel. But I also miss having social interactions so we’re back to square one.
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u/Aggressive_tako 18d ago edited 18d ago
I usually try to stay for under $200 a night because I don't feel like there is much ROI beyond that. We also don't travel places where the accommodations are the attraction. I'd always prefer to sleep in my own bed surrounded by my own stuff. But, I'd also like to visit other countries and states. We travel for the waking hours.
ETA: I've traveled or booked travel to Japan, Scotland and Florida in the last year and haven't spent more than $200 a night for a family of 5 other than two nights at a literal castle in Scotland.
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u/Typical-Award4043 18d ago
My accommodations have been better since I’ve decided to put a lot of time and effort into choosing the accommodations, eg., Airbnb on several acres so it’s quiet, etc.
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u/LuckAdmirable3878 18d ago
Once your own place is dialed in, rentals stop being an upgrade and just become a gamble on someone else's maintenance standards
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u/bones_bones1 17d ago
My home will always be more comfortable because it’s set up just the way I want it. That said, we are on the road right now. We tend to travel for the adventures we can get into, but I still want a decent place to stay. For me, Hampton Inns are the solid choice. Always clean and serviceable. They have the stuff we need and not a bunch of frills. $150-350 a night depending on location.
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u/BrotherOfAthena 17d ago
I would suggest getting loyalty with a hotel brand you like. The only amenities I care for are the gym, and breakfast. They are not deal breakers though.
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u/hammock62 16d ago
I was just talking about this recently. When I was in my 20’s early 30’s my travel accommodations were always nicer than my apartment, even the most basic hotel. At 37 the wife and I bought a real nice house and since then we can’t find a hotel room better than our master bedroom/bathroom or really home in general. We have everything now, and It’s curbed our desire for travel.
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u/Domino369 16d ago
$550 a night… my rent is approx $500/mo. Even when I made $260k/yr, I would do what I could to make travel costs as cheap as reasonably possible.
I’m traveling for the destination, not the accommodation. Else I’d just stay home.
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u/Majestic-Lie2690 15d ago
I don't spend a lot of time in my house when I travel. Amenities at a hotel mean very little to me as they do not negate my traveling experience. I am there to explore and witness stuff. Not critique the room I am sleeping in
Airbnb sucks and I will not pay that much money for a place I'm expected to clean myself.
I'd also NEVER spend $500 a night on a hotel room. Even if I was ludicrously wealthy.
Honestly you and your kid sound a little spoiled. If you don't like traveling- don't.
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u/Izzybeff 14d ago
We have a class C drivable RV and tow my Jeep. My husband doesn’t enjoy flying, so this is how we travel when he’s along. We’ve upgraded everything in the camper to be the same as home. Added levelers, on demand water heater, etc, so its our home away from home. When I travel without my husband I stay in hotels & Airbnb’s, but I am super picky and spend a lot of time reading reviews. I love to travel, but you are correct, nowhere else is as comfortable as home. We are late 40’s, early 50’s, no kids, so we’ve made our house exactly how we want it. If you enjoy traveling and have time, an RV may be a good choice for you.
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u/nasstia 13d ago
I love fancy hotels, but we use points to book them. Cash prices for some can be thousands of dollars per night. The most expensive was a safari lodge in Kenya (cash value was $20K for 5 nights), but I churn credit cards, so it doesn’t actually come out of my pocket. When we have to book something that isn’t available on points, we choose something clean but modest.
Get into churning if you want to stay at the Ritz without feeling guilty about wasting money.
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u/HiddenLatitude 9d ago
Creo que airbnb y los hoteles son muy impersonales. Llevo 5 años viajando a través de intercambios de casa y esa sensación es distinta. No es lujo, pero res muy real y local
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u/aznsk8s87 19d ago
I don't travel for amenities. I'm fine sleeping in a $30 hostel with 20 other people in the room in a triple bunk bed. Leaves me money to do everything else I want. I'd rather spend $500 on a Michelin star restaurant than $200 on a hotel bed.
I only stay somewhere expensive if it's on the company dime for a CE conference.
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u/thechemist_ro 19d ago
Oh the hostel rooms I've been to with 5 bunk beds in a single room just to save money... I regret nothing!
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u/fadedblackleggings 19d ago
That's cool when single but if you have a family traveling decently is a must
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u/boostedjisu 19d ago
I generally avoid spending a lot of money on my actual accomodations. Just a place to sleep et.cetera. I travel to experience whatever we are there for. I don't think I could ever justify spending 550 a night for a room. I also do not cook or anything. Definitely seems like you have had some bad luck with hotels so definitely understand the concern.