HHI Income and Hotel Choices Luxury or Budgef

[Anonymous]

OP here I stayed in Times Square 200 per night with just the kids. Came back a year later and spent 150 per night. I love hotwire. First time Holiday Inn Express second time Best Western. PP bed bugs exist everywhere not just the cheaper hotels. For restaurants, we asked locals and went ro holes in the wall with great food. Since hotel had free breakfast, it was less than 40 a day in food for a family of 4. We did see a total of four shows which is where we spent our money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We make North of 200k per year and we always stay at 2.5/ 3 star hotels on vacations. A lot of times we book on discount websites like Hotwire. We don't eat at fancy places either. We do spend lots of money on day activities. Many times we find highly educated people staying at the same budget hotels Is there a relationship between the amount people spend on hotels and income? Where do you fall and what is your income?

You forgot to count networth into your equation. Someone the networth of 3 mil, for example, may feel a lot more comfortable spending on a more expensive hotel than someone with the networth of 500K, given the HHI is the same.

[Anonymous]

HHI about double yours, and we are not consistent in what we choose. DH and I have stayed in all sorts of places from the cheapest hostels with shared bathrooms, to the most luxurious resorts (usually on points). We also traveled with friends and rented large luxury apartments and villas, splitting the costs and found it reasonable, and occasionally, we would splurge on a Ritz or 4Seasons resort, rarely though. Once our first kid was born, we started staying at all-suites places more like Courtyard, Embassy suites when he was a baby and we wanted two rooms. When he got older, we found having one room to be quite easy and just bring inflatable bed with us. Now, that we are about to have baby #2, we are going to have to rethink this and will most likely stick to vacation rentals to get an apartment for the price of a nice hotel room, but be more comfortable. We don't feel comforable spending big bucks on two hotels rooms in an upscale resort or a suite.

[Anonymous]

$800,000+ income and always tay in midrange hotels. High end is a waste imho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make North of 200k per year and we always stay at 2.5/ 3 star hotels on vacations. A lot of times we book on discount websites like Hotwire. We don't eat at fancy places either. We do spend lots of money on day activities. Many times we find highly educated people staying at the same budget hotels Is there a relationship between the amount people spend on hotels and income? Where do you fall and what is your income?

You forgot to count networth into your equation. Someone the networth of 3 mil, for example, may feel a lot more comfortable spending on a more expensive hotel than someone with the networth of 500K, given the HHI is the same.

Net worth is 2M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make North of 200k per year and we always stay at 2.5/ 3 star hotels on vacations. A lot of times we book on discount websites like Hotwire. We don't eat at fancy places either. We do spend lots of money on day activities. Many times we find highly educated people staying at the same budget hotels Is there a relationship between the amount people spend on hotels and income? Where do you fall and what is your income?

You forgot to count networth into your equation. Someone the networth of 3 mil, for example, may feel a lot more comfortable spending on a more expensive hotel than someone with the networth of 500K, given the HHI is the same.

Net worth is 2M.

Is your HHI composed mainly of passive income from your networth, e.g. do you actually have a way to make more or potential to not dig into your investments? This also matters, your income is not low, but with this networth I am guessing, you only have one working spouse or you scaled way back, maybe have a new business and not feeling as financially secure? Your choices of hotels point to the fact that you are not secure in your wealth, because, most people with much lower savings, but, who are UMC, would not consider staying at 2.5 star places, which are essentially motels. I'd say, someone in your situation, with your networth and income and, who is feeling financially secure, would stay probably at 4 star hotels, or vacation rentals.

[Anonymous]

PP I would agree with your point about feeling financially secure maybe irrational. For what it is worth, both parents came from upper middle households. My mom's dad is a judge and my dad's dad as a successful businessman but my parents squandered the advantages they had so growing up and they had very little money of their own so I think that does play a part in the way I treat money. I was raised in Mont Co and at one point was a FARM kid. As I got older my grandparents helped me out a ton financially and emotionally. Never thought I would get so deep on such a light topic.

No our income that I reported is all salaries and we are mostly self-made though my grandparents paid for undergraduate and we did get help on a DP for the house. Our investments are our house and

[Anonymous]

and retirement accounts and funded college savings. We keep about 50k outside of those accounts to pay for cars etc. Kids attend private school too.

[Anonymous]

I hate hotels. I hate them worse now after work put me up in a Ritz Carlton for a week. By that I mean I can't actually afford a Ritz myself, so now every hotel I stay at will pale by comparison. And so now I hate hotels.

[Anonymous]

We stay in Hyatt hotels very frequently for work travel, so we rack up lots of points. We use those points when possible for personal travel. When we visit family in locations where there are no Hyatts we generally look for a Hilton Garden Inn. We have also stayed at Holiday Inn Express, which is fine. Our decision is usually based on whether we have kids with us (if yes we generally want a pool, if not we don't care about the pool but prefer a bit more luxury), whether we only need a place to sleep for 9 hours before we hit the highway again, or we want a specific location that is very convenient to an airport, etc. Those factors generally limit our options along with our list of requirements. We aren't super picky, as long as the place is clean, safe and quiet and suits our purposes. HHI 800k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:and retirement accounts and funded college savings. We keep about 50k outside of those accounts to pay for cars etc. Kids attend private school too.

Private school expenses can be hefty on your HHI and take up a good portion of your after tax income, so I understand. I still think you can afford solidly 3 star places and honestly, a lot of 4 star places on discount websites. Plus, I would explore vacation rentals, where for a price of a discounted 4 star hotel room you can have an entire apartment.