I hate to sound like a snob, but one reason I opt for luxury hotels is because I’m less likely to be irritated by the types of people who gravitate toward cheaper ones… young people crashing into a room and partying all night; unsupervised children running amok in the hallways or hotel restaurant; etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get people who don’t get liking luxury hotels. If I’m taking precious time off I want a great experience, not a utilitarian one.

A great experience requires you to leave the hotel grounds. Sitting on a hotel's beach and eating in their restaurant is so dumb.

You have obviously never stayed in a truly luxurious beach resort.

I have. I was bored.

They’re very different and it depends on what you’re there for, as others have said.

My work travel sweet spot is a Courtyard By Marriott. Having eggs at breakfast makes me a better employee. But that and a quiet bed is all I care about.

For a vacation where the hotel is the main thing, I like to have a room with a separate space (either adjoining rooms or a suite) for napping kiddos, a great pool with a bar and lots of towels, and a decent spa. So that’s a luxury hotel.

There is a huge range between that Courtyard / Residence Inn and the Ritz - my issue for not wanting a budget hotel is the bedding and toiletries. I want sheets and a mattress that are at least as nice or nicer than I have at home. A full service Marriott, Renaissance, Westin, Hilton, W are all sufficient to me.

I don’t know what an Uber luxury hotel gets me that a full service hotel does not. We don’t eat at the hotel restaurant or get room service. We don’t have so much luggage that we need a bell hop.

We just stayed at a semi luxury hotel in Vail. They drove us to the slopes when we wanted to go to a different part of the mountain. They arranged for ski butlers to come bring us our skiis. They arranged getting the skis back to the rental shop. They made dinner reservations for us. They called us my Mr/Mrs DCUM. They called the kids by their names and gave them cookies/treats. You're not getting that a Residence Inn.

I really don't understand not understanding that other people have different needs and desires than one does out of vacations. Or pooping on them because they are not what one would do.

My brother and SIL vacation frequently to beach resorts, and mostly spend time doing absolutely nothing. It makes sense for them because my brother is in a really high stress job where he travels a lot, and his idea of a vacation involves doing as little as possible.

We tend to vacation to places where there are lots of things to do, and are more active when we're there. We have done the beach resort thing when my DD was younger, and it was awesome to not have to be constantly hands on (but not my idea of a fun vacation).

Neither of these options are wrong, they're just different. People place value in different experiences. There is nothing unusual about that.

As for the OP, I had to double check the date to make sure this wasn't resurrected from 2021.

Anonymous wrote:I have never stayed in a true luxury hotel, although I have stayed in a few very nice hotels when traveling for work. I am sure a luxury hotel experience would be amazing and I envy PP's description of their experience at Aspen. Especially after waiting 1 hour for the local ski shuttle at another CO ski resort this winter (we obviously were staying off-resort). But if the choice is a luxury vacation versus multiple vacations (which it is for me), I am choosing multiple vacations.

We are the same. I would rather travel more than done one luxury stay, but I also assume that most people who stay at the luxury places have the money to travel more and say at the fancy places.

People always recommend the luxury place in Hawaii, but it seems like a waste to me as when we went to Hawaii we spent little to no time at our rental, we were too busy exploring.

We did stay at a Fairmont once for a night and will say it was very nice. The bed and linens were very comfortable as were the amenities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get people who don’t get liking luxury hotels. If I’m taking precious time off I want a great experience, not a utilitarian one.

A great experience requires you to leave the hotel grounds. Sitting on a hotel's beach and eating in their restaurant is so dumb.

You have obviously never stayed in a truly luxurious beach resort.

Anonymous wrote:I have never stayed in a true luxury hotel, although I have stayed in a few very nice hotels when traveling for work. I am sure a luxury hotel experience would be amazing and I envy PP's description of their experience at Aspen. Especially after waiting 1 hour for the local ski shuttle at another CO ski resort this winter (we obviously were staying off-resort). But if the choice is a luxury vacation versus multiple vacations (which it is for me), I am choosing multiple vacations.

This is us. I'm sure its awesome to be rich (for many reasons) but I will choose frequent mid-priced travel over less frequent luxury travel all day long.

We were at the Williamsburg Inn in the fall--really great in ways, including the hard amenities, but stripped down staff, no room service, wait staff reduced so longer waits for drinks/food, etc. which made some of the experience weak. That spa and pool complex though....

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get people who don’t get liking luxury hotels. If I’m taking precious time off I want a great experience, not a utilitarian one.

A great experience requires you to leave the hotel grounds. Sitting on a hotel's beach and eating in their restaurant is so dumb.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get people who don’t get liking luxury hotels. If I’m taking precious time off I want a great experience, not a utilitarian one.

+1 I've been staying at incresingly nice/expensive hotels and one of my main motivations is that I want to stay someplace that is decidedly beautiful and comfortable. At least as comfortable as my own home, which, while not extravagant by any means, is very nice (and has the added benefit of being set up precisely the way I want it to be whereas every hotel has the automatic negative of it not catering to my precise whims). A nicer hotel is more likely to offer me the essentials I absolutely need while on vacation - like a very comfortable bed with high quality linens. Beds often aren't good enough at the lower end of the hotel spectrum. If I can't get a good nights sleep, what's the point of the vacation. I'm too old and stressed and tired from my daily life to be willing to forgo sleep on vacation. You can't return a bad vacation, and if spending extra on a nice hotel means I have a good experience, I'm all for it.

Also, like all other real estate, luxury hotels are often about location. I'm willing to pay a premium for a unique location (like my recent vacation to Isla Palenque, a private island off of the coast of Panama). Saying in this particular neighborhood versus another neighborhood in DC? Decidedly less worth the upcharge.

All that said, there's a limit to what I can afford in my budget. A big international vacation that's saved for is very different from a weekend trip to visit family. And in the latter scenario, I'm perfectly happy to stay at a Hyatt Place.

I have never stayed in a true luxury hotel, although I have stayed in a few very nice hotels when traveling for work. I am sure a luxury hotel experience would be amazing and I envy PP's description of their experience at Aspen. Especially after waiting 1 hour for the local ski shuttle at another CO ski resort this winter (we obviously were staying off-resort). But if the choice is a luxury vacation versus multiple vacations (which it is for me), I am choosing multiple vacations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pre-covid, I guess they kind of made sense. But these days, with limited housekeeping, spas still closed, limited room service, etc. - I don't understand. You're paying, say $800 for a room with a bed at the Ritz Amelia Island when you could paying $180 up the road at the Residence Inn. What am I missing?

Didn’t read the whole thread, but Residence Inn in Amelia Island isn’t going for $180. Mid-Range Marriott and Hilton Properties in Ocean City, MD are 5
$400 - $700 in season.

As for luxury properties, they are, of course, nicer. Typically they are out of our price range. Not only are the rooms more expensive, but usually the nicer the hotel, the less you get- ex. Hampton Inn has complimentary coffee all day. At the Four Seasons a cup of coffee is $5.

But the coffee with be illy or another higher end brand not some cheap generic coffee.

LOL, illy is not high end coffee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pre-covid, I guess they kind of made sense. But these days, with limited housekeeping, spas still closed, limited room service, etc. - I don't understand. You're paying, say $800 for a room with a bed at the Ritz Amelia Island when you could paying $180 up the road at the Residence Inn. What am I missing?

Didn’t read the whole thread, but Residence Inn in Amelia Island isn’t going for $180. Mid-Range Marriott and Hilton Properties in Ocean City, MD are 5
$400 - $700 in season.

As for luxury properties, they are, of course, nicer. Typically they are out of our price range. Not only are the rooms more expensive, but usually the nicer the hotel, the less you get- ex. Hampton Inn has complimentary coffee all day. At the Four Seasons a cup of coffee is $5.

But the coffee with be illy or another higher end brand not some cheap generic coffee.

That's actually funny, because I don't care about luxury hotels, but coffee is my thing I care a lot about and am willing to spend a good amount of money on. And Illy is not especially good coffee at all- it's basically only good in comparison to other supermarket brands, none of which I enjoy or would drink when given the choice. In fact,when I stay at nice hotels (say for work), I skip the coffee because I know it will just annoy me. So yes, we do all have our thing.