Occasionally I find myself planning a vacation and booking a hotel. Usually it’s for a bunch of college-age people, so our priorities are low price, low price, and low price. But sometimes I find myself in a nice hotel—a fancy one, even—and I almost uniformly hate the experience.
Why do I hate it? There are an awful lot of good things about a nice hotel. The rooms are usually well-furnished, big, and clean, the lobby is nicely decorated, the staff friendly. But what I hate is the fact that the more expensive the hotel, the fewer things you get for free. Seems completely ridiculous, right?
Well, there is an explanation. The nicer hotels tend to cater to business travelers who are putting everything on their expense accounts anyway. $20 a day for Wi-Fi? No problem! $10 for a tiny breakfast? Tack it onto the bill! Resort fees, business center fees, and more—just keep them coming! I can hardly believe the amount of money businesses in America must lose to the hotel industry over stupid things that are free at cheap motels.
There’s really only four things I want from a hotel: low price, clean rooms, free Wi-Fi, and free breakfast (preferably with one of those waffle makers). With a fancy hotel, I’m probably getting a clean room, and that’s it. One time I was in a fancy hotel that didn’t have a free breakfast, so I ended up buying a box of Cheerios from a nearby grocery store.
Don’t forget about those premium movie channels!