I have kept a written record, sort of a travel log book, of all of the hotels I have stayed in since 2005. I have spent 435 nights in hotels, since I started keeping track, 14.5 months.
Most of them are forgettable. A nice place to stay, but nothing that I will remember afterward. A few stand out as particularly bad, a handful wonderfully good.
You don't forget the hotel where you killed the bedbug, or had to haul your luggage over the roll of carpeting in the hallway, or the rooms that smell so strongly of smoke that they keep you awake.
You also don't forget the room you arrived at late at night, and woke up the next morning to a spectacular view of a lake. In Honolulu I had a balcony with a spectacular view of the Pacific. Occasionally I end up with a stand out room, a large corner room in a high rise in Philly - an apology from the front desk that lost track of the fact that I was waiting for a room to be cleaned and sat working on my laptop for almost 3-hours. The Fairmont in San Francisco, the Langham in Chicago, the Pan Pacific in Seattle are rooms that stood out for being over the top elegant. Occassionally something old and special like the Ferme de le Ranconniere in Crepon, France - in Normandy near the D-Day beaches - a converted farm and castle. Then there was the converted Monastery in western France.
I tend to book brand names, newer hotels. Places that are very predictable - meaning hard to remember. I need to remember to book the interesting smaller hotels when I can.
Do you keep track of the hotels you stay in or otherwise keep a travel log?
Holy Moly!!!!!!! I think you been in more hotel than the happy hooker!!! No I don't keep track, but most of the places have been pretty nice. The worst stands out for sure. I remember years ago making a overnight pit stop going to Atlanta. Stayed in Durham. Upon pulling in no cars. And it looked like a dump. Upon getting to check in, the guy was behind a glass window, and had but three teeth in his mouth. The room was very gross, hair on the bath counter, rings in the head, and the air didn't work. We were sweating like whores in church. Painting peeling...it stank!!! I told me ex I am not staying here. So we tried to get my money back, after taking pictures. The guy was very rude and made no provisions. So we left and went to a luxury hotel for the night. I can't recall the chain now, but I know Hilton owned it. We wrote a very eloquent letter of disgust with pictures sent to show them. A week later, we got a letter of apology, they would look into the conditions. They also paid for the other hotel we stayed in, and even gave as five free stays at the top Hiltons!!!!! So it pays to give feed back when disappointed.
ReplyDeletelike maddie, I don't keep a log. but I remember two nasty places - one on my honeymoon with the ex at watkins glen NY and the other in boone NC off the blue ridge parkway on a trip with the ex.
ReplyDeletethe second dump is some place my parents thought was "charming". charming as the bates motel!
No log. I've only left two hotels, for being too gross to sleep in, during my trips for another. The first being a hotel in Sydney that a travel agent booked for us. The second being a gay hotel I wanted to try in Ft Lauderdale which is now closed. My two favorite rooms ever were the one in the ocean front Ritz-Carlton Laguna Nigel and the suite at Wynn Las Vegas. Both were fabulous. The quaintest and one of my favorites overall is the third story walk up with a balconette overlooking Rue Moliere in Paris at Hotel Moliere.
ReplyDeleteI have a travel diary of every trip I've taken since the 80s. I usually just note the hotel, perhaps a comment on the food, and what I wore--I do the wardrobe thing because I take a very limited selection, and I like to vary the items if I stay one place several nights. I can repeat the same items at the next place and no one knows but me.
ReplyDeleteI stayed at lovely inexpensive Pensione in Vienna on two different occasions. It wasn't a very fancy, but it was one of my first experiences staying in a "hotel" alone. I loved the tiny lift, the marble staircase, the great breakfast room, the comfy bed. It was a wonderful introduction to a non-chain, European experience, at my price.
I write these things down in my diary, for later reference and memory recall.
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