More hotels...

So one of my goals from the big four "o" day was to try and keep in shape.

I'm not chubby, but worry about my weight. So I did some little things a few years ago and they helped. I gave up drinking soft drinks (a.k.a. sodas/pops) especially here in the US. The "free refils" concept is great until you realise it's probably adding load of sugar to your diet!

Secondly when I stay at hotels (which I do quite a lot) I always use the stairs instead of the lift (elevators). This is sometimes challenge since sometime the stairs do not exit into the hotel, since they are only intended as a fire escape. The number of times I've found myself going through a door on the ground floor and finding myself round the back end of the hotel near the kitchen and rubbish. Quite often the stairs do not have air conditioning which in the South of the US in summer can be a real pain... Even more disconncerting it the time honoured question "Is the fire door alarmed?", leading to the question "Will I set off the fire alarms?" On the way up it' sometimes a challenge too since you never know whether the doors onto each floor will be one way or two way.

So many issues and all I'm trying to do is get a little exercise. The situation was exemplified by this week's stay in the Boston area. This time the stairs dumped you round the back end of the hotel. So the only way to work it was to go the floor above the lobby and take the lift down one floor! Luckily I was quite high up in the building so I did get some exercise.

Have a nice day!

Hotels schmotels!

So I spend lots of time staying in of various types...

This weekend we used some of my hotel points to visit a swanky hotel in Charlotte (we used to live in Charlotte, and I missed a couple of the restaurants so we thought we'd catch up over the labor Day weekend).

So my point here is what is the deal with expensive hotels. A normal price hotel provides drink machines on each floor and sometimes free breakfasts. You go to expensive hotels and there are people loitering around the lobby waiting to "help" you. You go to your room (which is pretty much the same as a "normal" hotel room and find there is no drinks machine. You call room service and pay a high price for the drink plus a room service delivery charge. Next most hotels now offer free high speed internet, but in the expensive hotel it's an additional $10.

So what is Paul's point here?

Well basically I feel that you're getting stiffed on the price of the room, surely you could get a break on some of the incidentals rather than getting screwed at every turn by the hotel.

BTW the trip to Charlotte may well feature in a blog soon...