Seven storeys high looking at the world go by

[austin_dern]

Normally when we travel bunny_hugger books the hotels. She's rather good at it, thanks to her considerable practice and her indefatigable nature: she's able and willing to search for extremely good deals. (It also helps that we need very basic things: a bed, a shower, and Wifi, and that opens up many hotel options.) But for Saturday we were moving into a hotel I had picked. The plan for our vacation was that we'd spend a week out going to amusement parks together, and then I'd spend another week going in to the actual physical office. So I picked out a hotel that was close to work and that would let us settle in a couple days early.

Despite that I didn't pick very carefully; I selected a spot on the basis of being near the office and having a ten-day block available, which brought us to something called the Candlewood Suites. I knew nothing about it beyond a vague idea where it was, so when the desk clerk asked what we knew about the place he had good reason to bring us into an expository lump. The place turned out to be a long-term hotel, meant for people who want something a little more home-like and are renting by the week or the month or conceivably longer.

The big difference for us, then, was that the room was more of an efficiency suite, with a kitchenette (including a full-sized refrigerator). Had we been so inclined we could've made and had meals there. They also had a fair-sized honor-system pantry on the first floor with food, laundry supplies, dishwashing liquid, and so on. Also the laundry room was free, which is surely the most petty luxury to offer for a hotel but one that gave quite an illusion of value. They also offered a reading and a DVD library that the desk clerk admitted was ``small'' but that we were welcome to enjoy if we liked. The DVDs included such definite ``yeah, this is a collection of stuff'' movies as The American President, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Incredibles, as well as movies that didn't have ``The'' in the title. I believe they also had the made-for-TV version of The Shining.

Also there wouldn't be daily visits from housekeeping, their model going for weekly visits instead. That was surprisingly comfortable, somehow; I suppose it helped add to the home-away-from-home atmosphere that there wasn't fretting about getting out of the room before whenever the housekeeping hour was and setting out a tip and all that. That said, when the scheduled housekeeping time did come, the next Saturday morning, I was sleeping through it and they never did come back around before I checked out.

It was an awfully comfortable spot. We might not have gotten out of the room again if we hadn't had plans.

Trivia: Before the Challenger disaster the average space shuttle launch included some 25 cannibalizations, that is, parts taken from other orbiters for the one flying. Afterwards the average dropped to below two. Source: A History of the Kennedy Space Center, Kenneth Lipartito, Orville R Butler.

Currently Reading: The Future Is Japanese, Editors Nick Mamatas, Masumi Washington, Haikasoru.

Comments

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

The once-a-week housekeeping sounds pretty good to me. I always find myself tidying up the worst of the mess before they come so that they don't realize just how much of a slob I am, and then still leaving a decent tip anyway even though I probably did most of the work.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's remarkably like what I felt. I don't make much more of a mess after (say) three days than I do after one, so, the mess there is after a week of living in a place feels quite reasonable.

I was really unsure what to do about a tip, though.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Waugh! You're alive! And probably not nearly as slovenly as you protest. ^_^

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's hardly slovenly at all. And he's been eating very well since finding roofae's fridge.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Is hotel WiFi ever worth having? I just stick with cellular service, unless the WiFi's included and of a sensible grade.

And just why is it that the higher up on the hotel chain you go, the meaner are the inclusions? It's always seemed as if the most basic motel will have free WiFi and plain calling rates, whilst a plush joint will charge $10/night for WiFi and $2 to pick up the phone. The expectation that anyone paying above the basic rate can afford even more?

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Well, this hotel's certainly was. I don't think I've seen faster. We'd had various fights with the Mi-Fi earlier in the summer, though.

I imagine that yeah, it is kind of the assumption that if someone's willing to pay more for the basic hotel then they can be coaxed into paying even more for Internet and phone service and such. I understand the reasoning; if you've talked yourself into putting up (say) $200 for the hotel room then what's the specific objection to $10 to use your computer in comfort? (Also I'd imagine a good amount of hotel traffic is business travel, with people who aren't directly paying for the room or its amenities.)

That said, this place did come with free wireless along with pretty much all the stuff I needed.