Hotel Functionality
Believe it or not, I went nearly my entire childhood without ever staying in a hotel.My family vacationed every year, but we always went camping. We never stayed in a hotel. They used to claim that it was "too expensive" to stay at hotels and that they "couldn't afford it." I don't really think this was true. We could have afforded a hotel every now and then probably. I just think it was probably something my father didn't want to spend money on. I don't think he is or was cheap, but people tend to have certain specific things that they don't choose to spend their money on and he was no exception. I think touch-tone phone service, air conditioning, and hotels were among his the things he felt were "wasteful" and not things of good value.
I didn't actually stay in a hotel until I spent a night there in 10th grade. The family was traveling around looking at colleges for my sister and I was dragged along under the reasoning that I would be soon looking at colleges myself and should be taking advantage of this mini-college tour. That was the first time I stayed in a hotel.
Since then, I've stayed in hotels many, many times. Well...not too many, I suppose, but as many as any average person who occasionally travels or takes a vacation. Too many times to keep track of, to be sure.
The most recent time was a little over a week ago. We were at this pretty nice hotel and we actually had a suite, which was a first for me.
Whenever I first entered our suite, I had the same bizarre reaction that I always have when I check into a hotel: "This is frieken' awesome! I want to live here!"
Why do I feel this way? Well, in this case, I looked around and I thought, "Wow! I got my own bed—two beds, actually—with a great color TV and a remote. I've got my own bathroom and sink and shower and tub. I've got this little living room with chairs and a table and a desk and another color TV. And I've even got this little kitchen with a sink, 'fridge, stove, and dishwasher. And wireless Internet access."
Indeed, it's "all the comforts of home." So it maeks sense that I would think it's cool, but that's also why it's bizarre. For, you see, I have all that stuff at home and, frankly, more of it. I have a bigger kitchen, I have more rooms, I have more TVs, and more bathrooms at home. And yet, I step in the room and think, "How is it that people say a 'hotel ain't home?'"
Certainly I can understand that, especially after you spend a few days there, but it still seems awesome when I first get their, despite the fact that it's no more—less, in fact—awesome than my regular life.
Granted, there are things I have at a hotel that I don't have at home, like a guarantee that there are always clean towels hanging on the racks, but I'm usually not thinking that far ahead.
Rather, I think it's the idea of the "economy" of it all. I think my brain is impressed by the fact that I have all this stuff—a full living set up—in such a (relatively) small area of space. I think it seems cute to me, like the iPod Nano that I want to take home with me simply because it is smaller than the much more well-equipped Classic iPod that I already have. I feel the same way about studio apartments, which, essentially, are quite similar to hotel rooms. When I see a studio apartment, I want to rent it—not to live there, for heaven's sake! But to have as a second place to hang out when I want the comforts of home in a place that's not at home.
I know that sounds really stupid and perhaps a little selfish, being that plenty of people live in studio apartments for their actual home. But it really points to an appreciation of the efficiency and functionality of having lots of stuff in a little space.
I like that kind of stuff.
posted by Steve @ 11:23 PM
2 Comments:
I do get what the appeal of a hotel is--after all, you've got privacy, a TV, a comfy bed and no distractions from the outside world. But I personally hate staying in a hotel. Why? Because they're disgusting. Even the cleanest of hotel rooms, when subjected to black lights, can have sperm smears all over the place. And even the cleanest of hotels can get bedbugs. I used to enjoy staying at hotels when I was a kid--in fact, I lived in a hotel for an entire month when we moved to North Carolina, as our home wasn't ready yet--but as an adult, I've seen too many TV exposes involving journalists with black lights and health inspectors, to ever enjoy staying in a hotel again. {{shudder}}
Wow, dude... you've gotta not watch those TV exposés. I mean, if you exposed any area under health inspector lights you'd probably find "bad" things. And, that raises the question of "how bad can they be?" Meaning, IF you're sleeping on semen stains, but you only know about them from TV exposés, then they're really not hurting you, you know what I mean? It's all perception, and a lot of it over exaggerated. Kind of like when people won't eat something because it fell on the floor. I mean, I do it all the time, even in restaurants. It's not going to hurt you. You're exposed to way more germs and stuff as you go about your day to day life.
However, that much said... I agree with you on this point: skeevy hotels are O-U-T out. I no longer stay in seedy looking, cheap dives to save a buck or two. If the place is outwardly disgusting looking, I draw the line there myself. I like to make sure we stay at a reputable, "non-budget" type place. That was not always the case when I was younger and more concerned with not taxing the budget. My old attitude was like, "What do I care how nice it is? I'd sleep on a mattress on the floor if I could do it cheaply." Coming from my youthful, "road trip" background, where a bed was someone's couch or the backseat of a car or whatever you could find, a bed of any sort was a bed. But I ended up in gross hotels or seedy neighborhoods enough times to make me change my mind about that. Now we get nice accommodations. They don't have to be ritzy, just very clean and reputable and "tourist" oriented.
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