I'm somewhere between 2 and 2

It's been 5 days... when do we get the "results" Julies???????
;-)

add it all up and then divide by 163.

Uh oh, here we go with the means and the medians again.

I'm a 2

I'm usually a category 2 when it comes to food, and 2-3 on lodging. I'm able to have a fair amount of flexibility though.

Category 1 with ONE exception, I do require ensuite shower and toilet, even if it's tiny or located in a hostel. By saving money on food an accommodation, my husband and I can afford to visit many more sites on our trips AND can afford private rooms in any sleeper trains we might take.

julies wrote: "I will try to let the thread run its course for 4 or 5 days and then tally responses."

I'm waiting.

I will add another before the tally!
We are both 3's,maybe a 2 for food.I cant sleep cheap with a tall husband. I need a King size bed,not made like a trampoline,so that normally puts you into another accomodation category. Wasted too many nights with a horrible bed. I will normally cook in an apartment unless I have the urge to go out. I love to cook and go to markets. But we will definately go out to a great restaurant,cafe or street vendor if we desire. That could sometimes be a 4. But we are 3 overall.

Conclusions. Some tourist travel to try out hotels. Other tourists travel to eat local foods. Obviously many are bored with life at home. What does it say about a tourist more interested in dust balls under his/her hotel bed than collecting a recipe for a local pasta sauce. Few posters seem to experience, sports schools or events, opera and ballet, home visits or even farm stays. Another question could be: When the company pays I stay at...When I pay I stay at...

GSteed --

The OP didn't ask about preferred activities, only hotels and dining. (And for once we mostly stayed on topic!)

I don't think there's any real need to tally the results. The thread speaks for itself.

Since we are global nomads that have been traveling for the last 18 months on our multi-year open ended trip around the world, we do not really fit into any of the categories.

But, the question asks what type of travelers post on this forum and I am a regular poster. I am not sure if I should post or not.

We do all of the above and have stayed at some great luxury hotels & special pensions too, but for the most part we travel by RV or do off season rentals of really nice, large furnished rental homes ( primarily in the winter in sunny Spain).

Our life is one eternal vacation/ endless summer, so we think differently than most travelers on a short vacation. We prefer to eat well and do like getting to know the local food ( and people) , but we find we can eat the healthiest by cooking our own a lot and we enjoy that. We enjoy going to markets and living like a native and shopping for groceries in different lands. We splurge on food when it makes sense & have some magnificent meals out.

We like to keep our budget very low, but we also like lots of luxury and find ways to add that in at little cost.

I've only read a couple of the responses so I'm probably repeating what someone else has said.

It's difficult to choose a category because you've combined lodging and food. I'm clearly a three-star hotel person but not that concerned about the meals. I'm just as happy to grab a sandwich and eat it in a park for lunch or a crepe from a crepe stand for dinner. But yes, the level of hotel is important to me for all the reasons you state.

Also, as someone else mentioned, I do occasionally try to stay in apartments.

Interesting idea, though!

GSteed, if you read the many trip reports written by people who have posted on this thread and others, you will see that there are all sorts of activities people enjoy while traveling. Most of the posts on this thread pertain to vacation travel, not to business, so the company paying is not usually an option.

We could start the survey over again (just kidding guys!) and have 2 separate tallies - one for food style and a separate one for hotel level...

Since many people seem to not necessarily choose the same category/pricepoint for both these things.

suze wrote: "We could start the survey over again (just kidding guys!) and have 2 separate tallies - one for food style and a separate one for hotel level... "

And camping or caravanning, home exchange, living on boats, visiting friends, second home ownership, apartment or house rental ...

Add categories for cultural activities, social life preferences, sport/exercise/activity patterns ...

And then we have those who do different types of trip at different times ...

Oh, let's forget it. julies seems to have forgotten it already.

Definitely 4 for hotels.
Certainly 1 for food.
We mainly go to the caribbean AI and although my wife will eat almost anything i won't eat anything spicy or meats,so i'm very happy having a plain omelette or cheese sandwiches.It's the same with drink,sooner have a beer or rum than gassy champagne.
In reality i suppose i am wasting my money going AI,but the wife eats for us both so at least shes happy.

I'm generally a 2, borderline 3. The only way we can afford to go to Europe each year is to search for the budget hotel, get discounts on train tickets and go to museums on free days. Since we don't spend much time in the room anyway, all we require is safe, clean, and a decent location on a metro line.

My wife and I best fit category two, but in our recent trips to Paris (for a month or so at a time) we have rented one-bedroom apartments (this coming May, for 2500 euros for the month from a private, US-based owner in an apartment complex occupied mostly by Parisians) rather than staying in hotels.

We certainly avoid the most expensive hotels, get a metro pass (this time, the Navigo-for-visitors with a month's "coupon") and seldom, if ever, use a taxi, will spend one-day-at-a-time in different areas throughout the city, having lunch and dinner at "local" places, expect to eat half of our breakfasts and several dinners in the apartment, and plan to take 4-6 daytrips by RER or train outside the central city, having picnic lunches in parcs, etc.

This is our fourth trip together to Paris, and we consider it our adopted home city--very comfortable without a concierge or other supports, so we try to "get into" the Parisian experience--shopping for the evening's dinner supplies, eating at restaurants, brasseries, etc. in various neighborhoods, etc.

In our four trips, we have stayed near Place Clichy, near Place d'Italie, near Place de la Republique, and near Gare d'Austerlitz: none of them a "prime" tourist location. We do it primarily because we like to experience different neighborhoods and because we feel we get more for our money in accommodations and in dining/shopping.

We're definitely NOT a 1 or a 2, but probably somewhere between a 3 and a 4.

The star rating system for hotels isn't a good indication of whether I'd like the hotel - I've stayed in 3* hotels that I've loved and 5* hotels that I've hated.

We prefer to stay in higher-end hotels with character (preferably in smaller towns) - but not large high-end city hotels. We've never paid >$1000 night for a room, but with the exchange rate on the Euro - some places we've stayed at in the past may now be over that level. We prefer great views (anything with a water view would get my vote over most everything else) and will pay extra for the view with a large balcony/terrace. We like our hotel to be our oasis after a day of travel, so we're willing to pay to make it so. I won't share a bathroom, ever. I need my own space and I do want to be pampered to some extent. A hotel spa is a plus, but not a requirement.

The hotel doesn't have to have a restaurant- as we typically will seek out some of the finer dining in the area. This alone can drop a really great hotel to a lower star rating.

We prefer to eat good food - not necessarily pretentious food. While we dine at some Michelin restaurants, we enjoy local favorites, and we've also been known to grab a sandwich from one of the rest stops on the autostrada. We typically don't look at costs, but go with what we like.

We splurge on good wine and we try to taste as many from different regions around Europe as we can.

Basically, we're looking to be at least as comfortable as we are at home. We don't go on vacation to "rough it".

Interesting idea.
We used to be 2 but as we get older moving on up to 3 - life gets shorter all the time.
Wouldn't mind trying 4 though .... sigh

Any volunteers to tally up the results?
:-)

Hi suze, it appears julies has forgotten about her "survey", lol.

Category 2 with occasional splurges. I don't need room service or other amenities. I prefer smaller guesthouses and family-run hotels to 4 star hotels.

Actually LI she did tally up the results... but put it in a new and separate post... let's see... it's around here somewhere
;-)

the tally is at
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35109715

2.5

((H))

category 3

I guess I am a Cat. 2 but I am a 27 year old grad student with a LIMITED budget, but who tries to get to Europe every 2-3 years. I'm going for 2 weeks in May, so here are my personal guidelines which tend to be the same:

Hotels: I never spend less than $50 or more than $75 per person for a room (I usually go with one other person). Breakfast MUST be included!

Flight (roundtrip from Chicago): No more than $700: I look at a variety of cities to fly into, variety of dates, and because I am more flexible, I can get cheap rates. Although, my flight this time is $766 into Munich, but not too much over my limit!

Food: No more than $35 per day (why I must have bfast in hotel), especially since I eat a light lunch and have free bfast, no need to go over

Transportation within Europe (depending on how many cities I visit): generally I keep it to $200-300. In May I am going to Munich, Salzburg, Venice, Florence, Rome by train, then flying to Amsterdam, then flying to Munich--flights curtesy of my father's frequent flyer miles (which he gets from work travels). In order for me to use them, this is my "birthday" or "Christmas" present (or both) since I'd rather travel than get gifts anyways. Looking at rates, I am going to be spending around $280-$300 this time.

Shopping: I try to get one item for my house to display, I'm not big on spending money on clothes, etc--I'd rather use the money to go to another city if possible--but one thing I get in EVERY place I go to is a patch that I sew onto my bookbag. It's a conversation starter no matter where I travel, it's a fun collection, and it's more meaningful than a purse or shoes.

Sights: No more than $20-30 a day, depending on where I am. Since my birthday is a week before I leave, for my birthday presents from family/friends, I am asking that they purchase tickets/passes for me, which I will be technically using around my birthday. Since you can get tickets online now, to save money this is a good idea of what to ask for, especially if you cannot think of things you want/need for birthdays/holidays/etc.

I recognize this is INCREDIBLY cheap and yes, if I had more money (which I don't) I'd probably have more fun or could take more confortable flights/trains/hotels. However, my priorities are SEEING as many things as I can for a CHEAP price. It's doable, but takes A LOT OF TIME to search for deals.

I look at it this way, while my friends are spending their money on houses and cars and expensive trips in the U.S., I've been all over Europe several times and have seen more things than they have in their lifetime. It's all about what you value more!

Goferfan, you sound identical to me. Exact same budgets and priorities: seeing as much as you can w/the allotted budget and time. So far, this has never hindered my enjoyment of a trip, but it does often take several months of planning and countless wed searches.

ack, "web* searches," rather.

Rachellia, Yes I cram in a lot, which a lot of Fodorites don't approve of, which I understand, but I've never been able to sit still and "stroll" anyways (I am sure it will catch up to me when I am older). My view is, you never know what the future brings so I may as well get in as much as I can now rather than regret not seeing a place later! :)

topping a previous post that i think shows WHY a Budget Travel forum would never work on Fodor's.

first you'd have to all agree on the definition of the word budget. second what it applies to: air fare, hotels, eating, transportation, some or all of these categories.

For all those who took issue with the original post here, I beg to differ. Upon reading the responses, seems like it has been quite worthwhile. Most of those who argued that it was too simplistic provided interesting feedback, even though it did not fit neatly into one of the OP's numbered categories.
BTW, I am 2-3, with, as many have indicated, occasional splurges when I deem it a good value or it suits me.