Never, unless we are on a business trip and we have to out of necessity and even then we feel guilty "wasting" the company's money. Sure, we have been in places with pillow menus, marble baths, etc. but although we could stay at 5 star hotels, we choose not to. We feel uncomfortable being waited on hand and foot; many hotels are impersonal and lack the charm we look for. Some grand hotels seem to have the pretention that we loathe (and some do not). We have been on many business trips where people are comparing jewelery, clothes, cars, etc. - that is just not us. We like the nitty gritty, down-to-earth experiences.

We opt for small country B&B's (three rooms and under) instead as we like to get to know the owners. The rooms have so much character and each stay is an adventure! We would choose that over luxury any day. Although many are not, lots of hotels seem to be similar no matter what country you are in. Prior to each trip I do literally hundreds of hours of B&B research to make sure we are getting the perfect magical little gem - and we always do!

That being said, we have stayed in lovely castles chock full of character.

Paying a large amount for hotels to me would be a complete waste. However, it is all personal choice.

There are probably those out there who would shudder at how much we spend on dining and other experiences. ;-)

LilyLace, I would so expect Uncle to be like your dad. Uncle is Dutch-American, and that generation of Dutch-American folks in DH's
family is so tight with a dollar. I could tell you stories about how cheap all the relatives are. (What I'm told is that the philosophy is "be frugal with yourself and generous with others&quot but lots of the relatives don't get the generous part.

Uncle's spending is just the opposite of what his other relatives are like. DH's folks do pretty well in the relationship, however. They are they type who would never dream of buying a car new....however, the are the proud owner of two loaded Lexuses....bought cheaply from Uncle and his wife, who won't drive a car after it is over 2 years old!

When my younger sisters were in Paris they got an amazing deal off of lastminute.com and scored 2 suites (huge ones) at the Hilton for around... 150 or 200 euro a night. They were however both living in Britain so they just booked the day before. I saw the pics though and the rooms were amazing to say the least.

My DW is in the business so we often get to enjoy the top end resorts etc but at a nice reduced rate....

Only time we stayed at a 5-star we used my husband's hotel points from alot of intensive business travel for a major transportation firm--he helped companies design their product flows and then his company provided the transportation.

We reserved one night at the end of an Asian trip to offset some of the more basic accommodations and relax the night before the long trip home. Our local travel agent in China had changed us to a later flight to Hong Kong to maximize our sightseeing time, then the flight he put us on was delayed. We made it to our 5-star hotel past midnight and had to be back at the airport in the early a.m. for departure. Glad we didn't spend our cash (rooms are $400 or so). The room had a fantastic view of the Hong Kong harbor, the bed was wonderfully comfortable, fruit basket, robes and slippers, teddy bears, marble bath.

I have good clients who are also personal friends. They have tons of money. They don't travel often but when they do they go FIRST CLASS all the way or nothing. I have known them to book a cruise almost a year ahead and then be informed that the #1 suite on the ship was not available so they cancelled rather than take #2. I don't begrudge them that -- it's how they like to travel and they can afford to. They marvel at me when I talk about taking the Metro in Paris or the underground in London (they have been to Paris and London many times but have never seen the inside of any public transporation system). They only hire private car and driver even if just going to dinner a half mile away.

Of course, I would rather spend one-fifth as much and go five times as often (still I wouldn't be spending what they do), but hey, it's all about how you like to travel. More power to them.

Hey, to each his own. My SIL and her husband spend a fortune on nice hotels when they travel. Me...the only way I can go is to stay in hostels. Some are nice some are just OK. But I only am there to sleep so what the heck. I would much prefer to stay in a little B&B or pensione than a hotel. You get more of the feel of the people that way. But like I said, to some people a large part of their vacation is the nice hotel room. Not a good thing, not a bad thing. It's just people's preference and what makes them happy. Got for it!

It's all about ulimited funds as well. If I had them to be sure I would only be staying in 5* hotels as well and only taking private cars.
Since I don't the only time we stay in luxury is while in Las Vegas where it's more affordable.
The most I've ever paid for a hotel room was at Bellagio, the penthouse suite for $625/nt. We stayed 3 nights and it was fabulous!

Interesting -- I think for me it really isn't about unlimited funds. For example if I dream for a minute -- we have our six weeks in Europe planned for this summer. If suddenly I were to win a 20 million dollar lottery, what would I do. I honestly DON'T think I'd cancell my reservations and stay in five star hotels instead -- they really don't excite me. In fact, I'd probably keep our London flat for the trip -- I love it that much. A couple of the other's I might cancel and go for something a little more grand -- I might go back and book the Amsterdam apartment I really like that also had AC and cost about 1800 euro for the week instead of the small one we're doing for 950, but I certainly wouldn't book a five star hotel in Amsterdam for the week. Same idea in Paris and Rome and Venice.

On the other hand, if I won that lottery, you can bet I'd never ever book a transatlantic flight in cattle class again!!!!

I absolutely agree with you Patrick on the cattle class. Never again, on any flight, anywhere if I hit the lotto!

Oh man!!!! For sure I'd spend the extra bucks on a first-class flight! Now THAT would really make a difference for me.

I agree, even with unlimited funds I wouldn't be comfortable at a 5-star. There's no reason we couldn't do that now -- we're certainly not rich but hey, we could spend the bathroom renovation money to stay in several 5-stars in France. It's just not who we are, though.

I like your story, missypie. Great perspective!

-e

$1000 is rack rate, and rarely paid.

A lot of people make a lot of money - you'd be surprised. A lot of people vacation so infrequently that when they do go and they can afford it, they splurge. And a lot of it is business travel.

Personally, while I'm a lawyer at a large law firm, and we're a DINK family, we'll only do a rack rate $1000 if we can get it for $400 or less. We usually travel off-season, and don't always do a 5*. But I've never flown anything but economy, and we rarely eat meals on vacation that cost over $40 for two people, so it's all in your priorities...

Those that believe "only the best is good enough" for them must have a lot of disapointments when things don't live up to their expectations. I'm glad I won't see someone's uncle "chewing out the staff", as that really would make me feel uncomfortable.

MariaH, when I am at a place that is bursting at the seams with tourists-the Sistine Chapel or San Marco, for example-I can't help but think that some folks around me got here in coach and are staying in a hostel, and others flew first class and are staying in a 5 star hotel ... yet here we all are, crammed together, seeing the same things.

I do quite often.

Most of the stays are business trips (meetings with world class clinical investigators don;t take place anywhere else) and if I stay on a day ot two afterward I usually stay in the same hotel. Often- but not always - they comp me the suite. (It's not worth it to move just for a couple of nights.)

When we're using our own money we occasionally, for special celebrations, stay at a 5* place but always look for special deals - and usually get either an upgrade or special benefits - free spa or champagne/fruit or something - since we book through a corporate travel office. On vacation we mostly do 4* - but look for either 3* prices or free extras.

If we had the money we would probably do 5* exclusviely - luxury and pampering are nice - esp when you're trying to wind down from working 80 hour weeks. But for the moment, continuing to pay for younger step-daughter's college, pay off the mortgage on the beach house and fund retirement take precedence.

We do have one set of friends - with family money - who never do anything else - and would do 6* if there were any - but they're in a whole different finanical bracket from us working stiffs.

I agree that it is not necessarily just a money issue. While we can afford to stay in 5* hotels we still choose not to (as I said above). I just do not enjoy that type of thing but some do.

I am glad that we are all unique and have different interests!

I have but it was one of the perks of working in the hotel business & knowing the right people. I think it's great if one can afford it . Not all places like that have people fawning all over you. It's more subtle than that & more of having staff that can anticipate your needs.

It occurred to me as I was mowing the lawn that a person with an income of $1 M/yr could easily get a 50% discount on a $1000/night room by guaranteeing 365 days.

Thus, the cost of a very nice Jr Suite at somewher like the Ritz in Paris, would be only about 20% of yearly income - a quite reasonable amount.

One would have daily linen service, maid service, immediate service to fix anything that didn't work right, concierge service, and breakfast (if you haggle a little).

Living at the Ritz Paris... what an interesting thought. Of course, you'd want to get breakfast included in that rate. Unless you wanted to eat out every meal (which would be expensive in that neighborhood), you'd probably want to bring in a hot plate. But the thought of washing dishes in a marble sink with a "swan" water spigot ... somehow that makes the magic go away