Growing up, there was always something exciting about staying in a hotel. However, as you get older, the novelty wears off a bit. Hotels haven’t really helped themselves. Until the ‘90s, if you were going away, a hotel was your only real accommodation choice. This monopolisation of the market helped to rake in customers, but it also lulled operators into resting on their laurels.
Now, the market is full of choice. Hotels are still a go-to for generations of travellers but now they’re now joined in the market by suites, rentals, Airbnb and, of course, serviced apartments. The hotel industry has remained fairly stagnant for a number of years now, while disruptors have boomed.
But what is it about hotels that’s turned punters off? Let’s look at some of the signs you’re done with hotels.
You’ve Developed Cabin Fever
You’ve been staying at your hotel for a week. That’s 7 days. With only four walls to look at. They’re closing in around you. On the first day, the room looks fairly spacious and welcoming. But now, you’re very aware of just how small the room is, compared to what you’re used to at home. In order to escape, you venture down to the lobby. The lobby looks like it could do with a lick of paint and the mixture of lone businessmen pushing pasta around their plates and football fans getting absolutely bladdered does little to lift your mood.
Your Expenses Are Spiralling
When you’re staying at a hotel, there are three options when it comes to dinner: eat out, eat at the hotel, get a takeaway. There’s no cheap option here and it can a rather lonesome experience dining out surrounded by people sharing an evening with their loved ones. A hotel menu can quickly become repetitive, particularly if you’re gluten intolerant or vegetarian (is it compulsory for hotels to serve goats cheese tart?). Getting a takeaway sent to your hotel room is a sad experience. Propped up in bed carefully spooning lamb madras into your mouth while watching the footy is not a culinary experience anyone should have to endure. So, each option is pretty tedious. If you’re at a hotel for a couple of weeks and spending £20 a night on food then expenses are going to start racking up. Serviced apartments have a kitchen. You can cook when you feel like it and save a few quid in the process.
Your Waistline is Widening
Eating out is not good for your waistline. Well, it can be. But let’s face it. If you go out for dinner, you’re not going to pick the healthy option every single night. You’re probably going to wash your meal down with a pint or a glass of wine too. Cooking at a serviced apartment instead, gives you the freedom to cook whatever you like. Unless you’re a microwave fiend, then you’re probably going to do your waistline a favour, as well as your wallet.
You Crave Some Privacy
Knock, knock “maid service”. An all too familiar sounds if you’re staying at a hotel. The daily maid service can become a bit tiresome and invasive. If you’re staying at a serviced apartment, the maid service is usually just once a week. That means it stills gets a good clean, but it gets kept the way you like it and you have the peace of mind knowing there’s not going to be someone roaming around the apartment for half an hour every day.
You Keep Skipping Breakfast
If you’re away on business, there’s every chance you’ll have the odd day you need to be up and out of the hotel early. But what if breakfast is served at 07:00 and you’ve got to be at the office for 06:00? Tough luck. With an apartment, if you’re in a rush, you can just grab a bowl of cereal or whip up some porridge.
You Never Want to Experience the Taste of Warm UHT Milk Ever Again
We weren’t sure whether to go for the tiny travel kettle or the two pack of shortbread, but, ultimately, the worst offender of the hotel room mini café area is the UHT milk. It doesn’t taste great, it’s warm, and one is never enough, so you use two and then you’re on to black coffee or have to ask for a refill. The single-serve UHT milk is representative of everything wrong with hotel rooms.
Your Clothes Are Always Creased
Considering the number of people who need to iron a shirt for work, why don’t hotels invest in a half decent iron and ironing board? A lot of them don’t even have a steam function and the board only comes up to just above your knees. You press on and apply as much pressure as possible to your shirt but the creases don’t budge. They never budge. A serviced apartment has a proper iron and a proper ironing board. Thank god.
Your Stuff Isn’t Charged
Quite a niche one, but it needs addressing. Key cards are a great idea. You pop yours in the door. It opens. Easy. But, sometimes, it also has to go in that little slot just inside the door before you’re given the gift of light, and power. So, like I did just last week, you leave your toothbrush on charge and head off for dinner. When you get back, pop the card in the slot, the light comes on, you go grab your toothbrush and turn it on. Nothing. Ah, yes, the power’s been off.
