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The Diary of Anne Ku

24 July 2000 Monday

DIFFERENT TYPES OF HOTELS

When I was a child, I used to love staying in hotels. Now as an adult, I love staying in hotels because they are (usually) cleaner than my own home, more conveniently located, and better serviced. My goal is to upgrade my own home such that I would never want to stay in a hotel again. The other possibility is to stay so long and so often in hotels that I get sick of them.

The longest stay I've ever had was two and a half months in a five star hotel. Back in those days the occupancy rate was only 40%. This gave me the liberty of moving to different rooms to enjoy different views. The equatorial view was my favourite as I could wake up to the sun glistening on the sea. A bell boy (about 9 years old) would bring my letters on a silk pillow. In the end, I became so lonely that I used to wait for the maid to turn my bed so that I could chat to her.

TypesPositiveNegative

Chain:

Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Four Seasons

  • usually central location
  • familiarity, standard
  • points to be collected
  • toll-free reservation
  • Internet bookings
  • usually a grand piano
  • familiarity breeds contempt
  • conventions, conferences may block book out

Private, boutique:

Wall Street Inn, The Avalon

  • unique, none the same
  • private & sometimes more personal service
  • interesting history
  • character
  • more expensive than equivalent Chain hotels
  • not well advertised
  • fewer rooms available
  • no points to collect

Bed and breakfast

Zimmer Frei, Pensione, etc.

  • cheaper
  • good breakfast
  • personal
  • low availability
  • poorly advertised
  • not so convenient

Motels

Days Inn, Howard Johnson's

  • cheap, just the bare essentials
  • convenient
  • good availability
  • touristy
  • may be noisy
  • not for long stays

yesterday

tomorrow

 

20 August 2000

I had jotted down my thoughts of the day during my travels. Now that I've FINALLY unpacked and cleaned up my room, I found these notes. So I will now "back-fill" my on-line diary.