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No thanks, one room? Really? How can you even consider something this crazy..I would go crazy. Maybe different with a one bedroom suite. Most motels aren't what I would be looking for. The cruise ship sounds better to me....
We have residence hotels in semi-swanky areas of downtown near the lake, a couple with very nice upscale restaurants on the main floor. You've given me an idea to ponder as every now and then I wonder where I'd move if I didn't live here. Definitely don't want to live in a senior housing development in the suburbs with nosy, catty old ladies. I've known a few people who had that experience. Wouldn't mind living downtown at all - love it downtown, always have. In-house maid/cleaning would be wonderful. Would still need a kitchen, of sorts. Think I'll look into it.
My parents accomplished a variation of hotel living for the last 10 or so years of their lives. You see, a rather posh but fading hotel in Miami Beach was converted into a mostly residence building (although 3 or 4 stories were set aside to still be hotel rooms). The rest of the hotel rooms were converted into studio apartments or 1 bedroom apartments. It was a beach front hotel with lots of amenities like a huge swimming pool, coffee shop, gated parking lot, laundry room, etc.
My parents, now empty-nesters, kept their suburban ranch house in Hollywood, Florida, but my Mom always dreamed of having a place on the beach with a pool.
In the beginning it was the good life, but problems arose as the years passed. After my Dad died, my Mom sold the apartment for much less she paid for it ... it was a bad investment. The management did not keep up with the maintenance. To add insult to injury the monthly resident's fees kept going up and up. The place had a huge and rather elegant lobby, but when I was living there for a few weeks I discovered that hookers (female prostitutes in case you're not familiar with the term) would lounge in quiet corners of the lobby after midnight ... a part of the building was still a hotel! I'm told they "tipped" the front desk and also hotel security so they wouldn't be bothered plying their profession.
A friend of mine brought this up today, and honestly, I've heard worse ideas. We have a extended stay hotel here in town. It would probably be somewhere around a thousand a month. But consider this, at present, my taxes and insurance combined are $5k. Then add maint and repairs, heat, lights water and sewer, cable and internet. Some years its $10K or more total, like this year. New roof.
For that you have no taxes and insurance, no utilities at all, no home maint. Something breaks, call the front desk. No grass to cut or hedges to trim or snow to shovel. If you don't like the place after awhile, pack up and find a different place or just ask for a different room. And there's a free breakfast every morning. Its not a bad idea. I know in NY, there's been many people who lived out their years in a hotel, Tesla, Garbo. What do you think? There could easily be worse.
In the little mountain town where I grew up there was a large hotel that was mostly older folks. It was not a bad deal I would guess.
It wouldn't be my cup of tea but the idea makes sense for people who don't mind the small living space and who like the part of town or city where the hotel is located. Hotels where there is high demand from tourists would probably be too expensive, but there may be reasonable deals out there.
You might find a cheap room in a dump for $1000, but if you want a kitchen you'll be paying considerably more. Without a kitchen, your meal choices are very limited. So you probably will be eating at a restaurant quite often, which will negate your savings. You will also have to lose almost all your possessions, or put them in storage, which is another expense. If I stay where I'm at I have a large bedroom with its own master bathroom, a den with high speed internet, an extra bedroom for guests, an extra bathroom for guests or when the other one is in use, a kitchen with all the needed appliances, a laundry room with a washer and dryer and a large garage for two vehicles, tools and lots of storage. And when winter is on its way, I have the same setup in Arizona. No way would I give all that up for a hotel or motel room. Besides, between work, the military and personal travel, I have spent at least two years total in hotel/motel rooms, so there is no special allure for me.
At one time I lived at the Barbizon, a hotel for women in Manhattan. It was in an excellent part of town but the rooms were tiny and they had special rules for dress and conduct then. One of my favorite obscure movies is "Cab to Canada" with Maureen O'Hara because in it she is portrayed as being a former resident there.
I could live in a hotel, maybe a grand historic one, if the layout, amenities, and location were right. Doubt my budget could handle it. On trips to Canada the urban hotels I've stayed at generally had not only sitting areas but also some sort of small to good sized kitchen arrangement as well as a bookcase. A little different than ones in the US.
A man I once worked with lived in a middle-class residential hotel near Hancock Park when he was in L.A. during the week. On weekends he went to his condo on Coronado where he had a caretaker for his aged mother.
This was before extended-stay places became commonplace.
I wouldn't do it. I'd buy a 30 foot Class A RV and live in it. At least the scenery would change occasionally.
While I wouldn't wish to take motel-style lodgings permanently, the appeal is having somebody daily (or at least with some regularity) clean my residence, make the bed, do the dishes, and attend to regular maintenance/repairs. The various talk about job-loss and illegal immigration and dire economic conditions notwithstanding, domestic-help is expensive. I crave neither a luxurious life nor an elegant residence nor even retirement itself, but to "retire" from the tasks of domestic-chores, concentrating on career, hobbies and fitness. Motel-living, however impractical, goes towards nurturing the fantasy.
My workplace offers as a benefit (to some it's a burden!) of frequent travel. While occasional visitation isn't the same as permanent residence, I very much enjoy stays in hotels - even shabby ones. It's a chance to escape from the drudgery of domestic life, where I'm responsible for vacuuming the carpet and eradicating mice (it's a sprawling place in the countryside) and worrying about roof-leaks. Hotels offer clean sheets, a comfy mattress, reliable climate-control, functioning hot water, and a ready-made breakfast. I could get used to that....
I often stay at a one bedroom timeshare hotel right off the strip when I'm in Vegas. It is much nicer and larger than a small senior apartment where an elderly relative currently lives. The kitchen is nicer than the one in my house. I'd consider living there, especially for the winter. Of course it would cost $3K a month at the corporate rate to rent as a hotel room although perhaps they would cut that down to $2K it you rented for the entire month.
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