Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't ever book a room in Manhattan! You seriously don't want to stay in a room that's less than $400 a night.
You could always save your company more money and sleep in your car. Why worry about saving them money? If you're searching for a hotel on company time, you're costing them money.
There was a number of reasons why he got laid off, but we really think him blowing it with the upper management over this issue. Because if he could stay in the Travelers Inn, why couldn’t the bosses stay in the Travelers Inn. One his bosses a couple levels above him could not get over this...we really think this is one of the reasons he got fired.
Washington's always cheap on weekends, but on a busy weekday the Sofitel or comparable properties can cost $500.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michgc
+1
I was going to say the exact same thing. I lived in DC for 22 years and put lots of people up in hotels. Usually friends and family came on the weekends, and I would get great rates for them. But if they came during the week, price was double+. DC does all of their business during the week.
oh come on, you guys can verify easily that it is not true.
If I switch Saturday for Thursday, that same 5-star Sofitel only goes to $248 a night, and for Friday, only $179. Grand Hyatt, $134. A four star hotel goes as low as $99 a night.
I am sure $500 happens sometimes, but only on very special days when there are big events in town, and you guys talk as if $400 is nothing unusual for an average Marriott in DC.
Personally, I am generally pretty shocked at what some public universities will allow their academics and administrators to spend on hotel rooms for conferences. One of my acquaintances would always stay at the Four Seasons in Chicago for $285 a night as opposed to the Chicago Marriott at $145. And this was happening at a time when the university was cutting staff and eliminating programs.
285 is actually a pretty good price for Four Seasons.
Don't ever book a room in Manhattan! You seriously don't want to stay in a room that's less than $400 a night.
You could always save your company more money and sleep in your car. Why worry about saving them money? If you're searching for a hotel on company time, you're costing them money.
During the low season, I got a great room(Peninsula) in Manhattan for under $300 using Hotwire.
It's not just a place to sleep, it's some place to sleep that is clean, safe and convenient to the airport and the place you need to be. I'd rather plunk the $400 to be in the same building as a conference than $150 to be six miles away, especially in cities where driving and parking are a hassle.
Couldn't someone have just said "yes" to this [OP suggesting that she is naive] and saved the world a hundred comments?
Sure, but where's the fun in that?
Seriously, there are enough comments in this thread from people who ALSO think $400/night for a place to sleep is a bit, well, steep. So I'm clearly not the only one. (And I've already apologized for "insulting" anyone with my "who in their right mind" comment, but apparently some were STILL upset, as if I had pointed at them personally and said YOU ARE NUTS!! Which I didn't do. This wasn't personal, people!)
And my employer reimburses up to a certain amount; anything over that would come out of my own pocket unless I get a separate grant to cover it (which is sometimes possible). As for "costing my employer money by looking for hotels on company time," there's really no such thing as "company time" or "non-company time" in my job -- except for having to teach my "regular" classes at their normal times, I can do my work pretty much whenever and wherever I want, as long as it gets done. It's one of the joys of academia. (Of course, I'll also be spending about 12 hours this weekend grading ... that is definitely NOT one of the joys of academia. )
As I wrote before, I DO think it comes down to priorities. I don't wear expensive clothes or an expensive watch or drive an expensive car or take expensive vacations. At this point in my life, I COULD do those things, but they're just not priorities for me. (My working-class roots are showing. ) Hence, being shocked at $400/night for what is FOR ME just a place to sleep -- nothing more.
Don't know what else I can say at this point, so happy weekend, everyone.
I've never spent over $150 and now just finished booking a month of travel in Italy. After quite a bit of searching, I found great hotels right in the heart of tourist sites downtown, classic places. None over $200 and most around $125. Like here in Florence:
So, even in world-class destinations, it can be done.
In the U.S., we go for the "Comfort Inn" type---usually around $69. TV, comfortable bed, safe---after that, it's all the same to me. No expense accounts here; rather save our money for other stuff.
We did in Indy. But we were there with our GT Owners group for the Indy 500 and staying at the same hotel as one of the race teams. We had great garage access for our cars, plus we had central access to restaurants and bars. And when we had the police escort us to the track each day it provided a good spot to stage our cars before departure.
Oh and I guess we did sleep there too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
) Hence, being shocked at $400/night for what is FOR ME just a place to sleep -- nothing more.
