Hotels – Your Mileage May Vary

What’s The Strangest Thing You’ve Seen In A Hotel Room?

Most hotel stays are uneventful and that’s a good thing. Occasionally you’ll have a memorable stay at a really nice place and other times you’ll endure a night somewhere that “did not live up to expectations” and that’s life.

HotelLeeds — Sometimes you win and find a hotel like Chambers Park Place in Leeds, UK

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Other times you end up staying at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in London, UK – just look at that modern telly, the spacious beds and the 12″ of space between the two. At least the TV worked during our second stay. Yes, we stayed there more than once. Totally not our fault – it was part of a package arrangement when we sang at the Royal Albert Hall.

However, there can also be that hotel you remember for that ONE thing that made it, different or unique or just flat out weird. I’m not talking about cultural differences like a bidet or tea kettle. I’m talking about things you’ve never seen before.

With some contributions from our friend Steve, here are some of the things we’ve found in hotel rooms that to this day make us scratch our heads in bewilderment.

Continue reading “What’s The Strangest Thing You’ve Seen In A Hotel Room?”

Our Weekly Recap 6/11/17 – 6/17/18

Hello, friends and HAPPY SATURDAY! Here’s a quick recap of our posts this week:

Joe wrote about:

The differences between Chip & Sign and Chip & PIN cards and why you should have at least one Chip & PIN card if you travel out of the U.S.
The importance of not letting miles expire, like he accidentally did.
How to get hotel elite benefits without being a frequent traveler to any particular brand of hotel.

Sharon wrote about:

When she and Joe visited Salzburg, Austria, where they saw many of the sites where “The Sound of Music” was filmed.
How your pets can earn travel rewards for flights.
What happens when you travel on a plane from the Middle East during Ramadan.
When Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade rolled down 5th Avenue in NYC in 1997.
TBT! Part 2 of Joe, Sharon & Steve’s visit to the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

Like this post? We have plenty more just like it and would love if you decided to hang around and clicked the button on the top of this page to follow our blog and get emailed notifications of when we post (it’s usually just once or twice a day). Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

Our Weekly Recap: 6/4/17 – 6/10/17

Hello, friends! In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of our posts this week:

Joe wrote about:

His thoughts on which credit cards to keep, which ones to downgrade and which ones to toss.
The pros and cons of staying at a chain hotel vs. an independently owned hotel on Key West.
Some tips on how to get a better boarding group if you’re flying on Delta.
How he FINALLY got his long-awaited Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.
The process of how to get internet access in Cuba.

Sharon wrote about:

Her very first visit to The Mai-Kai, a 61-year-old Polynesian Tiki bar, restaurant and dinner show in Fort Lauderdale.
The 6/6/17 to 6/8/17 $49 air fare sale on SouthWest Airlines.
The changing of a beloved & historic Walt Disney World attraction and pondering why A.D.A. compliance and maintaining art & history can’t happen at the same time.
TBT! Their visit to the World Expo in Aichi Japan in April 2005.
A really weird thing that has been happening since 1989, whenever she goes on vacation.

Our Weekly Recap 5/28/17 – 6/3/17

Hello, friends! In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of our posts this week:

Joe wrote about:

why airline prices drive him crazy. They go up, they go down, and how do you figure out when to finally buy?!?!?!
the different rules that each bank has when you apply for their reward credit cards.
some important things to consider before signing up for reward credit cards.
the summer hotel promotions that are going on this season. If you’re planning to be out of town this summer, take a look!
what you can do if you think you may miss your connecting flight. Joe totally saved the day for us a couple of weeks ago when we were delayed because of weather.

Sharon wrote about:

the different ways to recognize a travel-related hoax on Facebook (because really, Delta is not giving away free flights and the Disney Cruise Line is not giving away free cruises any time soon).
the sales both Southwest and JetBlue were offering (these expired on 6/1, So if you still wanted to try to get them, sorry, too late. Better luck next time!).
a link that she thought would make most Disney and travel fans giggle.
her #TBT series of their trip to Japan in April 2005, this week with memories of watching Kyoto’s cherry blossoms in the rain (again) and their not uneventful travel to Nagoya.
post for newbies explained the difference in plugs, outlets and voltage around the world, so if you travel internationally, you can be prepared before you go. Cuz fried electronics are not good.

This is why you need to sign up for hotel programs before booking your room.

l’ve already posted about how you can sign up for hotel programs. Not surprisingly, I’ve certainly signed up for quite a few. When I look at AwardWallet, I see that I have accounts with these hotel programs:

Starwood Preferred Guest
Marriott Rewards
Hilton Honors
World of Hyatt
IHG Rewards Club
Le Club Accorhotels
Wyndham Rewards
Choice Privileges
La Quinta Rewards
M Life (MGM Resorts)
Kimpton Karma Rewards

I’ll freely admit that I wasn’t enrolled in the last two programs on this list until this week. I signed up for them because I was staying, or thinking about staying, in hotels belonging Continue reading “This is why you need to sign up for hotel programs before booking your room.”

Hotel Review: Fairfield Inn & Suites West Palm Beach Jupiter

pbijp_phototour35 — Photo of hotel from Marriott website

When we drove home from Key West, our original plan was to leave early and visit the Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach and then go to dinner at Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale (click here for a recap of our visit to Mai-Kai). After driving from Key West and then having a full day of events, we figured we would most likely need to rest after dinner instead trying to drive three more hours to get home. We do have family in the area so we figured if we stayed overnight, we could plan to meet them the next morning for breakfast. We’ve stayed in the Fort Lauderdale area recently but decided we’d rather drive a little ways towards home after dinner so that our ride the next morning would be that much shorter.

Since I am not loyal to any specific hotel chain, I looked at what options I had that were Continue reading “Hotel Review: Fairfield Inn & Suites West Palm Beach Jupiter”

Resort fees and parking fees and taxes, oh, my! Choosing a hotel in Las Vegas

I’m well into planning mode for our big trip to the Southwest, which means I have to start researching hotels. I love the planning of trips almost as much as I do going on them; it is part of the fun for me. There are times where the planning starts to drive me, and Sharon, a little crazy (edit by Sharon: a LITTLE?!?!?! hahahaha!!!).

Part of our trip will be a stay in Las Vegas. Due to the number of activities suggested to us when we asked for help with planning, we extended our stay there to 3 nights. It’s been a
while since I’ve been to Vegas so I needed to brush up on my hotels. Many of the places I Continue reading “Resort fees and parking fees and taxes, oh, my! Choosing a hotel in Las Vegas”