The kitchen set is definitely the best.

From the front desk's perspective, there's a big difference between promising that they will have a room ready for you early and finding one that was empty the night before when you show up.

True, -t, and I don't mean to seem like a jerk... I understood that they were under no obligation to get me a room, especially since it was super early, and I have no idea about how booked up they were the night before. And I had no problem lounging in the lobby - I actually was not terribly unseemly, but it was when a bearded and rough around the edges brewer decided to take the same strategy is when the rooms suddenly became available.

I was annoyed at the lack of storage space for bags though.

I have stayed in very cheap hotels that could store baggage until a room was ready. That included the worst place I ever stayed in - one with no in room bathroom.

but it was when a bearded and rough around the edges brewer decided to take the same strategy is when the rooms suddenly became available.

That is hilarious!

I wasn't meaning to cast aspersions, btw, Nora, I was just thinking about why early check-in wouldn't be a perq and pleased with myself for thinking of a practical reason.

Not having a place to store luggage is just silly. I heard Rick Steve's talking about that on Wait Wait recently - I don't think I've ever experienced it myself. Although I don't travel that much I have stayed in some pretty cheap and seedy places.

This doesn't apply to business travelers, but for vacations I wanted to put in my plug for VRBO (and/or Airbnb, although I haven't used Airbnb and don't know if it works exactly the same as VRBO).

For our honeymoon, we rented a cottage through VRBO that ended up being the same amount (or possibly less) as a hotel/B&B, because having a cottage with a kitchen meant we could make breakfast and lunch there instead of eating out for every meal. Plus having a whole house (well, 1-bedroom cottage, but still) was nice because we had so much room to spread out. And when we went to San Francisco at the end of our trip, we rented an apartment through VRBO that was definitely less expensive than all but the sketchiest, blood-on-the-carpet (that was actually in a hotel review) hotels. And it had so much room that we had a wee shindig there. And a hot tub!

In conclusion, it's worth checking into for travel of a week or longer, IMO. But I like having a lot of room to spread out and I liked being able to make breakfast and lunch at home, though we did eat dinner out more nights than not.

t edit And both places had washers/dryers, so we packed lightly (which David might not believe, since he moved our luggage from the rental apartment to his place our last day) because we could do laundry halfway through the week. Win-win-win.

Being able to do laundry in the middle of a long trip has become an important perq for me. It makes a big difference in the amount of clothes you have to pack. And the amount of stinky laundry you have to carry around.

We learned the year of the first beach trip that it is a huge help to be able to wash clothes part of the way through, because otherwise you eventually get the beach-funk-mildew smell in your dirty clothes. And the beach towels are a horror.

But it's also fantastic on how much it lets you cut down on packing. (Although I always pack too many pairs of socks, even for a July trip to the beach. Though that came in handy when I conned Tim's whole family into going roller-skating and one of the nieces hadn't packed socks. Lo and behold, I had clean socks to loan!)

I don't know why I'm obsessed with VRBO but think AirBnB is sketchy somehow, but it's the truth.

I guess it's because I think AirBnB is a room in someone's home, or for when they are out of town, but that's not necessarily true, is it? VRBO IME is just places for rent.

I guess it's because I think AirBnB is a room in someone's home, or for when they are out of town, but that's not necessarily true, is it? VRBO IME is just places for rent.

I kind of feel that way, too, but then the apartment we rented in SF was the bottom floor of the owners' home (separate entrance and everything, like a 2-family home). That's a step beyond being a room in someone's home, but not a huge remove.

The cottage in Mendocino was next door to the owners' cottage, so very similar. And we lucked out with fantastic friendly owners, so it was nice having them nearby (though they weren't intrusive at all).