The Lap of Luxury? No thanks.

I stayed at a 4 Diamond hotel for a few days last week, and it was nice, but excessive to the point of discomfort. My travels have led me to a number of similar big name luxury spots, mostly at Hotwire.com rates where $300/night rooms were discounted to $60– not much more than the smelly Comfort Inn with the grinding AC under the window.

I’ve found that the more expensive the room’s rack rate (usually $250-350), the more the hotel nickels and dimes its customers; like charging $15 a day for Internet, $20 for parking, $8.50 for the bottle of European water in the room, a laughable $4.50 for a 50 cent snickers from the mini-bar, $25 for a room service continental breakfast,  and $15 for a movie.

I’d rather stay in a Holiday Inn, where Internet, parking,bottle of Dasani, and Internet and HBO are all free, and a hot  breakfast across the street is $10.00.