I seem to have standards that aren't covered by stars.

I like an ensuite bathroom (especially when crossing timezones as padding off to the loo 4, 5 or more times a night is both annoying and embarassing - and it'll be worse from now on as I've been forced to up the amount of liquid I drink).

I like my bed to be comfy, not too hard, with sheets that neither smell stale/dirty, nor too much of detergent or having been burnt in the drier.

I like it when floors and surfaces are neither dirty nor sticky.

I also appreciate it when the hoteliers have made the best possible use of the space available.

For this reason I preferred staying at the Marriottt Courtyard Downtown Toronto to the Le Meridien King Edward (where the bed was a touch too hard). - these were bought through Priceline and Hotwire BTW.

And I also preferred some of the 1* establishments I've stayed at in Japan to the Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo - where the bed was like an ironing board and the space was completely squandered by bulky and inappropriate furniture.


Unfortunately, the more I pay for a room, the more I expect.

I can be pleased pretty easily with a $30 room.

I'll need to be pleased twice as much with a $60 room to get the same level of pleasure and satisfaction as I did with the $30 one.

And so on, and so on....

If I've just been in a $150 room and I go from here to a $60 room it's rarely less than half as nice as the more expensive one, so I rarely mind the switch.

I do mind when the $150 room is only marginally better than the budget room - using the criteria I described above (and I mind an awful lot when the bed is actually less comfortable!!!)


In short... it usually works the other way around for me, it's more of a problem when switching UPWARDS from budget to luxe.