I Love Staying In Hotels And So Should You
I love staying in hotels, and I take every opportunity I get to sleep in one- the longer the stay, the better. There’s something so relaxing about being able to sleep in a huge bed, with fresh clean sheets, and not have to worry about chores or errands around the room. Feeling hungry? Order room service and have it delivered in no time by a smiling hotel employee. In our adult existence, staying in a hotel is one of the few times we can feel pampered and spoiled.
I’m not joking when I say my dream job would be living out of a suitcase full of clothes and going from hotel to hotel (hint, hint, Mr. Editor, need a foreign correspondent?), seeing new places, meeting new people, and not worrying about the upkeep associated with renting or owning your own place. It would be such an adventure.
In fact, when I’m on vacation, I always give myself one extra day in case the flight is overbooked so I can volunteer to be bumped off. Wait, volunteer to be kicked off a flight? I know that must sound stupid, but please, gather ‘round friends and I shall tell you a tale.
Many moons ago, a friend of mine let me in on a little traveling tip many don’t know about: if you volunteer to be bumped off an overbooked Air Canada flight, the compensation is gorgeous: a full refund of your airfare, free hotel, and food vouchers. Sounded damn good to me!
Podcast: Victoria Clarke And Ross Jefferson On The Atlantic Bubble
A few summers ago, my friend’s tip paid off. I was sitting at the Halifax airport, waiting to fly back to Labrador. Looking around the departure area I had a gut feeling there were too many people for our flight. Sure enough, an employee announced over the PA system that they were looking for three volunteers to be bumped off the flight.
He also vaguely mentioned that the volunteers would be “compensated.” Well, thanks to my friend’s previous travel tip, I knew what “compensation” meant. My brain went into fight-or-flight mode. “Only three?”, I pictured a huge rush to the front counter for people to cash in on the offer. I figured I would have to elbow and claw my way through the hoards, pushing over the feeble and the elderly to get to the front of the line. But, to my utter surprise, I was the lone volunteer. They had to force two others to join me.
The airline put me up at a decent hotel near the airport and gave me enough food vouchers so that I didn’t need to spend a cent while I was there. I ordered room service and watched a movie ‘til I drifted to sleep. A few weeks later I received a cheque in the mail for $800 (yeah, flying to and from Labrador is expensive).
I’m always surprised when I encounter people who don’t like hotels and stay at them begrudgingly. It’s because they have to travel and stay somewhere away from home that they book a room. For them, a hotel is not a part of their trip – it’s an inconvenient necessity. When I ask them why they dislike staying in hotels they usually bring up two points: they prefer the comfort of their bed, and hotels can be expensive.
Well, there may be a bit of a break coming up on the expense front. As we all know, the accommodation industry has been rocked by Covid-19, and they need help staying afloat now more than ever. People aren’t travelling and vacancy rates are sky-high.
Recently, the Halifax Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the provincial government, offering suggestions on how to stimulate the local economy. One suggestion was to give people up to $1,000 in tax credits for staying in local accommodations and attending events.
This is a brilliant idea and I hope the N.S. government implements this request. Imagine if you, like many others, are stuck in Halifax all summer. You want a change of pace and scenery at some point, so you go to a nice, luxurious, hotel. You swim in a nice pool, relax in a hot tub, and eat good food at the restaurant. You keep your receipts and, a year later, you get that money back through tax credits, all while supporting a local business. It’s a win-win situation.
This is especially a perfect staycation idea if you have a romantic partner who you’d like some privacy with for a few days. It’s an even better idea if you can get a group of friends together and all stay in one place.
One of my favourite memories as a journalist is when I got to attend the 2015 Newspapers Atlantic Conference held in Halifax. The hotel we stayed at Downtown was Fancy with a capital F. Everything about it felt luxurious and, best of all, we had a fun-loving group who enjoyed getting to know each other. And, since we were all staying in the same place, we could visit each other’s rooms and eat breakfast together. Hotels are one of the best places for a get together if you are in a social mood.
I think it’s clear that there are many reasons to enjoy staying in hotels, so I hope I’ve changed some skeptical minds out there. Right now, accommodation businesses in Nova Scotia need more local support and locals need somewhere to go for a quick staycation. It’s a perfect marriage right now. And if the N.S. government implements the tax credit, there’d be little excuse for people to check out hotels in their own backyard.
Derek Montague is a reporter with Huddle in Halifax.