On hotels and such

Within the last month we stayed at three different hotels, all three roughly within the same price range. Not a lot, but still allows for some comparison.

The best of the three was by far the Prague hotel, called Residence Bene. A narrow house squeezed between two others on a busy street, it still offered very comfortable and clean rooms inside, an extremely courteous and friendly staff and very good breakfasts. Our room was paired with another (vacant) one (apparently, we got half of a suite or something) and had a kitchenette with a fridge and a microwave, so we could get our supper from a supermarket, rather than eating out twice a day. The breakfast room was sunny and cheerful, very nicely decorated, and the choice of food was excellent - so much so, that we would stuff ourselves silly every morning just wanting to try everything they had. To the delight of the kids, the room also had a large-screen TV and in-room Wi-Fi. And, the hotel was walking distance from the Old Town Square, which is pretty much the tourist center of the city. So while there were no luxuries, it was a very sensible and nice hotel.

In Paris, we stayed at a place called Hôtel de Londres et d'Anvers. It was not too far from North Railway Station and metro, but quite far from the city center, as we discovered the very first night. Also a narrow house on a busy street, it was somehow much narrower inside, with a tiny elevator, only large enough for two people without suitcases. The hallways were also very narrow, so my suitcase was touching the walls as I rolled it to my room. The door opened onto a bed, or should I say the little hall into which the door opened was turned into an extra bedroom. The walls were thin, so every morning I was awakened by the neighbors opening and closing their doors. The main bedroom had a tiny TV mounted on a console, like the ones you would see in a hospital. The hotel staff was condescending at best, the maids looked like they hated their jobs, and the scullery maid always looked upset and threw those cups and dishes around with so much force, we couldn't hear each other over the noise. The breakfast room, situated pretty much in the lobby, was gloomy, with the tables placed so close together it was difficult to take a seat without pushing someone behind you. And the breakfast choices weren't great, either. No meat, to be sure. In order to use Wi-Fi, we had to go downstairs to the same breakfast room, because the signal did not reach the third floor.
To top it all, I soon discovered that my bed is densely populated with some vicious bloodsuckers, and long after we left Paris I was still scratching those bites to blood. I am sure they were fleas, because no mosquito could do so much damage!

Our first few nights at the States we also stayed at a hotel, Glen Capri on Colorado. Nothing exotic here, a standard American motel (except the prices were double what we used to pay a few years back), but the hotel staff made our stay less than enjoyable. Not only did they have a silly policy of charging for the stay in advance (despite the fact that they had my credit card info on file), but they enforced the policy with the least possible courtesy. No hint about it was posted on the website where I made the reservation, so when I told the guy at the counter I might not be prepared to pay, he made a face the clearly read "then I am sorry, but you can't stay". You would expect something like "I would like to advise you that it is our policy to charge in advance, I hope this doesn't cause any inconvenience" from the hotel staff. Instead, the entire length of our stay the owner (who apparently lives on the premises with his large family) would pop up like a Jack-in-the-box, stare at us through the windows, knock on the door several times a day, disable our key card so we couldn't enter unless we showed up at the office first, and greet us with his signature phrase "You have to pay!" How annoying!