How does one go about living in a hotel suite?

There is a wonderful Travelodge in South Hackensack, NJ that offers this option.

My dad lived in a fabulous hotel LA after one of his divorces. He loved it.

In our town it's called The Minuteman Motel.

"living in a hotel suite?"

Well, our tiny rooms HAVE sweets. Motel 6. We'll leave the fluorescent light on for you.

I think Alexis lived in a hotel. So did Jill on Y&R. Little gay men, thought it was so glamourous.

"Little gay me" not men.

Probably available at both ends, economical motels by the week for temporary/seasonal workers, and fancy hotels for celebrities politicians diplomats etc...

Beyond the cost I don’t like that feeling of having “servants” even when travelling, so it’s not something I’d consider. If it was a small apt with kitchenette and weekly basic housekeeping for a temporary job posting/contract that might be different.

Wouldn't you always be worried about theft from the staff? How often do they come into your room? I wouldn't want to have to worry if I'd left anything out or unlocked every time I left the room.

Didn't Gaby Hoffmann live in a hotel in her youth?

R8, I don't think you have to worry about theft at the Four Seasons.

A friend stayed in a hotel that offered cleaning services. Yes, there was theft. When he brought this to management they sided with the thieving staff. No thanks.

I hate to break into this increasingly racist "don't let the brown people touch my stuff" thread to just point out that living in hotels is the MOST dignified way of possibly living in the modern world. Even if the hotel is not great.

Theft of what, exactly? My dad kept some things in the in-room safe- the rest was clothing.

I was in a midlevel (****) hotel in Belgium this past summer and looked in the in-room safe and found a pair of handcuffs

The fun kind?

Lock up your shit, just as one does with house cleaning services.

Larry Fine only lived in hotels

There are people who live fulltime on cruise ships, too.

What about me?!

Elaine Stritch lived at the Carlyle. When she left, the staff threw a party.

Tinsley Mortimer lives in a hotel. I don't know how she affords it. But she does.

Who lives full time on cruise ships?

R22, some retirees have been doing it as well.

Why cook when you can call Room Service.

I think living in a 4 or 5 star hotel would be a very glamorous life.

I guess you would really rack up reward points quickly. Between the hotels reward and a travel credit card, it might be quite lucrative.

I do wonder if you just go to the front desk and say check me in with no check out date or do you call hotel management and ask for a year's lease.

According to old MGM movies, it was a very common way of life once.

Those were also the days when every major high-end hotel had a full-time detective on staff, apparently.

I lived in shitty hotels in my early 20s when I moved to London. Even though I had very little money and there were a few potentially unnerving situations I was resilient and pretty fearless so it had a certain tattered romanticism to it.

If I was single now the idea of living in a hotel would be really attractive. In fact, if anything were to happen to my partner I would most likely sell up and then the plan was to spend, say, six months in Vienna, six months in Berlin, then maybe Venice and so on. I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of displacement. It’s liberating.

In the old days (Like Larry Fine's day) there were transient hotels (nightly hotels) and hotels which were extended stays. Hotels were one step above the boarding houses and offered longer term accommodation without the rental issues of a lease, plus daily services.

After WWII, motels (motor hotels) became common and hotels switched to being short term stays.

There are still residential hotels in big cities, most cater to the poor who can't afford a lease (bad credit) so spend up to 80% of their income on a dirty place to live.

As for checking in, yes, you can stay long term. I once went for work (setting up a hotel computer system) and it went from a 3 week stay to over six month stay in a nearby hotel. They had no trouble accommodating me.

Ritz Carlton has residences at some of its properties. Not sure if you have to buy or rent but you get all of the hotel amenities.

Margaret Thatcher was living at The Ritz when she died.

Richard Harris at The Savoy for several years until shortly before his death.

Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's Mother) lived at The Goring for a time.

Enoch Thomas lived at the Ritz in Atlantic City.

I always wondered which hotel Joan Rivers lived in. Anyone here know?

R6 Why, there's something super charming about 'Little Gay Men' ! Just ask my business associate, Benji

At an old job, one of my fellow staffers lived in a unit of a motel that I worked at. When first learning the job, I accidently opened that suite and there was a chain across the door that banged and clanged. Oops. Staff accommodations were hard to come by and that’s how it was. I suppose there’s better locks for that sort of thing these days.

I spent a few months living at the Extended Stay America hotel in Plano, TX while temporarily working there.

My biggest complaint was the occupancy sensor they had to turn off the AC when I was away... it took 1-2 hours to cool down the room after being away all day, and I had to personally endure the heat to GET the AC to cool the room back down. I ended up rigging a string of blinking incandescent christmas lights (brought from home on trip #2) to fake out the PIR motion sensor so it thought the room was occupied.

Some hotels offer apartment style suites. One of my great aunts lived in a hotel after she was widowed. This was in the 1960s and early 70s, before assisted living facilities were developed. Her husband had been a successful lawyer and then a judge, so he left her well off. She lived in a nice hotel in Houston's museum district (the Plaza for longtime Houstonians). She had a small kitchen, but mostly she ate in the hotel dining room. She had cleaning services without having to manage staff. It was a good set up for her. I loved visiting her there.

Yes, I would love to check in to The Charlie for 6 months or a year. People check in and live at The Chateau Marmont for extended periods as well.

Keanu lived on and off at The Chateau for years, and Warren Beatty at the Beverly Wilshire.

Is it the Beverly Hills hotel with those little extended stay outhouses?

Yes, and you can't afford one I'll bet.

The Bungalows at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Not sure how much they cost a night.

If you have to ask, you can't afford them.

The bungalows at The Beverly Hills Hotel look like my long dead Grandmother furnished them.

Many cities have restrictions on how long you can stay in a motel. I had 2 months between apartments in NYC back in the 90's at a rather pleasant SRO on Broome Street. I had to check out for one night in the middle of my stay and go somewhere else.

I lived in a Travelodge for six weeks in the UK. Wouldn't recommend it, lots of loud cheap chavs.

Why doesn't someone ask Zack and Cody?

I did it for two year but it was actually a motel. My dealer lived a few doors away. Sometimes we would barbq in the courtyard.

I lived in a two bedroom hotel suite with my folks for a couple of years when I was a kid. My dad had a two-year overseas work assignment and my Mom didn’t want to bother with a house. There was a small kitchen and living/dining area.

It was pretty sweet. They came by every night to turn down the beds. At first they put a fresh orchid on the bed every night, but my Mom eventually told them to stop.

r50 Your mom sounds like a real spoilsport. I'll bet you weigh 400 pounds ...

I know a wealthy couple in their 60s who chose to sell their very nice home in the burbs and now reside in a 3 BR suite at the Ritz Carlton in Boston. Of course they love it.

My father’s uncle and aunt lived in a suite at the Sherry Netherland in NYC in the late 70s. I have no idea how much it cost but it seemed extremely glamorous to me, being the gayling I was. I think they lived there for several years before moving to the West coast, where they purchased a condo in Toluca Lake.

I'd like to live in a place like Fawlty Towers- except with a nicer version of Basil. It was a small hotel and very quaint. They had an old "Major" living there as a permanent guest. I'd do that in my old age.

It drove billionaire Howard Huges crazy, or was already being crazy, the reason he lived in hotels in his declining years.

OP have you ever heard of the hotel chain, Residence Inn by Marriott?

A lot of retirement places are hotel-like. The rooms have small kitchens, and facility has a communal dining room, and often a movie theater, beauty salon, activities rooms, etc.

Residential hotel vs transient hotel. Look it up

Did you just call a bungalow an "outhouse," r41?

Yes, I'm sure he thought he was being clever.

Read a book by a British guy who did it. Figured out that the mortgage and utilities on his London flat were more expensive than staying in a 4star hotel at a monthly rate. Sold everything and moved in. Housekeeping, Internet, laundry, dry cleaning all taken care of, of course he tipped the staff. He could travel and they'd keep his unneeded belongings in a storeroom. Eventually he decided to travel the world doing this and pared his possessions down to what would fit into a carry on bag. He was a tech writer. These were really nice hotels, too. He did it for a few years at least.

R61, that sounds like pure hell. Really, a single carry-on bag? Jesus, I take more for a 2-night stay at my parents' house. Hell, some days, I take more shit with me to/from my OFFICE.

I met a guy once who lived like that. I felt sorry for him, because even HOMELESS people usually have more stuff than would fit into a single carryon bag.

My very poor ex spent some time living in motels after we broke up.

It always struck me as a pretty expensive way to live, but it's also easier to get when you have no idea if you can commit to a full year to rent, or when you have no savings and can't come up with a rent + deposit, but can come up with money day by day (for example, by driving a cab, or working delivery or waiting for tips).

An older friend of mine tells stories about still older friends of his who received a large insurance settlement, and promptly quit their jobs and took up residence in the Ambassador East for three years.

Their money ran out, and they had to leave and go back to their old lives in Minnesota.

I knew an older colleague who lived in one of the "Suites at The Carlyle". He enjoyed his time there very much for about three years, but once casually mentioned it was no great bargain.

Back in the day, NYC was full of buildings called SRO hotels. The rooms had no kitchens and the bathrooms were down the hall and shared by a number of residents. As some have mentioned, it was a way for people without the means to come up with a first and last month deposit to live. I had a bf at one time that lived in one for a while. No surprise, he preferred to visit me in my apartment, which was a slum tenement in Williamsburg, but I did have my own bathroom!. (Now rents for $2500/month according to zillow).

"The Bungalows at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Not sure how much they cost a night."

Many famous and Hollywood royalty-types stayed a the Bungalows at the BHH for long stretches of time.

I saw the rates as from $1800 - $2500 a night/day. $60,000/month. Free daily cleaning, though.

Imagine how nice (and cheaper) it must have been back in the day, though.

[quote]Lock up your shit, just as one does with house cleaning services.

My father had a service apartment on Park Avenue - the cleaners stole everything, including the telephones! This was in the days when you rented them from Bell.

I know, I know, "if you have to ask you can't afford it" which is why I am asking. Doesn't it cost 2-5 times more to live in a hotel suite on a monthly basis than to sign a one-year lease and pay monthly apartment rent? I would think living in a hotel suite with housekeeping / daily maid service and room service would be exorbitant. Only for the rich. Right?

[quote]I would think living in a hotel suite with housekeeping / daily maid service and room service would be exorbitant. Only for the rich. Right?

Obviously, MORON!

^ I was hoping someone with manners and intelligence would reply with some actual insights or personal experience. Or at least someone civil and intelligent.

Some hotels you can purchase an apartment. Here is an example, The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale Beach. The monthly fee is $2164, I think that includes all the hotel amenities. This one is very expensive, but I have seen others for sale under a million. I am not sure if they rent out your apartment when you are not there.

Thank you R72. Gorgeous, but not for me.

The idea of a hotel suite on a month-to-month basis is intriguing. I am going to look into it. If it's really what I would consider too costly and "only for the rich" (and most likely it is) then I guess it won't be an option and I'll just stay put where I am.

You would at least save on phone, internet, Tv and housekeeping since that's all included. If the hotel has a nice gym and spa then you don't need a gym membership.

I've stayed at hotels and paid a monthly rate when I'm traveling and not in the US. Its very common!

Jackie Susann and Irving Mansfield lived in hotels.

There was a lady Broadway producer in the 40s and 50s who would stay in one hotel, but if her play flopped, she'd move across the street to the other one she liked...

I lived at the Custom Hotel in LA but only for a few weeks. I had just moved back. They allowed pets. The daily parking rate was $25 so I’d park in neighborhoods and walk.

That's funny r77, I stayed there when I first came to LA. It used to be called the furama, it was that tower and then a bunch of low two story buildings that took up the entire space where the del oro buildings are now. I think they knocked down the two story buildings in 2005 or 2006 to build the apartment complex.

r34 Joan lived at 1 East 62nd, not In a hotel.

I lived in a hotel suite - a tiny one - when I took a job in Chicago. I wasn't sure how long the job would last and I didn't want to get an apartment. I searched hotel guides and found a few city hotels that had residences in the upper floors. The rent was higher than the average monthly rent for that neighborhood, but it was a beautiful hotel with a gym and cleaning service. One of the nicest places I've lived.

I would love to live that way if I could afford to.

It’s funny this thread came up- I’m currently staying at the St. Regis in Mexico City for business, and inadvertently tried to use the Resident’s elevator- I had no idea that people actually lived in posh hotels. The basic rooms go for around $370/night, so I imagine an actual suite must be beaucoup bucks. I suppose if I were old and wealthy, it would be pleasant. This is the type of hotel where they offer you champagne when you first arrive and you have a butler on call.

I have several friends who have done this in Manhattan in between moves . But they’re worth at least 8 figures and it’s a drop in the bucket for them . Not fair I’ve only managed to do it for two weeks at a time . It cost a fortune but it was like a vacation .

The Stoneleigh in Dallas once had residential suites.

Not sure if it still does.

[quote]Didn't Gaby Hoffmann live in a hotel in her youth?

Yep. She lived at the Chelsea Hotel.

I know a guy who lives in a small hotel. He knew that he was about to be in a position to make a great deal of money, but would have to work long hours and have little free time, so he made the decision to move out of his condo (which, ironically, he rents) and into the hotel (it is a rehabbed motel, well done, but still... if that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about). He negotiated a long-term agreement with the manager, who was thrilled to rent one of the two one-bedroom suites for 6 months at a time, to clean the room daily but only change the sheets and towels once a week. He pays about $250 a night, which is about double the cost of a comparable apartment, but he never worries about the little things. He's been there for 3 years now.

I friend of mine's mother (a widow) spends her winters in Palm Beach. Then every Spring, she moves into a 9 room suite at The Drake in Chicago. It's the same suite of rooms every year. Before she arrives the hotel brings in her furnishings, artwork, china, etc., even her own rugs and draperies. When she leaves in the fall, it all goes into storage and they bring back the hotel's normal furnishings.

My friend invited me up one time years ago when she was visiting her mother. The rooms are quite grand with high ceilings, crown moldings, wood burning fireplaces, etc. She seldom cooks (now in her 80's) and instead orders room service or goes down to the dining room for her meals. She has a maid and a butler who travel with her between Florida and Chicago. During her "Chicago residency" various relatives (sometimes whole families) come and stay with her for a week or two.

It's a lifestyle out of another era. For reasons never quite explained, my friend leads a very very different lifestyle than her mother. Most of her friends have absolutely no idea of her family's wealth.

^ Wow. I'd love that arrangement. But it would surely cost a small fortune. Must be nice to be rich.

I would worry about bed bugs.

^That is like something out of a 1930s movie.

r90 are you referring to the bed bugs or r87?

LOL, R87's story.

But about bed bugs, that 's why brass bed frames and iron beds were so popular 100 years ago. Time for a comeback?

I remember you well, from the Chelsea Hotel.

Yes r92, Marie Antoinette had iron beds put in Versailles because they had such awful bed bug infestations.

[quote]I know a guy who lives in a small hotel.

Does it have a wishing well?

This is nearly 2 years old, but I love looking at old hotels. The might have been the place that r38 was talking about. Like many said, older hotels, like this from 1926, was built to accommodate extended stays or long-term guests.

If it were just me, I could do it. A small bedroom, a sitting room, bathroom, and a space for a small refrigerator, coffee maker, and maybe a microwave.

It would have to be a nice hotel, with a good lobby and public spaces and a restaurant or two. I would like the house keeping service but don't need a lot of fawning over, just a place where I could receive mail and packages, enjoy a meal in the restaurant or, now and then, room service. Maybe a gym.

It would be great to have the hotel store away your things if you went traveling for a month or months. Not having tons of space your possessions might be a couple small pieces of furniture, some paintings, a shelf of books, a few personal items, and an edited down wardrobe.

In the early 20thC many apartment buildings operated on a hotel model, with lots of staff, (in-house) restaurants, room service, rooms to reserve for parties or dinners or receptions, storage space. Not a bad idea. The Ritz Carlton model overdoes it, way over-priced apartments, huge fees monthly, plus steep bills for goods and services used; but if there were a way to scale-back that model to something very nice but not overwrought and over priced, I think it could have real appeal in many cities.

On a lower level, my family used to own a motel in Montreal and we had an older gentleman staying for years. It was basically one room plus bathroom. He must of had some sort of cooker - I never asked. We had some land in back of the motel and gave him a plot to do some gardening.

Who said anything about brown people, R12?

I just can't get over the hotel feel. I think it's the idea that items might be used a thousand times over but nothing really ages. Hard to explain, but I'd feel claustrophobic in those confined hotel spaces. Also, I don't like wearing socks or shoes when I'm relaxing at home, but hotel carpets creep me out. I admit, I have only had a chance to stay at a five-star property once in Paris, in a basic (cheaper) room slightly larger than my current bedroom. I spend about 3 nights a week in hotels due to the travel requirements for my new job, I don't mind hotels, but I'd hate passing through a lobby full of people just to get to my room 7-days a week. My privacy feels compromised while staying at hotels.

Does anyone else get what I'm talking about? I will admit, keeping a grand suite at the Plaza sounds glamorous.

The nicer residential hotels from the 20s often have been converted to senior living or to apartments or condos--numerous examples in Chicago, Cleveland, NYC, DC. The ones in shabbier neighborhoods became SROs and with gentrification those often became hotels again, but more basic and tourist class.

It goes the other direction---in DC a lot of apartment buildings went up shortly after WWII to relieve a housing shortage--they were mostly studios efficiencies and probably rented to military or foreign service types. and others on short-term assignments. Kimpton converted a bunch of those buildings to hotels. Now, though, the hotel properties have been sold to someone else for different franchises while Kimpton is being run into the ground by IHG (i.e., Holiday Inn).

Stayed at a Travelodge while I hosted a very successful radio programme. Decent room, but the front desk staff would have known if I watched dirty movies. That was the drawback.

I was acquainted with a Grande Dame of Lebanese and Inca heritage who passed her final years at le Richemond in Geneva.

Coco Chanel lived at the Ritz Carlton Paris for 34 years.

Mon cher, The Ritz or Hôtel Ritz, Paris, was never the "Ritz Carlton" Paris

If you can afford it, a good hotel can be an excellent alternative to retirement living. You've got great security, people to bring you things if you're sick, people who will phone you in the morning to ensure you're OK, regular cleaning and laundry staff, and a choice of restaurants only an elevator ride away, or you can eat in your room. If you're pleasant, you get to know all of the staff and the other residents and regulars, so your community is more diverse than in retirement living. Everything's easy access and your location is usually in the centre of the city, so cultural interests are at your doorstep, or if not the doorman will get you a taxi. The concierge will get you a table wherever you like, or tickets to whatever you like.

For the same reasons, a lot of famous creatives have lived in hotels, because you can focus on your work while the staff administer your life, and you're not even responsible for employing or managing them.

Elaine Stritch lived in several hotels. The Savoy when she was in London. The Carlyle when in New York.

Not sure if this is commonplace, but I tried to do this at a Day's Inn and I was told I could only stay for 30 consecutive days. In other words, I would have to leave for one day after that and stay somewhere else, then I could come back and stay another 30 consecutive days. I needed a place to stay for just a couple of months, and it was actually cheaper than signing a lease for a furnished apartment in my neighborhood. I ended up only staying there for a couple of weeks though.

OP, most all up market hotel high rises have full time residence condos, usually on the upper floors or on segregated levels from the hotel guest rooms. Those people have a separate entrance than the hotel guests and their own set of elevators.

Vladimir Nabokov lived for the last 16 years of his life at the Montreux Palace hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva. In the 1920s he had said in an interview that his dream was to live in "a large, comfortable hotel", and the unexpected commercial success of "Lolita" made him rich enough to make that dream come true.

[quote] I don’t like that feeling of having “servants”

Why?

Several years ago I had to move out of my Manhattan apartment and didn't have a new one yet. I wound up staying at a lovely hotel on Central Park South. It was originally going to be for a few weeks, but turned out being 3 whole months. Yes it cost a lot, but I did negotiate a good longer term rate since it was during the less popular winter months after Christmas. I loved it, having my room cleaned and bed made every day, plus a gorgeous view of the park from the window. I felt like I was living in a more glamorous era from the past.

I ordered room service often for dinner. It was very expensive for most dishes, but for some reason the spaghetti Bolognese was only about ten bucks, I think because it was technically on the kids menu lol. But it was delicious and a huge portion served on old school tray with lovely dishes and silver, a big basket of breads and rolls and butter and complimentary chocolates for desert. I'd order a big pitcher of ice water an extra bucket of ice and add iced tea mix to it. Ate that almost every night for 3 months. I just wish I could have enjoyed the overall experience more but was very anxious due to stress about finding an apartment and what it was costing me to stay there meanwhile!

The cook realised you were living on that spaghetti and he was a sport about it. I wish you could have enjoyed it more!

As for Swiss palace hotels, I've lived in several for months at a time, on Gulf Oil money. Very pleasant times. They used to be a bit dowdier until the Arabs bought them outright and kitted them out in high international anonymous luxe.

[quote]Richard Harris at The Savoy for several years until shortly before his death.

After 15 years at the Savoy, when he was carried out on a stretcher to be taken to a hospital, where he died a few months later, he reportedly told paramedics, "It was the food."

The recent biography of Stritch, who lived at the Savoy for 13 years, says the hotel charged her a very reasonable monthly rate because she constantly and effusively shilled for them in interviews.

R100 - I totally agree. The worst is when you're staying at a very nice hotel and the staff and everyone in the lobby is dressed up.

I just want to go downstairs in comfortable clothes and get some quick coffee or food, but I have to navigate around everyone and get the head nods from the staff with every eye contact.

It's not comfortable - I don't want to have to dress up to go get something from the lobby or across the street.

Dorothy Parker lived in the Algonquin hotel for years but towards the end she couldn't afford her board and I think some of her writer friends helped her out. Also a cat lives there now. And many cats have lived there in the past. I think I would grow tired of a hotel after awhile unless my suite was lovely and large. But you'd see all the little distasteful things about it and how dirty it really is.

If I were going to be there for very long, I would have my own furniture and paintings and some personal things, maybe not all the furniture (the bed obviously) but enough to make it my place.

When staying in a nice hotel why he bothered about dressing up and worried about the looks from staff? Surely they have seen richer people than you who dressed worse. I see the point about not running down to the lobby with your balls hanging out of your ratty sleep shorts to pick up a newspaper, but otherwise everyone there knows you're paying well to stay or live there - and they have seen all sorts.

[quote]Little gay men thought it was so glamorous.

This is what little homosexual boys become when they grow up.

I spent ten years living in hotels in SE Asia. I would usually arrive and stay a month then move on. It was great. In those ten years I never had to wash a dish or make a bed.

^ you still don't

R8 had a valid question. Why would that be considered trolling?

I think, R121, that poster has been permanently branded a troll. Hence the scarlet letters. It has nothing to do with that specific question.

For a visit to NYC in 2010 our travel broker put all of us (there were 8 on the team) in an otherwise nondescript no-name extended stay hotel. I had a 1BR, LR, dining area and a full kitchen with apartment-sized appliances that looked like doll furniture. And two full bathrooms. The hotel was full of European families where the dad or mom were working in the states on temporary visas. Everyone was very pleasant. We were there for three weeks.

Hi! It's me, Airbnb!

I can solve many of your problems!

One checks in and does not check out.