The Value of Luxury

After three days San Francisco,we headed on down the coast to a luxurious resort for mr warillever’s conference.

Mr warillever and I have stayed in a few nice hotels in our day, but never one quite so lavish as this one -- freshly cut flowers in each guest room, fluffy bath robes, a marble-tiled bathroom with an extra-deep bathtub, down pillows, twice-daily housekeeping, ocean and golf-course views from our room.

It is very nice. The staff is incredible friendly and helpful, and the beds are so soft… but if I actually had the $500 a night to stay here, would I?

Not on your life.

For one, most of the “luxuries” do not add value to my stay. Who needs three telephones in a single 200 square foot room? Or ten pillows for two beds? Or a maid to turn down the sheets every evening? It also oddly lacks the conveniences of a highway motel like breakfast or free internet service in the rooms.

Secondly, the opulence is wasted on us. My children would prefer to watch trains and cars from our window rather than the waves crashing onto the shore. The lap pool is not quite so much fun as our backyard wading pool. The children do not enjoy being shushed in the halls or cautioned to avoid spills at meals. In fact, if we had come out only for the conference, it probably would have been a waste of a trip for the three of us.*

Most of all, I wonder why anyone would spend this much on lodging. To reward oneself for a job well done? To celebrate an anniversary? To clinch a business deal? Aren’t there treats of more appropriate scale? Aren’t there less wasteful ways to while away a vacation?

That being said, it is awfully nice to be pampered. Let me get back to enjoying this for one more day. Then it is back to warillever-style adventures as we spend the next week exploring California at our own pace.

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*The trip is NOT wasted for mr warillever, whose conference has been amazing. If he allows me to share, I will do so in a separate post.