A Wren Says

You know how people will say expensive hotels are a waste because all you really need is just a bed? All you’re going to do is just sleep there and then you’re out all day. I thought I’d found the perfect hotel just for that: Hilton Motto Times Square in New York City. The room concept I specifically chose, the flex room, had a murphy bed. I wanted to experience the idea of converting my tiny hotel room from a bed to a sitting area. And you know what? That part of it worked great. It’s space saving and a rather inexpensive hotel option for the area. I thought I’d hit a goldmine by booking the flex room. And then I realized that I hadn’t. Here comes the ramble.

Little did I know at booking that I would be coming into New York City right before a major snowstorm, in which I would be spending much more time in my room. As I had to make a conscious choice to convert my bed to a sitting area or lay in bed all day, it got old. I wished that I had so much as a chair to use. And to not have to pack everything back up because there was no storage. That’s not completely accurate. There was a hanging rack above the bathroom counter.

Then as I spent time lazing in bed as the snow fell heavily outside, it was really obvious just how bad the bed was. It felt like an adaptation of the princess and the pea, except I was struggling with the hard wooden plank beneath the mattress that had no spring.

But why would I need a comfortable bed if I couldn’t sleep anyways. I could follow along with every phone call and song lyric that came through the ridiculously thin walls. I don’t even think they were at that loud of a volume. I think it had to do with the construction of the rooms. The rooms were just so small that there was no distance between any one. I think they tried so hard to maximize space that they made the walls ridiculously thin. The hotel provided ear plugs in the room, but that only added inner ear pressure to the mix. And for some reason, my room was the center of joining rooms. Meaning, I had doors to each room on either side of me. That would be great for a big family get away, but not so great for a solo traveler just trying to feel safe and comfortable

And another thing.

When I turned the shower on for the first time, the handheld sprayer was on and sprayed water directly in to the room. Not the bathroom, because this is basically just a studio apartment of a hotel room. So now there’s water on the wooden floor. It was a carefully choreographed dance each time to make sure all of the settings were adjusted properly to limit how much water was out. There was no good way to address this, beyond putting extra towels on the floor. The other part of the “bathroom” was the toilet which was next to the door. So if you foolishly booked this room for two people, you would pray that your timing didn’t end up with you both opening the door at the same time.

Pause for a good thing. I did discover that the room had a mini fridge. So there is that.

I think the idea of this room type has potential. I don’t think it was executed well. Or rather, I don’t like how it was executed. I think that if you are saving money by shrinking the rooms and increasing your bookings per night, the least you can do is a put a little more insulation in the walls and a take moment to figure out how to save space with eye to how the room will be used.

Would I stay there again? How dire are the circumstances? Should you stay there? I mean, if you, like my neighbors, plan to be out all day until 2 AM, maybe it will work out for you. But on top of that, you should also have a very strong back, travel extremely light, and be a heavy sleeper. But generally I wouldn’t recommend. Or at the very least, maybe don’t go with the flex room option.

I think it’s possible that this hotel concept is better in other cities. If you’ve stayed in a Motto before, let me know what your experience was like.