IN the last 10 years, I’ve traveled quite a bit for business. I actually made 27 trips to London in 18 months to meet with clients who use our webcasting and virtual meeting technologies.
I usually travel alone. I’m not sure anyone really wants to travel with me. I’m a friendly guy, but I may be among the world’s cheapest business travelers. I’m not a Four Seasons kind of guy, more like a Two Seasons, if there were such a place.
It’s a joke around the office to see just how cheap I can be. It’s also a game to me. I want to see how little I can spend on hotels when I have to travel. There’s also an element about being smart with our dollars.
Everyone here remembers the dot-com bubble bursting. We remember what happened to business after 9/11, the stock market slide back in 2008 and the recession. We know what it’s like to tighten our belts, and we’d sooner put money back into the business and our employees than spend it on a fancy hotel.
When I fly to London, I always fly coach and then challenge myself to book hotel rooms that are less than £100 a night. This summer, I checked into a hotel that was only £50 a night. It had a sign in the lobby advertising air-conditioning for £5 a night. Considering the money I’d saved on my flight and hotel at this point, I immediately informed the desk clerk that I would take the “upgrade.”
After about 20 minutes in the room, there was a knock at the door. The bellman wheeled in my air-conditioning, in the form of a six-foot-tall industrial fan. The good news is that it oscillated, though it did create a kind of wind tunnel in my room. It was the biggest fan I’ve seen, like something from a factory floor. I just started laughing.
On another trip to London, I was with a colleague returning to our hotel after a night of eating and drinking. We came back on a different tube than the one we had taken earlier in the day.
There we were, walking along an avenue when we saw a horrendous-looking hotel, right above a very active gas, or what Londoners call petrol, station. The hotel looked as if it was going to fall into the gas station. It was just kind of propped there.
After a history of questionable hotel experiences, we were joking about how happy we were that we weren’t staying at that place. We passed the petrol station, turned a corner, and then realized the hotel we were mocking was indeed our hotel. I don’t think I slept that night.
One of the more interesting places I stayed at was something called a “botel,” which is basically a boat that serves as a hotel. During a recent trip to Amsterdam, I booked my arrangements last-minute for a trade show.
Going to Amsterdam is pretty extravagant, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. The botel was only 60 euros a night, and it was fun in some weird way. You just take a 20-minute ferry ride out of downtown Amsterdam, pass some sunken submarines, and then you’ve arrived. The botel even provided bathrooms and hot water. But apparently the soap was extra.
I think business travelers should realize that just because something is cheap doesn’t mean it’s bad. It just could be interesting. I don’t need a spa. I don’t need a masseuse. I don’t need room service. But I still think soap is a really nice touch.
By Nick Balletta, as told to Joan Raymond. E-mail: joan.raymond@nytimes.com.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/business/tight-with-a-dollar-but-expansive-in-spirit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss