A few weeks ago, my family and I took our first vacation since the start of the pandemic. We wanted to do something we hadn’t done before and keep a safe distance from others as our kids are both too young to be vaccinated for COVID-19. A weekend in the cabin seemed like a great idea.
We learned pretty quickly we are not exactly a cabin family. I’m not going to use this space to bash the place, but let’s just say the pictures were a bit deceiving, and no picture would capture the smell of the water coming out of the faucets. It also didn’t help that it rained almost the entire time, keeping us off the trails and inside the smaller-than-expected cabin.
Our plan was to stay from Friday afternoon through Sunday. We left Saturday morning. The kids, and our dog, didn’t seem that disappointed.
That wasn’t the end of our vacation, though. After we put the kids to bed that night, my wife and I came up with an alternative to our cabin stay. We would find a pet-friendly hotel that was on the way back home in a city near some of her extended family. It was as simple as checking out a few options through a metasearch engine and then booking through the hotel’s loyalty program app.
The hotel was exactly what we needed. I was able to call the front desk ahead of time to see whether we could check-in early — we could. There was a pool for the kids, better air conditioning, friendly staff members, normal-smelling water — what more could you ask for? We all enjoyed ourselves much more than we would have had we tried to stick it out at the cabin “to make the best of it.”
Knowing there was a way out besides just giving up and going home made it easier. Going home would have felt like a waste, of both money for the stay and the four hours we spent driving there. Going somewhere else meant a change of plans to do something better.
Throughout the pandemic, who knows how many other vacationers have tried something different? How many said to themselves, “We don’t want to be around people, so let’s try …?” Among that large number of people, I’m sure many discovered that they love camping, staying in cabins, renting out homes or some other kind of accommodation.
Similarly, I’m certain there are a lot of people who realized that’s just not for them. Hotels deliver the experience they want or need, and they are going to stick to that.
While we’re likely not going to stay in a cabin again, and by extension won’t be looking to do much tent camping, I think we’re going continue expanding our accommodation horizons. We’ve already been checking out some of the nicer treehouse options around us. Not every vacation will involve an alternative accommodation, but for the ones that do, it’s reassuring to know we can always pivot to a hotel we know will improve our experience.
You can reach me at bwroten@hotelnewsnow.com or @HNN_Bryan.
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