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Comment by evochimp | Hacker News Reader

Even before you retire, if you are single or just a small family it is far far cheaper and far far better to live in a Holyday Inn than an Apartment building. First they will give you monthly rate instead of daily rate which is half. Then you have no deposit. You interact with hotel staffs who treat you like God instead of a landlord who treat you like slave. You need not clean the room or bed. Officially you occupy a small area though, your bedroom and bath, but you have the whole Hotel facility and area to share, you can also visit the city parks and libraries.

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What city do you live in where hotel rates, even at half, are far cheaper than apartments?

I dont want to be identified here. You can consider a 1st tier metro city in India like Mumbai, Delhi , where a Holiday Inn accommodation will be far cheaper than a simple Apartment on monthly basis. You also don't need to deposit a hefty amount.

A 1 bed flat in zone 1-2 London is approx £1500 a month. Call that £50 a night?

I think it is pretty rare to see a similarly located London hotel < £100 a night. Certainly i have airbnb'd for ~55-60 comfortably - but with way less personal space.

For my city, at least, i dont think it would be cheaper but if the monthly rate thing is true can imagine it being similar order of magnitude?

At the hotel you're not paying utilities and are getting free breakfast every day. How much is weekly maid service in London?

The cheap end of hotel rates dont include breakfast. You are right on utilities, but the counterpoint is that you have (for example) lost access to a kitchen to cook, pushing other costs up.

I reckon costs being of "similar magnitude" is plausible (if the monthly rate discount is truly ~50%). Interesting trade offs imo

When we stayed at an extended stay, there was a stovetop and a microwave. I’m sure if you wanted to cook you could get a hot plate.

> What city do you live in where hotel rates, even at half, are far cheaper than apartments?

This frequently happens in areas with aggressive tenancy laws but "temporary accommodations" are exempted. So then you get the discount that comes from not being subject to a bunch of rules that make it harder for the property owner to get rid of a bad tenant, which can affect the cost significantly, exceeding the value of those rules to a good tenant.

My family stayed in an extended stay between the time our lease was up at our apartment and the time we were looking for a house and had one built. It was about $1500 a month. Our apartment down the street was $1700 a month and with utilities it was around $2300 a month.

But even when you compare like for like. A one bedroom in the same complex would have total around $2000 a month with rent and utilities.

The extended stay had people going to work in suits, a school bus picking up kids, and crew from at least two films that were being shot in the area were staying there.

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