Do you take a cooler with you to hotels?

[Ohiodislover]

This past weekend, we met up w/ family for a weekend--halfway between us and them. I took a cooler w/ yogurt, cheese, soda, and water. My niece was MORTIFIED that I carried it into the hotel. I told her fine, but she could pay the $2 for the bottled water in the machine, and that I would just make sure we weren't in the elevator together when I had the cooler

I was telling a friend about it yesterday and she said she had never thought of packing a cooler for road trips, but she sure wished she had since she has 4 kids and another on the way.

Am I just cheap? I've often seen people w/ coolers checking in.

hopefully I will figure out how to post a poll.

 

[Pixiedust34]

If there is no fridge, we'll bring a small soft-sided cooler.

When we stay at value resorts at WDW, I order a cooler with my Garden Grocer order. It's much cheaper to buy the cooler for about $5-6 than it is to rent a fridge for the trip, and we like having cold drinks in the room.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We always bring a cooler with drinks on road trips. Heck during the hot summer months I have a cooler with waters in it when we will be out driving for the day.

Road trips always, although we neglected to do that over my dd's college "summer welcome" and that really sucked. Won't make that mistake again.

Flying will depend on the number of days spent in a hotel. Normally if there is a fridge we won't. But if we are there for a wedding or something where we need alcohol refreshment, we go and buy a styrofoam cooler.

When we did go to Florida, we bought a cooler for the rental car. It was just too hot and we needed drinks.

 

[luvsJack]

Dh has an power cooler that he keeps in his big rig. We take it with us. In the car it plugs in to the car outlet and keeps everything cold on the road (saves all those $1's every time we stop and someone wants a drink) and then has a cord to plug in the wall outlet in the hotel.

 

[Freyja]

Weather we have a cooler with us or not, we ALWAYS bring drinks and snacks with us to the hotel. We have 5 kids and there is no way I´m willing to pay hotel prices for every single snack/drink they need or want.

 

[golfgal]

Um, yes, we do that often if we are staying for a long time. If we are only staying for a night then we just fill the ice bucket and put some water bottles in that (or we fill the sink in the bathroom). How is it being cheep? What does she think you should do?

 

[bicker]

There are loads of aspects of life that have radically changed over the last fifty years. However, many people still extol the virtues of the old ways of doing things. It's a paradox, IMHO.

With regard to hotels, there is a hotel I stayed at (on business, but that's not their typical custom) a few years ago, where they were mortified that I thought to come down to the lobby to fetch my own ice. That was, properly, something you ordered from room service, and don't forget to tip the room service attendant handsomely. That's just the way things have been done there forever, and that hotel was one which refuses to move away from the old ways. I cannot imagine what they'd do if they saw a guest bringing a cooler in, especially stocked with provisions!

One of my family members always drove me crazy though, because she was flip back and forth: Whenever the new ways benefited her, she expected everyone around her to do things that way; and of course whenever the old ways benefited her, she would wax poetically about how people simply don't have any common sense anymore.

 

[Chelley00]

I always take a cooler on road trips. We have one that plugs in the van outlet. We usually have to stay in a suite since we are such a large family, so rarely does our hotel room not have a fridge, but if not, we take a larger cooler. It really saves money just with drinks.

 

[Disney Doll]

There are loads of aspects of life that have radically changed over the last fifty years. However, many people still extol the virtues of the old ways of doing things. It's a paradox, IMHO.

With regard to hotels, there is a hotel I stayed at (on business, but that's not their typical custom) a few years ago, where they were mortified that I thought to come down to the lobby to fetch my own ice. That was, properly, something you ordered from room service, and don't forget to tip the room service attendant handsomely. That's just the way things have been done there forever, and that hotel was one which refuses to move away from the old ways. I cannot imagine what they'd do if they saw a guest bringing a cooler in, especially stocked with provisions!

One of my family members always drove me crazy though, because she was flip back and forth: Whenever the new ways benefited her, she expected everyone around her to do things that way; and of course whenever the old ways benefited her, she would wax poetically about how people simply don't have any common sense anymore.

I would add that fi I knew I was staying at a really fancy hotel (not that I do that often, but I have twice in my life) I probably wouldn't bring a cooler, so I sort of see what you mean in the first part of your post. But heading to a Holiday Inn Express...it's a cooler all the way!

 

[DVC Sadie]

On long distance road trips, yes, we bring a car cooler to carry drinks. My dh likes to stop frequently to stretch, buy a cup of coffee or candybar. I like to stop at the rest areas whenever we hit a new state so I can get a free map.

We have not brought a cooler inside of a hotel, it just never crossed our minds.

 

[MIGrandma]

We sometimes do on road trips, but not when we fly.

But more often the hotels we stay in have refrigerators in the rooms, so we just bring a bag of bottled water, Diet Coke and Gatorade and then put it in the frig when we check in. Drinks are so expensive at hotels, we prefer to bring our own and save the $$$.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would add that fi I knew I was staying at a really fancy hotel (not that I do that often, but I have twice in my life) I probably wouldn't bring a cooler, so I sort of see what you mean in the first part of your post. But heading to a Holiday Inn Express...it's a cooler all the way!

Yes, if it was a fancy hotel, no cooler. But then again there is a bar or restaurant to get a drink.

I hate the vending machines because I have to rely on crisp dollars to work in the machine. And then they do not carry all the products we want as it is either coke vs pepsi.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

We take a cooler with us because often where we go there are no kosher restaurants and it stops DH and I from spending an overabundance of money at a grocery store. Even when we travel where there are kosher restaurants we take a cooler for food to eat on the road.

 

[SaraJayne]

When we take longer road trips, we'll pack a cooler with drinks/snacks.

But if we're flying somewhere, we're on vacation and drinks/snacks are part of the vacation budget.

 

[DrCavin]

We do on road trips, but not to necessarily save money - just if we want a drink & don't want to stop. I must be considered really cheap because I use the ice machine to fill it up in the morning

 

[momof1princess]

we take a cooler on road trips, and if we're staying in a hotel for several days, DH will haul it inside and refill it each day from the hotel ice machine after draining melted ice into the tub. does that make me cheap? perhaps, but it's far more convenient and less expensive that trying to find a vending machine every time someone wants a drink or a snack. now if i were staying in a luxury hotel, i would leave the cooler in the car and just use it while driving.

 

[C&G'sMama]

We bring a cooler to save money and time. I've taken a cooler into the Westin Diplomat in Miami and the Hampton Inn in Corning. My attitude is if I'm wearing Versace or if I'm wearing Walmart, my money is still green. So if I bring in a cooler or not, the same thing.


As for the cooler, we drive everywhere. We throw in a bunch of drinks and sandwich items, it saves a lot of time at rest stops vs. stopping at a restaurant or even going through a drive though. We also find we eat a little healthier this way. When we get to our destination we usually find a grocery store and stock up with little things to munch on. It's so much easier than ordering out.

At Disney we like to have the cooler to keep drinks and snacks cold.

 

[RadioNate]

I picked never and that it wasn't convenient because that is what best fit my opinion. However, thinking back I could have picked only on road trips.

I'd say 95% of the time we travel we fly and go to the hotel. Bringing a cooler or buying one there never really crossed my mind. It really isn't that I don't do it because it looks cheap or is inconvenient. I don't do it because I've never found it necessary.

We very rarely road trip for vacations. We have a few times but generally we've discovered that we hate driving places and being in the car for long periods of time. But on the rare occasion that we road trip somewhere we do take a cooler with drinks/snacks. I honestly couldn't tell you if we've brought it into the hotel or not.

We aren't really big snackers so we don't generally sit around the hotel room and eat.

 

[shortbun]

When we fly, we take our soft sided cooler flattened in our luggage. It's great to have iced drinks, a place for doggie bags and some other stuff if needed. I've seen people carry coolers into luxury hotels in Europe. It wasn't me - I'd draw the line at a luxury hotel.

BTW, I rarely do it to save money. I do it to save time AND to make sure I have personal favorites on vacation. It's a bummer not to have Trader Joe's party salsa!! lol!

 

[Micca]

I never have taken a cooler to a hotel, but everytime I see somebody with a cooler I think they are smarter than me.