Haha… I got this comment on my “living in a Hotel” post from last year, and it’s freakin’ cracking me up! I totally want to be this guy 40 years from now :) Well, minus his mortgage – if I still have one of those I’m gonna punch myself in a face. But I sure like the way he thinks! Gives yesterday’s mansion talk a run for it’s money ;)
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I found your blog after a friend sent me the following and I googled “living in a Hotel.” I’m 71 and still very active… it would suit me down to the ground. To all of you approaching 50 – What a brilliant idea. Where to live when you retire!!! No NURSING HOME FOR me!!! No nursing home for us. We’ll be checking into a Holiday Inn!
With the average cost for a nursing home care costing £188.00 per day, there is a better way when we get old and too feeble. I’ve already checked on reservations at the Holiday Inn. For a combined long term stay discount and senior discount, it’s £59.23 per night. Breakfast is included, and some have happy hours in the afternoon.
That leaves £128.77 a day for lunch and dinner in any restaurant we want, or room service, laundry, gratuities and special TV movies. Plus, they provide a spa, swimming pool, a workout room, a lounge and washer-dryer, etc. Most have free toothpaste and razors, and all have free shampoo and soap. £5 worth of tips a day you’ll have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
Other perks:
- They treat you like a customer, not a patient.
- There’s a city bus stop out front, and seniors ride free.
- The handicap bus will also pick you up (if you fake a decent limp).
- To meet other nice people, call a church bus on Sundays.
- For a change of scenery, take the airport shuttle bus and eat at one of the nice restaurants there.
- While you’re at the airport, fly somewhere. Otherwise, the cash keeps building up.
- It takes months to get into decent nursing homes. Holiday Inn will take your reservation today.
- And you’re not stuck in one place forever — you can move from Inn to Inn, or even from city to city.
- Want to see Hawaii? They have Holiday Inn there too.
- TV broken? Light bulbs need changing? Need a mattress replaced? No problem… They fix everything, and apologise for the inconvenience.
- The Inn has a night security person and daily room service. The maid checks to see if you are ok. If not, they’ll call an ambulance… or the undertaker. (hahahaha….)
- If you fall and break a hip, Medicare will pay for the hip, and Holiday Inn will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.
- And no worries about visits from family. They will always be glad to find you, and probably check in for a few days mini-vacation.
Also, if you “own” your home (ie its mortgaged to the bank) like I do, you can almost certainly rent it out for a lot more than your mortgage payments. In my case I pay £900 per month. The current going rate for my place as a rental is about £1800 per month, plus I would lose a lot of other expenses.
Even if I make only £1000 a month excess that still reduces my Holiday Inn bill to about £23 a night. Factor in all the stuff I’d sell (and at 71 I’ve got a LOT of stuff), the holiday costs I wouldn’t have (because Hawaii here I come) and the appreciation that will build up in the equity on my home which someone else will be paying for, and I’d make a profit and still have a lump sum in the house for when I can no longer “work out” or “invite chicks back to my room”.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
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Spunky!!! Makes me have a bigger appreciation for Holiday Inns too, haha… Again, just another way of thinking outside the box and living differently than the “norm!” Not saying that’s bad or good or anything, just that there are *other* ways to do things if our current plans aren’t working out to our liking ;) And while I still dream of living in my own hotel one of these days, this one has most definitely been given the kabosh from the Mrs.
So we’re back to the good ol’ mansion or apartment searching again! As long as the end result is us downgrading though, I’ll be as happy as a little blogger can be ;)
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(Photo by moonlightbulb)
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That is absolutely priceless and I think he is on to something there. Love it!
That is a man with a plan. Even with a mortgage this plan still rocks. I’ll be considering this in my future but I am still years off. I could use a maid :)
Great stuff. My wife and I keep telling our six kids that we will sell everything and live with them for 2 months of the year. Maybe I will have to stay in some hotels too.
His plan is cool, but I don’t know if I would like the lack of security for my personal affects. And I really don’t think I would like to carry my entire wardrobe from Holiday Inn to Holiday Inn. I think I will just stick to my plan of selling my house and moving into a condo once I am older. I want to look out onto some large body of water, in warm weather, close to a cruise ship port so I can sail when I want to. AHHHH! The life….back to saving! :)
That is an awesome comment. Reminds me of an article I read last year about retiring on a cruise ship. Same concept, except you have all your meals and there is always a doctor on board.
I’d be down for living in a hotel. I’ve always said my dream vacation would be to just get a hotel room and stay for a couple of days…and read, knit, craft, whatever. The key would be it would BE ME ALONE!!!!
I wonder if long-term care would cover a hotel vs a nursing home…hmmm…something to think about!
Love this!
I’ve worked in both a nursing home AND a hotel, and hotel guests are treated MUCH better than nursing home patients. Sad, but true.
I love the idea of thinking outside the box when it comes to retirement. It’s also important to add that pretty much every hotel will have handicap accessible rooms that you can ask for as it gets harder to clamber in and out of the tub. I think you’d also find that you’d have more people visiting you at that Holiday Inn in Hawaii than you’d ever get in a nursing home. Don’t know if that’s a good thing though ;)
Nursing homes are depressing. This hotel idea is so great! I love the idea of moving. And think if you put the charges on a credit card that earned points for hotel rooms, you could get a few nights free a year (as long as you pay off your cc at the end of the month!).
What a great comment/post. Loved it.
If you don’t need the nursing (medication, help bathing, ect.) of a nursing home, then it would probably be cheaper and more comfortable to stay if your own home and hire household help. But at some point most of us need nursing care, so I won’t be canceling my long care insurance.
This is brilliant!! Man, why don’t I live in a Holiday Inn?
Especially this:
“The handicap bus will also pick you up (if you fake a decent limp).”
Made me laugh out loud!
Interesting idea for sure!!
Cute idea, but he is missing the fact that you are in a nursing home for medical care not just the meals and cleaning.
I have a 28 year old coworker who lives out of a $250 a week hotel just to keep it simple (and he likes having the place picked up by others, lol). I need a bit more space myself, but it does sound like a great retirement option for others who like to keep it simple too! And imagine staying at one with a free breakfast…
Hahahaha what an awesome response, thanks for posting this!
I love this. My kind of thinking.
@Alison Wood – Haha, right?
@Rafiki – Maybe we can get him to write up a report once he goes through with it? :)
@cashflowmantra – Haha, I like it. And 6 kids are no joke – wow!
@LaToya – Yes, keep on saving so you can rock whatever plan you want when it’s time!!
@Brian – I LOVE IT!!! YES! I wonder how the financials look on that guy?? Esp sinc it’s only for short amounts of time here and there, I’d imagine it would get pretty expensive hopping on and off and doing hotels in between? Very very interesting though, I might have to research that one a bit more too ;)
@Trinnie – Haha, is that what happens when you become a parent? :)
@Carolyn – That is sad :(
@No Debt MBA – Haha, amen brotha. Def. more visitors going that route – most of the retirement homes I’ve been too (which, admittedly, isn’t that many) smell funny and just give me the heebie jeebies. There hasn’t been too many hotels that I can say the same for – I love those things!
@Kelsey – Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! A very fun way to look at things for sure :)
@Tea – Yeah, that’s the major downfall to the whole idea. This guy seems to be in decent shape right now, but once you start going downhill I’d imagine you’d have to tweak aroudn this arrangement.
@Melissa – Haha, me too! I was drinking coffee and almost got it all over the place! :)
@Ashley @ Money Talks – :)
@Ginger – Yup, very true. Doesn’t seem he needs that at the moment but it would certainly change once he does.
@Crystal – $250/week I could totally do! Most places around here are almost $100 a night (maybe $75 if you do long-term) so it’s almost the same as having my own place at this point. But if we decide to go somewhere else, or a whole BUNCH of somewhere elses, then we could def. get it lower! DC is one of the most expensive places around, haha…
@Andrea – Glad you liked too :)
@Yana – :)
As long as you don’t need the medical care aspect, i’d be all in. Live in a different city each month!
Hey Tea!
Downhill? DOWNHILL!!??
I’m from Liverpool we don’t ever go downhill
The real problem is I’ll have to start dating older chicks……. in their 30s or so. Bummer but there it is. Hardly downhill though
@South County Girl – Yes! So fun!!
@Mike – Haha, is this THE “Mike” from the hotel post? If so, I thank you again good sir ;) This was fun to write/think about again!
I received that as an email from my friends & we all said we’d like to be in the same hotel so we could have fun like we did back in college. I could see it!
Heck yeah!! That’s actually the one main selling point of going to a retirement home too! Finally get surrounded by people your age again in your own little bubble! Haha… though less antics, I’d imagine ;)
Yes this is THE Mike
What do you mean J.Money …”less antics” ? Speak for you own sad seniors in the US of A….all the guys of my age, I know here in the rocking UK, are all hanging out with girls half our age. My current wife (number 4) is 39.
And Maggie you can stay at the same hotel as me for as long as you like….. and yes we could have fun (but not the sort of fun you may have had back in college)
You are all missing the point….. what are you saving for? To be a sad old senior playing Bingo with old ladies in jump suits in a retirement home? Come on guys get real ….its happy hour!
Must go….. feel one of my attacks coming on ….need to lie down….where is that damned inhaler? Call the ambulance!
It’s thinking about fun with Maggie that’s brought this on
Mike, I couldn’t keep up with your age requirements! lol
haha, you are too funny my man – I love it :) keep up that energy & passion!!
I like the way he thinks. :) Certainly sounds better than any nursing home I have heard about.
Love it – just absolutely love it! I have to share this post with my in-laws. Just another great way to think outside the box and do something off the wall.
You’re right, Jackie. I loved it, especially since we used to be travel agents.
Yeah – it’s brilliant! I used to be a travel agent too, ’till I switched to working for the airlines, and everything hotel/flight/travel related is just sooooo exciting to me. A cool way to change it up in life :)
Great and very informative post.
Glad you found helpful!
Is this rate still going on?