How to Determine Your Extended Stay Hotel – Prepping for International Travel!

Staying in an extended stay hotel, while prepping for our international travel adventure, was not initially on our radar when we first put our goal of traveling on paper. We thought once we jumped out of country for travel we would just rent [with budget in mind] wherever we landed for the duration of that visit. Thinking of using extended stays as our housing came to the forefront once we seriously considered putting our Texas property on the market. Let me backtrack a sec…

Why did we decide to sell now?

If you have followed us, you know that we are a senior couple getting ready to conquer the international traveling world on a budget. We had to cancel all plans to start our grand adventure back in the Spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit. We kept the plan moving forward the best we could pushing out our anticipated take off date to Spring of 2021. Then interest rates dropped and the housing market in our area went a little crazy during the pandemic – to our favor.

In December 2020 we struggled with when to put our house on the market? Over 5000 new homes were rapidly being constructed around our neighborhood during this same time. At the same time realtors were telling us that there was a house shortage making it a sellers market so we knew our house would sale but had no idea how quickly.

The Big Guy & I sat down to discuss when we should put the house on the market. After talking with several realtors we were convinced that this was the time! Let’s do this! Within a couple hours of listing the house Realtors from as far as 200 miles away were calling requesting a physical viewing for their clients. In less than two days we allowed seven showings with all making over asking price offers. We were off to the races reviewing offers! By the third day of the listing we accepted the best offer for us & closed very quickly! Who knew so many people had cash to pay for homes!!! Yes. We were thrilled with the process but then we quickly figured out we needed a place to sleep once we left the house.

Before the closing date arrived, we had already sold all the furniture & material items we owned except for the vehicles [which will be sold prior to our take off].

Why Extended Stay Hotel Works for Temporary Residence?

We borrowed a blow up mattress & slept on it it for three nights before we decided we would have to make an early departure from the house to an early check-in at our chosen extended stay hotel. [By the way, after sleeping on the air mattress/floor, the hotel bed was like sleeping on clouds…awh..]

Below we will share with you the six suggestions that we considered when choosing our move & really ANY extended stay. We used this list in guiding us to the right extended stay hotel for us during these transitional months til send off time to Mexico, but would still be relevant where ever you might be.

Six Things to Consider in Choosing an Extended Stay

Safety – If possible, drive the neighborhoods of extended stays you are interested in. Otherwise, online reviews are very telling!

Cleanliness – If you are able, stop by & ask to view the room/suite you might be staying in. On the first extended hotel room that we were interested in showed extremely clean pictures online, but when we visited the hotel it smelled of smoke & the bathroom toilet was disgusting [the clerk told us before we went to view that the room had been cleaned thoroughly….no…run…

Pricing – Of course this is important. We narrowed our search to three extended stay hotels that were within OUR price range. Our first choice offered everything we were looking for in our temporary ‘home’. It was not the least expensive but we were very disappointed in the cleanliness of the hotel. The second hotel we looked at was the most expensive but lets just say we just did not like the location. You really do get what you pay for. Researching for miles, rewards or specials that the various extended stays offer can be daunting but pay off well in the end.

Location, Location, Location – The third hotel we looked at completed our checklist of everything we were looking for & more.

Noise – Is the hotel close to highway/street noise or ongoing construction?

Parking – Does extended stay offer free parking? At this point, we still own a vehicle & did not want to pay extra for a parking space. If we did have a vehicle, free parking would be added as a definite must. Yes, some do have parking fees.

Pros & Cons of Living at an Extended Stay

The extended hotel we decided on looking at all the points above was the TownePlace Suites [Marriott] in NW Austin. Here are both Pros & Cons of living in this extended stay two weeks into our two month stay. I’ll leave a hint here – Pros far outweigh the cons.

Pros

• One monthly payment takes care of everything! No utilities, No cable, No house insurance, you get where I’m going right. All those monthly bills that come with owning a home. All that extra you use to pay goes into the bank for traveling!
• No maintenance! All you need do is call the front desk.
• Customer Service is awesome here.
• Walk-able to grocery store, coffee shops, restaurants, shopping.
• Location, location, location – easily walk able sidewalks & hidden gems of wooded paths to catch some fresh air on walks.
• Pool when weather allows it & exercise room to use when weather doesn’t allow those walks.
• Free breakfast! Due to pandemic the continental breakfasts as we know from past have been replaced with bagged breakfast combos but nonetheless just as good.
• Laundromat on site! Less expensive than going to a public laundry.
• Stocked kitchen with dishes, appliances & pretty much anything you would look for in a kitchen.
• Free exchange of towels, bed linens & you don’t have to do it. Can schedule weekly cleaning of your room!

Cons

• Learning how to maneuver around your partner in small spaces without bumping…we pretty much had it down by the third day.
• You have to be organized to fit what you need into apt. We rented a small storage unit for the last remaining few crates we still need to go thru. The closet here is good size but you have to share with your partner.
• This is not OUR home, just a temporary place to live so no personal decor, collectibles, etc. Simply no room for that.
• For us, the wall mounted tv is huge & totally unneeded but if you are a tv buff, than you would love the large size.
• You can’t pick your neighbors but we have had NO PROBLEMS with noise, etc.

Wrap Up!

All in all, we are loving our temporary home at the TownePlace Suites [Marriott] here in NW Austin. We will be here for another few weeks or so until we decide to move a bit further south closer to the border. In fact, we are planning a road trip for March so will let you know where we decide that trip will be.

Love, peace & happy travels!