Living in a hotel isn’t something most people ever think of doing. I think you should! There are a lot of reasons why you should try full-time hotel living! But take the time to learn how to live in a hotel before you do. It’ll save you a lot of time and trouble!
Yanno, sometimes life throws us a curveball that we don’t understand. This was the case with my own life in late 2017. I found myself packing up what I could and leaving everything I had worked for years to build.
To be honest,, I was picking up the pieces from a life, a relationship with my daughter and honestly; a heart that had been broken; again.
It happens and today, I am so very glad it did. I would not have the amazing family that I do.
But that day in 2017, I packed up what I could fit in my car, my daughter, and my dog and moved us into a hotel. It was then that I learned the tricks behind how to live in a hotel full-time.
Why Move Into a Hotel Full-Time?
To be honest, moving into a hotel was something that I had considered for quite a long time. I had put it off more than once though due to what I expected people to think about it. After all, I had a preteen and what would people think about that and all?
I have learned not to really care what people think. Moving into the hotel helped with that.
But, just ask anyone who travels in an RV full-time about the reactions they get. While I love the idea of full-time travel, it simply does not make sense to me to spend that amount of money. I could buy a starter home for what I would spend on a new RV.
Someday I would like to travel full-time, but during that time in 2017, it simply was not an option.
However, full-time hotel living required none of the debt and actually saved me quite a bit of money each month. It accomplished the same thing that an RV or camper van would have and still gave my daughter and I the freedom to travel if we wanted or to stay put some place if we wanted.
How to Live in a Hotel
Full-time hotel living was a huge leap of faith for me. We were leaving an a 1,900 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home with a fenced in backyard and 2 car garage. We left a neighborhood with tree lined streets and a community pool.
Almost everything we owned had been sold or given away. We moved into a hotel room that was maybe 300 square feet on a good day. The adjustment was huge, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as I had expected it to be initially.
Can You Live in a Hotel?
I don’t do anything without research. It drives my husband batty a lot of the time.
When I researching how to live in a hotel full-time, I had my choice of extended stay hotels to choose from. Each one offered a different number of rates and amenities, but since I had a child with me, I had a few absolute needs.
I not only needed a kitchenette, but I needed one with a stove and preferred a full-size fridge. It is hard enough to feed a kid in a hotel, but it would have been much worse trying to do so with just a dorm size fridge and microwave.
I also needed a laundry on site and since I had Momma with us; a pet-friendly hotel.
Woodspring Suites Review
In the end, I chose to move us into Woodspring Suites.
It offered everything I needed it to; a full size fridge, 2-burner stove, cabinet space, laundry and Wi-Fi that offered both a free and upgraded version. They are also pet friendly which meant I could bring our dog with as I had originally planned.
As with most extended stay hotels, it was cheaper to pay by the month than it was weekly or bi-weekly so that was the option we chose.
How to live in a hotel with kids
Before we made the move to full-time hotel living, I had thought the biggest adjustments would be missing the items we left behind or got rid of. In reality, the biggest adjustment was being together in such a small space.
There was quite literally nowhere one of us could go in the room to get away from each other which meant if we needed a break from the other, one of us – obviously me since I was the adult – had to go downstairs to get away from the other.
It was a real adjustment at first, but not a real big issue even though she was homeschooled at the time. She had extra curricular activities she did twice a week and since those activities were drop off activities, I used that time to recharge and enjoy the alone time.
She did, however, spend a lot of time in the bathroom singing. She has a beautiful voice to this day.
I can’t say exactly what living in a motel would be like with multiple children, but I can tell you there were several families where we were who were doing just that and successfully. That alone tells me it can be done.
What type of hotel is best to live in?
I will be honest and tell you that I have lived in both an extended stay hotel and a regular one at different times in my life. In fact, Emma and I lived in a regular motel room for a few months after getting out of the homeless shelter.
If you’re looking for a cheaper place to live long-term, an extended stay is the way to go.
Extended stays are made just for that; extended stays. They often have kitchenettes, larger rooms, more storage and better long-term rates. In fact, I would go as far as to say our hotel room was more studio apartment than it was hotel room.
If you’re considering living in an extended stay hotel too, you’ll need to find one that will fit your family. For my little family, Woodspring Suites fit that bill and honestly there are few situations where I can not see them being a good fit.
The rooms are decent sized and the cost was less than I would have paid for rent and utilities in a city like where we were living at the time. Austin is quite expensive to live in.
Sure, I could have left Austin, but it had been our home for six years at that point and I really tried not to do too much uprooting at once. I had a kid; she needed some form of stability.
In addition to that, Woodspring Suites typically had better reviews on Trip Advisor for the locations I was looking at than other extended stay hotels. Reviews for hotels are super important and I am a fiend when it comes to reading them for any location my children will be sleeping in.
Once I made my decision, I booked our room with Woodspring Suites online at the monthly rate to save money.
Must Have Items for Living in a Hotel
During our time living in a hotel, I very quickly discovered that there were certain items that were pretty much must-have’s for those who are full-time motel living. Mainly they revolved around the kitchen area and items that made the small space manageable.
As you can see in the photo above, we had a full-size fridge, a sink, cabinets and a 2-burner cook stove. Having the ability to cook meals was important to me and I loved that I did not have to fight with a dorm sized fridge like most hotels offer.
Having the larger fridge let me keep the ability to shop for a few weeks at a time and to continue menu planning so I could keep my grocery costs down.
When we moved in, I knew that I wouldn’t have a lot of space for kitchen gear and gadgets so to keep things simple, I bought THIS set of nesting cooking pots. This allowed me to have four saucepans and a fry pan with lids and a removable handle that sat down inside of each other to save space.
I also brought along my Instant Pot so that I would have the ability to cook quickly and to make slow cooker recipes without needing to have the extra appliance on hand.
Finally, because I wanted to be able to continue to make recipes like my chocolate chip quick bread recipe, I brought along a large counter top convection/toaster oven that I had at the house. It was large enough to fit a 9×13 baking dish and worked fantastic for when I need to bake.
For dishes, we brought a dinnerware set for four. This gave us 4 plates, 4 bowls and 4 drinking cups. I bought the same amount of silverware. Cooking utensils were kept only to the ones I actually use a regular basis and to one of each type.
How to Manage Storage When Living in a Hotel
The Instant Pot, toaster oven, baking dishes and cookware were all stored in the lower cabinets with my roll up dish strainer. Having a dish strainer that rolled up makes dishes easy to do and saved space since it wasn’t taking up a huge spot under the counter.
Dishes were stored in the upper cabinet with my cooking spices stored in the other cabinet. Silverware and my kitchen knives were stored in the one kitchen drawer that is actually a drawer.
The rest of the cooking utensils, my hand mixer, pot holders and kitchen towels were stored in a 3 drawer storage cart that sat to the right of the kitchen counter.
Saving money living in a hotel
It is no secret that living simply saves money which is one reason I’m such a fan of minimalist living. When I looked at my expenses after moving into the hotel, I wasn’t surprised that we were saving money, but the amount of money I was saving was a shock.
We had lived in an expensive area and we were renters so the truth is that living in a hotel was quite a bit cheaper for me than living in the house had been. It really wouldn’t have mattered if we had bought a house either since our house payment would likely have been almost as much as our rent payments.
My monthly expenses in the house looked like this:
- Rent: $1600
- Power – $400
- Natural Gas – $100
- Water/Trash – $100
- Net – $112
- Lawn care – $124
- Pest control and other minor home maintenance: $100
Total: $2536.00/mo
Since we lived in a subdivision with an HOA, our lawn had to be cared for in a specific way. This alone resulted in $31 each week going out.
Power was so high because here in Texas it gets hot. It is expensive to cool 1900 square feet. Pest control was up to us according to my lease as were minor home repairs such as changing air filters and the like.
Because of these fees and regular expenses for living in a home, I was spending over $2500/mo just for basic living costs. That does not include groceries and other monthly fees that must be paid for.
After moving into a hotel, my monthly expenses looked like this to cover the exact same basic needs:
- Hotel room – $1440.00
- Laundry: $40.00
Total: $1480
Since I no longer had a washer and dryer, I had to have a place to wash clothes. For the most part, a good friend allowed me to use his washer and dryer for laundry, but should I have needed to pay for laundry, the cost would have been around $40.00 a month to use the hotel’s facilities.
I factored that in when doing my budget so I had a true idea of how much I was spending. I also did not have separate utility payments since everything including internet was factored into my room cost.
My monthly room rate was also tax-free. The State of Texas considers you a resident of a hotel after 30-days which means after your first 30-day stay, you do not have to pay taxes on your bill. This saved me around $200 a month.
Total savings per month because of full-time hotel living: $1,056 per month or a HUGE $12,672.00 per year.
Why live in a hotel? Why not downsize to an apartment?
I can hear the question now so I figured I would go ahead and answer it. “If you wanted to downsize, why not just rent a smaller apartment?” As I explained earlier, living in an extended stay hotel allowed us to travel whenever we felt like it.
Traveling was important to both Emma and myself at the time so we wanted to live in a place that would allow us to do so.
Also, the average cost of an apartment in Central Texas is $1300.00 per month. That usually does not include utilities which means I would still be spending $2,000 or so each month. For what? For a home that was cluttered with items that cost money to buy, items that we didn’t really need and things that neither of us actually wanted.
Instead, we chose to live a life that was a lot less stressful and a whole lot cheaper. We lived in that hotel for six months before going back home to Ohio to stay with friends for a couple of months.
After my Mom’s death in February 2018, we came home to Texas because my boyfriend – now my husband – and I had decided to move in together and start our lives together.
Should You Move Into a Hotel?
If you have been considering moving into a hotel – no matter what your reasons for considering it – I highly encourage you to take the leap of faith it requires.
If you are unsure, put your belongings in storage for a month and test it out. If you decide it is not for you, you’re not out anything but a month of your time. For my daughter and I, it provided the kind of life we needed so we could restart.
For those that have already made the decision to try full-time hotel living, I can’t recommend WoodSpring Suites enough. You can check them out HERE on the WoodSpring website if you are interested.
I’ve lived in a hotel for almost 6 years. I’m a minimalist, and I don’t like cleaning, so this has been an ideal situation for me. Also, I get points from both my credit card and the hotel, so that helps defray some costs.
For most folks who are living in rental homes or larger than they need mortgages, the costs of hotel living are quite cheaper. That was definitely the case with my daughter and I.
Did you have to go to a hotel that was out of your state or can you stay in a motel in the city you are currently living in?
We stayed in the same city. It worked out especially well since Texas has residency requirements that made our stay tax free after the first 30 days.
I am a recovering alcoholic at 35 who is about to graduate a half way house and now I have nowhere to go I have a great job and all I keep hearing is do the next right thing,pray, and don’t drink no matter what so that’s what I have been doing and I feel like I am getting the short end of the stick. As of September 1,2019 I will be homeless. I have been looking for an apartment for 4 months and all of them rent based on your credit something that I don’t have, I figured this would be my only option until my husband gets out of jail and we can relocate to SC where the cost of living is not so high.
Jessica, congrats on your sobriety. I am one who will not tell you that all you need to do each day is “pray and don’t drink.” It is much harder than that and as life progresses, you will fight your addiction every step of the way.
You can however, do it. The fact that you reached out for help shows that.
The hotel is not a bad idea. In fact, we preferred it to the house we have now in a lot of ways. It is simpler. Try not to think of it as being homeless. Think of it as the next step in your journey to getting your life back and things back on track.
Good luck!
What about your driver license?
As someone who has moved many times, and even once been thrown in jail for not changing state I’d or residence location quick enough, did you change your identification to reflect your new living space? And what do you tell on check in? Do you just say you are planning to stay for a few months, maybe more? Not tell them you plan to reside there?
Hi Chris, Here in Texas, my box at the UPS store was enough to establish domicile (residency). For my license address, I was able to use that address as my residency establishment and a good friends as the actual address for the license.
From what I learned you do need to establish an address in the city you live in otherwise you will suffer the consequences.
You can get an any time mail box or an escapees mail box. These are not UPS mail boxes, these are real mail boxes in real buildings where you are renting a suite attached to a real street address.
You will never fool anyone with a UPS mail box.
As for telling the hotel staff you do not have to say any thing unless they ask. Most of the time they never ask, when they do I just say I travel for work and can not keep a place in the city and they will leave you alone, in my case its the truth besides its none of their business to know any way.
Thank you so much for taking the time to shareyour knowledge and experience! I truly appreciate it!
I never realized how much cheaper it is living in a hotel full-time. I have everything I need lights, gas, and water are included in the hotel rent, and I have a kitchen with dishes and pots for me to use, a place to do laundry, furniture and cleaning service.
What I also notice is I am hardly ever in my room its rare of me to stay in my room for a whole day do to my working full-time and I do travel often as well, its super convenient. This was no change from living in an apartment, I was hardly ever home, and all it was used for now that I think about it was a storage area/dumping ground for stuff I would buy that I did not really need.
Since the move these days I prefer experiences over getting more stuff that I’ll never use or do not need.
My only issue is since I work for the city my job is on me about renting an apartment, do to one of the requirements for the job is to have a city residence, and I can not use a commercial mail box as my mailing address, for people who do not have a home to live in the city they live in called any time mail box. And I told the general manager its a mail box for people like me who have no home. And I have to keep reminding the general manager I have no credit to rent an apartment and I am in this living situation do to the work harassments and work without pay suspension, and I have to build up my credit in order to be qualified to rent an apartment.
The GM wanted me to go to a homeless shelter and I called around and I learned that I do not qualify for homeless assistance do to my not being low income, I have no kids, and I am not in a domestic situation.
And when I called these places and Emailed as well, they were relived to know that I am living in a hotel. To which the GM thought hotel living was not safe and very expensive, and she said she was worried about how this situation was effecting me, and I had to tell her I was not at all worried I did my research. And I had to remind the GM, a woman like me would be seen ad a rich girl if I was to live in a homeless shelter and I know for a fact that I would get attacked. Once I kept repeating over and over that I do not qualify for homeless help the GM finally dropped my going to a homeless shelter.
Now the GM said she was going to try and see about getting me a lawyer to help me get an apartment to rent. And after she said that I realized that its not about me having a cheap place to live or a safe place to live either it about her trying to save face do to my job putting me in the living situation I am in at the moment.
I have to meet with the GM again next month, along with a print out of the hotel receipts with the dates on it showing where I am living at the moment, just like I did at the last meeting. And she wants me to come up with a dollar amount and I have to tell her how much money I am saving each month.
I am not going to tell her I am saving money for vacation time or tell her I am also saving money for voice acting school, (this in none of her business to know my private info, and the job also sends out spies to make sure one is living where they say they are living.) I went to a work shop last year and was told I qualify for tons of voice acting work.
Oh, and I house sit are also which also helps me to save even more money. I am hoping to work up to getting longer house sitting jobs.
And thanks to the house sitting community I learned that there are people who live in hotels full-time. And I also learned in my research that there are also other people out there (not in the house sitting community) that also live in hotels full-time, too. Not only are they called Extended Stays or Suites there are some places call Aparthotels (apartment hotels).
I have not heard a peep from the GM about her talk with the lawyer.
I know that my situation with my job is going to absolutely help a future employee who will also end up in my situation.
Caroline, check residency laws for your state. In some states (Texas that I know for sure), if you’re in an extended stay hotel for 30 days, you are considered a resident of the hotel. Also, if you’re in an extended stay, check with the mgr of the hotel. Most will allow you to use their address as a physical address if you plan on being there for a while.
Hello Stacy
I called information and since I am from the same city I was told I am already a resident of the city.
And I Emailed the hotel and they do allow mail to be sent to its hotel residents, only the mail has to be sent with in the time of my stay, which makes sense.
I’m going to Email the GM and let her know.
Wow this was so helpful!! I LOVE hotels and same with another poster here, I don’t like to have too much stuff and I hate cleaning lol. My boyfriend and I both have AWFUL credit, so no one will rent to us. Right now, Extended Stay America has a special for $765 a month for FIRST time long term guests, and I am READY to pounce! And you say many people do this? I think it’s a GREAT idea. Apartments costs SO MUCH after gas and electric, and then your internet and cable etc. I’m SO GLAD to have bumped into your page girl! xoxo -shay
This would be the ideal situation for seniors, unfortunately, many also live on a fixed income and the rent would be unaffordable. I’m assuming that it has increased since you published this article.
Most rates for extended stays are still around the amounts that I gave. Also keep in mind, we had a double bed room. Single bed rooms are typically less than $1,000/mo for the same amenities.
Interesting article, i live in the UK [an oldie] I have rented my house [which provides an income and the Estate Agent [i believe you call then Realtor in the US] takes care of the renting. Plus with Company and State Pension no real money problems, plus i have simple needs.
So i travel the world [not back packing] just a suitcase and a trolley with wheels and a day sack for bits and bobs. I have enjoyed seeing places and taking time to see them. On a two-three week holiday it was rush, rush.
Hope i can carry on indefinitely. The only problem is travel Insurance, prior Covid19 it was not a problem, now i find that some countries are asking to see proof of Insurance? So currently stuck in the UK but still traveling seeing places i have not seen
Any way Stacy take care and keep safe
A lot of rental properties here in the US are managed by or owned by realtors as well, but rental costs are high here depending on where you live. In some places, especially the cities, rent can run several thousand dollars a month just for a small one room flat that is smaller than the hotel room we had. To buy, those same areas are extremely outrageous in price. We are currently renting because we do not want to stay in this area once our girls are grown. It’s only another 2.5 years so we are waiting it out before buying. Currently we have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1100 sq. ft (102.1 sq. m) of usable space and pay $1550/mo (1,126.13 pounds) with no utilities included. Our house is cheap for this area. Most average around $2,200/mo. since we are in a rural area. I’m not sure what the average in the UK would be, but I’d be interested in seeing how it compares.
Stacy, I am a single mom to a 16 year old son. We are leaving Florida due to over crowding, TOO EXPENSIVE, and just in general has become a place we no longer want to be. We are heading out to Little Rock. I know of an extended stay there where I stayed years ago. I just want to thank you for the valuable information. Maybe eventually after my son graduates I might become an “RV Person.” But right now? I can live cheaper in an extended stay than to rent an apartment. The prospects are exciting, and if we find Little Rock no longer to our liking we will move on until we find the right place for us. Keep doing what you do, I think it’s great!
I am glad to see people are still commenting on this (seeing as I just came across this), so I can. Due to covid, my husband is unemployed, has been since October. We have been getting rental assistance with the county we are in, but that stopped and we had to contact the state (we are in Nebraska). It has been over a month and it is still in review and our landlord (we are in an apartment) threatened eviction. They cannot evict right now because of covid so they said we could not renew our lease, which runs out next month. So with that now on our history and not really sure of the work situation we chose the Woodspring here. We are putting our stuff in storage and going there next week. My son is still in school here and he has some medical issues and we fell in love with Children’s Hospital. So I can’t leave, they are too awesome with him. We are going to use mailbox etc. at UPS for right now. Haven’t set it up yet though. So I have been doing searches on how to do this when I am anything but a minimalist (I’ve tried many times and it hasn’t stuck), I’ve gotten a lot better since moving up here 3 years ago from Louisiana. So I guess I am saying thank you. We just became Nebraskans earlier this year. The money is good here when working (hub is an electrician) if you can afford it. There are cheaper places than Omaha, but that happens to be where we are because he was working in the area. Thank you so much for your knowledge. I hope I am able to do this. Fingers crossed.
Love this! I am in my mid 20s single but my job is very stressful so I spend $2K-$5K/mo on hotel living in NYC.
Most hotels have much better bathrooms and much better furnishings than the best luxury apartments in the city. I can’t understand why apt developers don’t just put clean quality bathrooms if they’re going to charge $5000 a month for a one bedroom. You can find 50th floor balcony one beds with perfect floors but an awful bathroom everywhere in the city.
Wonderful article, I am currently living from Hotel to Hotel in Southaven, Mississippi and needed to know if there were more individuals who had experienced this.