Selecting accommodations for your next family vacation means balancing price, location, and onsite amenities. You want a place that fits your budget but also has the amenities to transform your trip into a fun and relaxing vacation!
You will see a variety of hotels and resorts as available options on many sites. But, what is the difference between these two lodging types? If you’re confused about the characteristics of hotels and resorts, you are not alone. Many vacationers wonder what makes a place a resort and if resorts are better than regular hotels. Let’s take a closer look.
What is a hotel?
The key differences between resorts and hotels are the intention and experience. Guests book hotel rooms to have a place to stay on their vacation. Hotel lodging is not part of the adventure but, instead, where guests rest and clean up before enjoying the next day’s activities.
Hotels appeal to travelers, like business people, who spend little time in their room. All hotel rooms have a bed and a bathroom, but not all have additional features that cater to guests staying longer than one or two nights. Amenities like a mini-fridge, desk, and chair are not a guarantee at all hotel rooms.
Mini refrigerators may be stocked with miniature alcohol bottles and snacks at inflated prices. In popular cities like Las Vegas, hotels put these goods on pressure-sensitive minibars that charge guests as soon as they are moved. This means that families have no personal room to store their own food and drinks.
In hotels, families need to upgrade to suites for extra living space. Suites feature sitting areas with chairs, couches, and dining tables, in some cases. Larger groups can request adjoining rooms with a door that connects them to each other. However, hotels may have a limited number of these connecting rooms.
Select hotels cater to niche demographics with correlated features, such as newlyweds and heart-shaped hot tubs. Since business travelers are frequent guests, hotels usually have professional services and amenities, like office facilities and meeting rooms.
Restaurants are popular lures, and many hotels incorporate one or more dining options into their features. For instance, some have direct off-street access, or guests can order meals to their rooms. In-room service is convenient for on-the-go travelers with a higher food budget.
Luxury hotels have high-end services and amenities for premium pricing. Spa services in a hotel are more expensive than stand-alone spas, but guests who can afford extravagance massages and treatments typically prefer to walk directly to their room after relaxing.
What is a resort?
Resorts enhance family vacations with more entertainment and amenities on their grounds. Vacation-goers do more than sleep and shower at resort destinations. Vacations at resorts are part of the vacation experience, as they are attractions themselves!
Resorts appeal to families and couples who spend more time on location. The onsite amenities typically include the ones standard at hotels as well as many more. Most resorts have business offices, meeting rooms, and fitness centers as well as multiple water features, like multiple swimming pools and hot tubs, as well as children’s splash pads. Select locations have unique luxuries like a billiards room, private movie theater, and outdoor entertainment areas with fire pits, barbeque grills, and seating.
Most families go on vacations for a week or longer, and food expenses can add up quickly if dining out for each meal. In-suite kitchens at resorts mean significant savings with self-prepared family favorites! Travelers can slash their vacation budget by making “resort-cooked” meals from groceries purchased locally.
A family staying in a single room can feel cramped. Hotel guests with more than two in their party may feel like they are tripping over one another as they maneuver between suitcases, souvenirs, and more. On the other hand, the layout of resorts is condominium-like, meaning family members have more living space and can enjoy larger, separate rooms.
Like having more space in the suite, resort vacationers have more privacy. Resorts have an individual living room and dining room. Hotels have a lot of foot traffic in common areas from both guests and visitors. This is especially true for hotels with restaurants and other attractions. Individuals laying poolside or socializing in the clubhouse are exclusively the guests staying at the resort.
Location, location, location! Whereas hotels are scattered through cities and towns, resorts are located close to big tourist attractions from world-renown theme parks to prime real estate in popular areas. Resorts often offer shuttle service to these attractions.
Want to test out resort living?
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