I have to travel from time to time for my job, and while there are pros and cons to staying away from home, on the whole I really like checking into hotels.  (For limited periods of time. )

PROS:

• The Pressure’s off – When staying in a hotel it does me no good to think about the laundry I should be doing, the bills I should be paying or the leftovers from supper congealing in the sink.  I’m miles away from household responsibilities.
• Exercise – Since I’m miles away from my responsibilities, there is often very little to do in a hotel at night except spend a little time on the treadmill.  I’ve yet to find a hotel without a fitness room, and in recent memory I never go to a hotel without a pair of sneakers and sweatpants.  It helps deal with the guilt from the rich restaurant food I eat while I’m away from home.
• Minimalism – There is no more and no less than you need for one comfortable night in a hotel room.  A bed.  A TV.  A coffee maker.  For a clutter-collector like me, there is a simple beauty in that.
• Bathroom goodies –  Who doesn’t love coming home from a trip with a little stash of shampoo, conditioner and lotion?  Sometimes you can really score and snag a sewing kit. 

CONS

• The furniture – When you’re not sleeping, your choices are to lie on the bed which is too soft or sit in the standard-issue cookie-cutter armchair which is almost always too hard.
• Temperature control – I know exactly how to set my furnace at home for a good night’s sleep.    In most hotels, though, you either don’t have control at all over the temperature, or you have to constantly adjust the artic blasts of the a/c to make sure you don’t freeze to death in your sleep.
• Television channels – Generally if I’m far enough away from home to be staying in a hotel in the first place, I’m far outside my normal channel lineup.  I can never find NBC or the CW when I want them.

So, as you can see there are both pros and cons.  While home is still sweet home, from time to time there’s nothing like a little escape to hotel living.