… Or… Sandy's Utterly Subjective Accommodation Rating

I've just now invented this system so I can rate places we stay – it's a completely subjective and relative scale based on what I happen to think are the best and worst places we've ever spent a night. My "gold" standard is The Mill House Inn in East Hampton NY(Long Island) [luscious feather beds, the best breakfast you'll ever have in your life, bathroom as big as my kitchen – also the most I've ever paid to sleep, but hey you only live once]. My "tin" standard is the Pines Motor Lodge in Westbury NY (also coincidentally on Long Island) [seedy, dirty, rude, people screaming all night – don't let the website photos fool you as they did me – its only redeeming quality is as a cautionary tale]. We've stayed in a pretty wide variety of large & small B&Bs/hotels/pensions/inns in various parts of the US and Europe, so I think I have a good range of values to judge them against each other at this point.

Here are my totally random categories, which will be scored from 1 to 5:

• Amenities: In-house activities, in-room goodies. I like B&Bs with lots of good books, puzzles, games, etc. Unique toiletries are nice, as are in-room complimentary snacks & beverages. Any of this is bonus, but if I'm paying a good bit for a night's stay, I expect some extras.
• Aesthetics: I prefer stylish over flouncy, with a predilection for very old if nicely restored.
• Sleep quality: I can sleep almost anywhere, and my idea of bliss is sleeping on the cold hard ground as long as there's a rippling stream and owls in the trees, so a place has to be pretty negative to score badly here. That's the main reason the Pines counts as my worst stay ever.
• Food: I prefer B&Bs, though more & more places seem to offer complimentary breakfast of some sort. It's important to me to have fresh food, nicely prepared, and a good variety. I don't want to have to eat again till lunch.
• Location: Proximity to whatever we happen to be doing 😉
• Staff: Attentiveness, friendliness, helpful with suggestions about places to eat etc.
• Value for the money: How I feel about what I paid for a night's stay.

And yes, I'm that much of a geek that I created a spreadsheet to calculate the scores 🙂

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