2 Week Hotel Stay Between Sellling and Buying Home

Even when we travel for a long weekend we like to get a hotel with a mini-kitchen, or better yet a resort with a full kitchen and bedrooms. Then we can cook like we normally would, but maybe not a big Thanksgiving dinner.

Think of it like a 2 week vacation?
Make sure the hotel has a pool.
Pack enough clothes for the two weeks and maybe take a little time away from watching cable and playing computer games to play tourist a little bit and do some fun things in the area.

Sign up for Marriott rewards points and then stay in one of the extended stays. Be sure the room has a kitchenette.

Bring as least as possible.

The meal plan is Trader Joes and Fresh and Easy prepared meals.

We stayed in a hotel for about a month while we had some major storm damage repaired. My boys had a blast. It was over a year ago and my four year old still points out the hotel every time we drive by and asks if we can visit again! If you can stay somewhere with free breakfast, that is great. My kids loved it, and we would grab a couple of pieces of fruit and some cocoa for an after school snack. We bought a big puzzle and worked on it every night. I agree with other posters about getting a few inexpensive things to make it exciting. Try your best to have fun!

The best bet is to turn it into an "adventure" and, like camping, about doing with less on purpose. That is, rather than see it as deprivation, see it as a game or challenge - how much can we do with little, how creative can we be. We've stayed in a few for different reasons.

Check with the hotel re kitchen supplies - they often don't have much. Plates, cups, silverware, coffee maker, a frying pan, can opener, yes. Take dish towels (or ask for extra hand towels), something to use as a dish drainer (with the tray beneath), a decent scrubber, maybe dish detergent (sometimes they provide it, sometimes not so much), a cutting board, a decent knife or 2, a baking sheet, a colander, and veggie wash spray if you use that for your produce. We took a vegetable steamer to put in the existing pot. Take foil and plastic wrap and a few containers for leftovers. Take an oven mitt and a potholder so you aren't using the towels for that. If there's a microwave, take something to heat things up in. Take a roll of paper towels. You might take an extra wastebasket for recyclables - typically the trash can is quite small. Find out if they provide plastic trash liners. If you have a card table, it provides extra work space for meal prep as well as a game table or puzzle table so you can leave out a jigsaw puzzle or board game while using the hotel table for meals.

On the plus side, you really have to do dishes right away after meals so you have something clean and dry for the next one. It's a good exercise for a 10 year old, to help out and plan. Meals include pasta & sauce (buy a bag of frozen meatballs); buy rolls and make meatball subs another night. Make omelets and scrambled eggs, Chinese stir fry with either chicken or tofu and assorted veggies (take soy sauce and a small container of cornstarch to thicken the sauce; serve with rice), Sloppy Joes or American Chop Suey, your own pizza. Make your veggies very simple - carrot sticks, cucumber slices, green and red pepper strips (maybe with hummus), simple steamed broccoli or cauliflower. Go for convenience at the supermarket - bagged salad mix, pre-cut veggies if they are fresh, or get something at the supermarket salad bar including dressing. If you like crock pot meals, that's fine, but take an extension cord because counter space is often at a minimum. On the plus side, kids often eat without complaining because there isn't much choice!

Also find out about cabinet space before you take all your crackers and cereals - some hotels have a decent amount, others are tiny efficiencies with not too much. If you move your foods in with stackable milk crates, you'll find they can stack on their sides to create a sort of shelf unit in any open space in the room. Find out if the fridge is full sized or a smaller, under the counter type.

1 or 2 board games, some puzzles from the dollar store, cards and Uno, a book of crosswords and Sudoku and mazes (get the $5 book with the assortment), and take a few pencils and a sharpener (or mechanical pencils). Look in the travel game section of the toy store too - sometimes kids go for old fashioned type games instead of cell phone games because they're new and exciting. For example, we have a travel size Connect 4 and a Yahtzee that we've used for years.

Take a small drying rack or a travel clothesline for drying bathing suits, dish rags, and underwear you rinsed out. Take a small thing of laundry detergent. For fun, help your kid pick out travel toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. to get into the swing of things - "we're traveling light, honey." Take a bathroom deodorizer spray since you'll all be in 1 and there won't be a window. Take an extension cord so someone can dry their hair in the main room while someone else is using the bathroom.

Congrats on your new home - hope your 2 weeks adventure works out!

I agree with A L who suggested Airbnb.com. Also try vbro.com. They have apartments and even entire houses that you can rent by the week. They are fully stocked and you wouldn't need to take kitchen things. We have found that it is often comparable or cheaper than a hotel and you have more room.

If those aren't possibilities, definitely find an extended stay hotel that has suites. It will give you more space so you aren't on top of each other. Be sure it has laundry facilities and at least a kitchenette with a microwave and mini fridge. If it has a toaster that's great too. Then you can at least do breakfast in your room (if they don't have a free breakfast or you get tired of it) and have a place to keep fruit, veggies, and sandwich fixings. You can also reheat leftovers from eating out. Eating out for two weeks is going to get really old so I would ask if the hotel will allow you to have a crockpot in your room. You can find lots of recipes where you just have to dump ingredients in and let it cook. But ask first if you can have the crockpot. Fire codes might not allow it and they can kick you out if you break fire codes. I know it is wasteful, but we just use paper plates and plastic silverware. Even with a kitchette, there isn't a lot of kitchen space and sinks are very small. I would pack a small bottle of dish soap and some kitchen towels and a sponge or dish cloth. A sharp knife would also be useful.

I would just bring a week worth of clothes and do laundry at least once. Have quarters and the laundry soap pods are easy to pack and use. You might want to have a laundry bag for all the dirty clothes to go in. I use one to haul everything to the laundry room. I throw it in with the clothes and then use it to haul all the clean clothes back to the room.

I think the best way to think about it is a staycation. Do things you would do on vacation. Eat more convenience foods, explore new areas, etc.

One of my coworker's husband is in hotels all the time. He likes to buy sandwich stuff, lunchmeat, etc, and keep in in the mini-fridge in the room. He also likes getting fruit to keep in the fridge so he feels like he's eating healthier. If you are at a hotel with a breakfast, you can snag a fruit or yogurt on your way back from breakfast and stick it in the fridge for later as well.

Honestly, we've had to stay in hotels a few times for weird things (like our ac going out last year in the middle of a heat wave and having a tiny baby) and the older kid thought it was a fun adventure.

Unless your new house will be move in ready, consider getting a room which will allow you 3 weeks (rather than having to shift rooms to another one if you need to overstay). Sometimes having a clean room to come home to as you paint, unpack & settle in can be a real help.

BEst,
F. B.

We had to do this in December.
If you can find an extended stay hotel it will make it easier for your family.

If not we stayed in a La Quinta. The good news is they have free breakfast each morning. They had a small fridge and microwave in the room and we took an ice chest.. We kept fresh fruit, sandwich stuff, snacks and took our own coffee. They also had a laundry room.

Earlier this year we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, it was really great too. It had more room a better prep area for making up meals. The laundry room and a kind of happy hour in the evenings. We decided we wished the Holiday Inn Express had been available in December, It would have been perfect.

We travel extensively. What works for us is to pack 5-6 days of clothes and do laundry. We typically stay in extended stay hotels such as the residence inn, homewood suites, springhill suites, etc. Most hotels serve breakfast. We generally eat a larger meal at lunch and make sandwiches in the evening. Homewood Suites serve breakfast and dinner so it's nice if you like what they're serving. Trip Advisor can give you a good idea of which hotels are getting good reviews and what to expect.

We generally do a grocery shopping once we arrive. You'll want to make sure they bring/buy their drinks because cokes and bottled water are ridiculously priced in a hotel. I also buy popcorn for when we watch tv in the room or play games in the evening.

Wherever they're staying do some research on local activities and day trips. Swimming at the hotel should be easy and is fun. My kids usually make quick friends with other kids at the pool. Bring a deck of cards and a board game and play in the evening. They typically have some sort of work out area as well. Some extended stays have basketball and tennis available and provide the gear you need. If your guys like to do models or projects, bring one. Star gazing is another activity we like to do. Might check to see if there's a drive in movie near by.

I always request a room on the top floor of the hotel that is away from the elevator and vending machines. I am a light sleeper and it is annoying to me to have people stomp around at all hours. Same with people getting ice or vending products. It's amazing to me the number of ADULTS who yell at their kids down the hall or at each other while staying at a hotel. I can half way excuse kids doing that because of the excitement of being somewhere new.

Main thing is for them to do things they enjoy. Hotel living isn't a drudgery unless it's made to be one. Local parks are fun, going on walks, etc. It's like anything else. Attitude is everything. ☺️

Get one w/a kitchenette (mini fridge, sink, microwave). You'd be surprised what you can pull together w/a little kitchen.

Worst case scenario.....you book a hotel w/a breakfast & take a cooler in
w/food & drinks in the hotel room. Note: use a block of ice instead of a bag
of pieces of ice (they melt quickly & it's harder to keep food w/o being
water logged like lunchmeat).

Go to a place that has a suite. Even if it's just living space with a sofa bed and a bedroom, that will give them a little more room and two "bedrooms". Suites often also have fridges and microwaves for quick meals.

I would also encourage them to enjoy things they don't have at home, like a breakfast bar (if offered), one night of room service, the pool, etc. Make it an adventure. My DD loves hotels. This could be great bonding time for them, so I'd encourage them to come up with the meal plan and To Dos.

Try a Residence Inn or another type of extended stay place. They have a small, but full kitchen and serve breakfast. They will sometimes also have a "happy hour" with snacks. This way all your husband and son will have to get are dinners and whatever meals they don't want to cook in the kitchenette. Bring toys and bathing suits. These places have swimming pools which should help the time go by a little faster, too.

I would only take some clothes and hygiene stuff. Try to get one with a mini kitchen and you should be able to do a lot in it. Or hit the dollar menu on the fast food. lol Good luck.

Also, consider an Airbnb.. I don't know that you can stay for two weeks, but check around.. in some cases, you get the whole place to yourself..
My husband and son have stayed at two so far, one in DC and another in NY.. They had a great experience each time..