Living in a hotel for 2 months

[constant struggle]

Might need to live in a hotel for 2 months on business travel... any tips, never done anything this long before in my life... what is a realistic amount of clothes to bring (note i do not think i need to wear suits, probably more shirt+tie+sport coat)..

How many shirts should I pack?
Shoes?
Office pants?
Coats?
Etc..

Trying to get a realistic idea of what I need..

 

[tricota]

Originally Posted by constant struggle

Might need to live in a hotel for 2 months on business travel... any tips, never done anything this long before in my life... what is a realistic amount of clothes to bring (note i do not think i need to wear suits, probably more shirt+tie+sport coat)..

How many shirts should I pack?
Shoes?
Office pants?
Coats?
Etc..

Trying to get a realistic idea of what I need..

Does the hotel have laundry and dry cleaning facilities? I it does, you wont have to bing much...

 

[alliswell]

This all depends on how formal your office needs are and how casual your weekend needs are. Worst case - full dress office, jeans and sneakers on the weekend, you need:

Three pairs of dress shoes - two pairs for the weekend
8 - 10 dress shirts - four shirts for the weekend
Four sport coats, four pants or four suits - chinos and jeans for the weekend
1-2 coats

If your weekend wear can blend into your work wear, this will slim down. Not pretty either way. You may want to ship stuff to the hotel rather than travel with it.

Edit - you can reduce your load by relying on local dry cleaning for suits and pants, but increased wear will show (watch your waistbands go grey, for instance.)

 

[imatlas]

...

 

[imatlas]

Originally Posted by alliswell

This all depends on how formal your office needs are and how casual your weekend needs are. Worst case - full dress office, jeans and sneakers on the weekend, you need:

Three pairs of dress shoes - two pairs for the weekend
8 - 10 dress shirts - four shirts for the weekend
Four sport coats, four pants or four suits - chinos and jeans for the weekend
1-2 coats

If your weekend wear can blend into your work wear, this will slim down. Not pretty either way. You may want to ship stuff to the hotel rather than travel with it.

This, or a single swiss army suit plus a Snuggie.

 

[constant struggle]

It has a laundry service.

 

[Gus]

Just a suggestion - tip generously when you first arrive, smile a lot, and make an effort to have fun with the staff.

 

[Infrasonic]

Hotels normally charge a fortune for laundry/dry cleaning. They usually ship it out to a third party as well, so you might as well find a local service wash solution yourself and save a ton of money.
OR stay in a hotel serviced apartment for two months, which will have cooker, washing machine etc.

 

[acecow]

I've done that for a month this summer. Prior to the trip I bought about 10 $15 shirts in solid colors (pink, white, light blue) and about 4 $12 polos from H&M. Since the office was casual, I brought 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of nicer pants for the weekend. Jeans are preferred, because you don't have to launder or iron them for longer periods of time. I wanted to look presentable even with jeans on, so I brought a couple of casual, but elegant dress shoes and made sure they were really comfortable. You need two to alternate between them every other day. Bring as much underwear and undershirts as you can and also take a pair of socks for every day you will be there.

Usually, hotel laundries are really ******. I've had to clean my shirts once during my trip and they came out not as clean as I'd like them to. Of course, if the office is air-conditioned and you don't sweat much, you can probably get away wearing the same shirt twice. Just don't do it for two days in a row, wear a different color each day.

That's pretty much it. It worked fine for me.

 

[JoelF]

Recently got through three weeks working in a European city on the following:

6 button downs
1 polo
1 sport coat
2 chinos
1 dress wool pants
1 jeans
1 casual shirt jack
1 fleece
2 shoes

Office there is completely casual so the jeans / polo were fine for some work days. I get two wears out of a dress shirt when I travel. Did no laundry & came home with clean clothes to spare.

Bigger issue for me on business travel is food. I try to keep the room well stocked with relatively healthful stuff. If there's a fridge it helps a lot.

 

[scurvyfreedman]

Sign up for the hotel's rewards program. By the end you will be at the top level, which should be worth room upgrades and other benefits in the future.

 

[83glt]

Bed Bugs!

 

[otc]

Originally Posted by scurvyfreedman

Sign up for the hotel's rewards program. By the end you will be at the top level, which should be worth room upgrades and other benefits in the future.

+1

Even without doing the room swap song and dance that should get you top level at a starwood property--it takes 50 nights or 25 total stays (thus why some people swap nights with the hotel across the street or whatever). If you open a SPG amex and use it there as well...you should walk out with a bunch of free nights and guaranteed free upgrades to any rooms.