When our family planned our last Easter holiday, there was the usual family debate deciding where we to go. Finally everybody voted on Nice; so, I commenced the process of pouring over many websites looking for an apartment, that might suit our family of four.We were looking for a short-term apartment but after many hours of internet surfing, I just couldn't seem to find a website that could offer us the kind of apartment that we had in mind. After becoming frustrated with the lack of choice I decided to dump the whole apartment idea and book a hotel instead,confirming two rooms in a pretty cool looking hotel.
At the time of booking I had no doubts that this was the way to go.Our two daughters aged 18 and 14 would enjoy the independence of their own room and we figured it could be a more relaxing way for us too, no food shopping or cooking or even tidying up..
We arrived in Nice and the hotel was as expected, modern, hip, with an impressive foyer; the location too seemed perfect, right between the old town of Nice and the modern shopping area, just one block from the beach.
We were all pleased until we were shown to our rooms - which although modern and nicely renovated, we were a little shocked to see the space we were to spend the next eight nights; although accurately described in square meters on the website - the rooms looked and "felt" very small and cramped.
The next morning we took off to explore Nice and immediately came across the daily fresh food market in the old town, when we saw the wonderful produce - strawberries, white asparagus, every kind of olive you can imagine, trestle table after trestle table offering the most delicious variety of fresh food and local specialities. we were both excited by this great variety and abundance of offerings and disappointed that we were going to miss out on sampling the wonderful local produce that Nice had to offer.
We also missed hanging out together as a family - as these short holidays are really the only time we spend long stretches of time together especially now that we have teenagers who are old enough to be independent. We walked on the beach in the mornings and would bump into our daughters mid morning - having to make a date with them late afternoon if we wanted to see them. Great for the first few days, but at the end of eight days we all missed the usual laughs and interaction in the kitchen or living room - the room to room telephoning was wearing thin and when we were all in one of the rooms together it was so tiny we could only bear 10 mins before taking off to our own space again.
The cost of hotel room service was another hitch, even for a cup of coffee in the morning, the price was totally over the top. Lunch and dinner out at restaurants every day, can become both tedious; clocking up around Euro 120 each evening for dinner wasn't much fun either. We were tired of "having to" go out every night, restaurants are wonderful when you're in the mood, but not much fun when you are forced to eat out for 24 meals on a row.So looking back at our "hotel experience", a small room, a mini bar and not the kind of privacy or freedom that we are used to, made me think that I should have tried a little harder to find that "right apartment" - which would have been more of a home, even if only for eight nights.
We could have enjoyed more space, more amenities, sampled and cooked the local produce, which is a lot more fun and paid a lot less. The experience reminded us of why we chose to be in the business we are in and prompted us to begin exploring the idea of expanding into the south of France ... NICE-ACCOM coming soon !!
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