Expensive treats/purchases.

I have stayed in some very exclusive places, mostly in other cou ntries. Probably my favourite was the Datai in Langkawi. It is certainly nice and the service can be tremendous but I am just as happy in a mid range hotel .

A treat once was a helicopter transfer from our hotel straight to the airport. That was a nice end to the holiday. We hadn't planned it in advance and just decided in the last few days to do it and add a quick stopover in Singapore on the way home.
 
Don't really treat myself to much expensive, usually buy for other people. My recent most extravagant purchase were flying up to Wellington for the Springbok/All Blacks match. Or rather, I will be flying up there next month.

What I would really like to do (in an ideal world) is to fly me and my future wife to our honeymoon destination on a private jet. Not really as expensive as you would think. Ok, it's really quite expensive for what it is but it's a bucket list type thing. Probably never happen as it'll be hard to justify that cost, but you never know.
 
I'm fortunate in that I travel a lot with work to nice destinations and hotels and meals are covered by clients and often high end. I enjoy taking my wife to good restaurants too though. We stayed at Raymond blanc's hotel a while back and ate and drank very well and that was a big treat.

For anyone in London le Gavroche has a weekday lunch menu which gives three courses, wine, water and coffee for £59 pp. You cant say fairer than that for 2 Michelin stars and a really tremendous chef.
 
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Rroff said:
I've stayed at the dorchester (company paid) and the grand hotel (part of the package for my aunt's wedding) and was underwhelmed both times, I've stayed in cheaper places that had comparable decor at face value and generally had good service and clean facilities. Though to be fair the food at both was very very good - though at the grand it was just wholesome rather than anything special.
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Will depend a fair bit on the place. I've stayed in a fair few five stars in India and other places in south-east Asia and yes you pay a lot, but the service and facilities are outstanding.

On the other hand, stayed in Waldrof Astorria in New York a couple of years ago, and for the price, was underwhelmed as well. It was nice, but not worth how much it was costing. Though I guess there you pay a bit a bit for the location and the name as well?

How worth it it is depends on why you're there though. When I went to Bali and stayed in a five star resort, I thought it was worth it because we'd be sending most of our time there.

When I went to Vietnam, most of the time would be spent going around the city rather than the hotel/resort, so opted for a $40 or so/night hotel. Would make no sense to spend a huge amount and then not even be there to use it.
 
Rroff said:
I've stayed at the dorchester (company paid) and the grand hotel (part of the package for my aunt's wedding) and was underwhelmed both times, I've stayed in cheaper places that had comparable decor at face value and generally had good service and clean facilities. Though to be fair the food at both was very very good - though at the grand it was just wholesome rather than anything special.
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I stopped at the Dorchester 25 years ago with my dad. I wanted to go to the motor show with my dad. He told me that when he was 18 he said that one day he would stop at the Dorchester. We were supposed to stop 3 nights but we checked out after one. Like you we were underwhelmed and disappointed.
 
I once bought 4 ply toilet paper, was like resting my arse on a cloud.

I'm getting too lad-di-dah now I'll go.
 
JOSH86 said:
I once bought 4 ply toilet paper, was like resting my arse on a cloud.
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:D Thread does not disappoint.

Got a PS4 on the way ;) Now, is that a luxury purchase? Or a necessity?

I can never really tell seeing as I always manage to convince myself that whatever it is I want is the latter :D
 
I have only recently began appreciating difference between good food and excellent food and treating myself and the gf to a decent meal from a top restuarant once in a while is something I can justify.

It's when things get mega expensive that things get ridiculous, and I feel it's more of just a for show thing. For example buying a Lambo for £100k i can understand, it's a fantastic supercar, and a piece of art. But buying a Koenigsegg for £2m? Is it really 20x better?

Similar to hotel rooms, I get the Savoy is many many leagues better than a £30/night travel lodge. Possibly even justify the £500/night, but that is probably their cheapest. When you get into like £1k/night region, is it really worth that much more? Its £1k. For a place to sleep...
 
balky12 said:
I have only recently began appreciating difference between good food and excellent food and treating myself and the gf to a decent meal from a top restuarant once in a while is something I can justify.

It's when things get mega expensive that things get ridiculous, and I feel it's more of just a for show thing. For example buying a Lambo for £100k i can understand, it's a fantastic supercar, and a piece of art. But buying a Koenigsegg for £2m? Is it really 20x better?

Similar to hotel rooms, I get the Savoy is many many leagues better than a £30/night travel lodge. Possibly even justify the £500/night, but that is probably their cheapest. When you get into like £1k/night region, is it really worth that much more? Its £1k. For a place to sleep...
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The other thing is, excellent food doesn't necessarily need to be ridiculously expensive, and expensive food is not necessarily excellent (or even particularly good!)
 
I bought myself a holiday to Vegas back in 2011 £2000 or just over. Was definitely worth it. Got a mortgage and real world responsibilities now so will be a while before I can return, I'm glad I did while I could, though sometimes I look back and think of what else the money could have been used for.
 
Interesting Thread!!

I recently purchased myself a 29" LG Super wide IPS screen monitor to replace my 24" BenQ which uses a TN panel. I'm heavily into my photography and needed something with accurate (than my TN) colour representation, but not too expensive when looking at the other IPS panels about.

Well a day later and I speak to a mechanic about my car, which sounds like it needs £500 of work doing to it in the form of replacement injector seals. As you can imagine, a £250 monitor couldn't be justified and I was looking to send it back.

Well...I decided to bite the bullet and keep the monitor as my 24" BenQ was truly awful in comparison. Car going in next week, we'll see what the damage it :(
 
I find myself treating myself a lot and each time saying oh but i work hard etc.

Then realise that I just buy anything i like lol.
 
Posh hotels don't do anything for me and the other half, we are normally up early and back late exploring. I always fail to see the value in them I guess. I normally treat myself with gadgets, some of which I have regretted later but that's normally because the lastest and greatest was closer than I thought. If you have the desposible income I think it's important to treat yourself every now and then.
 
I don't spend my own hard-earned cash on expensive hotels / fine dining, however that principle doesn't apply when it's going on company expenses!
 
Hmm, expensive treats/purchases.

My PC (around £3000 at the time): not worth it
My laptop (around £2000 at the time): not worth it
My internet connection (although actually not that bad at £65/m): totally worth it
Expensive hotels: never felt disappointed with them, although probably would have been just as happy with budget hotel
Expensive restaurants: been disappointed a few times... actually I don't think I suit "expensive" food. I'd be happier at KFC than with caviar. Service has generally been quite good though.
 
Berwick Lodge in Bristol, booked a couple of nights there and slept in possibly the most decadent quarters I've ever seen. The bed was on top of an old church pulpit, everything was just covered in high end marble or tile or soft fabrics I'd never hear about, the place was insane.

Although rolling in ****ed at 4am on one of the nights after stumbling from the casino was potentially in bad taste. Especially since I left the remnants of a kebab knocking about.

Eaten at a few michelin star places and they're good but you don't go to be full. It's about the experience. Much like you don't go to a wine tasting session to get drunk - don't ever expect to be full from a gourmet meal.

I've paid for bottle service/ champagne in a couple of places before, that was pretty cool. Completely not worth it but it was an experience to be "that guy"

I buy a lot of expensive products but that's because I believe you should save and have quality things that will last a lifetime, not to treat myself.
 
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