I understand that not everyone is into budget travel. In fact, although I definitely love to travel frugally, I am not necessarily into the kind of extreme frugal travel that others are into. So I can respect people who would choose to pay more for their hotels or flights than I would because I realize that not everyone travels the same. Nevertheless, I have to say that I was a little bit appalled when I found out the price of the new Barbie-themed hotel rooms in Paris.
The Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, France has recently transformed two of its rooms into Barbie suites. They are designed with pink decor and special touches to recreate the feeling that you are living in a Barbie dream house. It’s certainly a little girl’s dream. And at approximately $2000 per night for the kids’ room (the parents’ suite is next door and costs even more for the night) you would think it would be a parents’ nightmare. After all, who pays that kind of money to indulge their children with a special hotel room?
This isn’t the first time that expensive hotels have had Barbie theme rooms. Several Hiltons around the world have also hosted short-term theme rooms for the famous doll and there’s a Barbie-themed hotel room at The Palms in Las Vegas. The rooms have such features as a hair-and-makeup bar, unique Barbie furniture and lots of kid-friendly entertainment. I don’t deny that this might be a fun experience for a child. I just can’t imagine spending that type of money on a hotel room for my kids. And although the room is set up to be suitable for teens, it’s really geared towards younger girls including girls as young as 3!
I am willing to spend some money on travel for my kids. I want them to see the world, experience other cultures and get to know types of terrain that aren’t available in our own backyard. However, what I want them to remember is the experience of those new places. I want them to remember the things we discovered on our walks, the local foods we ate, the museums we saw, the people we met. I don’t want them to simply remember the hotels we stayed in. In fact, I don’t want much of our travel time to even be spent in our hotel room!
What do you think of this kind of spending on a hotel room for a child?
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