You get what you pay for, that’s what I was always told.
However, the older I get the less honest this piece of advice seems to be.
There have been so many times in my life that I have gone above and beyond to spend my hard-earned money only to be completely disappointed by the value that I get in return. This was especially the case on a recent business trip when my office put me up in a five-star hotel. I’ll be honest and tell you that I was very excited to stay in such a swanky place. I expected it to be incredibly comfortable and luxurious. Instead, it was brutally hot and absolutely disgusting. When I arrived in my room I immediately noticed that the indoor air quality was suffering. I assumed that the individual heating and cooling system simply hadn’t been operating all day. I went over to the HVAC device which was attached to the wall and adjusted the thermostat settings to a place that I feel comfortable. I waited several minutes and didn’t notice that the mini split ductless heating and cooling system was making much of a difference. When I held my hand up to the heating and cooling equipment, I couldn’t feel any air passing through the vent. I called down to the front desk and reported that my HVAC system seemed to be broken. At that point, they told me that we actually had a central heating and cooling system which should be servicing my room. I had no control over my own indoor air temperature controls or air quality. I spent the entire week sweating through my shirt and wishing that I had stayed in a Motel 6 rather than the five star monstrosity.