Why Your Next Girls’ Trip Shouldn’t Be to a Hotel

Here is a better idea: break with convention. Forget the robes and room-service menus. Do something that really encourages people to laugh, tell stories, and have long, late-night conversations that only tend to take place when people are truly at ease. The kind that don’t need a concierge desk, only great companionship and perhaps a bottle or two of something bubbly.

It’s Not About Check-In Time, It’s About the Experience

Hotels are designed for efficiency, not for connection. Yes, they are handy. But when you’re attempting to connect with your nearest and dearest, that shiny front entrance becomes a barrier. When you’re in a beach hut or glamping among stars, something is different. You don’t congregate in different rooms—you’re all hanging out on a porch, a campfire, a picnic table. You’re not seeing each other just to have dinner—you’re cooking with, snuggled in hammocks, having a conversation as someone’s making pancakes in PJs.

Comfort Doesn’t Have to Be Traditional

You don’t have to get roughing it to break out of the hotel box. Today’s alternative stays are anything but backcountry-style. Try bohemian tents with actual beds and high-thread-count linens or rental houses with hot tubs and a designer kitchen. You sink into comfort that is more like a house—one you and your friends commandeer like it’s yours over a weekend. It’s not luxury like old money; by any means, it’s making space where everybody feels comfortable.

Change Your Location, Change Your Dialogue

Some of the most memorable conversations don’t take place in cocktail bars—they take place over campfire flames or when you’re sitting on a porch swing with a field of wildflowers before you. The act of merely changing where you wake up can alter how you connect. A spontaneous RV getaway nestled into wine country may seem untraditional, but it’s often those little surprises that linger with you the longest. It’s the thing you all reference as you get back together again, the tale you retell every time you gather.

It is Not About Perfect Planning—It’s About Shared Space

Girls’ trips are less about the itinerary and more about whose faces are in the room—or cabin, or yurt. When you’re staying somewhere less fancy, the mood gets real, real quick. You find yourself playing games that no one’s played since high school, sneaking out at eleven for late-night snacks in socks, roasting over burnt marshmallows. Shared messiness is what makes memories real. Hotels are fine for staying at—these types of spots are for staying with friends.

Rethink What “Special” Looks Like

If you’ve always stayed at hotels because they appeared safe, what does safe really mean to you? Safe is boring. And really? Your friendships are worth more than a fold-out map and a “Do Not Disturb” sign. Give something different a try. A little strange. A little like a story before you’ve even packed.

You’ll return with more than souvenirs—you’ll return with the feeling that you really spent time with them. Isn’t that what it’s all about?