Humboldt Lodging Expensive?

It's not available online yet, but there's a letter to the editor in the Times- Standard today from a guy in Yuba City. He suggests we shouldn't expect people to vacation up here because our motels and hotels are so expensive.

I was somewhat taken aback by that. I might have even felt offended. I'd always figured that lodging costs up here would be less expensive that most places. I suppose I got that impression because I drive by that motel on the west side on Broadway near Wabash fairly often and the sign always shows a lower rate than what we pay down south.

A few weeks ago they were advertising $49.95 a night, single occupancy. Now I think it's $59.99, still a bargain in my book, at least compared to most places we stay. But that's just one motel. What about the others?

I didn't want to spend all day checking, so I ended up just taking a look at the nightly rates advertised online for three cities: Eureka, Healdsburg and Ukiah. Without spending too much time comparing, it looks like Eureka has the same range of prices as Healdsburg, but we have more lower priced offerings than they do. Ukiah looks to have about the same selection as Eureka does, as far as rates go.

Looking at Yuba City, it looks like they might actually have a slightly higher number of the lower cost lodgings. Still, their highest priced place, the Hampton Suites, comes in four dollars higher than Eureka's, the Red Lion at $140.

Of course, those are just the places that wanted to be listed with Sidestep, but it's probably as fair a way to compare prices as you could do quickly.

Headlsburg might be the place to avoid. I don't know that Eureka has any places as expensive as nearby Calistoga does.