Why Barack Obama Prefers to Stay at a Hampton Inn

Nothing sounds more exciting than staying in a luxury hotel room with all the finishing touches. But sometimes, you just want a simpler place to lay down your head.

And former President Barack Obama is no different, telling a group at a conference in Atlanta that sometimes he’d rather check in to a Hampton Inn than a fancy presidential suite, according to the Washington Post. And the reason is as relatable as any: the lights are simpler.

“Before I go to bed, [I] go from room to room to turn off all the lights, and there are a bunch of different lamps, and sometimes they hide where the light switches are because they want to make them look really cool,” Obama said at a conference hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council. “And it might take me 15 minutes to shut down, where if I was just in the Hampton Inn, there’s like one light switch, one bathroom door, and the bed, and the TV remote; I’m good.”

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And while he did acknowledge that fancy hotel suites “typically have the best views because they are very high up — they are wonderfully appointed,” sometimes you just want sometime easier and familiar. Obama is a repeat guest at Hampton Inns all over the country, the outlet noted, visiting the location in Des Moines multiple times, and even has his photo with hotel staff members framed at the location in Littleton, N.H.

“We have a long history of U.S. presidents visiting and staying at our properties, and we’re pleased that President Obama has also had a Hampton guest experience,” Hilton’s corporate communications vice president, Nigel Glennie, told The Washington Post. “We’d welcome him back any time.”

Obama is no stranger to the fancy hotel life, though. He's stayed at an 18th-century luxury farmhouse in France, a luxury resort in French Polynesia, and on Richard Branson’s private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.

But, like all of us, sometimes it’s just nice to revel in the familiar.