“Exactly what I prayed for”

A Connecticut mother and her two children moved into a hotel as a cheaper alternative after she had to move out of the home she was renting on a monthly basis.

Suzanne Hayes was taken aback in February when her landlord told her that the house she had lived in for the past six years was for sale and she would have to move out before March 1.

“I loved my house. It had its own charm and was within walking distance of both my ex's house and my kids' schools. And my landlord never raised the rent,” Hayes wrote in an essay for Business Insider.

Although she loves her home of six years, single mother Hayes also found it very uncomfortable to live on a month-to-month rental contract while dealing with “never-ending” gardening, constant heating and oil tank malfunctions, and a mouse problem.

“I don't know exactly what I'm asking for, but I need a sense of relief,” said Hayes, who prayed as she “walked into my bedroom and looked at the piles of clothes on the floor.”

“I was drowning and had to find a way out, although I didn't know what that was, so I prayed,” Hayes said before receiving her 30-day notice.

Hayes, a writer, found a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom house for $2,700 a month on real estate marketplace Zillow while searching for her next home.

A 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom house cost $3,000 a month.

“The prices were outrageous and way out of my budget,” she said. “When I finally found an apartment that made me feel good, my application was rejected because my credit score was too low.”

According to a July study by the U.S. Department of Consumer Affairs, Connecticut was ranked the worst state for renters due to “high costs and low availability.”

The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,441.

Searching rental websites Airbnb and VRBO, she found that the few long-term options in her area were already booked, prompting Hayes to contact hotels and ask about long-term rates.

Hayes says she felt like she hit the jackpot when the Avon Old Farms Hotel in Avon, Connecticut, offered a two-bedroom apartment on-site.

Rent was $2,200 a month, including utilities and hotel amenities, making it about $600 cheaper than the city's median rent, according to Zillow.

“Of course, it was only a temporary solution – the apartment was rather small and the location was not perfect. But it was a place that my children and I could call our own, if only for a few months,” said Hayes.

Hayes says she was nervous about telling her children about the solution she had found for their living situation, but they “immediately found our situation adventurous.”

“Their eyes lit up when I showed them the pool, game room, sauna and gym,” she said.

Hayes says her family enjoys trivia nights every Thursday in the hotel restaurant, swimming on hot days, making s'mores around the campfire and the continental breakfast served every morning.

“This is not an apartment I would have ever looked for, and it would not have occurred to me to consider a hotel for my housing needs,” she said. “On paper, it is not the best choice for me and my children. But the amenities are the answer to my prayers. They have given me the gift of convenience, and that is, after all, exactly what I have been praying for.”

With post wires