Think about the last time you walked into a hotel and put your stuff down. The feeling of the world’s pressure being lifted off your shoulders, as the welcoming bed invites you to a tempting rest. The deliberate placement of every item in the room and the quietness of the room around you. Now picture your bedroom. You walk in, and it’s the same old, same old. Everything’s exactly where you left it, but sometimes knowing that isn’t always that great. Walking into your bedroom when it’s overly messy is disheartening; you know you will have to clean it soon.

When you walk into a hotel room, you know that you’re the guest, but at the same time you gain this sense of freedom. Finally, you can rest. Other than the bag that you brought, there’s no clutter and no need to clean the room that was prepared just for you. In fact, you can make a mess and don’t even need to worry about the thought of cleaning it up later.

Even the symmetry of the furniture, the matching light stands, the centered bed and TV, and the perfectly placed nightstand are trying to tell me that everything is perfect. Every item placed around the room is exactly where you need it, so you never have to worry about not having certain necessities.

On the other hand, you have your own bedroom. Some days are clean and relaxed, while others are messy but more productive. We’ve got mixed feelings about our bedroom, and oftentimes it just depends on how we are feeling on that day. Many times, your bedroom will reflect what mood you are in and what type of person you are. Your bed, furniture, closet, and bathroom all want you to be you, and will change their layout for your personal use.

Oftentimes, the clutter of our room is helpful, but doesn’t always provide immediate rest as a hotel room does. When I look in my room, I see my shoes, my half-made bed, and one of my pillows that somehow ended up on the floor. My desk is filled with millions of different items, but it allows for productivity. If I need a pencil while I’m in my room, I can just look in my desk drawers. If I get cold and need a blanket, I can also just look in my desk drawers. So many different things that I need and use in daily life I can always find in my room. While it may be messy and overwhelming at times, a bedroom keeps you subconsciously active and forces you into your same old routine.

It should be clear by now that while both a bedroom and a hotel room are simply two spaces where a human can rest and find a conclusion to their busy day, they still differ in a lot of different ways. A hotel room relies on a standard and clean environment to encourage escape from the world and immediate rest, whereas a bedroom often uses personal belongings and a cluttered space to enforce a routine—ultimately revealing that architecture and layout shape how a person acts. If a hotel room were cluttered and messy when you walked in, you wouldn’t feel as safe or relaxed. And if your bedroom were perfectly symmetrical and organized, it might not be as convenient for productivity and routine. In the end, it’s not just about having a bed and a nightlight, but oftentimes the environment and setting in a room will indicate how humans will behave in that room.