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The biggest addition in Animal Crossing: New Horizons' new 3.0 update is the new hotel feature, which lets you design guest rooms for visiting tourists and collect new items in the hotel's souvenir shop. What many players weren't expecting, it seems, was for tourists to actually show up.
I won't lie, I also dove right into decorating hotel rooms without thinking too much about the implications, like the fact that if I spend hours creating the coziest rooms I possibly can, people will probably want to come stay in those rooms and that, despite my interior design prowess, they probably won't want to be confined to those rooms their entire stay. When I first saw an unfamiliar bug-eyed monkey wandering around my island after completing a hotel room, I admittedly felt a little intruded upon, but then I realized I explicitly invited it to my island by opening up a hotel for visitors. 'Neat, more villagers!' is now my current thinking on the situation.
Others aren't so welcoming.
"I hate the tourists walking around feature," reads the title of a Reddit post from one such islander. "My island is fully decorated and already laggy as is. Now with the hotel and tourists walking around, it is even more CROWDED," they said.
It's worth noting that you don't have to do anything with the hotel, meaning random villagers on your island is an entirely optional feature. That said, it seems that once you decorate your first hotel room, the flood gates are open for good. There doesn't appear to be a toggle to open or close the hotel for visiting.
"Already sick of the randos walking around," said someone with a Halloween-themed island who feels the random villagers are throwing off their carefully curated spooky vibe. "Sure they have outfits that go with my spooky theme, but so far they are just... wrong. It's frustrating after having carefully chosen all my residents."
Already sick of the randos walking around. from r/AnimalCrossing
Some folks like the idea of having visitors, but wish they had more agency in deciding which villagers those are. The game doesn't give you an option in who shows up at your hotel, which means you might get villagers you don't vibe with or even ones from your past that you worked hard to get rid of, like Beardo.
"When the trailer dropped i imagined we'd have the option to choose who to invite to the hotel if we wanted - seeing as we are allowed to choose *everything* else about our islands, that seemed like a fair assumption, i'd really like the option to disable the guests wandering around," said one Redditor.
Still, plenty others are more than happy to open up their islands as tourist destinations. "I'm honestly shocked there's a lot of people on here saying they're against the hotel when I'm actually happy more villagers get to play or interact with my island," reads a Reddit post with more than 3,000 upvotes, suggesting this is the more common sentiment among the community. "It makes me feel like I didn't waste all that time for nothing since they actually appreciate it. Plus they have nothing but good things to say which is encouraging."
"I don't understand the hate. It's the best thing that could have happened to the game! Having different villagers—the same villagers are boring—having new ones that change every day is the best thing. I don't see any problem here," said another big supporter of the hotel feature.
There are also many players who've been emotionally moved by reunions with visiting villagers who used to live on their islands. "Seeing my OG villager visit my island made me cry," said one player who shared a very sweet moment with their old pal Peanut, who remembered living there.
"The thing I like the most about it is that apparently if villagers that used to reside on your island visit the hotel they remember you," said another player. "It's a nice touch," they added, pointing out that former residents appearing in the Happy Home Paradise DLC don't have this same memory, which is always a sting when you run into a former neighbor who completely forgot you existed.
I think that's definitely my favorite part of the new hotel stuff. I'm almost always very reluctant to let villagers go when they give me the choice, but letting me possibly see them again and reminisce on old times is hugely comforting and will make it easier to say goodbye when the time comes. Unless it's Chester. He's my best friend and I'll never let him go.
