I typically only grab a hotel if I’m having a girl over. Aside from a few exceptions like having major swamp ass I’ll just sleep in my car and save the money. But a couple brands of hotel that I feel have done right are Holiday Inn, damn a lot of these are sooo comfortable. The bedding, pillows, sheets the beds themselves it’s usually been a slam dunk every time I get one. And not as much so but Best Western has in most cases been pretty good. They do miss sometimes though.
I’ve found if a holiday inn is a affordable I’m taking it. Not as much for although I won’t complain about it being not ghetto af, but more for the girl to feel comfortable. How about y’all out there, what are your go to’s?
When travelling on business, I find that different chains are stronger in certain regions. I mostly go for the newest hotels in a mid range and stay mostly in the Marriott and Hilton families. New to me is just cleaner, more comfortable, the beds are better, technology is more up to date, etc. I like Aloft, but also like some of the Suite Hotels (Springhill Suites, etc).
Embassy's usually treat you pretty well and I enjoy the extra room. They got that reception where you get a couple drinks and snacks and usually good bedding.
For me I usually go by stars over name brand and I get my star ratings from pirceline and Hotwire even though I may not book through those sites.
Always strive for 4 star but 4 stars aren’t common. For example if you take downtown Detroit out of the equation there’s only something like 4 - 4 star hotels in all of Detroit metro, and I’ve stayed in them all. You’ll only find 5 stars in large cities (example - many states don’t even have 1 - 5 star hotel) and then you need to elevate your whole rating system and stay in nothing less than a 4 star.
You’re usually stuck with 3.5 or 3 stars, and oddly some 3 stars can be way nicer than a 3.5 star. Never lower than a 3 unless there’s no other choice.
Chains I like that are consistent (specific chains and not parent chains)
Doubletree (common small town option, consistently clean)
Westin
Marriott
Hyatt
Renaissance (one of the best)
* of the hotels above you’ll likely never stay in a dirty one.
Usually there are decent - but I’ve run into really poorly maintained and shitty ones of these too:
Sheraton / Four Points - used to be “meh” but the majority of these hotels have been completely renovated over the past 2 years and they’ve done a really nice job at the ones I’ve stayed at.
Homewood Suites (usually newer hotel so they haven’t been to worn yet.
Inconsistent - so I usually try to avoid them. Example - the embassy suites in Pittsburgh is in the top 3 of the 40+ hotels by the airport. The embassy suites by the airport in Detroit is a dump. In the ones below, you may stay in 5 different Hampton Inns and they all may be great, but then you’ll stay in one so bad you’ll never want to go back to another one again.
Embassy Suites (stayed in some immaculate ones but I’ve run into a lot of bad ones too)
Hilton Garden Inn
Country Inns and Suites
Radisson
Fairfield Inn
Hampton Inn (many have been remodeled but many have not and these are crap shoots)
Don’t do Red Roof Inn, Motel 6, Microtel Suites etc etc etc unless it’s the ONLY option, if it’s that low then I usually shoot for a Holiday Inn Express.
Thanks for that breakdown shailynn and god help me if I adjust to some those super nice spots. Some of you guys are straight ballers when it comes to where you sleep damn. Y’all ain’t fucking around. I respect it.
Some duds have been Knights Inn. And some Motel 6’s are fucked up. Anything that’s not a chain I’m trying to stay away from. Depends you can almost tell from looking on the outside. This one no name hotel I drove by in St Louis that fit the budget, the parking lot was literally overrun by crackheads in the daytime. Fuck no. And then the spot I ended up staying the Holiday Inn on the Hill, nice hotel not really bad area that part but the parking lot was full of shell casings. Not a great look there if you gotta take a girl.
If you put in a little effort you can snag amazing deals on Priceline and Hotwire.
You can get 4 star hotels for around $100 after taxes and the exuberant fees Priceline and Hotwire charge. It’s funny you’ll look and see “3.5 star hotel for $54.00” then after all the fees it’s $85.00!!!
When you’re in a hotel for multiple nights you put some effort in getting the best you can for the money. I always look for an indoor pool and what restaurants are in walking distance. All hotels have gyms now so that’s not a big deal, weeknights those gyms and pools are usually empty but forget weekends - they’re usually overrun by kids.
BTW - excellent site for hedging your Priceline deals and ways to expose which hotel you’re likely to get.
Depends on how long I am staying and who is paying for it.
If I am getting a fuck pad, then the cheaper the better. I won't stoop as far as a Scottish or Knights Inn, but almost anything above that will suffice. I'm not paying good money for a room that I'm not even sleeping inn.
If I am staying overnight short-term and I am springing the tab, then I'm heading to priceline to search out a deal on a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn (regular or Express), or lower end Marriot property (Fairfield, Residence, Townplace, etc.). No Choice Hotels (with one exception), Best Westerns, La Quintas or the like because some of them are real shitholes.
One hidden jewel in the Choice chain though is the Sleep Inn. They were designed to compete with the Hampton and Fairfield Inns and are often surprisingly clean and comfortable at very reasonable prices. If there is a substantial price difference between a Sleep Inn and my preferred options, then I'm ok with choosing the former in many cases.
If I have an extended stay that I am paying for, then I look for a nice property that provides at least a stove top and ideally an oven. Often this is the Residence Inn, but there is one area that I travel to that has an Extended Stay (usually shitholes) that is actually highly rated and well cared for that I am not above using it for multi-week trips. Ever cooked a full roasted chicken dinner with gravy, a pot of homemade bolognese red sauce or a pot roast with gravy in a hotel? This is critical to me when I have a stay that spans over a weekend as I need a break from restaurant food. I'm even willing to stay a little further away from the job site in order to have these conveniences.
If I have a short-term stay AND a client is picking up the tab, then it is Marriott properties all the way. I have been an Elite member for years and get certain perks from it, along of course with the points.
I've stayed in enough Hilton Properties to be a lifetime Diamond member for a few years now. In that group of hotels, Embassy Suites tend to be older but the breakfast and happy hour features were nice pre-pandemic.
Also stay in a lot or Marriott properties and working on my lifetime Platinum there.
How nice most are depends on the owner of the individual property. I stay in so many that I usually remember my hotel by location as much as room number. The one thing I always do is figure out which direction the bathroom is from the bed to pee in the middle of the night in the dark. I've woken up at home a few times thinking to myself, which way is the bathroom.
My traveling is very-limited and is all personal/on-my-dime – so I don’t have much experience w.r.t. which hotels are best.
From back-in-the-day I got used to using Hotels.com to find hotels – I liked/got-used-to using their various website-filters in order to find the most-suitable hotel in terms of price; distance to the places I needed to go; and sometimes if they had a free airport-shuttle; etc – I also liked using the “guest-rating” sorting option vs the stars-option as I felt this gave me the best bang for the buck (one could filter the guest-rating or stars-option to a particular-range).
If one is paying their way, the hotel costs are a big expense, especially the longer one stays of course – and some cities kinda rape you w/ their fees and taxes that altogether seem to add like 20% to the total-bill in some areas – in my limited travels I found good rates (for the class of hotel) in Houston (perhaps H-town doesn’t rape people as much?).
I travel alone so I don’t have to worry about the well-being of others traveling w/ me – when I travel I only mostly spend time in the room to sleep and the rest of the time I’d usually be out-and-about; so I “basically” just needed a place to sleep and shower.
Thus for the most-part I’ve tended to stay in 2-star hotels to minimize my lodging-costs b/c for the most part these met my basic sleeping/showering needs (and the various Hotels.com filters plus reading some reviews meant I’d get decent 2-star places but they were still 2-star nevertheless).
For the most-part the 2-star places I’ve filtered via Hotels.com have done the job – the main drawback for *me* is that *sometimes* one may not be lodging “with the best quality people” – but I don’t recall ever having an issue and I haven’t necessarily stayed at really bad scary places.
Now that I’m 51 ys/o, I’m starting to lean more towards comfort vs trying to save a few bucks so going-forward I may start upgrading to 3-star places but not 100%-certain I’ll pull the trigger once I see the quote w/ my own eyes LOL.
I def wouldn’t be sleeping in my car; I see renting a hotel-room as "part of the cost of doing PL-business” – for one I need my rest so I can enjoy my trip – and two, not really worth the potential-risk, IMO – I’ve considered Air-B&B as a way to save some $$$ especially on my longer-duration trips but have not pulled-the-trigger on that since I’m not used to sleeping in strangers’ homes.
—>“I def wouldn’t be sleeping in my car; I see renting a hotel-room as "part of the cost of doing PL-business” – for one I need my rest so I can enjoy my trip – and two, not really worth the potential-risk, IMO – “
Pick the parking spot correctly, and it’s not a big deal.
I like Drury Inn or Drury Suites. They give you three free alcoholic beverages every evening and free appetizers. You can gorge on those and basically you have a free dinner. Their hot breakfast is also the best I have had out of any hotel chain, and that is saying a lot because I usually just pass on the free breakfast at most places. The problem is Drury has not yet expanded all over the country yet. Their original stronghold was Missouri.
Holiday Inn and the other IHG brands are great because the quality is consistently high, which cannot be said for other mid-level chains. Basically you know what you are going to get with an IHG hotel and most have been modernized or are built new.
Choice hotels are very hit or miss. It comes down to the franchisee. Some of the Comfort/Quality/Clarion/Sleep Inn's are run down if they are owned by Indians.
I can figure out the identity of the masked named hotels on Priceline/Hotwire 90%+ of the time.
Obviously the five star hotels such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton are generally the best chains. I have been disappointed by the W and Trump, no pun intended. For more mid-priced chains, I like the Aloft and AC.
Marriott has a great member and points system as well as Hilton honors. I use both, some are cheaper than others depending on the city so I switch back and forth. Can’t really go wrong, before pandemic marriotts W brand is my fav because it’s a party atmosphere. U can literally meet a girl in the elevator or their bar and fuck her the next 30 minutes.
For extracurricular activities it's Comfort suites by Choice Hotels because of their rewards program.
When booking with points charges don't show up on a credit card, early check in and out can be extremely useful.
Points can be purchased online, sales a couple times a year at a 25 to 30% discount. At least once a year 40% off. My last point purchase was for $1000 at 40%.
Oh, let's not forget the welcoming gift generally a bag of chips, a cookie and a bottle of water 😊
When I was working full time I had to stay where my logging card would work. This might be a nice place or a dump. I usually got dumpy rooms where ever. Now that I am semi-retired I stay where I want most times. I had a client pay for a Red Roof ( not my first choice) and to my surprise it was very nice and clean.
Marriott and Hilton. Both have a wide range of sub-brands from moderately prices to super-lux. For example, the Ritz-Carlton is a Marriott brand. Both also have good loyalty programs that build up points for free stays pretty quickly.
I used to take my "playdates" to Belleville Motor Lodge (near the Newark, NJ border) which is pretty low-end, but rooms are decent and you can rent a 3 hour visit. Also very convenient because you don't need to check out, you just toss the key out of your car window into a basket as you're leaving. A few years ago I had scheduled some extra debauchery - a mid afternoon session with one girl, and then a few hours later an all-nighter with a different one, so I needed a room for the whole night.
I noticed that just down the street, the former Washington Inn (a COMPLETE shit hole) was now a Rodeway (part of Choice Hotels) and appeared to have been newly renovated. I figured that would be perfect for what I needed, and a step up from the other place, so I made a reservation. Picked up Girl #1 and arrived at the motel. Turns out the only renovation was an exterior face lift. The room was so old and shitty, torn carpet, broken furniture, cigarette burns everywhere... I even spotted a hypodermic needle that had fallen between the wall and the baseboard heater. Now I know "Rodeway" ain't the Ritz Carlton, but I couldn't believe any national chain would put their name on this place. Called the desk to ask for a different room and was told that I was already in one of their best rooms! Okay well I wasn't there for the aesthetics.
After our "date" I drove the girl home and then went to get a bite to eat - ironically I had dinner at a pretty nice Colombian restaurant that is actually attached to the Belleville Motor Lodge. I considered getting a room there and abandoning the other one, but I figured it would be a hassle getting a refund since I had already used the room for a couple hours, plus Girl #2 was scheduled to get dropped off there later. Anyway, these girls were not high-class escorts, they were just local chicks from Newark that fuck for money, so I didn't need to impress anyone. Had fun with #2 and we actually managed to get a couple hours sleep in between our evening and morning "activities" even with the noisy orgy happening on the other side of the paper-thin wall and the junkie pounding on our door insisting he had money for us (obviously had the wrong room).
Never again though. Since then I've stayed at the Comfort Suites on McCarter Hwy, which is also part of Choice Hotels but it's relatively new (I think just built like 6-7 years ago), has really nice rooms and strangely only costs about $10 more than that shit house a mile away.
When I'm out of town and legitimately need a hotel for "traditional" purposes (like sleeping when away from home) I've had pretty good luck with LaQuinta and Holiday Inn. In Vegas it's either Caesar's or Hard Rock. If you want to see a favorite band "The Joint" at the Hard Rock is about the best venue anywhere. Small intimate setting and fantastic acoustics.
Whenever I go on vacation I will check Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and Priceline to see what is available, and choose the cheapest option for the middle tier hotels. I typically end up in the best of the DoubleTree, Hilton Garden In, Holiday Inn Express, Four Points, or Marriot with good nearby restaurants, especially for breakfast since I can't stand eating the crappy "free" breakfasts at the hotel, unless it happens to be in a sit down restaurant.
The problem with Marriott properties is that they are often so much more expensive than other good options that it is just not worth the points.
Here's what I mean. Nowadays if you are lucky you'll get $.70 in value per 100 points redeemed. If I earn 1,600 points per night from a Fairfield Inn stay (including my Elite bonus points), then the room rate value differential of staying at the Marriott is a little over $11. If I can snag a priceline room deal for $40-50+ per night on Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn then it's a no-brainer. Unlike many of you, I take a lot of my business trips on the arm, so the money matters.
If room price (and self-paying) + kitchen access is a factor, have you considered Airbnb? You can specifically filter to have an entire space to yourself (so you don’t have to constantly have a host or “roommates” there if you don’t want) and usually get a full kitchen and not just a hotel kitchenette. AND there is also a specific filter to only show listings that have already received five star reviews from previous business-specific travelers and those listings have to have certain amenities. (Examples: good space upkeeping, good wifi, toiletries already provided, desk provided etc)
Granted at that level, hotel may come out on top price-wise (especially if in a city hostile to Airbnb’s), but it’s not difficult to make a quick comparison.
Oh, and while parties are often banned, generally an extra guest or two is considered okay in the “entire place” rentals. And likely more discretion with inviting, erm, friends over with that than a walk through in a hotel lobby. Tho in that case prob best to avoid renting the units attached to the owner’s property even if they have separate entrances. More than plenty of listings won’t be like that though.
Granted I’m really biased because I’ve booked plenty of Airbnb’s and never booked a hotel room ever. And maybe my viewpoint isn’t the most informed because I almost always get the cheaper bedroom-inside-with-owners-or-roommates option. BUT even with that format I’ve tended to usually have access to a good kitchen and the decoration and layout usually knocks the socks out of the bland corporate-ness of a hotel. Better ambiance for doing the deed in my biased opinion. Granted, might not matter much if it’s pay-for-play anyways. But just pointing it out.
Nice, I'm not so thrilled with the notion of sleeping in a stranger's home. But even if I could get over that hurdle, I agree with what you said that Airbnb doesn't seem like much of a cost savings over good mid-tier options, at least in the research I've done. There is no universe in which I rent a bedroom in an owner occupied home, so I'm always looking at standalone units. I might consider it though in the future when I'm traveling with my family.
^^^lmfao I know right, it sounds like an awkward as fuck bed and breakfast. I haven't done airbnb yet it's seems kinda crazy to me too but some people do seem to swear by it.
The listings I referred to specifically (rent a whole entire area), you most likely don’t meet the owners. And it’s also likely you can do instant book (not have to wait for approval) There is usually either a password code or a lockbox, in other words, no contact with a human being required to enter the unit.
From my point of view, when it comes to socially dealing with unknown people (which I assume is behind the “awkward” or “stranger’s home”) , I’d hands-down give the edge to the average Airbnb (if an entire unit) over a hotel because you don’t have to deal with hotel lobby staff people, and I don’t understand that objection. Argue in favor of being within walking distance of chain restaurants, sure. Or being one easy turn from a freeway exit, yep got me there. But I probably won’t be able to understand the strange home argument at all.
Oh and some listings in areas that have more permissive Airbnb laws (one example: Texas), some places are blatantly investment property that the owner likely has never lived in ever. (You can tell with how “hotel-like” a place appears). If one wants the comfort of a spartan and neutral feel in their sleeping quarters. Admittedly, I’m in a different end of the spectrum and would consider that a downside that’s mainly worth it if the cost is to my liking, but it is what it is.
I travel on my own dime as well so I typically use Priceline. Back in the day, for my local playtime I could always figure out which hotel it was as well.
The only-reason I'd consider AirB&B is to save $$$ over a decent (not necessarily fancy) hotel-room - if having an AirB&B all to myself is more costly than a decent-hotel-room (which I assume is the case); then the hotel-room is preferable for me.
I would consider sharing an AirB&B w/ a host living in the house if it was a standalone room per se (room w/ separate entrance and no other doors leading to the interior of the house); but IDK if this exists or if they can be filtered.
^ I checked “guest suite” and “guest house” filters. And the “entire space” filter. I glanced at photos and noticed you may have to double check to make sure they have their own entrances, but seems generally like a reliable enough way to search.I didn’t check the kitchen filter for these places though. And a quick check at a lot of these listings explicitly say “no pets” so expect to pay a premium if you have an animal with you (which sadly I already knew 😭) All for dates March 21-27 plus or minus 7 days:
Price ranges:
Dallas $42-70 a night
Miami $35-85 a night
Los Angeles $38-85
Denver $48-76
Philadelphia $49-85
...excuse my harping on Airbnb. I think I’m just enjoying the excuse view the app again. Which I haven’t done in a long time. Waaaahhh
3 star, rated 7+, Priceline options for March 21-27 (exact):
Price ranges:
Dallas: several around $50-60
Miami: $49 (Holiday Inn Express) and several more close
Los Angeles: Two $85-88
Denver: Several at $54-60
Philadelphia $75 (Hampton Inn)
And that is several weeks out. The priceline deals often get better within the last couple of weeks when occupancy is low. So why in the world would I want to mess with an Airbnb in some residential neighborhood when I can stay at a hotel near the amenities for similar money?
@nicespice, Air BNB sucks! Hotels are way better! When ricky and I stay in a hotel I always put a leash on him and walk him down to the ice machine to get ice for his ass hole. we get the best looks from other guests! If he is really good I take him down to the vending machine to get a candy bar. And if he is really, really good, I take him to the soda machine e and let him get a root beer also. There is no way you can do all of that in a Air BNB. You are missing out nicespice. 😉
For work, mostly IHG properties. They work fine. Best hotel I ever took a girl was either the Kimpton LaPeer in LA or the Venetian in Vegas. Those were excellent.
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Always strive for 4 star but 4 stars aren’t common. For example if you take downtown Detroit out of the equation there’s only something like 4 - 4 star hotels in all of Detroit metro, and I’ve stayed in them all. You’ll only find 5 stars in large cities (example - many states don’t even have 1 - 5 star hotel) and then you need to elevate your whole rating system and stay in nothing less than a 4 star.
You’re usually stuck with 3.5 or 3 stars, and oddly some 3 stars can be way nicer than a 3.5 star. Never lower than a 3 unless there’s no other choice.
Chains I like that are consistent (specific chains and not parent chains)
Doubletree (common small town option, consistently clean)
Westin
Marriott
Hyatt
Renaissance (one of the best)
* of the hotels above you’ll likely never stay in a dirty one.
Usually there are decent - but I’ve run into really poorly maintained and shitty ones of these too:
Sheraton / Four Points - used to be “meh” but the majority of these hotels have been completely renovated over the past 2 years and they’ve done a really nice job at the ones I’ve stayed at.
Homewood Suites (usually newer hotel so they haven’t been to worn yet.
Inconsistent - so I usually try to avoid them. Example - the embassy suites in Pittsburgh is in the top 3 of the 40+ hotels by the airport. The embassy suites by the airport in Detroit is a dump. In the ones below, you may stay in 5 different Hampton Inns and they all may be great, but then you’ll stay in one so bad you’ll never want to go back to another one again.
Embassy Suites (stayed in some immaculate ones but I’ve run into a lot of bad ones too)
Hilton Garden Inn
Country Inns and Suites
Radisson
Fairfield Inn
Hampton Inn (many have been remodeled but many have not and these are crap shoots)
Don’t do Red Roof Inn, Motel 6, Microtel Suites etc etc etc unless it’s the ONLY option, if it’s that low then I usually shoot for a Holiday Inn Express.
Some duds have been Knights Inn. And some Motel 6’s are fucked up. Anything that’s not a chain I’m trying to stay away from. Depends you can almost tell from looking on the outside. This one no name hotel I drove by in St Louis that fit the budget, the parking lot was literally overrun by crackheads in the daytime. Fuck no. And then the spot I ended up staying the Holiday Inn on the Hill, nice hotel not really bad area that part but the parking lot was full of shell casings. Not a great look there if you gotta take a girl.
You can get 4 star hotels for around $100 after taxes and the exuberant fees Priceline and Hotwire charge. It’s funny you’ll look and see “3.5 star hotel for $54.00” then after all the fees it’s $85.00!!!
When you’re in a hotel for multiple nights you put some effort in getting the best you can for the money. I always look for an indoor pool and what restaurants are in walking distance. All hotels have gyms now so that’s not a big deal, weeknights those gyms and pools are usually empty but forget weekends - they’re usually overrun by kids.
BTW - excellent site for hedging your Priceline deals and ways to expose which hotel you’re likely to get.
https://www.betterbidding.com/
Are we really doing this?
If I am getting a fuck pad, then the cheaper the better. I won't stoop as far as a Scottish or Knights Inn, but almost anything above that will suffice. I'm not paying good money for a room that I'm not even sleeping inn.
If I am staying overnight short-term and I am springing the tab, then I'm heading to priceline to search out a deal on a Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn (regular or Express), or lower end Marriot property (Fairfield, Residence, Townplace, etc.). No Choice Hotels (with one exception), Best Westerns, La Quintas or the like because some of them are real shitholes.
One hidden jewel in the Choice chain though is the Sleep Inn. They were designed to compete with the Hampton and Fairfield Inns and are often surprisingly clean and comfortable at very reasonable prices. If there is a substantial price difference between a Sleep Inn and my preferred options, then I'm ok with choosing the former in many cases.
If I have an extended stay that I am paying for, then I look for a nice property that provides at least a stove top and ideally an oven. Often this is the Residence Inn, but there is one area that I travel to that has an Extended Stay (usually shitholes) that is actually highly rated and well cared for that I am not above using it for multi-week trips. Ever cooked a full roasted chicken dinner with gravy, a pot of homemade bolognese red sauce or a pot roast with gravy in a hotel? This is critical to me when I have a stay that spans over a weekend as I need a break from restaurant food. I'm even willing to stay a little further away from the job site in order to have these conveniences.
If I have a short-term stay AND a client is picking up the tab, then it is Marriott properties all the way. I have been an Elite member for years and get certain perks from it, along of course with the points.
Vacation
I choice one of their "Trademark Collection" which are mostly major formerly independent hotels/resorts that they have bought up.
Business
Usually Hawthorn Suites or Wingate.
P4P fun
Days Inn, Baymont, Howard Johnson or Ramada whichever is close and cheap.
Also stay in a lot or Marriott properties and working on my lifetime Platinum there.
How nice most are depends on the owner of the individual property. I stay in so many that I usually remember my hotel by location as much as room number. The one thing I always do is figure out which direction the bathroom is from the bed to pee in the middle of the night in the dark. I've woken up at home a few times thinking to myself, which way is the bathroom.
From back-in-the-day I got used to using Hotels.com to find hotels – I liked/got-used-to using their various website-filters in order to find the most-suitable hotel in terms of price; distance to the places I needed to go; and sometimes if they had a free airport-shuttle; etc – I also liked using the “guest-rating” sorting option vs the stars-option as I felt this gave me the best bang for the buck (one could filter the guest-rating or stars-option to a particular-range).
If one is paying their way, the hotel costs are a big expense, especially the longer one stays of course – and some cities kinda rape you w/ their fees and taxes that altogether seem to add like 20% to the total-bill in some areas – in my limited travels I found good rates (for the class of hotel) in Houston (perhaps H-town doesn’t rape people as much?).
I travel alone so I don’t have to worry about the well-being of others traveling w/ me – when I travel I only mostly spend time in the room to sleep and the rest of the time I’d usually be out-and-about; so I “basically” just needed a place to sleep and shower.
Thus for the most-part I’ve tended to stay in 2-star hotels to minimize my lodging-costs b/c for the most part these met my basic sleeping/showering needs (and the various Hotels.com filters plus reading some reviews meant I’d get decent 2-star places but they were still 2-star nevertheless).
For the most-part the 2-star places I’ve filtered via Hotels.com have done the job – the main drawback for *me* is that *sometimes* one may not be lodging “with the best quality people” – but I don’t recall ever having an issue and I haven’t necessarily stayed at really bad scary places.
Now that I’m 51 ys/o, I’m starting to lean more towards comfort vs trying to save a few bucks so going-forward I may start upgrading to 3-star places but not 100%-certain I’ll pull the trigger once I see the quote w/ my own eyes LOL.
I def wouldn’t be sleeping in my car; I see renting a hotel-room as "part of the cost of doing PL-business” – for one I need my rest so I can enjoy my trip – and two, not really worth the potential-risk, IMO – I’ve considered Air-B&B as a way to save some $$$ especially on my longer-duration trips but have not pulled-the-trigger on that since I’m not used to sleeping in strangers’ homes.
Pick the parking spot correctly, and it’s not a big deal.
Holiday Inn and the other IHG brands are great because the quality is consistently high, which cannot be said for other mid-level chains. Basically you know what you are going to get with an IHG hotel and most have been modernized or are built new.
Choice hotels are very hit or miss. It comes down to the franchisee. Some of the Comfort/Quality/Clarion/Sleep Inn's are run down if they are owned by Indians.
And I’ve been doing it all wrong I haven’t started membership anywhere most of you guys are accumulating points I gotta get in one.
Obviously the five star hotels such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton are generally the best chains. I have been disappointed by the W and Trump, no pun intended. For more mid-priced chains, I like the Aloft and AC.
When booking with points charges don't show up on a credit card, early check in and out can be extremely useful.
Points can be purchased online, sales a couple times a year at a 25 to 30% discount. At least once a year 40% off. My last point purchase was for $1000 at 40%.
Oh, let's not forget the welcoming gift generally a bag of chips, a cookie and a bottle of water 😊
I noticed that just down the street, the former Washington Inn (a COMPLETE shit hole) was now a Rodeway (part of Choice Hotels) and appeared to have been newly renovated. I figured that would be perfect for what I needed, and a step up from the other place, so I made a reservation. Picked up Girl #1 and arrived at the motel. Turns out the only renovation was an exterior face lift. The room was so old and shitty, torn carpet, broken furniture, cigarette burns everywhere... I even spotted a hypodermic needle that had fallen between the wall and the baseboard heater. Now I know "Rodeway" ain't the Ritz Carlton, but I couldn't believe any national chain would put their name on this place. Called the desk to ask for a different room and was told that I was already in one of their best rooms! Okay well I wasn't there for the aesthetics.
After our "date" I drove the girl home and then went to get a bite to eat - ironically I had dinner at a pretty nice Colombian restaurant that is actually attached to the Belleville Motor Lodge. I considered getting a room there and abandoning the other one, but I figured it would be a hassle getting a refund since I had already used the room for a couple hours, plus Girl #2 was scheduled to get dropped off there later. Anyway, these girls were not high-class escorts, they were just local chicks from Newark that fuck for money, so I didn't need to impress anyone. Had fun with #2 and we actually managed to get a couple hours sleep in between our evening and morning "activities" even with the noisy orgy happening on the other side of the paper-thin wall and the junkie pounding on our door insisting he had money for us (obviously had the wrong room).
Never again though. Since then I've stayed at the Comfort Suites on McCarter Hwy, which is also part of Choice Hotels but it's relatively new (I think just built like 6-7 years ago), has really nice rooms and strangely only costs about $10 more than that shit house a mile away.
When I'm out of town and legitimately need a hotel for "traditional" purposes (like sleeping when away from home) I've had pretty good luck with LaQuinta and Holiday Inn. In Vegas it's either Caesar's or Hard Rock. If you want to see a favorite band "The Joint" at the Hard Rock is about the best venue anywhere. Small intimate setting and fantastic acoustics.
Here's what I mean. Nowadays if you are lucky you'll get $.70 in value per 100 points redeemed. If I earn 1,600 points per night from a Fairfield Inn stay (including my Elite bonus points), then the room rate value differential of staying at the Marriott is a little over $11. If I can snag a priceline room deal for $40-50+ per night on Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn then it's a no-brainer. Unlike many of you, I take a lot of my business trips on the arm, so the money matters.
Yeah, but on the other hand, they have a killer deal......😵😜
Granted at that level, hotel may come out on top price-wise (especially if in a city hostile to Airbnb’s), but it’s not difficult to make a quick comparison.
Oh, and while parties are often banned, generally an extra guest or two is considered okay in the “entire place” rentals. And likely more discretion with inviting, erm, friends over with that than a walk through in a hotel lobby. Tho in that case prob best to avoid renting the units attached to the owner’s property even if they have separate entrances. More than plenty of listings won’t be like that though.
Granted I’m really biased because I’ve booked plenty of Airbnb’s and never booked a hotel room ever. And maybe my viewpoint isn’t the most informed because I almost always get the cheaper bedroom-inside-with-owners-or-roommates option. BUT even with that format I’ve tended to usually have access to a good kitchen and the decoration and layout usually knocks the socks out of the bland corporate-ness of a hotel. Better ambiance for doing the deed in my biased opinion. Granted, might not matter much if it’s pay-for-play anyways. But just pointing it out.
From my point of view, when it comes to socially dealing with unknown people (which I assume is behind the “awkward” or “stranger’s home”) , I’d hands-down give the edge to the average Airbnb (if an entire unit) over a hotel because you don’t have to deal with hotel lobby staff people, and I don’t understand that objection. Argue in favor of being within walking distance of chain restaurants, sure. Or being one easy turn from a freeway exit, yep got me there. But I probably won’t be able to understand the strange home argument at all.
Oh and some listings in areas that have more permissive Airbnb laws (one example: Texas), some places are blatantly investment property that the owner likely has never lived in ever. (You can tell with how “hotel-like” a place appears). If one wants the comfort of a spartan and neutral feel in their sleeping quarters. Admittedly, I’m in a different end of the spectrum and would consider that a downside that’s mainly worth it if the cost is to my liking, but it is what it is.
I would consider sharing an AirB&B w/ a host living in the house if it was a standalone room per se (room w/ separate entrance and no other doors leading to the interior of the house); but IDK if this exists or if they can be filtered.
Price ranges:
Dallas $42-70 a night
Miami $35-85 a night
Los Angeles $38-85
Denver $48-76
Philadelphia $49-85
...excuse my harping on Airbnb. I think I’m just enjoying the excuse view the app again. Which I haven’t done in a long time. Waaaahhh
Price ranges:
Dallas: several around $50-60
Miami: $49 (Holiday Inn Express) and several more close
Los Angeles: Two $85-88
Denver: Several at $54-60
Philadelphia $75 (Hampton Inn)
And that is several weeks out. The priceline deals often get better within the last couple of weeks when occupancy is low. So why in the world would I want to mess with an Airbnb in some residential neighborhood when I can stay at a hotel near the amenities for similar money?