Hotels you like to stay at while on the road

[briantroutman]

Brand changes doesn't have to mean an establishment is going downhill. A former Holiday Inn I stay at became a Quality Inn because Holiday Inn wanted too much to use their name.

While it isn't a 100% lock, a brand change is a very strong indication that a property is headed downhill. There are some brands–Quality Inn, Days Inn, and Ramada immediately come to mind–that consist almost entirely of conversions (as opposed to new constructions). Almost nobody ever builds a Quality Inn–they were operating a '70s era Holiday Inn that was starting to get shabby, the inspectors from the corporate office mandated that the hotel owner make hundreds of thousands of dollars in property upgrades, and the owner said "Screw that....I'm joining a chain with lower standards." So the original '70s Holiday Inn became a Quality Inn in the '90s, then an America's Best Value Inn circa 2000, and finally the unbranded "Executive Inn and Suites - Monthly Rates Available" today.

In regard to the HVAC issue, I also remembered that motels with exterior corridors open directly on the outdoors...

Does anyone know of any sources for conclusive or more-concrete information regarding the merits and detriments of exterior corridors versus interior corridors in hotels?  I'm disappointed that three of the most prominent hotel companies--InterContinental, Hilton, and Marriott--banned exterior corridors in recent years...

I think it's mainly consumer preference. I doubt you'll find much hard info on safety or energy efficiency.

The trend is driven both by consumer preference as well as concern for containing utility costs and addressing safety issues. I read a report Motel 6 released about 10 years ago in which they indicated that their prototype, going forward, would be an interior corridor motel for four main reasons: 1.) lower utility costs from HVAC units, 2.) lower maintenance costs and liability by avoiding railings and walkways exposed to the elements, 3.) increased safety for guests and employees by controlling access points, and 4.) a three to four-story interior corridor motel is the sweet spot of having a lower footprint, and therefore lower land costs, but still having a vertical visual presence that travelers can see from the highway.

With the exceptions of some atypical and resort-type properties, the top tier hotel companies are most definitely striking exterior corridor properties from their rolls as franchise agreements come up for renewal. Much of that is due to clientele. The top tier hotel companies (Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, IHC) make most of their profits from business travelers who are incredibly loyal–primarily because of the hotels' rewards programs. If you're a Marriott Rewards guy, you're going to stay at a JW in Atlanta, a Courtyard in suburban Milwaukee, and a Fairfield Inn when you get stranded at the airport in Wilkes-Barre. And every one of these hotels had better be up to your junior executive standard. You're already going to be irked that the Fairfield doesn't have a concierge lounge or an on-site martini bar, but if you get to that Fairfield Inn and you find out that it's a freaking motel with stairs that you have to walk up and doors that are outside...are you for real?! You'd rather die or be forced to drive a Ford or do something else equally unconscionable.

Now I don't agree with this point of view, but when you're an international hotel company and your primary goal in life is not pissing this guy off, you can't afford to have locations with exterior corridors in your portfolio. The rewards programs, most of which involve staying a minimum number of nights per year to maintain an "elite" status, tend to be an "all-in" or "all-out" proposition. If Marriott ticks you off in Wilkes-Barre, you might jump ship to Hilton HHonors, and Marriott will have lost literally hundreds of thousands of dollars that they otherwise would have made off you in the next decade.

[agentsteel53]

I actually like being able to park, and walk right into my room.  that, though, requires some advance planning.  for Motel 6, it is sufficient at time of online reservation, to request "first floor".

... and hope you're not getting a corridor motel, but an old-fashioned motor hotel.

[oscar]

While it isn't a 100% lock, a brand change is a very strong indication that a property is headed downhill. There are some brands–Quality Inn, Days Inn, and Ramada immediately come to mind–that consist almost entirely of conversions (as opposed to new constructions).

Most Super 8s seem to be conversions as well.  And almost always the dreadful America's Best Value inns, where I've had my very worst motel experiences (one refused to honor my confirmed reservation, another was a four-story building with no elevator). 

I mentioned way upthread that I was a Super 8 fan.  I still use them, largely for the rewards points, where there is no Motel 6 in the area.  But lately the Super 8s have gotten uneven, while some Motel 6s have been improved (and the others remain reliable if bare-bones).  Microtel is another favorite option, modern construction, though the rooms are always really snug.  Sometimes I'll splurge on a Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn, especially if I've been roughing it for a few days and need time to recover when I return to civilization.

In Canada, the Motel 6s are new and pretty nice (multi-story with elevators and interior corridors), while I try to avoid Super 8s which up there are really old and uneven (except the one in Vaudreuil-Dorion west of Montreal is pretty nice).  Comfort Inn is usually my plan B in Canada.  That's especially true in Quebec, where I'm more confident that a chain (which is usually a Comfort Inn) will be at least minimally accommodating to English-speaking guests -- though I had no problem the one time I had to stay at an independent (the Château Madelinot in Cap-aux-Meules).

Free or cheap (like $3 a night at many Motel 6s) wi-fi is a must for me.  Nowadays even the el cheapo places often have it, though if I'm scrounging for a motel at the end of the day I'll look for the ones that advertise wi-fi.  Some of them, though, don't have desks or tables with chairs to set up your computer gear, which means an uncomfortable posture for a surf session lasting more than a few minutes. 

[agentsteel53]

the dreadful America's Best Value inns, where I've had my very worst motel experiences

the only motel in which I've ever gotten bedbugs.  the east Bakersfield location (Brundage Road at highway 184), btw.

[briantroutman]

Most Super 8s seem to be conversions as well...

That's the way it's fast becoming, but Super 8 wasn't always a dumping ground for frowsy old motels. Originally, all Super 8 Motels were new constructions in a pseudo-Tudor style, and the chain was known for high customer satisfaction and loyalty. Red Roof Inn also built a very devoted base of price sensitive business customers and a reputation for extreme consistency. Knights Inn–today, probably the most disgusting national brand operated by a legitimate national lodging company (Wyndham)–was actually founded by a prefab building manufacturer and likewise originally had a consistent, purpose-built motel prototype.



In all three cases, the chains were bought by larger conglomerates, the visionary founders left, the new owners started franchising instead of operating company-owned units, and quality control standards were allowed to slide. Any attempt at maintaining a consistent product fell by the wayside, and honestly, now the brands probably mean nothing more to average consumers than "this is a cheap motel brand name that I have heard before".

Today, probably the only true economy lodging brand that has any consistency to its product is Microtel. And not coincidentally, they're the only budget brand that consistently scores well on customer satisfaction surveys.

[corco]

Wyndham is really an oddly run company- they have a ton of brands, but I have yet to determine what the hierarchy is. I think it's something like:

Bad:
Knights - just don't (stayed at one in Needles, CA. What a dump, and why are hotels in Needles so overpriced?)
Travelodge- usually bad, sometimes okay

Decent:
Super 8 - all over the map. Can be nice and can be terrible. Worst I've been at is the one in Fort Madison, Iowa. Best in Las Vegas, NM (Trinidad, CO being a close second)
Days Inn- all over the map, seems like maybe they try to position themselves more upscale than Super 8, but I can't pin why. Best in Medicine Hat, AB (hotel rivaled a Hampton in quality), can't really pin a worse. On the whole they seem nicer than Super 8s, I guess.

Somewhere in the middle:
Howard Johnson- Better than a Super 8/Days, worse than a Baymont, but no idea how they fit into the hierarchy

"Better":
Ramada- Ramadas seem to be universally sketchy in the US, universally decent in Canada.
Baymont- Eh, they're like Hamptons but a little bit less nice in my experience.
Microtel- As was briantroutman says, I know what I'm getting into when I stay at a Microtel. It's going to be a tiny room, but it'll feel semi-modern and clean.

Best:
Wingate - Like a Hampton
Wyndham - What happens to resorts when none of the real companies want them anymore.

I feel like they need fewer brands and better consistency. I feel like they could get by with:
- Travelodge (rebrand all Knights Inns, Travelodges, and the shittier Days Inns/Super 8s as Travelodge). This becomes a Motel 6 competitor, low frills, low cost, hopefully sort of clean.
- Super 8/Days Inn (merge and keep one of the names. This would consist of all the decent Super 8/Days Inns that are decent, any hotels from other brands built with a motel style exterior corridor)
- Howard Johnson (all shitty Ramadas, all Howard Johnsons)
- Baymont/Ramada (call it Baymont in the US, Ramada in Canada) (all Baymonts and better Ramadas)
- Microtel (as is)
- Wingate (as is)
- Wyndham (as is)

They also need to better their rewards system if they're shooting for Wingate + customers. Right now you earn points, but there's no elite status/chance for room upgrades/etc. They did launch "Wyndham Gold" which I think basically just gives you an extra free night, no perks included. What I'd do is exclude the bottom rung (Knights/Travelodge) hotels from the reward system and then allow point accumulation/redemption to only occur at Super 8 or better hotels.

I've noticed some innkeepers visibly pissed that I'm redeeming my Wyndham points at their property, and that needs to change. Yeah, you don't get full rack from corporate on a redemption stay, but that's part of being a franchise and builds brand integrity so don't take that out on your guests. It's a franchise system that needs more corporate oversight, in my opinion, though maybe that raises rates.

[US71]

I have found Howard Johnson to be slightly better than Knights Inn or TraveLodge, but not by much

Ramada is a little better. Maybe a bit above Super 8, bit not much.

Microtel a bit above that.

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of Wingate.

Not of the Wyndham family, but Americas Best Value is generally sleazy...often older hotels that should have been bulldozed. Muskogee was OK, except the roaches in the breakfast area.

EconoLodge is a crapshoot: some good, some bad.

I stayed at a Clarion near Memphis once that was a dump(!)

[briantroutman]

Wyndham is really an oddly run company- they have a ton of brands, but I have yet to determine what the hierarchy is.

You couldn't possibly plan a brand portfolio as messy as Wyndham's. Theirs is the result of 20+ years of mergers and acquisitions, and their total pool of lodging brands includes even more names that have been disposed of, such as Budgetel, Villager, AmeriHost, and Arborgate Inn.

There really isn't a hierarchy to it–and that lack of coordination, brand image, and consistency is what makes Wyndham such a joke.

I feel like they need fewer brands and better consistency...

I've noticed that Wyndham has subtly made a few changes to the brand roadmap at the bottom of their web pages that might hint at future adjustments to their lineup. First, they've added the Wyndham name and insignia to the logos of their more consistent brands–Wingate, Hawthorn, and Microtel. Second, they've moved all of the other brands below a very obvious dividing line. With the exception of Dream, Planet Hollywood, and Night, which are small-scale boutique brands, I could see ones "below the fold" being spun off into their own Crappy Lodging LLC, with the ones above remaining the Wyndham Hotel Group.

[oscar]

Decent:
Super 8 - all over the map. Can be nice and can be terrible. Worst I've been at is the one in Fort Madison, Iowa. Best in Las Vegas, NM (Trinidad, CO being a close second)
Days Inn- all over the map, seems like maybe they try to position themselves more upscale than Super 8, but I can't pin why. Best in Medicine Hat, AB (hotel rivaled a Hampton in quality), can't really pin a worse. On the whole they seem nicer than Super 8s, I guess.

Somewhere in the middle:
Howard Johnson- Better than a Super 8/Days, worse than a Baymont, but no idea how they fit into the hierarchy

I think Days Inns are even more "all over the map" than Super 8s.  And I would rank Howard Johnson on the low end of "decent" rather than higher than Super 8/Days Inn.

[corco]

I could see ones "below the fold" being spun off into their own Crappy Lodging LLC, with the ones above remaining the Wyndham Hotel Group.

Whoa, yeah. That  would make sense. They seem to be building those higher end hotels at a pretty good clip, and I just can't see how they'll ever lure business travelers with those other brands in the portfolio or how you manage a rewards program with such varying levels of quality. A traveler that normally stays at a JW can handle a Fairfield for a night, or a traveler that normally stays at a Waldorf should be able to deal with a Hampton, but I can't see a Grand Wyndham traveler staying at a Knights Inn.

And I would rank Howard Johnson on the low end of "decent" rather than higher than Super 8/Days Inn.

That's certainly possible- I've only stayed at a couple HoJos- one in Beaumont TX that was pretty nice and one in Vancouver, BC that was actually very nice for the price (right downtown, clean room, mediocre but not sketchy neighborhood). When I booked the one in YVR though, I was with friends, and one of them was very reluctant to stay there because of bad experiences with Howard Johnson in the past.

[Duke87]

I've noticed that Wyndham has subtly made a few changes to the brand roadmap at the bottom of their web pages that might hint at future adjustments to their lineup. First, they've added the Wyndham name and insignia to the logos of their more consistent brands–Wingate, Hawthorn, and Microtel.

That's good, now they need to add it to the logos for every brand they own. Seriously. Stop misleading your customers into thinking Super 8 and Days Inn are two different establishments when really your money goes back to the same boardroom either way. It's goddamn false advertising.

[corco]

Unless brian's theory is correct and they are planning a spinoff- either way it seems like they're trying to build equity with the Wyndham name and they probably don't want it associated with the Super 8 in Fort Madison Iowa or the Days Inn in Gallup New Mexico. Those brands are too inconsistent for any corporate entity to want to slap their name on.

I don't know that a lot of people think they are different establishments or that it's important to make that distinction- if you travel infrequently you shouldn't care, and if you travel frequently you probably have a Wyndham Rewards account and know they are the same thing.

[roadman65]

What ever happened to the original Fairfield Inn concept?  I remember all of their hotels had both exterior and interior corridors.  The ground and second floors were exterior while the third floor was interior.  Do not quote me on this, but I believed the third floor was King sized bedrooms, as the one in Morrow, GA I checked into at 1 AM back in August 1990 as I did work for Marriot, that offered all of its employees a room discount as a benefit, put me in a King size bed that was on the top floor.

Now I see Fairfield has sold all of their original buildings and in Orlando two of them converted to another brand name and the third torn down.  The newest Fairfield Inn in Lake Buena Vista, FL is a high rise of six floors (about) and no exterior corridors or anything like its original concept.

I know that Fairfield, Residence, and Courtyard are all part of Marriot which each individual brand name being for some different type of lodging.  Residence and Courtyards are both the same that give ammentities the same as the regular Marriot Hotels, but at a somewhat cheaper price and without the high rise buildings.  Fairfield Inns were to be the budget hotels for interstate travelers, and of course Spring Hill was not yet invented when Marriot first expanded.  Obviously now, things have changed.  It would appear that Marriot got out of the typical overnight stay type of motel altogether.

Also, does anyone know what happened to Welleslly Inns?  I liked them when they were in business that seemed to be only a year or two and stayed at the one on US 1 in Edison, NJ (now a Comfort Inn) back in the late 90s.

[formulanone]

I've noticed some innkeepers visibly pissed that I'm redeeming my Wyndham points at their property, and that needs to change. Yeah, you don't get full rack from corporate on a redemption stay, but that's part of being a franchise and builds brand integrity so don't take that out on your guests.

Thanks for the info; unfortunately, my company rarely puts us on Wyndham properties, except if nothing's available. Usually that means a Super 8 (which are consistently okay, I get spoiled by some of the Hampton Inns and Courtyards out there), but from work and vacation experience, just what you need. Stayed at a number of Wyngates with a previous job, and they were all pretty good on finish, hospitality, and amenities...it's a pity we can't squeeze them in, but to be fair, they do seem to a rare find except in large cities.

I'd prefer to be loyal to one brand, but 90% of our stays are with Hilton, IHG, and Marriott properties; still being in the highest level in all of them has its advantages. All of them have been great about last-minute cancellations with points, although sometimes you seem to get blacked out within a 3-4 day period...sometimes a phone call solves that problem (if you don't mind the occasional handicapped room).

I do like that the Fairfield Inns are getting away from the pre-packaged breakfast concept - the hotel breakfasts are already a bit of a caloric splurge.

[jeffandnicole]

...but if you get to that Fairfield Inn and you find out that it's a freaking motel with stairs that you have to walk up and doors that are outside...are you for real?!

My wife and her mom stayed at a Fairfield like this once in SC - all outside corridors.  Reeked of some sort of musty odor.  They moved to another room but had the same problem.  We've stayed at Fairfields quite often.  Most of them were indoors though.  And none had the problem this one had.

I know that Fairfield, Residence, and Courtyard are all part of Marriot which each individual brand name being for some different type of lodging.  Residence and Courtyards are both the same that give amenities the same as the regular Marriot Hotels, but at a somewhat cheaper price and without the high rise buildings....

I've always known Residence Inns to be a real nice suite - nearly full size fridges, stoves/ovens, etc.  And an excellent complimentary breakfast.  Courtyards were right between a Fairfield Inn & Marriott, but without the free breakfast, although some if not most have some sort of restaurant/café/bistro.

As an aside - anyone ever go to a nearby hotel in the morning just to grab their free breakfast?  I've thought about doing this many times at my nearby Residence Inn, but haven't done so yet (mostly because I hate waking up early in the morning if I don't have to!).

[Ned Weasel]

The trend is driven both by consumer preference as well as concern for containing utility costs and addressing safety issues. I read a report Motel 6 released about 10 years ago in which they indicated that their prototype, going forward, would be an interior corridor motel for four main reasons: 1.) lower utility costs from HVAC units, 2.) lower maintenance costs and liability by avoiding railings and walkways exposed to the elements, 3.) increased safety for guests and employees by controlling access points, and 4.) a three to four-story interior corridor motel is the sweet spot of having a lower footprint, and therefore lower land costs, but still having a vertical visual presence that travelers can see from the highway.

I actually read that Motel 6 document several years ago, and I remember most of the basic points, but I can't remember the details.  I tried looking for it a few days ago, but it's not on the Motel 6 website, and the brochure explaining the new Motel 6 prototype (the "Phoenix" prototype) doesn't include a justification for interior corridors.

Do you know if the Motel 6 document to which you are referring is still available?  I'm curious as to the extent to which points 1 through 3 are grounded in empirical data rather than being based on assumptions (the logic behind the relationship between building height, footprint, and visibility, however, is self-evident).

[formulanone]

As an aside - anyone ever go to a nearby hotel in the morning just to grab their free breakfast?  I've thought about doing this many times at my nearby Residence Inn, but haven't done so yet (mostly because I hate waking up early in the morning if I don't have to!).

I figure if you're well-dressed enough, you could probably score one quite easily...cameras in the parking lot might give you away, if they checked them. Yeah, thought about it before, but I wouldn't want to pick up a level of bad goodwill with the brand, on top of the whole "theft" thing.

[Duke87]

Unless brian's theory is correct and they are planning a spinoff- either way it seems like they're trying to build equity with the Wyndham name and they probably don't want it associated with the Super 8 in Fort Madison Iowa or the Days Inn in Gallup New Mexico. Those brands are too inconsistent for any corporate entity to want to slap their name on.

I don't know that a lot of people think they are different establishments or that it's important to make that distinction- if you travel infrequently you shouldn't care, and if you travel frequently you probably have a Wyndham Rewards account and know they are the same thing.

The distinction is important for two reasons: one, because if I decide that one of their brands pisses me off so bad that I never want to stay there again, my boycott is meaningless if I stay at another hotel owned by the same company instead. Two, because on principle I feel I am being lied to when I'm just being sold the brand and the sign doesn't say who actually owns the hotel. If I say "Hi, I'm Copernicus and I love heliocentrism" to one group of people and then turn around and say "Hi, I'm Ptolemy and geocentrism is the way to go!" to another group of people, I'd get called a two-faced liar and a cheat. So why are companies allowed to do this if I'm not? If Wyndham owns the hotel, the sign should say "Wyndham" on it somewhere. It's OK for them to own hotels all across the spectrum of quality, but it is not OK for them to wear 11 different masks to disguise that fact and say "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".


On another note, I don't care how much I like an establishment or how frequently I patronize it, I will NEVER sign up for a rewards card from anywhere. I don't want that crap bulking up my wallet, and I don't want to enable anyone to data mine off of me if I can avoid it.

[oscar]

As an aside - anyone ever go to a nearby hotel in the morning just to grab their free breakfast?  I've thought about doing this many times at my nearby Residence Inn, but haven't done so yet (mostly because I hate waking up early in the morning if I don't have to!).

When I've had breakfast in the motel where I was staying, sometimes I've been asked to show my room key.

[corco]

Two, because on principle I feel I am being lied to when I'm just being sold the brand and the sign doesn't say who actually owns the hotel. If I say "Hi, I'm Copernicus and I love heliocentrism" to one group of people and then turn around and say "Hi, I'm Ptolemy and geocentrism is the way to go!" to another group of people, I'd get called a two-faced liar and a cheat.

Welcome to America! Lots and lots and lots of things are owned by one company but not broadly advertised as such. Most things you own/things you buy/stores you go to/hotels you stay at are. Did you know that the 2008 Chrysler Sebring was built by the same company that owned all of the Albertsons grocery stores in Arizona? Or that Guitar Center and Burger King are partially owned by the same company? Or that Gillette and Braun and Oral-B come from the same company? Or Hilton Hotels and Orangina sodas? Is the Kellogg's brand prominently marked on Pringles? Are Lexuses clearly marked as Toyotas? Or Enterprise and National? Or Kroger and King Soopers? Or Safeway and Dominicks? Or Red Lobster and Olive Garden? Or Steak 'n Shake and Cracker Barrel? Or Facebook and Instagram? Or Magnavox and Phillips? Or Chevron and Texaco? Or Volkswagen and Lamborghini? Or even Coke and Sprite (like Wyndham, not blatantly obvious but it's very very easy to figure out)? I could go on all day

Days Inn and Super 8 are hardly as different as heliocentrism and geocentrism anyway. They're...basically the same. If you told one person "I'm Days Inn, and I sell mediocre hospitality at a low price" and turned around and said "I'm Super 8, and I sell mediocre hospitality at a low price" and somebody figured out you were doing that, the likely reaction would probably be "Oh...that makes sense." It's not even really hidden. If you walk into a Days Inn or Super 8 you'll see Wyndham promotional stuff on the walls- they just don't blatantly flash it on the logo.

If you're on a vendetta against a company in this day and age, I feel like a reasonable person would research that out- "I hate Days Inn! Wait...who owns Days Inn? Ah...Wyndham. Never going to any Wyndham properties again." Though I would say having a vendetta against Days Inn/Super 8 would be pretty weird except in the highly unlikely event that corporate did something to piss you off- those hotels are just about all franchisee owned and operated and have nothing to do with each other beyond giving corporate money in exchange for a recognizable brand name.

On another note, I don't care how much I like an establishment or how frequently I patronize it, I will NEVER sign up for a rewards card from anywhere. I don't want that crap bulking up my wallet, and I don't want to enable anyone to data mine off of me if I can avoid it.

You know you can give fake information right? As long as you swipe a valid credit card at check in it's fine. That's what celebrities and paranoid people do (I know this from working at Hilton). And you get free nights! And room upgrades! My roadgeek budget is quite heavily dependent on getting free nights every once in a while.

I mean, I guess power to you, but that's a fairly unique stance on life.

[briantroutman]

[Do you know if the Motel 6 document to which you are referring is still available?

I managed to track it down through the Internet Archive (http://bit.ly/1cHE99O) They don't cite many specific stats or study findings, but since their money is on the line, I would be surprised if they didn't have the data to support their conclusions.

And if you're interested in highway-bound hotels and motels in general, I highly recommend the book The Motel in America. The authors follow the development of independent motels and chain motor lodges along with the growth of the US and Interstate systems, and they cover the topic of motels with as much detail and enthusiasm as roadgeeks discussing unbuilt freeways.

What ever happened to the original Fairfield Inn concept?

Marriott's revoking their franchises at renewal–trying to get every last trace of motel-ness out of the entire system. I read an article where the author refers to Fairfield as an "upper midscale mainstay" brand. Apparently, Marriott has no interest in even pretending to serve the "budget" segment anymore. 

Also, does anyone know what happened to Welleslly Inns?

This one's almost comically complicated.

Prime Motor Inns was a New Jersey-based owner-operator of franchised hotels, and by the mid '80s, they owned about 70 hotels operating as Holiday Inns, Ramada Inns, and Howard Johnson's Motor Lodges. In 1985, Prime bought the remains of the moribund Howard Johnson Company–which to that time was an independent, publicly traded corporation and running huge losses annually.

Later in the '80s, Prime bought some smaller regional chains, including Wellesley (which had about two dozen locations) and AmeriSuites. With public sentiment on the famous Howard Johnson name still decidedly negative, Prime hedged their bets by converting several former Howard Johnson Motor Lodges to Wellesley Inns and even added a "by Howard Johnson" to the Wellesley logo.

By 1990, Prime Motor Inns bought the Ramada chain and found themselves overextended and in bankruptcy court. They sold the Howard Johnson and Ramada franchise systems to the Blackstone Group. Blackstone, in turn, spun Howard Johnson and Ramada off into a new company called Hospitality Franchise Systems...which would later buy Days Inn in bankruptcy, Knights Inn in bankruptcy (do you see a pattern here?). And then the whole mess got spun into Cendant (of accounting fraud scandal fame) and then merged into Wyndham Worldwide.

But back to Wellesley–Prime managed to hold onto Wellesley and AmeriSuites through the bankruptcy. They set about rebuilding by growing their two brands. But in over a decade, they never managed to grow Wellesley to more than about 80 locations (and 150 AmeriSuites), and with lackluster financial performance ended up selling out to Blackstone (yes, them again) in 2004, who basically put the Wellesley brand out of its misery. Many of the locations were converted to La Quinta Inns (which Blackstone acquired a year later).

[realjd]

I know that Fairfield, Residence, and Courtyard are all part of Marriot which each individual brand name being for some different type of lodging.  Residence and Courtyards are both the same that give ammentities the same as the regular Marriot Hotels, but at a somewhat cheaper price and without the high rise buildings.  Fairfield Inns were to be the budget hotels for interstate travelers, and of course Spring Hill was not yet invented when Marriot first expanded. 

Residence Inn is an extended stay type place, similar to Homewood Suites (Hilton) or Staybridge (IHG). A basic room has a living room with couch and TV, a small dining area, a full kitchen, and a separate bedroom with a TV and bathroom.

Courtyard competes with Hilton Garden Inn. What sets them apart from Fairfield and Hampton are that Courtyard and HGI almost always have restaurants and bars on site.

[realjd]

On another note, I don't care how much I like an establishment or how frequently I patronize it, I will NEVER sign up for a rewards card from anywhere. I don't want that crap bulking up my wallet, and I don't want to enable anyone to data mine off of me if I can avoid it.

Store rewards card? Use a fake name and then do lookup by fake phone number. No physical card needed. Hotel or airline rewards plan? You're really missing out. You also don't actually need the card, just the account number, and the rewards can be significant. Airline miles and hotel points covered the bulk of my wife and my trip to Australia last spring.

[formulanone]

I keep the account numbers handy, and leave the cards at home. When you book the reservation, your account is attached at least 99.5% of the time, so it's rare I've had to mention which rewards number I am.

Give them a secondary webmail address, and you're set. Biggest problem are the monthly credit card offers, which can be resolved by tearing them up and throwing them out. Although some have good perks for semi-frequent travellers.

Data mining...free stays (et cetera) for whatever you're giving up. Not much, really: name and mailing address. A state driver's license office sells much more of your personal information than that.

To be fair, if you're staying in a hotel only 4-10 nights a year, you're probably not earning enough points to redeem them, unless it's a very high-end brand in exchange for a night at an economy-brand inn...which comes in handy when you've had unexpected travel plans occur.

[jeffandnicole]

On another note, I don't care how much I like an establishment or how frequently I patronize it, I will NEVER sign up for a rewards card from anywhere. I don't want that crap bulking up my wallet, and I don't want to enable anyone to data mine off of me if I can avoid it.

What are they going to do - send you coupons and discount offers?  The horror!