Hotels you like to stay at while on the road

[US71]

A sure sign a motel is bad: regular name changes. Bentonville, AR: Comfort Inn to Quailty Inn to Econo Lodge in 5 years time. I'm sure with each change, service standards were lowered.

That's sort of weird- all three of those are Choice hotels, right? I'm surprised Choice lets them downgrade and doesn't just say "You know, this isn't working out" and drops the affiliation entirely.

May be market conditions. Bentonville, as I predicted would happen 6 years ago, is glutted with hotels. There is a new Comfort Suites across the street behind Holiday Inn Express. The Sleep Inn/Clarion Hotel Convention center just closed up shop last month. Maybe "Tom" (the owner) downgraded to save franchise fees? Still, all the changes seem to point to a problem, at least to someone with my experience (10 years as desk/audit at various motels).

Fayetteville had a Guest House that changed to Quality, then America Best Value, now Travelodge. This shakedown took 6-7 years. All reports say the place is in poor condition (it's 10-12 years old).

If you get a bad room at a Hilton brand, there will be Hell to pay if HQ finds out: they have some of the highest standards (plus highest franchise & commission fees).

[corco]

If you get a bad room at a Hilton brand, there will be Hell to pay if HQ finds out: they have some of the highest standards (plus highest franchise & commission fees).

As far as Hilton- there's definitely a ton of pressure from corporate to hotel management to maintain good numbers. I would love to comment more on that, but this probably isn't the place

[huskeroadgeek]

I always read the reviews on Trip Advisor, but sometimes I think the reviewers are too harsh. I have stayed in places that got terrible reviews but found them to be perfectly acceptable. Occasionally a lot of bad reviews will scare me off -- I'm expecting to stay in Williamsport, PA next month and chose to avoid the Econo Lodge there because of bad reviews.

I read them too, but take them with a grain of salt. I pay more attention to comments about the safety of the surrounding area than I do the quality of the room. I have lower standards than a lot of people do for room quality, but I'm more concerned about whether the surrounding area is safe.

[Truvelo]

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.

[realjd]

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.

Holiday Inn has been working hard at upscaling recently. They've been kicking out a lot of older properties that aren't up to their new image and standards. Not that they're bad hotels necessarily; they just don't fit with Holiday Inn's new brand image.

[hbelkins]

Holiday Inn has been working hard at upscaling recently. They've been kicking out a lot of older properties that aren't up to their new image and standards. Not that they're bad hotels necessarily; they just don't fit with Holiday Inn's new brand image.

I find it funny that "Holiday Inn Express" usually means a nicer and more expensive hotel than a plain vanilla "Holiday Inn."

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.

Last fall I spent two nights at the Best Western Marshall Manor just north of Horseheads, NY, when I went to the Rochester meet. The place got pretty consistently good reviews on Trip Advisor and I liked it. Found out recently that it's no longer affilliated with Best Western and is soon going to become a Choice Hotels brand.

As far as Hilton- there's definitely a ton of pressure from corporate to hotel management to maintain good numbers. I would love to comment more on that, but this probably isn't the place

Why not? We're discussing hotel quality here.

Usually wind up at a Best Western, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Holiday Inn, Sleep Inn, even Hampton Inn.  Lowest I'll go is Super 8.  Motel 6, Days Inn, and HoJos are a no-go, IMHO.

Super 8 and Days Inn are both Wyndham brands, and my experience is that the prices are usually similar if both are in the same market, but Days Inn is usually better than Super 8.

When I was young and my family traveled, my dad didn't want to stay anywhere else besides either Holiday Inn or HoJo. The quality was usually pretty consistently good.

I like the old motor lodge style where there are exterior corridors and you can park right outside your room, but those are getting very hard to find.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

Microtel or Red Roof Inn for me, with a slight preference to Microtel these days because they have a free breakfast, but that's not a huge thing.

[corco]

Why not? We're discussing hotel quality here.

Conflict of interest prevents me from comfortably discussing it on a public forum

[US71]

Why not? We're discussing hotel quality here.

Conflict of interest prevents me from comfortably discussing it on a public forum

Post w/ an alias

[hbelkins]

Or, if confronted, claim someone hacked you. 

[SSOWorld]

Holiday Inn has been working hard at upscaling recently. They've been kicking out a lot of older properties that aren't up to their new image and standards. Not that they're bad hotels necessarily; they just don't fit with Holiday Inn's new brand image.

I find it funny that "Holiday Inn Express" usually means a nicer and more expensive hotel than a plain vanilla "Holiday Inn."

That's because Holiday Inn doesn't come with Breakfast - where Holiday Inn Express does.

[hbelkins]

Holiday Inn has been working hard at upscaling recently. They've been kicking out a lot of older properties that aren't up to their new image and standards. Not that they're bad hotels necessarily; they just don't fit with Holiday Inn's new brand image.

I find it funny that "Holiday Inn Express" usually means a nicer and more expensive hotel than a plain vanilla "Holiday Inn."

That's because Holiday Inn doesn't come with Breakfast - where Holiday Inn Express does.

One would think it would be the other way around. "Express" usually means bare-bones.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

I like the old motor lodge style where there are exterior corridors and you can park right outside your room, but those are getting very hard to find.

Almost every Red Roof Inn, many Days Inns/Super 8s, many Motel 6s, and almost every older, locally-owned joint...

[US71]

One would think it would be the other way around. "Express" usually means bare-bones.

Not "bare bones", just "reduced service" (no Valet, no Room Service, etc).  DoubleTree Club is similar as is Hilton Garden Inn. Not full service, but more than you'd get at most Super 8's or MicroTel's.

[corco]

I like the old motor lodge style where there are exterior corridors and you can park right outside your room, but those are getting very hard to find.

I don't get why they're moving away from that- it's so easy to park your car right there, unload all your stuff, and then you have the piece of mind of having your car right outside your window (so if somebody tries to tamper with it you hear it). If you've got a lot of stuff you don't have to make five long trips or leave your car full of stuff in an unfamiliar city, and that's awesome.

I guess the concern is room security, but if you engage all your deadbolts you should be able to hear them trying and take appropriate action (call 911, grab a gun if you've got one, whatever) well before they actually get into the room.

[jdb1234]

Speaking of constant hotel rebranding, a hotel near my area started out as a Holiday Inn Express when it was built, then went independent, then became a Holiday Inn Express again, after a while it was re-branded as Best Western Mountain Brook (this isn't in the same county as Mountain Brook  ) and earlier this year was re-branded as a Days Inn.  All of this happened within a span of about 15 years.

[US71]

Speaking of constant hotel rebranding, a hotel near my area started out as a Holiday Inn Express when it was built, then went independent, then became a Holiday Inn Express again, after a while it was re-branded as Best Western Mountain Brook (this isn't in the same county as Mountain Brook  ) and earlier this year was re-branded as a Days Inn.  All of this happened within a span of about 15 years.

HIE going indy then HIE may be a quality issue. The one I worked at came close to losing it's "Flag" (to use their vernacular) but then worked hard to bring it back up to standards.

Bentonville, AR had a Super 8 then went unbranded ("Super Inn") for a couple years before buying back into the franchise.  Last I heard, they were barely up to standards.

[realjd]

I find it funny that "Holiday Inn Express" usually means a nicer and more expensive hotel than a plain vanilla "Holiday Inn."

That's because Holiday Inn doesn't come with Breakfast - where Holiday Inn Express does.

One would think it would be the other way around. "Express" usually means bare-bones.

It usually is more bare bones. Holiday Inn hotels are full service - they always have a restaurant/bar. HIE never does. This is also one of the big reasons why HIE has free breakfast while Holiday Inns usually don't. That's also the distinction between Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn.

Holiday Inn previously had a Holiday Inn Select brand that was upscale - think more like a full Hilton. They dropped this brand and have been working on making all Holiday Inn hotels on the same level. I don't think you'll find any Holiday Inns with external hallways anymore for instance.

Remember that the nicer the hotel, the less likely you are to get stuff for free. This includes things like wifi and breakfast. The reason is that the nicer hotels cater more to business travelers traveling on expense accounts than families on a budget. If I'm traveling for work and staying in a $200/night Marriott, I have no problem expensing $15/day wifi. If I'm traveling on my own, I wouldn't be staying at that expensive of a hotel to begin with.

-- fixed nested quotes --ms

[empirestate]

Why do there need to be so many different brands within the same group?

Short answer: different levels of service/different consumer markets

Longer answer: corporate conglomerates bought up a lot of independent hotel chains in the 80's & 90's.

Anybody know of a list of brands sorted by corporate owner? I've stayed in just about every brand hotel there is and I can't keep them straight!

EDIT: Like, you know...Wikipedia? Pay me no mind...

[hbelkins]

It usually is more bare bones. Holiday Inn hotels are full service - they always have a restaurant/bar. HIE never does. This is also one of the big reasons why HIE has free breakfast while Holiday Inns usually don't. That's also the distinction between Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn.

Holiday Inn previously had a Holiday Inn Select brand that was upscale - think more like a full Hilton. They dropped this brand and have been working on making all Holiday Inn hotels on the same level. I don't think you'll find any Holiday Inns with external hallways anymore for instance.

Remember that the nicer the hotel, the less likely you are to get stuff for free. This includes things like wifi and breakfast. The reason is that the nicer hotels cater more to business travelers traveling on expense accounts than families on a budget. If I'm traveling for work and staying in a $200/night Marriott, I have no problem expensing $15/day wifi. If I'm traveling on my own, I wouldn't be staying at that expensive of a hotel to begin with.

I guess that's a change from the Holiday Inns that I grew up with. They were known for being "motor lodges" when I was a kid. My dad preferred HI or HoJo when we traveled. HI must have tried to reinvent itself in the years between when I was a kid going on family vacations, and when I started doing traveling on my own.

Agree on the last point. I hate staying in places where I have to go when attending conferences. Breakfast isn't a big issue with me, but no free wi-fi stinks. I actually like the $69 Quality or Comfort Inns or $99 Hamptons over the $159 Marriotts or Galt Houses. And when I'm staying overnight for work but not attending a convention in that hotel, I try to stay on the cheap to save them some money. I can save my employer a lot of money if I stay at Days Inn in Frankfort vs. the Hampton, plus I accumulate Wyndham points and I get to put $7 for my breakfast per diem in my pocket. (Can't do that at the Hampton since they serve a hot breakfast for free).

[J N Winkler]

I like the old motor lodge style where there are exterior corridors and you can park right outside your room, but those are getting very hard to find.

I don't get why they're moving away from that- it's so easy to park your car right there, unload all your stuff, and then you have the piece of mind of having your car right outside your window (so if somebody tries to tamper with it you hear it). If you've got a lot of stuff you don't have to make five long trips or leave your car full of stuff in an unfamiliar city, and that's awesome.

I guess the concern is room security, but if you engage all your deadbolts you should be able to hear them trying and take appropriate action (call 911, grab a gun if you've got one, whatever) well before they actually get into the room.

I can guess some other reasons.

*  HVAC:  if individual rooms are accessed via exterior corridors there are potentially two outside walls per room, whereas if they are accessed via interior corridors, there is at most just one outside wall per room.

*  Access control:  if the corridors are on the outside, motel management can't supervise comings and goings and thus has no convenient means of enforcing a no-overnight-visitors-in-room policy (the ulterior purpose of which, I suspect, is generally to prevent guests from taking prostitutes back to the motel).

*  Handicap accessibility:  it is more difficult to make multistory exterior-access motels handicap-accessible.  Elevators have to be provided, which can be a costly retrofit for older properties.  Elevators also have to be either indoors or capable of tolerating exposure to the elements.  Exterior walkways tend to be narrower than interior corridors and at many motels are narrow enough to prevent a person on foot from getting around a person in a wheelchair.

*  Zoning and insurance:  in some jurisdictions, zoning boards and insurance companies may penalize motels with exterior corridors, either by preventing them from being built in the first place, or extending insurance to them on less favorable terms.  The justification for such policies would be that motels with interior corridors have a more favorable loss experience and are less likely to become meth or hooker motels as they age and change ownership.

It also has to be noted that, from the standpoint of carrying in luggage, exterior access to rooms has an advantage only if the property is all on ground level.  If there are multiple stories, then the key to reducing carrying distance is to park as close as possible to the stairwell that is nearest your room.  This is no different from parking nearest the closest exterior door at an enclosed motel.

Speaking for myself personally, I have a slight preference for motels with exterior corridors solely because I usually travel alone and hate dealing with self-closing doors (especially card-locked ones) when I am carrying luggage.  I don't worry about the security of my car since I (try to) travel light and carry the majority of my luggage in the trunk.  I can virtually guarantee that nine times out of ten, however, the mother of your children will insist on a motel with inside corridors (given the choice) "because it is nicer."

[realjd]

*  Access control:  if the corridors are on the outside, motel management can't supervise comings and goings and thus has no convenient means of enforcing a no-overnight-visitors-in-room policy (the ulterior purpose of which, I suspect, is generally to prevent guests from taking prostitutes back to the motel).

I was staying at one of the Embassy Suites just outside of LAX a few years ago - the one off of the 105 - when I got into the elevator after dinner to go up to my room with a woman who was clearly on her way to a "client". She looked at the elevator panel and very confused asked me where the 8th floor was. I told her the hotel only had 4 floors. She pulled out a piece of paper and said she was supposed to go to room 8-something of the Embassy Suites by LAX and was running late. She was very surprised when I told her that there was a second Embassy Suites at LAX just off of Century Blvd. She said "oh shit", thanked me, then literally ran to the front desk to get directions, then ran out to her car.

The moral of the story kids is that if you get a hooker, be sure she knows which hotel you're at. That and hotels with interior hallways don't prevent prostitution.

The access control is a security benefit though. You're less likely to get robbed going to the ice machine for instance, and less likely to be next to a drug dealer, meth lab, etc. Also, for me personally, if the weather is nice, I like to leave the window open at night. I can't do that on a room with an exterior hallway.

[J N Winkler]

It is certainly true that architecture is unimportant if motel management is willing to turn a blind eye to the guests' sexual carryings-on, as I suspect is the case for high-class call girls even in good-quality motels.

In regard to the HVAC issue, I also remembered that motels with exterior corridors open directly on the outdoors, so the rooms can get quite cold in winter if the room doors aren't tight in their frames and properly weather-stripped.  I can remember having to get an emergency blanket out of my car trunk so I could pack it at the bottom of my door when I was staying in one of those cheap (sub-$25 at the time) motor lodges in Lordsburg; the gap between door and sill was at least half an inch wide.

I actually worry more about the HVAC itself than I do about the corridors.  I once stayed in a pretty decent-looking Days Inn in Santa Fé (interior corridors, about $45 a night, Cerrillos Road motel strip) but discovered that it had no working humidification.  As soon as the heater had been on for about twenty minutes (freezing temperatures outside), the static built up to such an extent I felt like I was restarting my heart every time I touched metal.

[formulanone]

You're also more likely to encounter a couple of rude chatterboxes just outside your room at 2:00am at a hotel with exterior corridors.

[corco]

The moral of the story kids is that if you get a hooker, be sure she knows which hotel you're at. That and hotels with interior hallways don't prevent prostitution.

And what room you're staying in.

Craigslist has made this especially fun. I worked overnights as a bellman for several months on weekends, and the number of random hookers that would pull up at 2 AM looking for a specific room with someone they had made email contact with was staggering. What made it more amusing was that they often had a non-existent room number, or a room number that sounds correct but could match several different rooms. Since the deal was arranged via email, they had no phone number or even a name to confirm with the guest.

I do like them though- offer them water, don't tell on them, valet their car for them and they'll usually hook you up (with cash. cash!).