What's your standard for a hotel?

In reply to RX Reven' :

Sorry I wasn't in the mood to brap your tailpipe. too many hours on the road. They did run the second the dogs started going nuts though (had my boxer pit & aussie heeler in the room with us)

I'll typically lower my standards to save a buck.

That being said, I booked a room in Minneapolis years ago that I walked away from at 12:30 AM and drove 30 minutes to a Holiday Inn.  The front desk was behind bullet proof glass, red flag #1.  Got up to our room and the door directly across from ours was boarded up due to being kicked in, or bashed in by the Police, Red flag #2. The tipping point was the dingy room with a CRT TV with 3 channels and a window that looked out in to a brick wall 2 feet away.

The grad student kid and I drove Route 66 from Chicago to UCI and we were all about saving money.  The economy was still hurting and big name casinos in Laughlin, NV were giving away rooms for $26/night.  

Once again - how bad could a big name casino hotel be?  We laughed all night at the nastiness and filth and couldn’t wait to bail the next day.  Didn’t I learn my lesson at the Jackson, MI Motel 6?

Suprf1y said:

FWIW I just booked a $50 room for next Friday in Niagara Falls. I'll let you know how it works out

If it's a Ramada on the outskirts of town on Canadian side keep your doors locked.  We got a great deal online years ago but it turned out that the building across the street was some sort of unlicensed pharmacy.  It was one of the rare misses we had with Priceline.  Now that I'm getting old I generally put in the most stars available in the area I want to stay, and start bidding a bit lower than they suggest.  I usually end up in a higher end chain or a nice independent inn type of place. 

Stayed in two hotel rooms for less than $20.00 per night.  One was a quaint, old-fashioned type place with little bungalows in Dahlhart, TX.  The other one was some kind of converted warehouse outside Eloy, AZ.  In Dahlhart, I got myself a steak dinner for $5.99 that was tasty and chewable too.  In Eloy, I had no choice for accommodations so I propped the desk chair up under the doorknob and ended up sleeping pretty well.

Nowadays, good hot water (and pressure), towels larger than a washcloth, and less-than-200-grit sheets and I'm good.  With my wife, add in some way to brew coffee.  We did an $82.00 per night motel in San Raphael, CA that met the above criteria but was low on atmo. However, it had a coffee roasting plant with an attached coffee shop/ showroom complete with fresh pastries for the morning across the street.  So the extracurriculars can make a difference.  Besides, when we stay somwhere, we're visiting family or sightseeing so we really don't spend time in the room.  Also, a certain measured amount of tawdriness can often enhance the recreational activities often associated with hotel rooms of that type.

I have been staying at hotels since, well let's say I got the last room in Bethlehem and forced Mary to the manger.  Anyway, I LOVE the fact that I can see hotels on Google Maps now.  The name of the chain means little anymore, some budget hotel names are brand-new construction, very clean and safe.  Some "better" brand names are actually old Holiday Inns that have not been updated in 50 years.  Go with what it actually is, not the name of the chain.  

I try to read between the lines on the TripAdvisor reviews, looking for one of the cleanest hotels at my destination.  Other features just aren’t that important, as I’m mostly there to get as good of a night’s sleep as possible.  I still check for bed bugs before hauling my luggage in, and avoid setting anything on the floor if I can avoid it.  When I’m in a situation where I don’t have time to read reviews, I lean towards Comfort Suites, Hampton Inn, or (if I have enough points) Hilton Garden Inn.  The latter usually doesn’t have a free breakfast, but I’ve never been to one that is dirty.

Econolodge seems to have the highest variability of quality of the places I’m likely to stay.  Some have been noticeably cleaner than the high end chains, but I definitely read the reviews on them first, as some are complete dumps.

I travel frequently for work. Hilton properties are my go to. Usually hampton inn/suites. Good mix of comfort and affordsbility. Ive found the non “suite” hamptons are the far less corporate ones and usually not as nice. 

Being that i travel for work, if i was at some sketchy hotel, im not sleeping good. If i dont sleep, im not gonna work worth a crap so its worth it. Having gotten used to the hamptons and garden inns, i now stay there when im on my own $. Cant cheap out anymore. 

Litmus test: is it cleaner/more comfortable than my car. More than a few "motels" have failed that test.

For a frame of reference, this is the same guy that gladly stayed in a circus tent in Munich. 

I've stayed in the circus tent in Munich and it was way better than the average hotel near an airport.  Still remember a Motel 8 somewhere down south that my dad booked.  There was a perpetual wet spot on the floor. Perpetual enough that it had rotted out the subfloor.  Fine as long as your dodged around it on the way to the bathroom.

Depends.  Is the company paying?  Mariott or one of their variants, I have points with them.  If not, it also depends.  If the family is with me, it's a Days Inn or some other mid-price place, but if I'm by myself, I try to find a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn with decent online reviews.  I'm not spending more than a night there, so all I really need is a clean room with a bed and a bathroom.  But since we got the RV, we basically never stay in hotels now.

Ground floor room in a motel.

That way I can bring my motorcycle into the room at night.

Learn to check for bedbugs.

No mention of Airbnb or VRBO. 

In reply to Wally :

No it's not it's a few minutes walk from the falls, and it's actually $38US/night. Even better!

Looked at a HoJo express out that way that had so many bad reviews even I couldn't ignore it.

When I travel for work it is usually in places that are in " civilized " areas and have decent choices, I still manage to get burned once in a while. Stayed at a Holiday Inn once in VA and heard an odd beeping noise around 2 in the morning, after a few minutes I realized it was someone trying to use a key card, fortunately I had deadboltsed the door. When travelling to tracks the choices seem to be poor at many places, surprisingly the Watkins Glen area has some of the worst places I've ever stayed. There have to be at least 20 places of which 2 of them are any good. Seems like most of the time you get what you pay for, well worth paying a little extra. I liked the idea posted earlier about is the car a better choice? I've unfortunately stayed in some places that would  have been a better option. 

smokindav said:

No mention of Airbnb or VRBO. 

I ment  airbnb and homeaway

When I traveled for work it was usually for one week at a time so I stayed at a Home 2 Suite.  At first getting to a new part of the country is interesting, but after a few days you just don't want to go out just to get a cup of coffee.  These have small kitchens with pots & pans, etc.  Some coworkers stayed for months!  If not available I try to go with some chain.  Ended up in a non-chain near Fort Polk. La. OMFG.  The floor in front of the bathroom sink was spongy, had to straddle the center of the tub while taking a shower because the tub flexed, furniture was purple suede with who know what DNA on it. 

Spend the extra $5, you'll sleep better.

Dan

Every once in a great while, the surprise is on the pleasant side.  I recall traveling with a young lady and as it was getting late, we stopped in Bordentown, NJ for a room.  The desk clerk advised us that the honeymoon suite was not booked, and he could let us have it for the regular rate.  The canopy bed with a mirrored "roof" was nice.  Ah, what a night that was!

pinchvalve said:

I have been staying at hotels since, well let's say I got the last room in Bethlehem and forced Mary to the manger.  Anyway, I LOVE the fact that I can see hotels on Google Maps now.  The name of the chain means little anymore, some budget hotel names are brand-new construction, very clean and safe.  Some "better" brand names are actually old Holiday Inns that have not been updated in 50 years.  Go with what it actually is, not the name of the chain.  

 

I'll second this. I went on a road trip from Central Ohio to Seattle and back last fall, and stayed in Motels 6's  more than half those nights on the road. The other half were mom and pop type places that weren't too bad or stayed with friends and family.  3 of the 4  Motel 6's were fine. Newer, clean, and price reasonable. In decent parts of town. Everything you need and nothing you don't. That said don't stay at the Motel 6 in Albert Lea, MN. 

Called to book a room, front desk said it wasn't necessary, we have plenty of rooms. Ok. I get there about 11:30 at night, looks a little worn, but ehh, it's an older Motel 6. Get to my room and not only are their stains all over the top sheets, a crumpled card talking about Motel 6's commitment to going green was on the pillow. Looked like someone threw it away, took it back out the trash and put it back on the bed. Committed to going green indeed...

So I go to get another room, guy at front desk was nice enough. Showed me another room, just as bad as the first. I could tell he was not surprised in the least, gave me some excuse about the owner and cleaning lady being one in the same, and you couldn't tell her she was doing a terrible job, lots of road crews come and stay here, blah blah blah. 

Guy was super nice though, I think he was used to this kind of thing, gave me a refund and recommended the Ramada down the road. I said thanks, left and went to a Best Western on the other side of town. About twice as much, but at least four times nicer. 

My parents won't stay in anything other than a Hampton Inn. 

Marriott or spg chain.   Hilton in a pinch.

I generally stick to at least the low grade Mariot or Hilton brands, but my worst experience was at a Motel 8 in Asheville on the way to a NASCAR race in Charlotte. The bullet proof glass at the front desk was a nice touch, but the unconscious woman stooped on the curb out front drew more of our attention. We alerted the clerk to her condition, but he didn't seem concerned so we left it at that.

Drove around the building to find our room and there's this Danny Trejo looking character in the doorway maybe 3-4 rooms down who appears to be standing guard over whatever perfectly legitimate and assuredly legal activities are occuring inside. What those activities were and whether they held any connection to the unconscious girl out front was anyones guess. We certainly weren't about to go asking questions.

smokindav said:

No mention of Airbnb or VRBO. 

A lot of the more interesting places on at least AirBNB have minimum stays longer than one night, at least IME. I use AirBNB a lot both for personal use and work, but it depends if I'm just passing through or not.

I go for cheap, clean, has bed.

Motel 6 is usually my go-to

The choice hotels chains have not usually let me down, and they are about middle of the road as far as quality goes. Price too. 

Although I think the most special hotel I ever stayed in was this tiny little place in fort lauderdale, stayed for a week while on a dive trip. The place looked super nice, but as it turns out they went next door and took pictures of it, and used that on thier website. The "rooms" were literally concrete shells with a poorly hung front door, Windows held in with a bondo like substance, and the shower was a garden hose with a rubber band on the sprayer head. The beds were some booger welded pipe with an actually quite nice mattress and clean sheets on it. It did have direct beach access to the gulf of Mexico, and the marina where the dive boat was, was right across the street, so for a dive trip it wasn't too bad, although I'll never stay there by choice again.

My first career was racing harness horses, so I would spend months away from home. Started as a groom so I've slept in stalls, lofts and shed rows, under trees, in tack rooms, and in some super sketchy hotels. Slept in my car for a month at the Red Mile in Lexington. 

Different time, different life now. When I travel for work, the company pays. My go-to for CE lectures is at a Hilton resort next door to Sea world.