Hotels..Motels..Holiday Inns...best and worst..

Hey all,

After some time spent in numerous Hotels, Motels and Holiday Inns..I'm starting to rate them and catagorize them. I have laughed alot at some youtube videos of the worst motels in America..some funny stuff. Anyway in this thread add some of the best hotels you've stayed in, the worst, or the most unique!!!


Best:

Grand Hyatt..New York City....partially subsidized by the UVM finance club..there are way nicer hotels in NYC but it was quite the experience..and being underage and getting served everywhere was great.

Mariott..Waikiki...a last minute trip to meet my brother in laws family..31st floor with views of Diamond head..balcony with relatively low railing had me a little spooked after a couple Mai Tais..the best $23 Breakfast buffet ever..I was full for 3 days..


Worst:

Travel Inn..Rutland..just gross..but only like $40 a night..and a freaking bird flew in the window..no screens..and even in the dead of winter..you need fresh air to mask the smell of mold..will never stay there again..

Cheap motel near Toledo Ohio on the way to Montana...only $21.99 a night..walls as thin as cardboard..I remember screams from some pimp in the middle of the night...You have to pay me and the girl..sort of like the place Tom Hanks first stayed in during the movie Big!!!

Unique:

Skytop Lodge...I just stayed there as that's where my friends wedding was. I got my room for $99 but it's usually $200-$500..built in the 1920s..it's a 6 story building with an observation deck. When I took the elevator..from the Lobby..with the intention of going to the 3rd floor..it took me to the 4th floor..then to the basement..then back to the Lobby and a Bellman said,"The thing taking you for a ride"...so I took the steps..lol

Crowne Plazas are nice... usually pimped out...
Hilton chain hotels(hampton Inn, hilton garden, double tree, embasey suites) are nice...
Certain Holiday Inns are nice.. Lot's are being renovated... Good point gains.. Stay less nights for free nights..
Sheretons are ok too...

just about every hotel I've been at in Europe is nice... Little rooms.. Nicely decorated... Never an iron in the room.. the crappers in the hotels of Europe are weird... Takes a while to figure out the shower..

Hotels in Taiwan,Korea and Japan are nice too.. But expensive.. and small..

Favorite was our "hotel" in Kasmir...
Wood stove... Lights fading in and out... great!

Kind of partial to the Starwood brand of hotels (Sheraton, Westin, W, St. Regis, etc) if for no other reason than I've got a few hundred thousand points with them and I LOVE their "heavenly beds"

Stayed at a Marriot Residence Inn this past weekend in Saratoga, NY - not bad at all.

Basically what I'm looking for when I'm staying somewhere is a CLEAN, relatively modern room. WiFi used to be a priority too until I got my wireless network card for my laptop.

Favorites though of all time:

Four Seasons Maui - Paradise in paradise! And the Hotel Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy! Got a potential one to hopefully add to the list later this year when I stay at the St. Regis Princeville on Kauai right after it reopens from a 40+ million $$ "rebranding" upgrade

Worst: Tough to pick out an exact one, but most definately an airport hotel, a Holiday Inn near Baltimore/Washington Airport pops into my head or the La Quinta in New Haven, CT I stayed at a couple of months ago - both had me wanting to wear my sandals in the shower and sleep ontop of the covers in a biohazard suit!

I've stayed in some pits- a $4/night flea trap in Banos, Equador really stands out.
Personally, I find most 4- and 5-star hotels to be annoying. I don't need 6 people asking me if I need anything on my way from the door to the elevator, and I don't need 4 people to push the call button for me. And if there's no basement, I'm sure as hell going up, so don't ask me. When I stay at a Four Seasons or a Ritz or something, I always find myself noticing places where they did a crappy job laying tile, or when the molding's crooked. If I'm (well, not me, but someone) is paying that much for a room, at least get someone who knows how to lay tile to do the bathrooms.

I'm by no means a hotel snob, but of course I like a nicer place. Still, they'd be half the price if they didn't have so many people being useless just so people can make up something to be pissed about and feel good because they get to boss someone around. Give me a nice bed and a good shower with lots of hot water, and I'm happy. If I'm spending much time in the room, then I'm doing it wrong.

I do like the Doyle's Collection (used to be Jury's)- the ones in DC and London are great- super clean, all the amenities, none of the annoyance. If you do want something, there are 50 people ready to make it happen, but you don't know that until you call them into action.

I accumulated a ton of Hyatt points through work and am still using them. I don't travel for work any more so I won't be accumulating more.

Best Hotel - Custom House in Boston
Worst Hotel - It was a Ramada in NYC. I swear it was an old apt building they converted to a hotel.
Prettiest Hotel Lobby - Hotel St Georges Lafayette in Paris

Grassi21 said:

I
Worst Hotel - It was a Ramada in NYC. I swear it was an old apt building they converted to a hotel.

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That's funny- they're trying to turn the Ritz Carlton into an apartment building...

reporting from the Flagship Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Essentially a road side motel, but clean and fine enough by me.

J and I travel a fair bit and stay at Marriott's as I used to work for them and kind of still do. I've gotten myself downsized to emergency bartender, which amounts to roughly 1 shift for about five hours every two months. That gets me a full discount though, which saves us as well as family and friends, thousands of dollars a year. We prefer the Residence Inn over the full service properties. I'll even take a Residence over a JW Marriott, which is right below their Ritz Carlton. I'm with cten in that I don't need 5 staff members at my attention. I'd rather the opposite.

I'm with Grassi on the Custom House being very sweet. J and I stayed in the Penthouse Suite last fall, which was fantastic.

I'm in the Crowne Plaza downtown Kansas City right now, it's very nice and newly renovated. For the most part Crowne Plazas are very good, I stay in a lot of them. A lot of Holiday Inns are pretty run down but the HI Select and Express brands are pretty nice.

I don't really like LaQuinta or any of the Choice hotels.

Hampton, Four Points Sheraton, Double Tree, Hilton Garden Inn, Radisson, Sheraton and Hiltons are usually good places to stay. Ramadas are hit and miss.

The Metropolitan in Toronto is very, very nice and is my favorite layover.
Hotel Pur in Quebec City is nice and has a unique post modern decor.
The Galt House in Louisville is very nice too.

There is a big LCD TV in my room now and more and more hotels have them but I've only stayed in one that had Hi-def service and I can't remember which one it was.

A few more to add...

Better than expected:

Comfort Inn...Barre Vermont...I stayed there while travelling on business and skiing Stowe and Sugarbush due to it's central location. Rooms were about $80 per night..there's a mountain theme and public computer in the lobby is a huge plus and in the morning you can grab a bagel, some fruit and a hardboiled egg in about 7 seconds on your way to the slopes or the boardroom(not the snowboard shop)..an Applebees and mini-mart in the front..

Holiday Inn Express..Burlington Vermont..Stayed there in the summer..great air conditioning...large rooms nice beds which alot of Holiday Inns lack..I think about it when I see the commercial cause it's the only Express holiday I have stayed at..


Bad:

La Quinta Inn...Oakland airport..I probably would have been better off just sleeping in the airport..the lobby is nice when waiting an endless amount of time for the shuttle bus...definitely not as steezy as the commercials..

Unique....

Chateau Frontenac...Quebec City..stayed there with an ex when the Canadian dollar was weak and you could get $1.60 Canadian for every US $$..part of the Fairmont chain..which owns dozens of hotels and resorts throughout the world..a really cool piano bar..17 story stairwells...and I'm sure a gi-normous heating bill..Tobaggon course right outside..If I go back to Quebec City I'd stay there again..

I didn't read all the posts yet, but the day this thread gets created, I spent my entire day upgrading technology that is new to my company and my industry, in a HoJo that offers a "pay-by-the-hour" and a "pay-by-the-month" option. The internet rocks. I love my job. Best part is I get to go back there on Friday.

I almost forgot to mention that the hallway smelled like stale (white) wine, and Funyuns!

There are a lot, but a few come to mind at each end of the spectrum.

Best: Little Dix Bay in the BVI. Chateau Frontenac. El Dorado in Sonoma.

Worst: Santorini Motel on Long Island. Nothing worse than waking up in the morning to a blood stain on your pillow...and it's not your blood.

RootDKJ said:

I didn't read all the posts yet, but the day this thread gets created, I spent my entire day upgrading technology that is new to my company and my industry, in a HoJo that offers a "pay-by-the-hour" and a "pay-by-the-month" option. The internet rocks. I love my job. Best part is I get to go back there on Friday.

I almost forgot to mention that the hallway smelled like stale (white) wine, and Funyuns!

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out of curiousty how much is an hour..it seems perfect for a business traveller who wants to catch a quick nap..

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

out of curiousty how much is an hour..it seems perfect for a business traveller who wants to catch a quick nap..

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I didn't ask.

Best:

Mariott Copley Plaza: nice room, clean place, good price.

Sheraton/Westin Portland Mall (ME): very nice.

Albany Airport Mariott (free upgrade to the VIP room)

Average:

Portland, ME Clarion: Just OK. Older facility, last stay the bedding was dirty and we were put in a room above a noisy generator.

Worst:

Manchester, NH Econolodge. It was in an old mill building, was very sketchy, and I was attacked in the night by this huge bug. I did not sleep. It sucked. Will never stay at an Econolodge again!

Best - Hotel DuPont, Wilmington DE

Standard room: $550 a night
Suite: $900

I had a conference out there about a two years ago and I was the last person to arrive, and the only room they had left was a suite, but they didn't tell me that when I checked in.

When I saw my room, I went back to the desk and told them I think they put me in the wrong room. lol.

Sausage and eggs for breakfast was $36

Jurys in Boston was incredible. I got put up there by one of our vendors looking for input from retailers on its products and sales issues. I couldn't believe that is where they regularly put up people for the night. Big business wastes so much of its resources on useless stuff like expensive and fancy hotels. This place blew my mind.

Super 8 in Peabody was pretty ghetto. There are far worse just down the road closer to Boston along Route 1.

For unique, I really enjoyed Thayers Inn in Littleton and Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction. Both are old railroad hotels and are quite nice. Hotel Coolidge had interesting bed rooms with a sitting room attached to the bed room with the bathroom and shower in between which was a unique setup that I had never seen before in a hotel.

Hmmmm spent another day in this smelly HoJo. I'm tellin ya, this beats working for a living!

Worst:
Motel 6 at Bradley Field, Connecticut
I'm not sure what was worse, the used condom on the bed or the puddle of semen on the bathroom floor.

Best:
Chateau de Divonne, France. A mansion on the hill overlooking Lake Geneva. A Michelin 2 star restaurant. I had a corner room with a balcony looking over the lake that had to be at least 500 square feet and 15 foot ceilings. A huge canopy bed. Antique furniture. Real oriental carpets. I was working 20 miles away in Geneva where very average hotels were more expensive and very average meals were more expensive. Going over the border 20 miles away actually saved the company money. Go figure.

I've stayed at a lot of nice hotels over the years. Business meetings usually had the best places. The Hilton properties where they stage IETF meetings are usually really nice. I did Prague, San Diego, and Chicago. The WiMax Forum had a really nice hotel in Madrid and a nice resort in Kona. My Cable-oriented stuff put me in the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and the Omni in Westminster, CO. I've stayed at the Omni in the French Quarter several times. The Westbury in Dublin was really nice and I stayed there several times. I was working in the outer Minneapolis-St Paul suburbs quite a bit and found a hotel that was a converted mill building on a little island on the Mississippi called the Nicolet Island Inn that was really nice that gave me a corporate rate the same as the dump Holiday Inn out in the suburbs.

If I have the option and I can latch onto a cheap negotiated corporate rate, I usually try to book a Residence Inn if I'm going to be there for several days. I like the separate living area. If I've been in meetings from 8:00 to 6:00 and still have a pile of real work to plow through, I like the option of being able to eat-in instead of having to do restaurant food.

Anybody here ever live in a hotel? The summer I lived in Maine, I ended up spending the night in Saco at a decent motel/sparten but clean..which was $40 a night..after one night, I asked the owner what the weekly rate was and he said normally $200 but for you $150 and I could pay cash to avoid the extra tax. I got a job at the Toms of Maine that paid about $300 a week after taxes and spent the rest on Lobster and beer. I mostly hung out in Old Orchard Beach which is 3 miles away. I dated a townie for awhile and then a Russian girl on a temporary student Visa who pronounced my name Duck.

Anyway I had a fun birthday party including both girls I dated, a few of their girlfriends and a bunch of Polish, Turkish and Lithuanian dudes who worked at the amusement park and drank vodka straight. Well two of them puked in the parking lot in a place filled with tourists and things got loud and the next morning I ended up getting a stern warning and every surface in my place had empty bottles and cans...I promised to clean up..cleaned up..lived there a few more weeks working at the deoderant factory by day and partying in Old Orchard beach with the Euros..and giving alot of them rides and such cause they mostly rode bikes..but gas was cheap..and the internet was slow..and that's the end of my story cause I have to go...

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I mostly hung out in Old Orchard Beach....

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I am not sure if I should go with the reply "that explains everything" or "why am I not surprised?" :lol: