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I'm curious to know when traveling for business or pleasure what major hotel brand chains you seek and which ones you avoid like the plague. For example, I hear several business travelers tend to avoid Courtyard by Marriott since a common theme seems to be outdated rooms, despite modern and attractive lobbies. Properties such as Days Inn and Red Roof Inn can be clean, but many complain that their properties seem to be a bid dated with many properties lacking interior entryways.
Another chain, Motel 6 is often deemed as highly affordable and many of their properties have gone through renovations but often many of their properties are located in somewhat less desirable areas. Best Westerns are an affordable option as well, but many of their properties seem to be either hit or miss. Hotels such as the Holiday Inn Express and Hilton Garden Inn seem to get overall positive reviews from many travelers.
So long story short. What are your favorite and lease favorite hotel chains?
I like the limited service all suite brands that cater to extended business travellers. Residence Inn, Hyatt House, Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites(full service but including them cuz I like them), Staybridge Suites, etc
Internationally my favorite brand has been Fraser Suites but I have only stayed at three of their properties so don't know how consistent they are.
Residence Inn is usually a nice and fairly consistent brand. I enjoy Embassy as well, but they have always seemed a bit overpriced in my opinion.
Can't disagree with that. Embassy Suites are often way out of my budget as are Residence Inn's. In the past I mostly utilized pricelines name your own price tool to get hotels and in recent years have been getting stuck with less undesirable brands. Lately have been using the express deals option and in my experience as long as the hotel has an 8 or above rating I seem to land a good property regardless of brand, so that has been my main strategy lately. Based on my own experience I would say I am 3-4 times more likely to get a Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn than a Residence Inn or Homewood Suites using this strategy, so I am often disappointed in what I get.
As far as Holiday Inn goes, I always cringe when I get stuck with one of those. Outdated facilities in experience. They're in desperate need of a system wide renovation. But can't recall having a bad experience at Holiday Inn Express, despite the lower star rating. Usually brand new facilities and a much nicer experience overall.
So yeah Holiday Inn express might be my least favorite brand. ExtendedStay America used to be my least favorite but they've been improving. Still bottom tier but cheap so I guess I can't complain.
I've always found HI-Express to be well kept and modern, older properties included. Howard Johnson's on the other hand seem to have very outdated properties surprisingly with often very nice pool facilities. As cheap as the Wyndham brand is, I rather spend a few dollars more to stay at a place not quite as dumpy, even if it is only for one night.
When Accor owned Motel 6, they tried to make franchisees bring properties up to about budget Ibis standards, but the owners revolted because so many of them didn't want to make the investment and Accor sold Motel 6 off again before the upgrade cycle was complete.
Within the limited service business/three star full service realm of hotels, age of property is often more important than service class for me. I'd rather go for a newer Holiday Inn Express or Ibis over an older Holiday Inn or Mercure scheduled to be refurbished 'next year'. I will admit to being a sucker for the Indigo brand if I can find one for a reasonable rate- they're usually not much more than a full service Holiday Inn, and since it's a newer brand, my fellow guests haven't abused the heck out of them yet.
Wouldn't go for the lower end Wyndham brands (Days Inn, Super 8, etc.) because Wyndham's standards for that category don't seem to be terribly high.
age of property is often more important than service class for me. I'd rather go for a newer Holiday Inn Express or Ibis over an older Holiday Inn
I'm the exact same way. Even as website professional photos can often make a room appear more modern than it actually is, I can usually pick out the quality and age of the room through all the gloss and fluff.
Another brand I like a lot and want to explore more of is Aloft. First stayed at the one in Bangkok and have stayed at a couple in the US. All have been very nice and reasonably priced.
Comfort Inn and Choice Hotels are my absolute favorite.
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