Hotels for frequent travellers (experience, stay)

[TimAZ]

Do hotel brands even mean anything these days? I see a lot of hotels seemingly change names at the drop of a hat. Same building and staff, new sign and uniforms.

[haudi]

Starwood Preferred Guest has been my favorite for the past 10 years. They treat their Gold and Platinums better than any other hotel loyalty program I've ever had status in, including Hilton Diamond. Unfortunately this will get merged fully into Marriott this coming August and I feel like it'll lose some of the things that make it special. It'll still be good, but not as good. I'm a Lifetime Gold with SPG, and earned my 8th year as a Platinum with them which is nice since it will carry over into the new program as a Platinum for 2019.

With the promos and what not, points are pretty easy to earn as long as you are travelling. We've had 3 weeks of SPG hotel vacations each year for the last 3 years (Hawaii 5x, Paris 2x, Germany 2x, London 1x) at 0 cost to us.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by caco54

I was always a Hilton/Marriott guy. Once they see the stays upgrades and perks come quickly. Always clean and good class of clients. Some on the ones you listed take in section 8 crowd.

2nd Hilton. I'm writing this from one right now , in Boise on business a couple days . I've done quite a bit of traveling this year for a management consultancy and find Hiltons the best deal all things considered In terms of amenities, which start to matter the longer you are on the road . We don't stay in ghetto hotels so I can't answer to the low cost options .

Delta for flying (West Coast home base), National car rentals, Hilton hotels. My picks, about 40k miles in 2018 so far.

[submart]

I'm not hotel loyal as I stay for the location. I want to be in the center of it all when in a city. And I frequently visit places that are remote and have limited hotel options. With that said, I really like La Quinta, Best Western, and Choice Hotels loyalty programs. Those are the one's I use the most. However, Marriott really can't be beat. It is just expensive and we use them once in a while. They have nice beds, good service, and clean rooms.

[bensmith12]

Hi,
In my opinion, Ramada and Marriot offer the best deals.
You can try these.
Thanks.

[Not in Kansas any more]

My preference is to get out of your comfort zone when traveling and avoid chains like the plague. Even if you are just stopping for the night. We found a unique little motel on the way to our daughter's place. The owner spends his time trying to make the place self sufficient and has restored the grounds so well that it is a delight to see all the wildlife there in the early morning. You just wouldn't seee that at a chain motel. We are well known there now so the owner always shows us his latest improvements.
On a similar note, last month we were in Spain. We walked past a Starbucks which was full of American and British visitors who were probably too scared to get out of their comfort zone and experience those wonderful local cafes and tapas bars. Can't understand really why they bothered to travel. It sounds like the OP was probably traveling just interstate overnight for work but I would still say "Never let a chance to go by."

[Hefe]

I've found Hilton Garden Inns offer good value for modest money - clean, inexpensive modest rooms, nothing fancy but well run & clean. (I like Kimpton too but it is a boutique style hotel.) I would look at what frequent guest programs coupled with associated credit cards would give you the best value/rewards for your likely locations & potential partnerships with other hotel & airline rewards.

[Roadking2003]

I focused on Starwood hotels for 15 years and made lifetime platinum. The benefits are really nice.

I chose Starwood for their huge selection of upscale properties around the world. We've used this benefit many times traveling all over including Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by TimAZ

Do hotel brands even mean anything these days? I see a lot of hotels seemingly change names at the drop of a hat. Same building and staff, new sign and uniforms.

Yes, they do. Especially at the upper end.

[Brave New World]

There is a customer satifaction survey in the UK every year, the best advice I can give you is don't stay at a Britannia Hotels, which has come bottom for five years running and has a satisfaction level of 33%.

Ranked: the best & worst hotel chains in the UK - loveEXPLORING

Britannia named the UK's worst hotel chain for the fifth year running - The Telegraph

Given that Premier and Ibis Budget are indeed budget, and that McDonald is often based in grand country houses, the best two large chains for frequent business travellers ae Radisson Blue and Crowne Plaza, however Holliday Inn Express were fairly close to the 70% mark. Both Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express are IHG Hotels and are part of their rewards club, so both are good for requent travellers to the UK and Europe who in terms of rewards and both are highly ranked in terms of customer satifaction.

Percentages below refer to the overall satisfaction score for each hotel, based on value for money, cleanliness and the facilities in the bathrooms and bedrooms.

The top large chains scoring at around the 70% mark were -

7. Holiday Inn Express (68%)
6. Ibis Styles (69%)
5. MacDonald (70%)
4. Crowne Plaza (70%)
3. Radisson Blu (70%)
2. Ibis Budget (71%)
1. Premier Inn (79%)

Whilst smaller hotel chains scoring around the 70% mark were -

3. Warner Leisure (69%)
2. Apex Hotel (71%)
1. Malmaison (75%)