penguinsix

We drove across the country with La Quinta. Waffles and pretty clean, and many of them had washing machines which helped on our multi-week excursion.

Most were very new. Bathrooms are basic but overall it wasn't bad at all.

joto

We did a two week road trip last year, and the hotels ranged from chain to individually owned, and from decent middle of the road to roach motel. The best was in Moab, Comfort Inn and Suites, and the worst was in Jackson, WY, Four Winds Motel. Some did breakfast, either served or pick up a bag meal, to nothing at all, not even coffee. We did take a big cooler with us, with sandwich makings and snacks, and topped up the ice every couple of days. Research what is available at your destinations, and read the reviews.

neill

Weirdly, Motel 6 "Extended Stay" seem to be way better than standard Motel 6s. The weekly rates were very reasonable and they have kitchenettes, laundry facility, etc. And a host of enforced 'house rules' meaning a quiet stay also. Good to consider if you are staying in a single area for a while.

scrubbedexpat091

Keep in mind most hotels and motels are independently owned and operated. Most of the chains got out of the operating and owning of properties long ago, which in part leads to patchwork quality within the chain, but these chains make a lot more people franchising and getting the nice royalty checks, so its unlikely to change.

Every chain is different, but most take a % of monthly revenue + annual licensing fees, book on the chains website or phone line, the local property pays a fee for that too, sometimes the chain may even own the supply company the franchises have to buy from.

Other chains like Marriott do own some properties still but most are no longer owned by Marriott, but Marriott does manage a lot of their properties they just don't own them.

The Marriott I worked for as an example, was owned by a foreign company in China, but managed by Marriott, so we worked for Marriott, but Marriott did not own the property.

So basically in the US your best option isn't to fuss with chains, but to research individual properties and base your decision on reviews of the locations your considering, because you can have 2 Holiday Inn Express properties 10 miles apart with greatly varying quality.


Keep in mind with Motel 6, they have build a brand around accepting cash, and thus they get some interesting clientele because so few chains will actually accept cash.

I pretty much only use Motel 6 when on road trips when I just need a place to sleep for 8 hours and thus price and proximity to the interstate is most important, and Motel 6 takes dogs at all properties so they serve their niche well, but I would never want to stay at one more than a night.

But a the poster above said, Motel 6 Extended stay isn't the same as regular Motel 6 and tend to be nicer since they are catering to a different market than Motel 6.


One keyword in the quality books at every property I have worked at across many brands is "visibly clean" the chains love that word, aka as long as it looks clean its clean enough, my recommendation never use the duvet or comforter.

Steerpike

I've been using 'hotels.com' for probably 10 years now and they've been great. My only issue is that once, I booked a 4-day stay at a hotel and had to cancel it, and I could not get a refund no matter how hard I tried - but - that was the deal I signed up for (I took the cheaper, 'no refund' option, and they held me to it - fair enough, even though it pissed me off).

Before the days of 'internet booking', and sites like hotels.com, I had 'brand loyalty' with Best Western and always had 'ok' results. Motel 6 can be a bit scary, simply because they are the cheapest and attract a certain clientele. Most recently, I've settled on Marriott Courtyards; they are more expensive, but overall I've decided I can afford it. Often get great prices through hotels.com and/or through the 'Bonvoy' (Marriott) site.

I always try to check in as early as possible so I can check out the room; so if I arrive in town at 7pm, I'm going to check in first, then go find something to eat. Checking in late in the evening means you are stuck with whatever rooms are left at that time.

"Extended stay" hotels can be a problem; Extended stay means kitchens; kitchens mean food, and food means insects/bugs. Residence Inns used to be pretty good; 'Extended Stay America' was very dicey. I once checked into an ESA and checked back out within an hour due to the overpowering smell of oven cleaner!

In the UK, my brother swears by Premier Inn also, and I stayed at several. The newer 'builds' were ok (consistent), but they have also taken over some older properties and they are way more 'variable'. I stayed at a really nice new build near Cambridge, and an awful older building near Stroud - creaky floors, non-functioning electrics, wonky windows. So I wonder if part of PI's great 'consistency' is due to the fact that they went on a building spree and got to control 'everything'. As time passes, they will likely degrade to the level of all the rest.

scrubbedexpat091

Something people not realize is many hotels assign rooms on a variety of factors which can include in order of getting the best rooms or the worst rooms.

Elite members of the chains loyalty programs get assigned first.
Direct bookings, those who booked directly with the property.
Online bookings through the chains website.
Corporate and government accounts (say airline crews)
3rd party bookings
Employee/or employee family bookings

But not all 3rd party booking sites are equal, if I have 2 rooms left and 2 bookings one for $99.99 booking.com and one for a $49.99 Priceline guess who is getting the nicer of the 2 rooms left?

And what you pay the 3rd party is generally not what the hotel gets paid, typically a room that Expedia charged $99 for we would see anywhere from $59 to $79 on that room, with Expedia keeping the rest.

And when booking via 3rd party technically your not the hotels customer, but Expedia or pricelines customer, and we at the property can really do very little to help you if there is an issue, other than call expedia or priceline but we don't have magical powers, if they say no refund, well don't expect the hotel to refund you, the hotel is only paid generally if the guest checks in.

Airlines do similiar in overbookings, the elite members are not going to get bumped, how my airline did it, we depending on the mood of the lead gate agent, would bump by fare or time of check in, usually fare as it was the easiest, need 5 passengers off for wright and balance, and no volunteers, take the 5 who paid the least and bump them.

We rarely bumped due to over booking though, almost always weight and balance issues due to taking more fuel due to weather, mostly in the winter.

ddsrph

I started staying in motel 6 when they cost 6 dollars per nite driving from Indiana to college in Albuquerque. It seems most small motels in US are Indian owned by the Patel clan. I quess getting a visa thru investment.

Noorah101

No one has mentioned Hilton hotels? I typically stay at a Hilton when I travel, even overseas. I belong to their reward club and got 4 free nights in Dublin and Edinburgh a few years ago. I've always had great experience with Hilton brand hotels, both in cleanliness and customer service.

Rene

destone

Good point. I stayed with Hilton (main Hilton brand and their sister brands) all over the US, including during the "heavier" phases of the pandemic. Not one negative stay.

tht

Probably because they are expensive compared to the other brands mentioned. I was not overly impressed with Hilton’s, I stayed at their Conrad brand in the Maldives and İstanbul and they were a little tired. I found the loyalty benefits at IHG better, but again I found the quality was property dependent. I found the Intercontinental Robertson Quay to be amazing, it has external restaurants so the food was much better than normal hotel food. Best pancakes I have ever eaten. I found that with IHG the newer brands tenders to have less tired properties.. holiday inn express, vs holiday in and now the EVEN hotels. I need to burn 2 free nights before Jan next year, but don’t see much travel coming soon… before I got lifetime status on airline / hotel I used to chase the status ans stay loyal to brands but now I do as others note and go for quality of the actual property I plan to stay at.

Steerpike

All this makes sense, and it does influence me a bit when making reservations. These days I've been staying at the same two hotels in the same two locations (around LA) for years, and I always look at hotels.com and Marriott's 'Bonvoy' site. They are almost always within a few dollars of each other, and that tends to push me to hotels.com, where I have a good 'loyalty' history (and I'm always getting free nights). But if I can get the hotel through Bonvoy for more than a few dollars less, I'll go for it for all the reasons you give. I kind-of expect to get put in a crap room if I book a rock-bottom price through hotels.com

scrubbedexpat091

You strike me as the type of person who realizes the rock bottom pricing on the 3rd party sites has some negatives, unfortunately many expect 5* service while paying 2* prices on Price Line or Hotels.com

From a hotel employee perspective, booking.com is the easiest to deal with, its more like a travel agent where the hotel pays a commission and sets the rate, where priceline and expedia (and whatever else expedia owns now) are more resellers, where the hotel will put in X price and they will list the rooms on their site for XX price and keep the difference, where booking.com is more, hotel sets the rate, if booking.com sells a room they get % of the total.

Every hotel I worked at, the owners were not in the hotel businesses but the land development business or real estate investments and the hotel was just icing on the cake, one thing done here in BC and maybe elsewhere is the large high-rise hotels, you can buy into them via buying a room, there is a new Hilton in Vancouver, you can buy a room for 500,000 as an investment, you get a % of the revenue for the room, and you can use it free 30 times a year, then if all goes well, a few years later, you can sell that room at a profit, its probably the only way these large high-rise hotels in expensive city's can be built, a plot of downtown Vancouver land can sell for several hundred million just for the land, then you still need to build the building.

joto

We're staying at a Hilton Garden Inn on the west coast for a few days. It's really clean with good sanitising practices and spotless, and a great, helpful staff. We have stayed at another, much more expensive hotel in the same area, which was nice, with a larger room, but this one has everything we need, and breakfast doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and is plentiful. We would stay here again, when we're up this way again.