Hotels or Motels

In a city I prefer hotels. On the road a motel. I enjoy Embassy Suites and Hiltons in the city, on the road Travel Lodge if time permits. On a fast trip where the stop is just to sleep and grab a quick shower then I look for a cheapie but NOT around a city they are to full of trash and hookers.
 
Been a long time since my last US road trip, but motels are usually cool. Not many "motels" in the center of Boston or Chicago or Manhattan. Depends on the type of vacation, too.. is the lodging itself more of a destination (tends towards hotel) or just a pit stop (tends toward motel)? I remember great motel vacations, though, in NH and on Cape Cod.. and as a kid, along the Appalachian Trail, Mohawk Trail, and the "Skyline Drive" area.
 
I like older motels with some charm, when possible. Years ago, some tourism department in Florida put out a great little book called Superior Small Lodging in Florida that I loved. We found the coolest funky little motels through using that book, one was just a block off the beach in Ft Lauderdale, lush landscaping, had a pool, a parrot, and a poodle, and was just awesome. I just booked a room at the Thunderbird Motel in Savannah, GA for a craft beer festival at the end of the month--just $99 a night. It is a 50's motel that has been refurbished and is very cool.

If I'm traveling alone, though, it is hotel all the way. No way would I stay by myself in a place without a lobby.
 
I went to one hotel; After I killed my 17th spider we left. There were big ones, small ones. Some wolf spiders, some I didn't recognize. Oh, and my wife is [-]allergic[/-] (more fun for Sarah to edit it back to say contagious) to spider bites. That one was memoriable because the whole trip was to go and hang out in this town and stay at this hotel, but both were a severe let down.

I went to one motel, there was an ant nest behind the bed. The entire wall behind the headboard was crawling with ants. We left. That one was particularily disappointing because the next place we could stop was an hour up the road and it was already 1am.

So, to get back to the question, when we're travelling we usually go to cheaper hotels with reward programs and beds that we like (Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Suites), however we'll take whatever is open and clean when we're on the road and ready to stop.

Probably the fanciest place we've stayed so far was the Four Seasons in Scottsdale. While it was enjoyable, we've regretted the cost every now and then since our trip (it was $640 a night). I had to kill a scorpion in our room there but it was otherwise enjoyable.

oh noes, my wifer is a spidar!!!
 
ladelfina said:
Been a long time since my last US road trip, but motels are usually cool.
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Yeah, I think it has been a while if "cool" was your latest recollection. ;)

The route 66 charm has long left us. Many motels I've stayed at are ugly places; formula decor, variable and often substandard cleanliness, sometimes noisy, have vague odors I'd rather not think about. Breakfast, if any, consisted of powdered donuts, stale bagels, miniboxes of cereal and if you are lucky, some powdered eggs, yogurt or fruit.

I'd say that in the middle price range about half are generally decent. Not one of my favorite parts of auto travel.
 
I usually stay at hotels, but I hear that Motel 6 has become a really nice place to stay...
 
Marquette said:
I went to one hotel; After I killed my 17th spider we left. There were big ones, small ones. Some wolf spiders, some I didn't recognize. Oh, and my wife is contagious to spider bites. /quote]

Um, this is one that we need to point out to T-Al, I mean, I know he's trying to spend less time on the internet, but that is just hilarious, Marquette. :D

But I really do like the idea of someone being contagious to spider bites--does that mean she gives the bites to you? :D

Sorry to give you a hard time, especially after FD was trying to talk some smack to you about being (like me) childfree! :angel:
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We're pretty much hotel people. I prefer Hampton Inns, based on cleanliness and comfort of the beds. We've had so many bad experiences other places we seized on them for consistancy's sake. It's been years since I stayed with another chain.
 
Sarah in SC said:
Um, this is one that we need to point out to T-Al, I mean, I know he's trying to spend less time on the internet, but that is just hilarious, Marquette. :D
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I have NO IDEA what you're talking about ;)

and I found the edit button.
 
Sarah in SC said:
Sorry to give you a hard time, especially after FD was trying to talk some smack to you about being (like me) childfree! :angel:
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The only reason I did that is he was giving us with kids advice about what it's like to have them. I remember one time my late sister was trying to give me marital advice, and that was 3 years after her SECOND divorce..........:D:D..........now THAT was funny..........:D
 
FinanceDude said:
The only reason I did that is he was giving us with kids advice about what it's like to have them.
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You'll have to point out where I was trying to give advice. I was simply posting a funny reply to someone asking on an internet board how many kids he should have.
 
Marquette said:
You'll have to point out where I was trying to give advice. I was simply posting a funny reply to someone asking on an internet board how many kids he should have.
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Sorry..........I need mroe coffee...........:p:p The market has me punchdrunk............:eek:
 
Marquette said:
You'll have to point out where I was trying to give advice. I was simply posting a funny reply to someone asking on an internet board how many kids he should have.
Click to expand...

Is it like asking how many lumps you want? AH one..ah two ahhhhh threee ? ;)


Bonus points if you know the cartoon!
 
When I think of "hotel" I think of a place that also has a restaurant, room service, someone to carry your bags to your room, a ballroom or a place you could have a wedding reception. Usually found within a city, usually a lot more expensive.

(Okay, that'll teach me to take my sweet time composing a reply while the thread goes up and down and around me!)

Let me just say that children are VERY contagious to parents and money....
 
Last year I spent 120 nights away on businees and/or vacation. I always considered that to be a hotel it had to have a lobby- Motel is by defintion a Motor Hotel- coined to describe the older motels where you could bypass the lobby and park next to your room.

The distinction has been blurred over the years, with the introduction of limited service hotels- Hampton, HI Express, Hilton Garden, Marriott Coutyard,etc. These are the ones I usually stay on business- I'm not a big breakfast guy, and can roll my own bags up to my room. Usually only there one or two nights, don't usually meet with clients at the hotel anyway. If I do, I'll get a meeting room at a Courtyard or full service hotel. Like a lot of others here, I prefer a property with a lobby- it does limit access somewhat- the "by the hour trade" usually is doing business somewhere with outside entrances.

I haven't paid for many vacation hotels for quite some time- I am working through hundreds of thousands of frequent traveler points, but I have noticed that the Choice Hotels- Quality Inn, Clarion, EconoLodge have come a long way in the last few years. The Best Westerns are too inconsistent from property to property for me.

Motel 6's are fine for a quick nights sleep- I used them when we moved- they seem to be much better in smaller towns, but I avoid them in larger cities because of the issues Sarah mentioned.


...and I forgot to have kids.
 
I just finished a two week trip through Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. I stayed in motels the entire way. If anything, I would echo the OP about Comfort Inns -- best for the price in a lot of smaller towns. I stayed at one indepently owned motel based on recommendations and it turned out to be clean without any redeeming values -- but then all the motels in that small town were of the same quality.

For chains, one would have to look at the mid-priced motels in the chain for comfort and value.

-- Rita
 
Ten years ago we loved LaQuintas for trip to the south, then they started going downhill, now they seem to have started going back up. We usually find Hampton Inns along our routes now.
 
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