by External Poster » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:46 pm
This posting is from: Mary Beth
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The Marriott should be a good choice. At least you know what you are
getting. In a previous job I stayed at a lot of Marriotts and always
found them to be consistently clean and well-run. If you go on
Travelocity or Expedia and read the traveler reviews of some of the
no-name and independent hotels you see all sorts of horror stories
about filthy, moldy rooms or shady clientele.
With the name brand chain hotels at least they have a reputation to
uphold and a national board of directors to answer to. When I was on the
road, I had a certain budget I had to stay within (so no Hiltons,
Westins, Sheratons), but I always had a pecking order of hotels for
business travel which I'd look for in this order:
1. Holiday Inn Express - These were mostly newer hotels and always had
high speed internet (in the late 90's / early 00's this was difficult
to find in a lot of towns). They were my favorite place to stay.
2. Courtyard by Marriott - almost as good as the Holiday Inn Express.
3. Comfort Inn - Usually very clean albeit a bit older than the HIE or
CbM, they were always a good value for the money.
4. Fairfield Inn - Usually OK to stay at if the above three weren't
available in an area.
5. Hampton Inn - Marriott's budget line.
I learned very quickly to avoid at all costs all Best Westerns and
Ramada Inns, which invariably would be run down and seedy; and the
worst of the worst, Motel 6, which I imagine to be what it must be
like to spend a night in the county jail.
My basic rule of thumb - the quality of a lodging is always in direct
inverse proportion to the amount of disinfectant smell you get when you
walk into the room.
In Vegas I like to be on the strip so I stay at the Sahara which is the
nicest of the cheap dumps.
My only complain with them is that I wish they'd install security
deadbolts in their doors (although in 4 stays there I've never had a
problem).
Mary Beth
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(This posting was entered by Mary Beth, an external user of MyDLV.)