Just had to start this after reading the splurging thread. Should be LOTS of interesting stories and opinions here!
The thread can turn into what it wants, but I’ll start with:
Share your best or worst hotel experience.
Share what your hotel “necessities” or preferences are.
Best hotel experience: Ritz Carlton in Denver for a conference in 2015. Beautiful room, best conference snacks EVER provided for breaks, in our rooms, etc. Accommodations for fitness enthusiasts- walking/running maps, snacks, fresh towels and water waiting when you return from your exercise.
Worst: A Park Inn somewhere in Pennsylvania - my D who was about 14 or 15 insisted we move the room desk in front of the door or she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night - JUST. FELT. SEEDY.! (It was my only not so good Hotwire purchase!)
What I like in a hotel: wireless (ridiculous that some hotels still charge for it) , breakfast perks, NICE fitness center w/working machines and not just one!, shower caps provided in bathroom!, good quality coffee/tea in the room. FREE PARKING!
Last year we were in a hotel in New York and another one in Denver that had less than adequate bathroom doors. In fact in the Denver hotel there WAS NO bathroom door and I had to pull the shower curtain across the opening and tie it to the towel bar for any semblance of privacy. In New York, the door just kind of slid across the opening and one could push it about fairly easily. We decided bathroom doors would be a criteria in the future. Who knew?
D and I stayed someplace in Pennsylvania or Ohio on a college tour where the room smelled terrible. We opened the coffee grounds provided in the room and spread them around on trays to try to alleviate the smell. We still laugh about what the maid must have thought about that.
Not the best rooms, but great service, Claridge’s in London. I pushed a button for in room service to get my suit pressed, in less than 30 seconds someone appeared at my door. They had a butler on every floor to service their guests.
I love almost every Four Seasons Resort Hotel, not their business hotels.
One of the worst experiences was at the Hilton London Canary Wharf when they assigned me a room with a guest in it already. Another one was when I had to travel for business and the hotel was having a dog convention (don’t remember the breed). The whole hotel smelled.
Speaking of bathroom doors, we stayed at a SpringHIll suites once where the bathroom door was a frosted glass. No privacy concerns but it was a royal pain in the neck because you couldn’t use the bathroom at night without flooding the entire room with light. Since there were 5 of us with a mix of early and late risers and we arrived at midnight this was a huge drawback. I can’t imagine what the designer was thinking.
Hotel Vogue in Montreal
Windsor Arms in Toronto
The George in DC
The Palms in Miami Beach
Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay, Me.
I’ve just booked Hotel Valencia in San Antonio (it’s right on RiverWalk) and the Hotel Van Zandt in Austin for an upcoming trip in May. Hoping they are both as nice as they seem online.
Worst was a motel (might have been a Ramada at the time) right off the thruway we had to stay in during an ice storm when we lost power for several days. Was the only one that allowed dogs. Everything about it was gross.
Recent stay in Nashville featured a restaurant with singing waitresses and bartenders, a very large hot tub, and every employee knew how to treat guests like they were their own house guests. Good bands on the weekend. I’d love to stay there again some day.
I stayed in a hotel in Washington DC, and a former employee chopped down my door with the axe in the fire emergency kit. He threw all of my things on the carpet looking for valuables. I lost some brand new clothes and my wife’s camera. But, he never checked inside the shower area in the bathroom. I hid $500 to $800 in the soap dish which was for expenses on the student exchange tour I was chaperoning. I didn’t sleep a wink in the new room they put me in. Management never paid me a dime because I didn’t lock up my valuables in their safe.
Like I said before I’m not a fancy hotel person.
So my best is because of price. When Hotwire started I got the Chicago Doubletree Suites on Michigan Ave for $40/night. We got a room overlooking the lake. It was such a good deal that I called my sister and she got a room and we had a memorable short vacation together.
Worst was a Super 8 in Terre Haute, IN. Bad bad idea. Why I booked it, I have no idea. I can’t remember but I either left or never left the room.
That was a college visit trip. The power window on the car broke and D had to duct tape it shut (that was after the Super 8, thankfully). And the car broke down on the way home and wouldn’t go over 45. So I drove home on I-75 doing 45. It was our hillbilly college trip :))
I’m easy, I like clean and safe. I like a free breakfast and free parking. I’d rather stay in a Country Inn and Suites or a Holiday Inn Express than a fancy hotel.
“. We decided bathroom doors would be a criteria in the future. Who knew?”
Could not agree more! What is it with the bathroom doors that don’t close all the way or let in light? Who likes that. Even if someone has literally come out of my own body I do need privacy from them when using the bathroom!
Why is that apparently too much to ask from some hotels?
H has upped his hotel game considerably over the years. That’s a relative statement considering he had set the bar low…really low. My parents were Super 8 kind of people too We usually stay at Mariott type places now with free breakfasts.
The worst of the worst:
*Travel Lodge in Terre Haute - 25 years ago, but bad even by standards then
*Some dive around Cedar Point before the age of internet - a 1960’s mom and pop place. It had 2 twin beds and we had 4 kids with us, but we were glad for something…until we found the roaches!
*Place near a major hospital. The night clerk beat down all the doors on the floor, screaming we had to open up or he was calling the police. Very scary.
I think hotel mattresses have come a long way in the last 20 years. I so wish mattresses had uniform labeling so when I find one I love, I could purchase and know I was getting the same thing.
When my H took S and his 2 friends on a trip to look at colleges, they were on a very limited budget (looking at schools that meet full need). They had an appointment to tour the University of Pennsylvania and stayed in a horrible hotel in Philadelphia.
H and S were asleep but the 2 friends decided to call to have a pizza delivered and were told it was in too bad an area and delivery wasn’t possible. The hotel has since changed their name, but these Yelp reviews are incredibly entertaining to read. I’m REALLY glad I wasn’t with them.
There have been several that weren’t good but the worst is in a class of its own (probably not the hotel’s fault, though): When I was a senior in high school, I was invited to a college out of state to take a test for a merit award. Because I had an early morning flight out of town, my dad drove me to a motel, where we planned to stay overnight before my flight the next day. Around 9 p.m., the fire alarm went off. Yes, the motel was on fire. We stayed in the room for a little while, then tried crawling through the smoke-filled hallway to an exit, then turned back to the room, then jumped out the window after my dad broke it with a chair. Fortunately, we were on a “short” second floor, and there was snow, and neither of us was hurt, although we both smelled like smoke for several days.
For me, HKG hotels provide the best services. They truly understand hospitality. I like the Four Seasons and Mandarin. We are going to try The Regent in Taiwan and Le Meridien at Koh Samui (Thailand). I have to say US is not very good when it comes to hospitality, people tend to have more of an attitude.
Should be LOTS of interesting stories and opinions here!
We usually stay at Mariott type places now with free breakfasts.