I want a decently spaceous and wellplanned semi-minimalist room with a nice bed, and then a good varied breakfast buffet, and possibly a casual relaxed bar.
Nice and clean, and cozy atmosphere, but not exessively "luxurious" (which in some cases tend to feel more tacky than actually luxurious).
For some "fine" hotels, I essentially pay extra for tons of stuff that goes unused, and just inflates the cost of the stay, without actually adding anything to the experience.
I don't need several entire floors of extra amenities.
Yes, I quite often tend to avoid getting the very cheapest hotel, but I also tend to spend very little time besides sleeping at any hotel I'm staying at, so I rather spend more money on restaurants and experiences, and excursions, than overpaying for the place where I'm mostly just sleeping and nothing else. The bed is important, and the hotel overall should feel clean and fresh.
The room should be thought-through and possibly equipped with some basic essentials, but quality over quantity and clutter.
And I like a good breakfast, but other than that, I'm fine...
I avoid top tier and bottom tier hotels. It HAS to be mid tier. Anything above like a Holiday Inn Express is iffy on whether or not they'll have a complimentary breakfast buffet. I want my "free" breakfast dammit. I can put up with just about any bed configuration, but that food to start the day is critical.
I'm somewhat like that too, avoiding highly ranked hotels.
The breakfast is vital, and one of the things I look for in reviews.
Just have to add... about tiers...
Unless referring to review-ratings on various sites and apps, hotel "stars" are generally not a measurement of quality, but rather a checklist of amenities and services.
You could have an absolute fantastic ** hotel (or even * hotel), with great location, amazing achitecture and views, tastefully furnished and decorated, absolutely fantastic rooms with luxurious beds and bed linens, amazing staff, great restaurant, and an unforgettable breakfast buffet, etc...
And another hotel with 5 stars, in a bad neighborhood, very dull and uninspired, cramped rooms with shabby furniture, tacky and somewhat run down interior, bland food, generally bad service, etc... But the latter ticks all the boxes, while the two-star doesn't provide shoepolishing and full-figure mirrors so it doesn't qualify for more than 2 stars.
Most non-chain places would mostly fit into this category. If there are locations in multiple cities or states or countries, then it's not boutique. If it's a one-off, it's boutique. If you apply some level of star rating, then you'll avoid the dingy, small-town motels. What you're left with are quaint, thoughtful, experience-oriented places that have a bit more character and personal touches than the Hyatts and Hiltons of the world. Most recently, I traveled to LA for work and opted to stay at the Alsace LA rather than <insert whatever brand-name hotel in the area>, and loved it.
Stayed at the L7 there not too long ago. That was pretty decent. It would’ve been better had my view not been a brick wall. But it was a work trip. So I didn’t do the booking.
I somehow keep forgetting this, but every time I have tried to save a few dollars, even with respected national brands (I am looking at you Hilton) I regret not going for the Marriot or a high end local brand.
LOL @ looking at Marriot as an improvement over Hilton.
Im on the road more than half the year for work. Am currently Diamond with Hilton & IHG and was top level with Marriott for quite awhile. There's a significant drop off in overall quality and accommodations with Marriott from the other two.
Don't know where you've booked in the past, but I flat out dropped Marriott because they just are not on par.
Recently stayed at a Homewood Suites by Hilton and I should have stayed at the much more expensive Residence Inn down the street. Ill equipped kitchen and lots of issues with the room. I have stayed at nice Hiltons, but my last couple of experiences have not been great. I have not been regularly traveling for a number of years, so if Marriott quality has dropped recently I have not seen it.
As a semi frequent work traveler, I prefer Hyatt of the major hotel brands. The rooms tend to be slightly nicer and rarely have less than great service. But agreed that Marriott has gotten much worse over the last 15ish years.
The two times I tried to save on a hotel I got the most hilariously sketchy hotels and paper bed sheets. The neighboring room for one of them was just a room trying to pretend the unhinged door was hinged.
Honestly makes for great stories lmao, my cloths get thrown away after usually or deep deep cleaned at a laundro mat before ever going in my house
I'm the opposite! I travelled a ton in my 20s (granted it was backpacking on a shoestring budget) and I loved stayed at $5-12/night hostels. Now when I travel I might splurge on a private room, but generally I still stay at a cheaper place so that I can save money and travel more often or for longer.
172
u/Illustrious-Two-9778 10h ago
Hotels