Hotels

[odeon]

Having spent time in a number of hotels, I thought the subject was worth posting.

The best hotel you've stayed in? The worst? Why?

For me, the best, hands down, is the Marriott in Bethesda, USA. The standard is very high, the staff is courteous and helpful, and pretty much everything just works. I don't care if they are Mormons or not, they know how to run a hotel.

The worst is a toss-up between two worthy candidates. There is the mouldy Elmwood Hotel in London, and there's this place in Vasastan, Stockholm, that I have thankfully forgotten the name of that gave a whole new meaning to "disgusting". You don't want to know.

Surprisingly, the Marriott, while more expensive, is not THAT expensive. For example, I write this in a tiny room in a hotel called the Swinton that, assuming the price is directly proportional to the quality, should be about half as good as the Marriott.

It isn't. It isn't even close.

[Queen Victoria]

I've spent quite a lot of overnights in Bator Rouge in the 1980's.  Usually at one chain that eludes me right now.  We spent 4 to 6 weeks at LaQuinta Inns after Hurricane Katrina.  The one in Beaumont, Tx. was nice.  The one in College Station, Tx. was older.  Beggars couldn't be choosers in what was available during that time.  Quality Inn in Baton Rouge was good for the price last March.

QV now.  What is a hotel?

[odeon]

Fair question. It's as opposed to hostels an such, but I admit the lines are fuzzy.

[Jack]

Not really picky about hotels, maybe due to never needing one for anything other than a sleep and shower, so nothing really stands out in memory as the worst. Have had miserable stays in expensive rooms due to noise; one was a room positioned near a talking elevator which notified all night long 'going down'. Why any hotel would have a talking elevator is a mystery. A very good recent experience was in an inexpensive pet friendly hotel; thinking it was a best western, but not because it happened to be a clean quiet room. There was a violinist in the lobby; cant remember what was his day job but it required regular travel, and he had made deals along his travel route exchanging free rooms for the few hours of ambiance he offered to the lobby. Sat in the lobby comfy chair for about an hour listening to him, gave him a fat tip and then went to bed. That may have been the best.

[Pyraxis]

That's pretty awesome. One of my favorite things at airports is when they have a live pianist. It's like a tiny haven of calm in the middle of crowded noisy awfulness.

[Icequeen]

Closest I've ever got to a violinist at a hotel was the guy playing guitar while drinking beer on the balcony of hotel last year while his friends sang along.

The Thunderbird motel...like the wine...was probably a mistake last year. But the staff was pleasant and the rooms although lacking, dated, and suffering from lousy water pressure were clean.

It brought back memories of the seedy motel the SO and I used to rent a room at back when we were much younger. The staff could barely speak English and they offered waterbeds. 

['andersom']

I remember a field trip, where we had to stay in different hotels. The German hotels were more than decent when it came to the rooms and beds. Though the covers were way to thick and warm for most of us. The food was bearable. The Belgian hotels had horrid beds. Some fellow students slept on the floor because it was more comfortable. I was small enough to find a relatively doable spot on my mattress. But the food in the Belgian hotels was of an amazing high quality.

[Jack]

That's pretty awesome. One of my favorite things at airports is when they have a live pianist. It's like a tiny haven of calm in the middle of crowded noisy awfulness.

The violin is one of the last instrument would choose to listen but it was a funeral trip so that's exactly what it was, a tiny haven of calm in the middle of awfulness.

[Parts]

They are mostly just a place to sleep on road trips all I really want is clean, quiet, and climate controlled.  On my trip to Vegas a couple years ago I stayed at a small no name one in Green River Utah  that had AC problems it was over 110F outside  it too them  two hours to fix it  Another one was a Ramada in Maine it smelled and the dining room was structurally unstable,  I could feel and even seethe floor  move when someone walked across the room. 

[Gopher Gary]

that gave a whole new meaning to "disgusting". You don't want to know.

Oh, I think I want to know. 

[odeon]

that gave a whole new meaning to "disgusting". You don't want to know.

Oh, I think I want to know. 

Let's just say that the loo was separated from the rest of the room by a curtain that had clearly been there from the very beginning.

[odeon]

The one I'm in now is an odd one. Not sure what it was meant to be but it wasn't a hotel. They've squeezed in a shower that is impossible to use without wetting the wooden door that, after years of hotel guests, is visibly rotting. Yet somebody is making a real effort to keep the place clean.

[Parts]

I stayed at one in Nova Scotia that had only four rooms and was attached to the side of a  normal looking house.  Inside it looked like your typical roadside motel  it was just $16 a night that was in 1991 though

[Gopher Gary]

that gave a whole new meaning to "disgusting". You don't want to know.

Oh, I think I want to know. 

Let's just say that the loo was separated from the rest of the room by a curtain that had clearly been there from the very beginning.

Oooh, that's nasty. 

[odeon]

Booked a hotel for my stay in London in October. Hoping it will prove to be better than the one I'm in right now.