A Traveler’s Tale: Comparing Hotels

Post date: Nov 8, 2017 5:18:10 PM

We’ve just returned from nine days of travel, staying in six different hotel rooms in five cities in four states. We stayed at three major chains and saw real differences between those hotels bearing the same name. Our first stop was in Indianapolis for our daughter’s wedding; we’ve been there a number of times and generally stay at the same hotel, The Hampton Inn, but this time it was completely booked so we had to use an online service to locate rooms. After reading reviews and looking at the photos and description, I chose La Quinta Inns; however, we soon learned not to trust online photos and reviews! I made a list of issues we noticed: you may have noticed them, too.

Since we both have bad backs, I asked for an accessible bathroom and was intrigued with the results. Almost all of the rooms provided at least one grab bar in the bathroom, usually at the side of the tub; however, two rooms stood out for their many features that made them more comfortable and safer. One (Holiday Inn & Express) had a walk in shower and multiple grab bars; it was also at least twice the size of the other bathrooms and would have accommodated a wheelchair. The other had multiple grab bars and a more conventional tub but had been designed more thoughtfully, with a bath bench (Best Western). Hotels need to reconsider their definitions of accessible: it implies more than a single grab bar!

Almost all hotel rooms come with one luggage rack, even though many of us travel in pairs with multiple bags. When we asked for a second luggage rack in our first hotel, we got it within minutes. When we asked for a second one later on, however, we were told that there weren’t any additional ones available—in spite of the hotel being lightly booked, based on the parking lot, so really, the person at the desk simply needed to go to a room not being used and borrow its luggage rack. A third hotel solved the problem with a long built-in bench beside the desk and dresser.

Most modern hotel chains are catching on to the public’s obsession with mobile devices by building in charging stations and providing extra outlets; however, this is not yet the standard. So I still take along a small charging station with several USB ports and several plug ins. Even so, I had to hunt for a plug in at least one of our rooms, while others built them into lamps on the desks.

Every room had microwaves and refrigerators, but all had Styrofoam cups which I do not like to put into microwaves, so it would be nice if hotels still put china cups into rooms for those of us who would drink some tea if we trusted the cups not to melt.

We checked in much later than usual in our last hotel, and wished for a magical list of nearby restaurants. Hotels would do well to provide guests with help locating nearby services, including the nearest ATM. However, not all of our rooms included any kind of written directory, and not all had very robust WIFI, making searching for services more difficult.

One of the simplest things I look for in a hotel bathroom is having a hook for my robe, but only half of the rooms we had supplied this basic need.

On the positive side, there were some wonderful surprises along the way.

Our first room in Indianapolis was the room from hell: when we got off the elevator, we were astonished to see bare, scarred floors and walls. Obviously, they were renovating the floor—so why were we going assigned a room there for four long days? In addition, it turned out that the Future Farmers of America were having a major convention in town, which was why all of the hotel rooms were booked before we tried to find a room. (The picture above was taken to show the view from our door, looking down the hallway).

On top of this, one of the two elevators at the hotel was broken, and the remaining one seemed less than robust; I said a prayer every time we used it, so it did increase my devotional life. We checked in, had a late supper with our daughter, and returned to the hotel to find swarms of overly energetic young people running around floor six, where it seemed we were the only adults. At midnight, I called the front desk to complain about the noise, but it continued for at least another hour, with doors slamming, young people running up and down the hallway chattering, and lots of loud music.

In the morning, the real fun began when the construction workers began hammering a little before 8 am. When we went down to breakfast, I pushed my red rollator to the front desk and asked to speak to a manager. As I explained my frustration with our room, I added, “Look, if the other elevator breaks, how do I get up and down from the sixth floor? We’re here for our daughter’s wedding and it’s supposed to be a happy time!” She apologized and said that most of the guests up there on the 6^th floor were in town for the FFA convention. She was surprised we had been given rooms there and promised to move us.

Not only did we get moved, with the help of our daughter Mikki, who had just arrived, we were given a King Suite, with two bathrooms, a sitting room with a long wet bar and a large, lovely bedroom. We were assured that there weren’t hordes of hormonal teens down the hall and slept much better for the remainder of our stay. Mike had a roomier place to hang out and watch television while I helped the bride run errands. The second bathroom became the place to steam out the wrinkles in our Renaissance costumes and let them hang until the wedding. Life lesson: don’t suffer in silence. Speak up!

We were sorry to check out from our suite, but we had more adventures ahead of us, taking us south to see several Civil War battlefields or museums as well as the George Patton museum before we headed back to Iowa.

Every lobby offered complimentary coffee, tea, and water. The Holiday Inn Express had an assortment of fresh baked cookies. Most provided a daily newspaper. This made us feel welcomed.

The Holiday Inn Express also featured a roomy sitting area with a chaise lounge and small side table that could be lowered or raised as needed. Most rooms featured artwork or framed photos. We used pools and hot tubs in two of the hotels, but the pool was closed for sanitary reasons in the third hotel and we arrived too late at night to use the last hotel’s pool.

Every hotel included free Wi-Fi, parking and breakfast; however, the differences in quality were evident. At several places, the Wi-Fi was not adequate, which surprised me. Both of us had our iPads and Mike had his laptop as well, but we resorted to using an iPhone for a hotspot on at least one occasion.

Breakfasts also varied: only one place offered a lovely stainless steel container of hot oatmeal, while the rest had hot water and packets of instant oats. Almost all offered scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, waffles, juice, coffee, and cold cereal, but only a few had fresh fruit. The first place we stayed had a large container of canned fruit cocktail and I never saw anyone take any, and wondered how long it had been there.

All in all, we had a great trip. We swung south into Kentucky, Tennessee, and back into Missouri and Illinois on the way home to see a couple of museums and Civil War battlefields or memorials. After unloading the car multiple times, however, I vow to learn how to pack lighter and not take so much with me when we travel. (The picture below is not our car, but it felt like it when loading and unloading!)

I would like to blame it on being a Girl Scout, and wanting to be prepared for anything, because I have a tendency to take along a lot of stuff: however, my ancestors traveled by covered wagon, so maybe it is in my genes!

So if you happen to know anyone in the hotel business, please remind them that weary guests would love that extra luggage rack, or space to put our suitcases, a hook on the bathroom door for our robes, real cups for the microwave, fresh fruit and real oatmeal, and reliable high speed internet. We would also like to know if the hotel we booked online from hundreds of miles away is undergoing renovation, hosting massive numbers of energetic teenagers, or has broken elevators. From now on, those online reviews and photos will no longer will be taken as seriously by Geeky Grandma. When possible, I will select hotels from the handful of chains that I have found reliable in the past.

Last updated November 8, 2017