One of the most time-consuming things about planning a trip is figuring out exactly where you’re going to stay.
Even though my 25,000 miles of summer roadtrips focused on national parks and monuments, I needed good places to stay in between long days of driving on the way there and back.
As a single man travelling alone, I didn’t need fancy accommodations. I don’t mind ugly carpet, mismatched furniture, or out-of-style decor. I don’t want a spa-like experience. So, my thriftiness led me to try out some budget options.
But unfortunately, if you thought every chain hotel offered a bare minimum level of cleanliness and function, you’d be wrong.
A room in Colorado had a bathroom vanity made out of plywood and a half-functioning light fixture. The chair in the non-smoking room smelled like it had been plucked from a chain smoker’s estate sale. The door was so scratched up, I wondered if the previous occupant had been removed by police.
At a hotel in Arizona, the water wasn’t running for the first six hours of my stay. The AC unit had instructions scrawled with a marker to replace printed words that had been worn off. I didn’t notice the stained sheets until bedtime, so I brought in my sleeping bag and made it standard practice to check the sheets as soon as I enter any hotel room.
At a room in Michigan, I not only found stained sheets but a half-cleaned bathroom, broken furniture, and a strong smell of smoke. When I informed the front desk that I wouldn’t be staying, the clerk told me that the only way to get a refund was to call the next day to speak to the manager. I called four times and the manager was somehow never available. Finally, a month later, the chain’s group owner gave me points for one night in a better hotel.
I don’t mind simple accommodations. But when I’m on vacation, I don’t want to feel like I’m returning to the first place I rented in college.
Over time, I found the best way to find a good place to stay is pretty obvious.
No, it’s not reviews. They vary greatly, with some writers ranting and others raving. You have to wonder if all of the reviews are real.
It’s also not the online photos. You can get a general sense of the hotel at its best, but your accommodations might not be quite as good.
It’s not claims about whether the hotel has been recently renovated. (One place had renovated the lobby but not the room.) Knowing when the hotel was built would help, but that information is usually impossible to find.
It’s not when you make the reservation. One of my best rooms was booked same-day, and one of my worst rooms was also booked same-day. Some rooms booked weeks in advance were terrible and others were great.
No, the best way of finding a decent hotel is simple:
The price.
Hotels that weren’t the cheapest, but also weren’t the most expensive, were the ones where I had the best stays. (I’m sure the expensive hotels are great, too, but out of my price range.)
Call it the invisible hand of the market. The hotels themselves know how they stack up against their competitors and price their rooms accordingly.
Price is the main indicator I’ll be using from now on when searching for a hotel.
That, and its proximity to my next destination!