Stay at The Blackstone and explore Chicago by bike

by Katie Hammel on

We’ve been talking a lot about green travel this month. Well, here’s one more way you can do your part to reduce the impact your travels have on the environment. Book a room at The Blackstone in Chicago through October 31, and you’ll be given two Strida bikes to use for the duration of your stay.

“Bike Chicago” package prices range from $199 to $269 per night and include overnight accommodations for two, a city map and the use of two bikes. Strida bikes are the world’s lightest collapsible bikes, so you can easily pedal around town and then fold up the bike and carry it with you on the bus or El if you need to travel farther than you’re willing to pedal. And because biking all over Chicago can take a lot out of you, The Blackstone will also provide you with some tasty fuel – a picnic lunch for two from Mercat al la Planxa, a Catalan cuisine restaurant inside the hotel.

The Blackstone is a Marriott property located on Michigan Avenue, near Grant Park. While it’s not the cheapest accommodation you’ll find in the city, the hotel’s restored luxury (it was originally built in in 1910), excellent service, and ideal location make it well worth the price. For the date I checked, the bike package was only $40 more than the basic rate, an amount you could easily spend on cabs over the course of a weekend. So overall, I ‘d say this is a pretty good deal. See Chicago, save some money, and do a little to help save the planet at the same time.

Relax in the heart of Texas – JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa

by Annie Scott on


Be not deceived by the long name, the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa is going to be a simple and relaxing place where you can rest your hot and weary body.

Opening in February 2010, the resort will feature two PGA TOUR 18 hole Tournament Player’s Club golf courses, a six-acre water park, seven restaurants and lounges (including a multi-media sports bar) and a spa which incorporates local herbs like lavender into their treatments.

Why (or “where the heck is”) Texas Hill Country? The area is a calming landscape of rolling hills and oak trees comfortably close to San Antonio (under 20 minutes from the airport). The Hill Country has more than 20 local wineries, spelunking, hunting, fishing, The Guadalupe River, and peach and olive orchards — not really what most of us picture when we think of Texas, but perhaps what we should!

Even your reading list is taken care of — if you’re visiting the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, you should pick up a copy of “The Unlikely Lavender Queen” by NY writer Jeannie Ralston, which chronicles her “reluctant relocation” to Texas Hill Country from Manhattan — I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but it turns out she likes it pretty well. The book is a great tale of unwinding, and is the perfect light read for this vacation.

For more information, and if you are interested in booking, visit jwsanantonio.com.

Picking the best hotel room – when cheap delivers more than upscale and expensive

by Scott Carmichael on

We are already halfway through our hotel month here on Gadling. In the past week weeks, we’ve written hotel reviews, shown some wacky minibar finds, and described the best way to pick a hotel brand.

Today’s article is going to try and explain some of the logic that goes into picking the best hotel room, and getting the best value for your money. The examples in this article will be based on real hotels, real rates and real stays.

If you are not interested in amenities, and just want to get the cheapest possible room, then this article really isn’t going to help you much. Instead, the target audience for this article is the hotel guest who doesn’t mind paying some extra for their room. After all, paying more gets better service and amenities, right? Wrong!Here is a real world example of the tale of two rooms – you need a room in Chicago, so you start your search. Your requirements are simple; you want a spacious room with a view, a king bed and free Internet access.

Lets pick 2 of the more popular hotels in downtown Chicago (within 5 minutes of each other):

One of these rooms is a 2 room suite on a high floor (with a view of the Hancock building), a kitchen, free breakfast, flat panel HDTV’s in both rooms, recently renovated and access to free wired and wireless Internet.

The other is a smaller room with outdated furnishings, and comes without a “view”. The room does come with butler service and a DVD player. As an added bonus, the hotel does offer wireless Internet, but the signal is too weak to pick up in your room.

Of course, the larger room is the cheapest here. The concession of picking the cheaper hotel is that you don’t get that “luxury hotel” feeling when you step into the lobby. That said, the service in the cheaper hotel did feel much more relaxed and the free breakfast was a great deal.

Of course, I’m not trying to tell you that you should never stay in an expensive hotel – sometimes the occasion calls for some added luxury, but on a “normal” stay, upscale hotels can’t always provide the best value for money. The more expensive hotel often offers better amenities (spa services, valet parking etc…). However, when you are saving $147 a night, you’ll actually have money left to pay for those spa services.

So, next time you head to the hotel booking site, try and think smarter. This will require some homework, as not all cheaper hotels are going to be a good deal. Many of those hotels may not have been renovated in years.

Hotel review sites can be a great tool for this. Try to stay away from the room photos provided by the hotel and do searches for user submitted reviews photos through sites like Tripadvisor or Hotels.com. These photos often paint a much more honest picture of the hotel. When reading reviews, skip the ones with rants and complaints with hyperbole as too many people post totally useless reviews. A good article on how to use Tripadvisor can be found here.

If you do your homework, and read through all the real reviews and photos, you may be able to find that one gem that is able to save you $150 a night. Sure, you may not be in the luxurious location you had expected, but you’ll be able to sleep better at night knowing you’ve got more money to spend on worthless souvenirs.

Hotels chains – picking the right one and how to become a loyal guest

by Scott Carmichael on

Welcome to the Gadling hotel month! There is no better time of the year to learn more about hotels, how to pick the right hotel and how to become loyal to one chain. In today’s article, I’m going to teach you as much as I can about picking the right brand and how to become (and stay) loyal to one chain. Before we continue, let me explain something really simple about the hotels:

The world is made up of 3 different kinds of hotels:

  • Chain hotels that are part of a large hotel group
  • Chain hotels with just one brand
  • Stand alone hotels, B&B’s and any other property not part of a group

We’ll start with chain hotels that are part of a large hotel group – you’ll find some of their logo’s printed above. These are the leaders of the hotel world (sure, I may have missed a couple), but the bottom line is that a handful of companies own and/or operate a huge amount of the hotels in the world. There are some pretty big advantages to each sort of hotel operation, and when you pick the right one, you’ll increase your chance of having an enjoyable stay.
Chain hotels that are part of a large hotel group

Chain hotels are the ones you are most likely to come across when searching for a hotel. Chain hotels are the Starwoods and Hyatts of the world. These chains have been around for years, and the largest of them operate as many as 3000 properties.

Of course, none of these companies own every single one of their locations, but they do provide marketing, booking systems and branding for anyone who meets their standards and would prefer owning a branded hotel over just another “hotel”.

The most important reason to pick a hotel that is part of a large chain is simple – consistency. Granted, a Hyatt in Spain may not look exactly the same as a US Hyatt, but the hotel will be held to the same standards as its US counterpart. Picking a consistent hotel is great if you want to feel a little more at home. There is something oddly comforting about driving through a weird city, then arriving at your favorite hotel brand. Outside may look, smell and sound different, but inside the hotel, its all vaguely familiar and reassuring.

The largest multi-brand hotel chains in the world are:

  • Starwood – operates the Sheraton, W Hotels, Aloft, Four Points, Le Meridien, Westin, Element and Luxury Collection properties
  • Hilton – operates the Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites, and Waldorf Astoria properties
  • Hyatt – operates the Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Park Hyatt, Hyatt Resorts, Andaz, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Vacation Club properties.
  • Marriott – operates the Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suite and Marriott Vacation Club properties
  • Choice Hotels International – operates the Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban, Econolodge and Rodeway Inn properties
  • Wyndham Worldwide – operates the Wyndham hotels, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate, Baymont Inn, Microtel, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Knights Inn properties
  • Intercontinental Hotel Group – operates the Intercontinental hotels, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites properties
  • Carlson – operates the Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns and Suites and Park Inn properties
  • Kimpton hotels – operates the Hotel Palomar, Hotel Monaco hotels as well as a variety of Kimpton boutique properties

These chains offer something in almost every price range – take for example the hotels that are part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group. This chain can offer you a $300/night room in their Intercontinental hotel, or a $59/night room at a Candlewood Suites. The hotel you pick will depend on the level of comfort you want, the amenities you desire and of course, your budget. Whichever way you go, this one hotel chain will have 7 different hotel brands to pick from, often with up to 30 or 40 properties within a 50 mile radius.

Hotel brands offer more variation than just price and comfort. The hot trend in the hotel world is offering lifestyle hotels. Most chains have opened, or are working on opening at least one brand of hotels focusing on a younger, hipper guest.

Starwood has been quite successful in this segment with their Aloft hotels. This spinoff from their (equally successful) W brand offers rooms in a modern environment – you won’t find the old worn carpet at these destinations. A similar brand is being developed by Starwood with a focus on extended stays – their Element hotels are a spin-off from the Westin brand, and offer rooms with a focus on healthy living. 6 Element hotels are already open, with another 20 opening in the coming years.

A good example of another new hotel brand is the Cambria Suites concept which we reviewed here on Gadling. This hotel clearly shows how a hotel operator designed a new brand, and built a fantastic hotel around it.

A great benefit of a chain with multiple brands is the ability to earn and redeem points within the chain. If you are a frequent guest at an affordable Hilton property, you can save up all those points, and redeem them for some free nights at a Conrad. Turning cheap stays into free stays at a really expensive property is a fantastic perk.

Here are the pros and cons of picking a large hotel chain with multiple brands:

PROS:

  • Consistency amongst brands
  • Ability to earn points/free stays within the various brands
  • Easy booking system for multiple brands on a single booking site

CONS:

  • Consistency tends to become boring for frequent guests
  • Prices are often higher than local unbranded options

Chain hotels with just one brand

Single brand hotel chains are owned and/or operated by just one company. Instead of offering multiple brands, they focus on one famous name, and all hotels adhere to that name and the standards set by the brand.

Best Western is a good example of this – they operate over 4000 different hotels, in 80 countries. Unlike the chain hotels mentioned previously, Best Western does this under just one name (technically they also offer several upscale properties called Best Western Premier).

The largest / most popular single-brand hotel chains in the world are:

  • Best Western
  • La Quinta Inns and Suites
  • Four Seasons
  • Mandarin Oriental

Here are the pros and cons of picking a large hotel chain with multiple brands:

PROS:

  • Large number of properties
  • Ability to earn points/free stays within the brand
  • Amenities and services are usually very consistent from hotel to hotel

CONS:

  • Often large differences in quality between various properties
  • Despite similar amenities and services, prices can fluctuate greatly between locations


Stand alone hotels, B&B and any other property not part of a group

The third and final segment of the hotel industry is the stand alone hotel. These hotels usually operate just one or two hotels under their name, and are not part of a chain or other “mother brand”. These properties vary from a 2 bedroom B&B to a 1500 monstrosity in a busy downtown area.

Stand alone hotels can often be a much more enjoyable place to stay as you don’t have to deal with corporate rules. That said – smaller chains don’t have the support and technology often found within larger chain hotels. Investments in new technology are not as common, especially in the booking and reservation systems.

Here are the pros and cons of picking a single hotel or a very small chain:

PROS:

  • Hotels often offer a more comforting environment, without the busy branding of a large chain
  • Properties can often be more personal for frequent guests

CONS:

  • Frequent guest programs are only available at one property making it harder to earn points/free stays
  • Booking systems are often primitive or hotels do not participate in large third-party booking engines like Expedia or Hotels.com

Picking the right hotel is not too hard – if you just need a hotel for your yearly trip, your most important factor is going to be availability, amenities and budget. A vacation hotel won’t be better or worse for you if it is part of a larger chain. If you are a more regular traveler, then it really does start to pay to pay attention to your brand loyalty.

With generous bonus awards and perhaps an affinity credit card, you could be on your way to a free stay after just 4 or 5 nights. I recommend signing up for every program you can, and trying to avoid staying at a hotel without being part of the frequent guest program. Even if you never stay with them again, adding your membership number to your reservation will save you the hassle of having to request the points after your stay.

If you are traveling for work, be sure to pick a hotel chain committed to offering the services and amenities you need – don’t settle for a chain that has the balls to charge for Internet access.

If you start to stay at a chain on any regular basis, you’ll slowly start to see the rewards of that loyalty. Besides the obvious stay bonus, you may be eligible for a room on a “preferred floor”, and you may even get access to the hotel lounge. To burst your bubble and dreams of the hotel penthouse – a real valued guest is someone who’ll stay with the hotel chain over 75 nights a year.

That entry level silver or gold card is going to be generally useless. Before you move all your dollars to one chain, do the math and check whether it is going to be worth aiming for the top tier. If you only have 10 nights planned all year, the platinum or diamond tier is going to be way out of your reach.

Once you do hit a high(er) tier, it may be time to shop around for a new chain. When I traveled for work, I was top tier with 3 hotel chains, but when one of them screwed up (badly), I decided to see whether brand X was interested in my business. As it turns out, they were, and a quick fax of my statement with hotel brand Y got my status “comped”, as well as some other perks that made it worth my while to switch my business.

Bottom line is that you should pick a hotel that makes you feel welcomed – if you don’t like the vibe of a specific hotel brand or chain, find something that fits your style. With so many new hotel concepts, it isn’t too hard to find the style that fits you best. You no longer have to settle for a boring room with a flower pattern comforter and a loud window mounted AC unit.

Reminder – don’t forget to enter our Peek Pronto and Marriott giveaways!

by Scott Carmichael on

Bored at work this afternoon? Why not give us a minute of your time and enter our Peek Pronto and Marriott giveaways?

By answering one simple question, you’ll have a chance at winning the brand new Peek Pronto, with 12 months prepaid service, a $320 value.

The Peek contest is here, which is also where you’ll find the fineprint for this contest. You have till Monday 5pm EST to enter.

While you are at it, there are still 3 hours left to enter our big Marriott giveaway contest, you’ll need to be on Twitter, but since the grand prize is for 50,000 Marriott points (good for up to 7 nights), it really is worth the effort! This one ends at 5pm this afternoon (EST), so hurry up!