BEWARE of Comfort Inn and other Choice Hotels!

I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

So...always a safer bet to steer clear of Choice Hotel brands,
especially
Comfort Inn...!

"Webmaster at DisComfortInn.com" wrote in
message
...
I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

I suspect this note was just to get folks to visit your website, but even
as that newsgroup shows:
"Hotel properties are individually owned and operated by independent
franchisees of Choice Hotels International, Inc."

I travel up/down the east coast every winter ( 2 months or so) and when I
need a hotel, I USUALLY stay at one of their places every night.( getting
'frequent stayer points' which I redeem for free rooms along the way) I've
have had BAD ones. A few Super 8's, and 2 Comfort Inns. I wrote to cust
service via website and gotten letters telling me that that have refunded
my money. ( I'm sure they just pushed it down to franchisee.) Sure 'nuf , a
credit soon appeared on my Mastercard. Try complaining officially. From the
Comfort Inns I also got notes from local owner "explaining why" things were
bad. As far as I was concerned there wasn't an excuse - but I got their
attention - and more important to me - the chain knows about " the bad
owner/property".

BTW, I have had a LOT of bad experiences with Best Westerns too - especially
in "tourist areas". Cleanliness and - a big thing with them is - adding
"fees" : charging for 'normally free items' . In FLA a common charge was a
'Resort Service Fee'. I've confounded the desk clerk by " what exactly is
that?". Basic answer = " I cannot not charge you that fee sir ". Well then
change the electronic billboard in front of the place and " add the fee to
the amount posted". If I've been driving a lot and there's a BW with a good
price displayed I'll stop, but I ask up front for all of their charges.
Often "the place next door is cheaper" once the fees are considered.

Webmaster at DisComfortInn.com wrote:
I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

So...always a safer bet to steer clear of Choice Hotel brands,
especially
Comfort Inn...!

So you had a bad experience at one, independently owned, franchisee of
Choice Hotels. I've had similar experiences at units of Holiday Inn,
Embassy Suites, La Quinta, Motel 6, and Hilton. What you need to
understand is that each property is independently owned and managed. The
affiliation with a specific brand is for marketing, sales, and logistics
purposes. The days when a chain would enforce certain standards for each
property with its name are long gone.

On Jul 31, 8:52*am, "- Bobb -" wrote:
"Webmaster at DisComfortInn.com" wrote in
...

I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

I suspect this note was just to get folks to visit your website, *but even
as that newsgroup shows:
"Hotel properties are individually owned and operated by independent
franchisees of Choice Hotels International, Inc."

I travel up/down the east coast every winter ( 2 months or so) and when I
need a hotel, I USUALLY stay at one of their places every night.( getting
'frequent stayer points' which I redeem for free rooms along the way) I've
have had BAD ones. A few Super 8's, and 2 Comfort Inns. *I wrote to cust
service via website and gotten letters *telling me that that have refunded
my money. ( I'm sure they just pushed it down to franchisee.) Sure 'nuf , a
credit soon appeared on my Mastercard. Try complaining officially. *From the
Comfort Inns I also got notes from local owner "explaining why" things were
bad. As far as I was concerned there wasn't an excuse - but I got their
attention - and more important to me - the chain knows about " the bad
owner/property".

I've had decent experiences at EconoLodge, Clarion, and Quality Inn
locations. I had one bad one at a Rodeway Inn. I understand that
it's just a franchise, so your results may vary.

BTW, I have had a LOT of bad experiences with Best Westerns too - especially
in "tourist areas". Cleanliness and - a big thing with them is - adding
"fees" : charging for 'normally free items' . In FLA a common charge was a
'Resort Service Fee'. *I've confounded the desk clerk by " what exactly is
that?". *Basic answer = " I cannot not charge you that fee sir ". Well then
change the electronic billboard in front of the place and " add the fee to
the amount posted". If I've been driving a lot and there's a BW with a good
price displayed I'll stop, but I ask up front for all of their charges.
Often "the place next door is cheaper" once the fees are considered.

Best Western? Varies from location to location as with all
franchises. The BW in Mariposa, California is great for the price.
It's a bit older but well maintained. I suspect the high occupancy
during summer (serving Yosemite) means they can afford to maintain
it. I can also recommend the BW Shadow Inn in Woodland, California,
although I would say it would be better to ask for a location on the
other side of I-5. That was a motel that was nicer than many hotels
I've stayed in.

On Jul 31, 12:48*pm, SMS wrote:
Webmaster at DisComfortInn.com wrote:
I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

So...always a safer bet to steer clear of Choice Hotel brands,
especially
Comfort Inn...!

So you had a bad experience at one, independently owned, franchisee of
Choice Hotels. I've had similar experiences at units of Holiday Inn,
Embassy Suites, La Quinta, Motel 6, and Hilton. What you need to
understand is that each property is independently owned and managed. The
affiliation with a specific brand is for marketing, sales, and logistics
purposes. The days when a chain would enforce certain standards for each
property with its name are long gone.

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The Hilton chain DOES enforce quality and consistency. My neighbor's
son is employed by them and travels to Hampton Inns inspecting and
grading them. It's also obvious that there is consistency in
training. I've only had one bad experience with a Hampton Inn and
that was due to the high humidity of Branson Missouri which caused the
outside air conditioners above us to drip on our causing dripping
noises all night. because the hotel was full they couldn't move us
but refunded our payment 100%. The Branson Hampton was independently
licensed from Hilton but Hilton still has influence over that hotel.
I think most Hilton properties are owned by Hilton (Blackstone). But
that one bad experience if of course not typical and you can't judge a
whole chain by one bad night. In my opinion, Hampton Inns are the
best value out there. Fairfield Inns by Marriott are about the same
as Hampton Inn, with Comfort Suites and Holiday Inn Express coming in
a notch below. The Hilton quality seems to continue even though the
properties were acquired by the Blackstone Group, which also operates
La Quinta (which I have little experience with).

"Shawn Hirn" wrote in message
...
In article
,
"Webmaster at DisComfortInn.com" wrote:

I had such a bad experience I put up a website to share the story:
discomfortinn.com. And it seems others have had equally bad
experiences: groups.google.com/group/choicehotels

So...always a safer bet to steer clear of Choice Hotel brands,
especially
Comfort Inn...!

Painting broad strokes is silly. I have stayed at dozens of hotels over
the years, including a Comfort Inn last month in London. The Comfort Inn
Victoria was clean. The breakfast area was fine. The staff was polite.
The room where I slept was comfortable and quiet and the room rate was
reasonable.

Comfort Inns in the UK are at a different price point that the ones in the
US.

I suspect that he is talking about the latter.

I have stayed in some Comfort Inns in the US that I wouldn't want to stay in
again, but I've also stayed in some perfectly acceptable ones.

tim