Choice Privileges - Clarion Anaheim should be bulldozed

Jeez, this is Choice Hotels' top-tier brand?? Just read the TripAdvisor reviews. It is that bad. Don't they care at all about their brand and its reputation??

Well, I don't know if I'd call the Clarion brand "top-tier", at any rate, all that simply means it's its a tier with certain features (like a restaurant) that other Choice brands don't have, not that it's necessarily any better quality.

Since in the US Choice has only one brand (at least of the brands that have been around a while; I'm not familiar with the newest brands that much) with "hotel" services like a restaurant, etc, you can't expect it to be "top-tier" quality just because of that.

Short answer; I don't know how much "they", Choice, care about specific properties.

My experiences at Clarions haven't been what I would call indicative of top-tier. I have better luck at Comfort Suites.

I avoid Clarions and Qualitys like the plague.

Though to be fair, I think the "remote' Clarions are better than the urban Clarions. The Clarion in Wilmington, DE was pretty scary....

I avoid Clarions and Qualitys like the plague.

Though to be fair, I think the "remote' Clarions are better than the urban Clarions. The Clarion in Wilmington, DE was pretty scary....

I'm also a pass on Qualitys (even w/and Suites), I won't even bother checking reviews online (same goes with Rodeway). Some Clarions I will take a look at, I do have more positive experiences than negative in them. Also, good assessment on the remote as opposed to urban, one Clarion in Delaware as well, located in New Castle off I-95 before Delaware Bridge was almost immaculate.

I think Choice would consider Cambria their "top" tier. So far every one I have stayed at has been a new build and they compare very favorably with HGI and Courtyards. I've seen more than a few Clarions that were reflags of another brand and they weren't usually reflagged for a good reason.

I concur that the more remote properties holdup better. For example, Madison, Wi has an all suites Clarion that is quite decent, though interestingly enough for the brand it has no proper restaurant.

Many of the re-branded Clarion's and Quality's were rundown Holiday Inns, Sheraton Inns, or Hilton Inns.

I think Choice would consider Cambria their "top" tier.
Well, there is no Cambria within 50+ miles of Anaheim. In fact, there's not even a Sleep Inn either. (I can't figure out how to search to find where the closest one is. The closest Sleep Inns I've stayed in are in Utah!) LA/OC seems to be only Comfort, Quality, and Clarion, plus the "reduced earning tier" properties such as Rodeway and Econo.

Many of the re-branded Clarion's and Quality's were rundown Holiday Inns, Sheraton Inns, or Hilton Inns.

This is a good observation. Especially the Clarion-Holiday Inn link. I've seen a lot of hotels that were once Clarions that turned into a "mid-low tier" Holiday Inn. I've also seen many that once used to be a Holiday Inn that evolved (devolved?) into a Clarion. Not just one occurrence either, I count at least 8 different properties that I've stayed at that have this link.

Jeez, this is Choice Hotels' top-tier brand?? Just read the TripAdvisor reviews. It is that bad. Don't they care at all about their brand and its reputation??

Did you stay at the property? Tripadvisor has an awful rep over here for fake reviews and lies.

Tripadvisor has an awful rep over here for fake reviews and lies.
You have to know how to read Tripadvisor.

One tip is to throw out both the very best review and the very worst review.

An alternate tip is to only pay attention to reviews from reviewers who've given reviews to enough other proprerties (you can click to see that) and that they're not all one tone (not all super-postiive reviews and not all super-negative reviews).

Also, pay attention to the type of person writing. I ignore all the reviews that lambast the hotel for supposedly not correctly honoring some reservation they made through Expotwirotelsocity.com. I never make reservations at chain hotels other than through the hotel chain website (thus choicehotels.com for Choice), and 99% of the people who report reservation problems on TripAdvisor made those reservations using IMHO a much more dubious third-party method.

You have to know how to read Tripadvisor.

One tip is to throw out both the very best review and the very worst review.

An alternate tip is to only pay attention to reviews from reviewers who've given reviews to enough other proprerties (you can click to see that) and that they're not all one tone (not all super-postiive reviews and not all super-negative reviews).

Yep. Just last week, I read a review on Yelp or Tripadvisor that complained that the hotel had not given 8 free breakfast vouchers because they had 8 people in the room. Whether a clueless idiot, a prankster, a liar, or someone with totally unrealistic expectations of what hotels are about, the writer of that review carried no weight with me.

I'm generally looking for themes. Do a lot of folks mention the hotel is in a bad area of town or appears to be poorly kept? I tend to dismiss those who see a spider or a bug or a hair someplace, but I am looking for multiple reviewers who might mention a musty odor or peeling wallpaper or an unsafe part of town. You can't even be certain you've got a correct view then, but I think that it's valuable that Tripadvisor allows the posting of pictures. And some of those are worth a thousand words.