loomis

Neutrogena is the required brand of bathroom amenities for all Hampton Inns in the U.S., cheap or expensive.

Is Neutrogena considered no-name?

kdw133

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents for any HH eyes that may be watching this thread. The Hamptons are really what sets HH apart from the other programs. I travel to a lot of areas far from urban centers. HH has great coverage with Hamptons and they are consistently "good enough." Even the older Hamptons are almost always clean and well taken care of.

I had a stay a couple weeks ago in a town that had no HH hotel (a Hampton was being constructed) and had to stay in a ICH hotel. I had to ask for a new room three times before getting one that was passable but still not great. I probably only ask for a new room in a HH property a couple times a year over 100-150 nights.

Every time I think about jumping ship and going to Marriott or Starwood, it's the Hampton's coverage and quality that keep me around. So kudos to HH. Now quit devaluing our points!

arlflyer

Exactly. I hate to sound like I am giving Hilton credit just for "existing", but travelers like you and I are a big portion of the hhonors customer base. When I do travel for work it is mostly to small towns and there is no other chain with which I could consolidate enough stays to get top status. Yet with Hilton I can count on there being a Hampton, make diamond on stays, and then get good mileage out of that status when I go on vacation internationally. There is no other chain that allows me to drop a pin basically anywhere on the globe and be confident that I can earn and burn. The big-money business travelers and the points bloggers who only stay in major cities may be in love with Hyatt, and the perks are certainly better than Hilton's, but for a lot of folks it is Hilton or bust if they really want to keep it all under one roof.

davie355

Neutrogena is not what I get... http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8VTrDjLvPH...s1600/Set3.jpg

CMK10

Are you still getting those? I haven't seen those in months, maybe years.

Sisosig

Agreed. It's a Hampton Inn, but the few I have stayed at, had rates that are on par with Hiltons, but still they had empty soap pumps or empty remote control batteries.

I always carry spares of the aformentioned items, so not a real big deal, exept for my feet starting to avoid them.

arlflyer

Agreed; throwback! Sounds like someone accidentally added an extra zero to their order a while ago. Definitely all Neutrogena at places I've been to in the past year or so.

cornfedcowboy

I agree that the Hampton Inns are fairly consistent and pretty good. The comparative product for other chains is quite poor. Fairfield Inn for Marriott are usually OK but seem very sterile to me. The Holiday Inn Xpress is like rolling dice. Some are terrrible. Some are OK. All the beds are awful though at HIXpress.

Zeeb

I actually like the Neutragena stuff that Hamptons have the best out of the various brands.

In my experience Hampton has the most consistent standards among the Hilton brands. They might not be the top of the line, but you know what you're going to get when you book a room at a Hampton. At a Doubletree or a Hilton it is a total crapshoot.

timfountain

I only have two problems with Hamptons. One is that they are typically newer and built to a budget, which in my experience equates to a lot of neighbor noise. Second issue is purely subjective, but I find their pillows to be unusable. They re hard and made out of synthetic material which makes my head sweat like a pig.

Breakfasts are also pretty average at best.

WoofusMaximus

I've stayed at a few different Hampton or HI&Suites lately and they've all been pleasant, been upgraded at a couple, and have been pleasantly surprised. (went to Dobson NC for a vineyard trip to meet some friends, that was a very nice one FWIW) The rates, even for the one with a partial renovation in the kitchen happening, have been quite good.

Even the most "tired" one was clean and comfortable, and had a good staff.

The one FP I've been to, in Pineville NC, wasn't bad. Rooms were good there, plus was put on the SPG floor. YMMV.

WM

pinniped

HGI is my favorite of the lower-end HH brands, but for a rural stay I'll take Hampton every day over Fairfield, Four Points, or any of the other random motel brands out there.

Holiday Inn Express is tolerable to me if I'm going even more rural than the Hamptons tend to go. (Yes, HIX goes even deeper into the boonies than Hampton, Fairfield, or 4P.) But if HIX and Hampton are next to each other, and both are reasonably new builds, than I'll pick Hampton every time even if it's a few bucks more expensive.

StayingHomeIsBetter

My only (consistent) complaint with ... I prefer to drink out of anything other than a paper cup. Glass, plastic, whatever... but not paper.

formeraa

Then, it sounds like you need to stay at a full-service hotel that has such amenities.

pinniped

I remember once here a couple years ago I mused about how much waste the daily breakfast process at all of these limited-service hotels was generating. (Across all brands/chains...) They all have some sort of "green" theme in their marketing, or at least when they're trying to get you to reuse towels, yet they all use Styrofoam plates, paper cups, plastic utensils, etc., generating huge amounts of garbage every day. In fact, it's so much garbage, that it often overflows the available bins in the dining area.

People generally responded that I was asking for a full-service amenity. I guess... But if I'm drinking out of paper cups, I have to admit I'm not all that motivated to hang up a dirty towel.