djp98374

I know many hotels are built andown separatly and then contracted with a brand name.

What I was referencing was why there are no Marriotts in some of the national Park gateway towns. The Marriott could easily push to attatch its name to an existing hotel.

Amazing how you can go to a newly built Fairfield Inn on the east coast and west coast and looking strikingly similar---I wonder the luck in that.

jrsinpdx

My $0.02 on some of the previous posts:

Zion: The best/closest Marriott is St George, UT. CY, TPS & FI. Only about an hour from the park. Cedar City FI is good for the Kolob Canyons section of Zion.

Yellowstone: The SHS in Rexburg is considerably closer than the Idaho Falls properties.

Bryce: Rubys Inn is showing it's age. Stay across the street at the BW Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel. Only a few years old and they have a great breakdast buffet.

If you want to visit Bryce & Zion & the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, IMHO the BW in Mt Carmel Junction best fits the bill. Cheap (my last stay there was $61.00/night) and on a golf course.

JRS

SkiAdcock

Yup - knew that & was going to post similar, but blanked when I did my post above.

My sister almost got transferred to the Mall in DC, but she decided that was a bit too populated & she preferred places like Teton, Sequoia, Cascades.

Cheers.

djp98374

She an NPS ranger?

One thing that bothers me is that some locations that are national parks or monuments are not operated by the NPS but instead by BLM(Escalante, Vermillion Cliffs) or the Forest Sevice (St Helens, Oregon Dunes)

socrates

The issue isn't putting your name on a building or having the building look the and the services to be the same....the issue is the ROI for the developer, if MI was willing to reduce their fees you'd see their brands in many more locations but MI feels their brands are premium brands (when compared to the compset) and should carry a premium cost to use them....

SkiAdcock

Off-topic:

She was a NPS ranger at Teton, Sequoia & Cascades, and I was lucky enough to visit her for 2 weeks over the holiday season & a week in the summer each year. All beautiful parks & I got to learn a lot about the park service/behind the scenes. Unfortunately she died 3 years ago due to breast cancer.

This is going to come out wrong but hopefully you know what I mean: "real" nat'l parks are definitely run by NPS. But others which are in forests/recreational areas or are monuments are/can be run by BLM or FS. Vermillion is a nat'l monument. Oregon Dunes is a nat'l recreational area located in a nat'l forest. The BLM & FS allows for 'mixed use', hence you'll see boating and/or ski resorts located in some of them. The NPS does not allow mixed use.

BTW - the NPS & FS/BLM feel about each other like University of Michigan & Ohio State feel about each other

My sister had a lot of 'stoo-pid tourist' stories. I thought she was exaggerating, but I got to see some of them happen for myself & she wasn't kidding!

On-topic:

I think socrates probably has it right, in addition to the geography issue on some of the larger parks. If one is going to go to a lot of nat'l parks & not camp or stay at lodges, joining Best Western or Holiday Inn programs might be a good idea.

Cheers.

djp98374

I am not saying for a four star marriott be built there.....Hilton and Holiday Inn are able to have Hampton Inn and HI Express in locations. Wyndam also has access to these locations through its lower have brands. FI is a similar brand to them.

The funny thing the lower level chain hotels can get away with a higher hotel rate if they are near National Parks. Thus the higher room rates, which would abe a pct of cost, would be more than adequate. The fact Marriott doesnt goes back to what another poster said--they are anti-national parks.

socrates

Room Rates have nothing to do with the location of a certain flagged hotel...the ROI does....Wyndham brands certainly have value but that value is far below what Hilton, Marriott, Starwood or Hyatt brands have (IMO - I've looked at the brand contribution several different ways many many times - the brand contribution just isn't there)....and I can tell you the costs associated with Wyndham's brands is reflective of this difference (the costs of a Motel 6, Ramada, HoJo etc are much lower than a Fairfield or Springhill)....but still most parks have a very short season so even with those high rates it makes the economics very difficult to justify some brands

bhatnasx

Agreed...the St George, UT, CY is a great hotels. Last time I backpacked the Narrows, we decided to stay in a hotel the night before (much easier to pack up your stuff in a hotel rooms at 4am than it is to break camp and repack to catch the shuttle) and it was definitely the right thing to do.

We stayed at the CY the night before - got upgraded to a suite that was probably bigger than my apartment in NYC is. They've got a great little pool area with a retaining wall rock feature - great hotel indeed.

SkiAdcock

I seriously doubt Marriott is saying let's not have any of our brands near a national park because they're - what, too pristine? I'm going w/ the ROI & other existing chains already in the area theory.

Cheers.

sdsearch

Actually, I woold suggest joining both Best Western and Priority Club (Holiday Inn/Express/etc) programs, as well as Choice, if you're going to be visiting a lot of national parks. If you're going to pay "cash" and just want to earn something, you can of course wait to join until you see who you need to stay with. But be aware, Best Western in particular is slow to earn points with, so if you might need points for a stay (some National Park adjacent BWs can have high "cash" rates in "peak" season, yet perhaps modest point redemption rates), that you might need to plan ahead.

(Tip: Some of these programs support transfer of points from Diners Club Club Rewards and/or AMEX Membership Rewards. That can sometimes be a good source for "emergency" points in a "budget" hotel program.)

returnoftheyeti

Bump the National Park Thread: There is a Fairfield Inn at the Joshua Tree National Park. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...national-park/

SkiAdcock

Cool. Cat 3.

"The Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott is the first all-suite hotel in the Morongo Basin (Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree) offering an expanded complimentary breakfast buffet, fitness center, business center and both wired and wireless internet.

Not only is the hotel located a mere 5 minute drive to both the USMC (Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center) and the Joshua Tree National Park, but also is a choice base location for activities such as; rock climbing, hiking, or even stargazing!

As a film-friendly hotel, our staff has a good scope of photo shoot areas and detailed maps for traveling. Whether business or leisure, whatever your lodging needs might be, you will be sure to enjoy the best amenities in all suites, including; a microwave, refrigerator, in-room coffee, LCD/Flat Panel televisions, a separate living area with sofa-sleeper, and a spacious work desk."

SkiAdcock

Fairfield Inn near Moab:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...-inn-moab.html

nacho

Great! I wouldn't mind seeing JTNP again.