Interesting comments in this thread, not all of which agree with my experience. A bunch of new Hampton's built in the NW US in the last three years and I have stayed in a bunch of them. They are all almost exactly the same: new, clean, nice enough, but impersonal and nothing notable about them. I have only stayed in a couple of HGIs, but certainly prefer them to the HIs. The real difference though, if you are Gold, is the quality of the free breakfast. You get tired of the Hampton breakfast pretty quickly, and it is the same everywhere I have been. The HGI breakfast, on the other hand, is cooked to order and very good. The HGIs have also been good about giving us not only the two comped breakfasts Golds are entitled to, but also giving us a couple more when we have guests for the meal. Not expected, but much appreciated.