Originally Posted by
squeakr
We often stayed at Hamptons for last minute weekend trips but as another poster mentioned, they are very attractive to kids sports, teams family groups etc. so now we prefer HGI as a little more adult oriented overall
This must again be a "lucky me" thing, but I found Hamptons (most of my stays being rural/exurban next to an interstate, obviously appealing to road-trippers) to be much more dominated by the 55+ leisure road tripper market. That's fine by me, as they're not exactly having wild parties in the hall at 2 AM. They also tend to have better buffet manners.
Originally Posted by
mikef07
My problem with Hilton is I can't think of one major US city where a Hilton exceeds that of what is offered by Marriott, Hyatt, or SPG. The only one I can think comes close is and might actually exceed is Salt Lake City. LA, SF, Portland, Seattle, Boston, San Antonio, Austin, Phoenix, San Diego, Vegas, Maui, Honolulu, Miami, Boston, NYC, Chicago, Denver, OKC, Kansas City, Atlanta, etc all lack from a Hilton point of view.
I find Hamptons far exceed Springhill or Fairfields but I personally rarely stay in rural areas anymore.
Name a city, and I will take the local Westin over the local Hilton ANY DAY. I've always been more impressed with Westin's breakfasts, food, rooms, interior decorating etc over Hilton (barring the Hilton Atlanta, I liked them).
Originally Posted by
DiverDave
Breakfast is not complimentary at HGI. You pay or select it as your Gold or Diamond property benefit.
Formerly I thought it was impossible to make a bad chocolate chip cookie, but numerous DT properties have soundly proven me wrong on this point.
This is my experience, and one of the reasons I like DT.
But a recent negative is I think Hilton has eased up on DTs having lounges, so a lot of them have been closed.
In general I think Hampton Inns are good, but there are some truly nasty older HI properties in rural areas.
I would like HGIs a lot better if their window units were quieter.
ES I mostly like. Spend many nights at the ES Lompoc which finally upgraded its rooms to be pretty nice, but left the breakfast area too small. The ES Huntsville is pretty nice, and the ES in Ventura is my favorite.
David
Yeah, the DT giving the full automatically is pretty good (barring the one in Waikiki, but that's Hawaii for you). That said, DT as a brand prices its restaurants/room service much more aggressively. Here in Vegas, breakfast is $12.95. That's not the Greasy Spoon Special for $5.95 at a diner, but they're obviously targeting a wider (ie including leisure travelers) demographic beyond the expense account corp travel that either has status or doesn't care about paying $24.95++ for coffee, eggs, and a croissant.
Am I the only one who doesn't see lounges as a benefit?
Funny you should mention the ES Lompoc. I stayed there last year in the middle of renovations. I got an upgraded room. I saw the old ones. I really don't care too much about room decor...but oh my God...that upgrade was needed.