Originally Posted by Kremmen

I treat travel as a value judgement. Non-chain hotels are often more interesting and cheaper. It is easy enough to get a good idea which ones from tripadvisor. If I'm staying a week somewhere, I may well choose an independent hotel.

However, there are some exceptions to this:

* In cheap countries, per-stay or per-night promotions from chains might mean you make back most or all of what your stay is worth. (e.g. IHG's Accelerate or Accor's 6k pts for 3 stays.) I am easily swayed by being able to stay somewhere effectively almost for free.

* Status perks can be enormously valuable. Most non-chain hotels shove you out before noon. If I have a 6pm flight, I consider it quite valuable to be able to come "home" in the afternoon for a shower and a snack in my room before a 4pm checkout. SPG or IHG or Accor will give me that for free, instead of having to pay for another night's accommodation.



You know what else isn't comparable? Accessibility and information about accessibility. It's immediately obvious if you check room types that the Hilton Garden Inn has accessible rooms. The Bellevue doesn't appear to even mention wheelchairs or accessibility anywhere at all. I guess the property doesn't care and the anti-discrimination laws there are poor or ineffective. Maybe the hotel is too small to have been sued, unlike Hilton. However, poor information systems and discrimination are reasons some people avoid such hotels and go for a chain which has some accessibility standards.