Index for Choice hotel review thread (now hot linked!)
 

The Choice hotel review thread is up to 15 pages and a bit unwieldy.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choic...ew-thread.html

I have put the reviews together in alpha order by state. I have arbitrarily combined areas based upon my limited knowledge of geography and a cursory look at the map. I will update this index as more reviews are added.


Mongomery, AL – post # 10,
Oxford, AL – Post #47, # 68,

Bryant, AR - Post # 211

Mesa, AZ – Post # 56,
Phoenix, AZ - Post # 14, # 143, #208,

Fremont, CA - Post # 135,
Lathrop, CA – Post # 49,
Lodi, CA – Post # 62
Los angeles, CA - Post # 9, # 41, # 176,
Monterey, CA - Post # 117, # 134,
Sacramento, CA – Post # 67,
San Diego, CA – Post # 49,
San Fran / Oakland, CA - Post # 25, # 53, # 133,
San Jose, CA - Post # 136,

Colorado Springs, CO - Post # 130,
Denver, CO - Post # 21, # 128,

Hartford, CT - Post # 29,
Naugatuck, CT - Post # 45,
Windsor Locks, CT - Post # 39,

Rehoboth Beach / Lewes, DE - Post # 115,
Wilmington, DE - Post # 39, #72,

Davenport, FL - Post # 38,
Jacksonville, FL - Post # 8, # 11, # 20, # 26, # 74,
Miami, FL - Post # 37, # 116,
Orlando, FL - Post # 2, # 8, # 18, # 152,
Waldo, FL – Post # 69,

Atlanta, GA – Post # 84, # 99,
Cartersville, GA - Post # 38,
Gainesville, GA - Post # 110,
Kingland, GA - Post # 38,
Newnan, GA – Post # 99,
Savannah, GA - Post # 150,
Valdosta, GA – Post # 89,

Iowa City, IA - post # 141,

Boise, ID - Post # 21,# 81,

Chicago, IL – Post #48, # 105, Inn of Chicago, # 177,
Springfield, IL - #10,
Matoon, IL – Post # 58,

Haverhill, MA – Post # 59,# 79,
Pittsfield, MA - Post # 17,
Springfield, MA - Post # 39,

Baltimore, MD – Post # 46,

Biddeford, ME – Post # 60,
Scarborough, ME – Post # 61,

Detroit, MI - Post #159, #160,
Mackinaw City, MI - Post # 137,
Munising, MI - Post # 138,
Warren, MI - Post # 8, # 28,

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN – Post # 46, # 66,

Kansas City, MO/KS - Post # 132,
St. Louis, MO – Post # 10, # 126,

Asheville, NC – Post # 55,
Charlotte, NC – Post # 46,
Fayetteville, NC - Post # 155,
Henderson, NC - Post # 145,
Lauringberg, NC – Post # 107,
Raleigh/Durham, NC - Post # 18, # 121,
Wake Forest, NC – Post # 88,

Lincoln, NE - Post # 131,
Valentine, NE - Post #184,

Atlantic City, NJ – Post # 85,
EWR airport, NJ – Post # 76,
Fairfield, NJ - Post # 39,
Mahwah, NJ - Post # 40,

Taos, NM - Post # 27,

Lake Tahoe, NV - Post - Lake Tahoe,
Reno, NV - Post # 23,

Albany, NY – Post # 10, #32,
Buffalo, NY - post # 112, # 118,
Elmira, NY – Post # 60,
JFK airport, NY – Post # 77,
Lake Placid, NY - Post # 87,
Long Island area, NY – Post # 70, # 73, # 142,
Manhattan, NY - Post # 13, # 111,
Medford, NY - Post # 39,

Cleveland, OH - Post # 16, # 42, # 149,
Columbus, OH - Post # 8,
Hudson, OH - Post # 168,
Toledo, OH - Post # 170,

Boardman, OR – Post # 82,
Cottage Grove, OR - Post # 21,
Portland, OR – Post # 10, , # 49,

Bethlehem, PA - Post # 43,
Blairsville, PA - Post # 42,
Chambersburg, PA – Post # 75,
Fairview, PA - Post # 39,
Meadville, PA – Post # 78,
Mendenhall, PA - Post # 118,
Philadelphia, PA - Post # 39,
Pittsburgh, PA – Post # 65 (3 locations)
State College, PA - Post # 39,

Warwick, RI – Post # 91,

Charleston, SC - Post # 153,
Florence, SC - Post # 174,
Rock Hill, SC – Post # 46,#183,

Sioux Falls, SD - Post # 15,

Alcoa, TN – Post # 104,
Chattanooga, TN - Post # 139,
Johnson City, TN - Post # 33,
Knoxville, TN - Post # 22,

El Paso, TX - Post # 21,
Houston, TX - Post # 8,
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX - Post # 8, #63, # 151,
San Angelo, TX - Post # 10

Cedar City, UT - Post # 161, # 175,
Green River, UT - Post # 113,
Salt Lake City, UT - Post # 114 (4 locations),
St. George, UT - Post # 161,
Hurricane, UT - Post # 36,

Eastern Shore of VA - Post #147, #209,
Roanoke, VA – Post # 71,
Staunton, VA - Post # 173,

White River junction, VT - Post # 39,

Renton, WA – Post # 86,
Seattle, WA – Post # 80, # 83, # 90,

Canberra, Austrailia – Post # 98,

Montreal, Canada - Post # 10
Ottawa, Canada - Post # 87,
Quebec City, Canada - Post # 87,
Val D'Or, Canada - Post # 87,

London, England – Post # 100, # 102, # 105, London Rec's,

Nice, France – Post # 64,
Paris, France – Post # 92, # 105, # 119, # 120, Paris Recommendations,

Dublin, Ireland - Post #146,
Sligo, Ireland - Post # 162,

Rome, Italy – Post # 97, # 109, Rome, , # 158,

Norway - post # 31,

Stockholm, Sweden - Post # 7, # 144,

Zurich, Switzerland - Post #210,

Sapporo, Japan - Post #187,
Tokyo, Japan - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/choic...shirakawa.html

very nice! Thanks for doing this.

Good for you for taking the time to put this together ^

Linked Index
 

WARNING: it appears the BBCODE is not working properly. Although it is showing the proper post number in the banner, it is not showing the proper post.

For those more technically inclined:
Ok, did some more testing and it turns out the link is more complicated than I thought.

Mongomery, AL – Post [url=http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/9317673-post10.html]#10[/url]

I expected the 9317673 to reference the thread with post10 to reference the actual post, which in this case it is. However, changing the post10 to post23 brings up the same post (#10) and labels the post number as #23. Very confusing, but seems the way it is.

Sorry for getting your hopes up. I thought I'd try to contribute something back to FT than just posting my thoughts/opinions (as if they are valuable) on the issues that come up here.

Roger:

One hell of a lot of work in that list!

I know ... I've done stuff like that for the spreadsheets, and, after the first few, it get a little mind-numbing.

Many thanks. ^

Thank you, but the credit needs to go to Lougord99 for gathering the data, all I did was cut/paste bbcode to do the links (notepad is your friend). I will drop my post once the code is moved to post #1.

For future reference, here's how you do it:

1. Go to the post in question.
2. Mouse over to the post number in the upper right corner.
3. The mouse pointer should change to a hand.
4. Right click on it.
5. On the menu that appears, select "Copy Shortcut". This will put the url in the clipboard.

Once you have the url copied, you compose your message and do the paste/control-v trick, and you're good to go.

This is why I said it was a lot of work - you have to go to each reference.

I don't know where I found that out - it was a long time ago.

And now you know. :)

Wow, it appears the OP has been manually edited with all the hot links. Nice work, lougord99. ^ :-:

I was just about to start writing a script do that; good thing I noticed you beat me to making the changes!

Great info!

I have enjoyed staying at various Choice properties too. I really prefer Comfort Suites hotels. I usually travel within the North Florida area. So far, all of the Comfort Suites have been great.

Years ago, the Comfort Suites in Tallahassee Florida had free standing computers in every room. That was very useful before we all had our laptops and definitely before all this smart phones and tablet business. That hotel was very forward looking. I remember they had for over 8 years.

The State House Inn - Ascend Collection Hotel - Springfield IL
 

Reasons I liked this property: the location, comfort of bed, free hot breakfast, plenty of on the street parking which is free on Sat/Sun.

Location is fantastic, we were easily able to walk to Lincoln Museum, many restaurants, DanaThomas house, capitol buildings (old & new).

Bed was very comfortable & the water pressure in the shower is excellent. That said the furniture in the suite we had was very worn, old & hard.

Free hot breakfast including both bacon & sausage, eggs, toast/bagels, coffee, juices, make your own waffle.

Rooms not to choose: do NOT choose odd numbered rooms on lower floors, they face inside. The worst rooms are the odd numbered rooms on the 2nd floor which due another part of the building coming 2/3 the way up the exterior wall, as a result there is a garden level effect caused by the long horizontal windows placed near the ceiling in these rooms.

The State House Inn
101 East Adams Street
Springfield, IL 62701
http://www.ascendcollection.com/hote...llinois-IL211?
-

Comfort Suites, Paramus NJ - Awesome place, front desk people are the friendliest ever, will do anything for you. Look for Allan!

Comfort Suites, Hawthorn, NY - omg beds were.. it was like sleeping on a sack of rocks - and this is a Gold Award location. Front desk people glowered at you as you walked past.. horrible experience

Comfort Suites - Sarasota FL - New property, really, really nice, lovely people.

Comfort Inn - laurel MD - very nice, clean, nice people, good food

Comfort Suites - Chantilly, VA - wonderful beds! didn't want to get up and go to work!
Food was different to the usual fare, very nice. Welcome letter, and small box of candy was a nice touch.

So many hotels....

missing Springfield IL

Econolodge RTP Durham, NC (NC191)
 

Introduction This is my second stay at this hotel, and I can say it is the nicest Econolodge I've stayed in.Pros: Very clean room, and the biggest plus is the hardwood floors. Location is very close to shopping and restaurants (not walking distance, but a matter of minutes by car) and is right off of the highway. Price is $70/night for king bed. Fridge and MW included. Good TV and selection of channels, and the wifi was good. Shower water pressure is impressive.Cons: Breakfast is terrible. This is not a big deal for me, because I do not stay at hotels for their breakfast, but it is pretty meager. No fruit, two types of cereal, a waffle maker, gravy for biscuits that was incredibly watered down, toast, and something that is supposed to be egg patties. When I stayed during a warmer time, the parking lot seemed kind of like a party atmosphere with lots of construction and other workers hanging out and drinking. However, it was not threatening.All of the rooms here have doors that face the outside. This is the only Choice hotel that issues the receipt in the form of one that you would get at a restaurant. No biggie, just unusual. Check in and out is pretty hassle free. Air conditioning and heating units seemed up to date and low noise. They have smoking and non-smoking rooms, but since the doors are facing outside, it is an easy way for a smoker to get a non-smoking room and just walk right outside the door to smoke. The king room had two longer sized pillows, which were comfortable, but I would have preferred four regular sized pillows.In summary, I plan on staying here again if in the area. It is a much better value than the Comfort Inn that is right across the street (in terms of price and room quality). I give it a B+.

The Draper, an Ascend Hotel, 37th Street, Manhattan
 

I stayed here Saturday night of Labor Day weekend on a 30K redemption--well worth it because at the time of booking, the price was around $375 and shortly before the time of the stay, the price had risen to $800 as a lot of hotels in NY were full or close to full. I did a quick look at Booking.com and the prices, with the exception of a Pod hotel, were all over $500 per night with a large number over $1000.

Nice location in midtown on 37th near Fifth Avenue, a couple of blocks away from the Empire State Building, which I could see from my hotel room. The hotel itself is arranged in a pattern that has become increasingly familiar to me staying across several diffferent chains around Manhattan--small lobby, 20-25 stories, six to eight rooms on each floor. I was on the 19th in one of the smallest rooms ever, even for Manhattan. I estimated the bedroom, which included a king bed, at a little over 120 square feet with the bathroom probably an additional 40-50. The room is so small that the closet is a bar attached across a metal frame over the cabinet that holds a small microwave with a coffee/tea setup on top of the cabinet. You can maybe hang a half dozen garments there. The room thermostat is directly in the middle of where you hang your clothes.

The hotel has a slightly hipster vibe with lots of black, white, grey, and beige colors. My room had a set of six portraits of what looked to be Elizabethan characters, all with paint lines across their eyes. The bed was comfortable, if a bit close to the wall on one side and the floor to ceiling windows on the other. The bathroom was nice with a glass wall walkin shower, a sink, a toilet, and very minimal shelf space. This hotel is likely good for a night or so, but I'd be hesitant to spend a week here given the limited storage space. There really isn't anywhere to put your luggage other than on the floor, forcing you to step around it as you manuever from the bedroom to the bathroom.

Two elevators that were pretty quick. There's no real restaurant in the hotel and no breakfast offered, but there's one of those "market" areas with several tables located in an alcove behind it. The market was completely unstocked, however. The personnel were all nice with checkin and checkout very quick. Be aware that this is one of those properties that is aggressive about their marketing and they will pound your email and text your cell phone asking for a positive review. I understand the current social media fixation of most hotels, but I found this a bit aggravating. Nonetheless, this is a hotel that's worth using your CP points on if you need a hotel in midtown Manhattan--so long as you understand its limitations.