Boraxo

Personally I prefer the Marriott luxury brands (St. Regis, Ritz, JW) and try to avoid anything below the Premium brand category, except for AC. Even within the Premium range I find Marriott, Renaissance and Sheraton branded properties to be inconsistent - some are superb and others are tired and disappointing. I used to like RezInn and Courtyards but the standards have deteriorated and they often are frequented by downscale clientele.
What is your minimum brand cutoff?

Note related discussion here:
Interesting Brand Hierarchy

alamedaguy

Which is lower, SpringHill or Fairfield? I have 11 SpringHill stays and 7 Fairfield stays over the last 24 months.

SPN Lifer

I have no Marriott brand "cutoff" whatsoever.

Beaucoup BONV�Y! 🌴 🎶 💚

claimui

What makes AC hotels more worthwhile than Four Points, Fairfield, Courtyard etc.? I have looked at AC hotels in Europe and the rooms seemed small and sterile, and not much in the way of breakfast or elite benefits.

ftrichard

The execution of Marriott brands are so all over the place internationally that this question cannot really be answered by anyone who doesn't exclusively stay at Edition/RC/St.R properties where there's probably some greater international consistency. Even then I'm sure some readers will come up with examples of brand outliers that disprove my statement.

I've stayed at Courtyards in Asia (HK, IloIlo, Taipei) that are more luxurious, full service, and with decent lounges than I understand many legacy Marriotts/Sheratons are across the US. Then there are the specific hotels that adopt brands out of convenience or some other dark reason and do not in any way represent the brand in their own region - the Le Meridien Cyberport in HK springs to mind because it's clearly an Aloft at heart from the lobby to the room layout. And I completely fail to see what connects, for example, the Westin KL with the Westin Palace Madrid.

Some of the brands so seem to have better consistency: Aloft, Moxy, W, even Le Meridien has some hotels that feel they are connected (the cities in SE Asia for example: KL, Bangkok, Saigon). But for most of the regular core brands, no, there's little consistency and hence not conducive to defining a brand cut off. Generally, I cut off on price no matter what location so my brands are all over the place.

LIH Prem

What cutoff? There's a purpose and use for every price point.

If I'm driving cross country and need a place to sleep for the night, I shouldn't stay at a Courtyard or Fairfield Inn, but I should hold out for a St Regis?

-David

alamedaguy

Surely you'll want a butler to tend to your driving gloves?

Florida Man

For business, If I'm in a city or suburban location with full service brands available, I stick with those. But I'm often in places where a Courtyard is the best/only option (and similar options in other chains), so a Courtyard it is. I don't often wind up places where Fairfield/Springhill are the only choice, but if I were in a town where that was all there was, that's what I'd do.

For vacations, it really varies. Sometimes an interesting Luxury Collection property or a StR is great for us. Other times we're going to be on the go all day and just a decent full-service property is all we need. And we've had great experiences at some other unique hotels--for example the AC Bozeman, MT is a lot of fun because of the rooftop restaurant/bar.

KingCanute

Doesn't one's chauffeur deal with that sort of thing?

yscleo

I guess we are commoners, so not sure if we really have any "cutoff". We didn't like to Moxy Bergen, but then if all other hotels are too expensive, we'll go with what we can afford, including Moxy.

Xiaotung

No cutoff. It really depends on locations. When I go to some places in Mexico, I will be glad to check out a City Express. Same goes for Protea in Africa. And also I welcome the Four Points Express being added in Japan which at least could offer some really affordable choices.

GoSh4rks

On business: I try not to stay at anything with wall unit HVAC. So noisy.

Personal travel: I'll stay at Moxy. Anything >3.8-3.9 on the reviews I'm good with.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I try to avoid hotels that don't provide free breakfast or that provide half EQNs. Well, sometimes, I'll slum it in a Ritz or EDITION.

MaxFlyer

The new Four Point Express brand is my cut-off. The reduced EQN earn rate is the major put-off for me. Plus I would only stay at this brand if I was travelling alone and only needed it to sleep for a night.

Jiatong

It's a price thing, When the nearby LaQuinta hotels are $50 a night less than the Courtyard/Fairfield/Suites . This is due to the so-called Dynamic pricing algorithm
But, for a Luxury Marriott with an open EL (with hot food) on the weekend, I'll pay the $50 a night. Usually, the Sheraton brands have those EL's open on weekends.