I would rethink that.

With the current downturn in economy and travel in particular, the various chains are approaching the situation differently. Courtyard has always been the least-competitive brand in their segment, as your original post pointed out. Other chains have been having promotion after promotion to get the business traveler's business. Holiday Inn Express in particular is going through a brand upgrade and the Priority Club is having some agressive specials, such as the aformentioned 2 stays/1 free night promo. You should check out what is out there right now.

I'm with you there, but on the other side of the fence. I almost always book IHG properties because they have better worldwide coverage where I go. I only started collecting points at MR because there's a FI/RI next to the home office that I visit once or twice a year. Also, I participate in their promotions but just enough to get the bonus points, nothing else.

For me, the draw was booking a room in downtown Chicago over a week during a very large convention where hotel rooms in the 1-2 star range were going for 229/night and up for 141/night. I can get my own breakfast and if I talk nicely to the front desk, they may even throw in internet for me. But if they don't, I can find it nearby for nothing. I certainly will take the $60 or up savings per day (not including taxes) for a decent room.

I have had occasion to stay at a couple of different Courtyards on weekends this spring and had good experiences.

It starts with very cheap weekend rates (less than $100 in all cases, as low as $79).

The first one handed me a bag with a bottle of water and granola bar when I checked in, although I am only a silver. Nice touch and next expected.

The breakfast is fine and cheap enough. One of the places I stayed charged less if you only had continental and no hot food.

The rooms are nothing amazing, but spacious and comfortable enough.

I like the free internet.

The brand itself seems to be conflicted. There are some downright awful old Courtyards out there. I was in one a couple months ago outside of Dallas that had the new lobby renovation, but it was still a very stale property with average-at-best rooms.

Yet I also know there are some excellent near-FS Courtyards out there. It seems like the newer developments are moving this way: with lobby bars/restaurants open late and other amenities you'd see in a regular Marriott.

It's definitely the brand I avoid as a Platinum. The lack of points on incidentals bugs me almost more than the lack of breakfast itself. I generally consider most hotelfood in this world overpriced, so the 20% discount (valuing MR points at 1c apiece) takes a little bit of the sting out. That's great that CY is including bars/restaurants now: how 'bout letting us earn points there?

If Marriott is seriously upgrading this brand, they should at least rethink these two issues (incidental earnings and breakfast for G/P members).

i have moved
 

A lot of my former Courtyard stays to Springhill Suites, you get the full 10 points per dollar and a suite style room with a small kitchen. Plus free breakfast and wireless Best of both worlds in my book. Decor is a little strange though.

I run into the same problem in my travel areas. Look at Hesperia, CA for example. In the same parking lot you have a Courtyard and a Summerfield Suites. I can pay the same rate at either hotel, with Summerfield giving me a bigger room and free breakfast in the morning. Now I have to compare that with the Homewood suites 1 mile up the road, that gives me a much larger room than either Marriott property, more free breakfast choices, free light dinner and drinks – almost the same services as an Embassy Suites. Or The HGI across the highway that gives me cooked to order breakfast, discounts for having dinner at their restaurant and manager's happy hour with free drinks. All of them provide free internet. Most of my work travel is in secondary markets that do not have full service hotels, so in these markets Hilton with their HGI, Homewood suites and Hampton Inns provide better experiences, although their promotions are lousy.

What? You don't like the day-glo orange sofa? :D

Actually, I might be staying at a CY this weekend. Am contemplating the CY Fairfax near DC. Newly renovated and although the guest details don't state it, I have confirmed with the Front desk that all rooms have a mini fridge in them. $20 Visa promotion room runs this weekend at approx $75 with taxes.

Comes out to $55 after the gift card, and the stay will count towards free night promotion. Not too shabby, I think.

No thanks....
 

I'm on my 8th year of traveling for business. I've had some great mentors, believe me. They are all retired now though....

I travel for one reason (mostly). It affords me and my husband some really unbelievable experiences in different countries that we would not normally be able to enjoy. Before I started traveling for work (i.e., earning points), we had just taken our 11th cruise. We wanted something new and different so we decided to take land vacations, via points.

We've stayed virtually free at the Cabo Hilton (3 times), Cancun Hilton, Conrad Dublin, Park Lane Hilton-London, Amsterdam Hilton, Budapest Hilton, Barbados Hilton, Rome Cavalieri and Hilton Sorrento. I have to say that I never saw a Holiday Inn property that would even begin to sway me. I'm not saying there aren't amazing Holiday Inn properties, but in my experience, it's the Hilton's and Marriott's that attract me. Actually, SPG is quite attractive--property-wise, but there simply are not enough of them where I travel.

So, I do stand by the Courtyard statement...if that is the only Marriott around, and there are no Hilton's in sight, give me the Courtyard.

Dawn

Dupe. Sorry

Yep; nothing like staying at a rundown CY or bottom of the barrel Fairfield to maintain Marriott elite status (I've done it, and will be doing it next week). But then I get to sit back and relax and enjoy a nice weekend at a Marriott or Ren, knowing I'll be able, as a platinum, to enjoy the concierge lounge or a nice comped breakfast. Oh, I forgot; nevermind.

I prefer Courtyards to Residence Inns because in the latter, I'm always the one sleeping on the pullout couch. :mad:

This thinking and behavior is EXACTLY what loyalty programs and Elite status were created to promote! Ignore common sense and current comfort for the PROMISE of something better in the future! And I'm just as guilty too in the past. But no more thanks to Marriott diluting if not killing off any tangible weekend PLT benefit...

Not that bad....
 

It's not like we are talking about a rat infested drug-invaded Motel 6 on the highway somewhere--where there are more people sleeping in their cars in the parking lot than there are in the paid beds!

It's not THAT bad...but it is all relative actually. And if you read tripadvisor, which I'm sure that you do (we all do), what's one man's haven is another man's rat-hole infested dump!

So, while it may not be the Taj Mahal, you know for the most part, what you are getting and some minimums to expect.

If there is nothing else around, then what are you going to do? I mean really, if there is nothing but a really low-end Courtyard (remember, someone else's luxury weekend), then chances are, you reallly aren't giving anything up because there isn't anything else around in the area for which you have to travel.

I don't think anyone is talking about pleasure travel...this is for business and sometime's you don't always have the luxury of picking and choosing your locations. With that said, I am finding more and more, that I have more Marriott's to pick from than Hilton's--which was not my experience 6-7 years ago. I think partly it is because of the new locations that I am traveling to.

Dawn