I think it's Best Western offering the "3 stays and get 1 free night or 2 stays and get 1 free night if you pay with Mastercard".

We've come across some very nice Best Westerns thru-out the country...it seems they often have more local flavor (sometimes that's good, sometimes not!) than the other chains. Usually the rates are very good and include some sort of breakfast. We've found the AAA tour book descriptions to be pretty fair.

We haven't seen much in the way of benefits with the Gold Crown Club...my favorite was a parking place right next to the front door at the BW in Redondo Beach along with a free bike rental!

I've stayed in some cool Best Westerns, granted mostly 10-15 years ago. That's a much more mixed bag - more of a huge collection of loosely-organized independent hotels. But if you can determine in advance where the good ones are, you can find some real gems - even in small towns.

And when you hit a bad one run for the hills :( :eek:
A new meaning to the word bad.
And rest assured Best Western will tell you to have better luck next time should you have problems.
But thank you for your helpful comments.
I'm talking no AC during the summer,massive cob webs,odors,awful linens,
insects,dirty rooms,and prices comparable to the majors.One had better do their research in advance. I was also told by one hotel elites get nothing but points f we decide the rate is high enough.
No thanks :p

Scary

I agree with the poster who said the Choice Hotels brands tend to be significantly cheaper than the Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn and Best Western motels. I'm planning a roadtrip to the southwest and can usually get a Comfort Inn or Sleep Inn for about $60 with some modest AAA discount, whereas the more expensive "midpriced" chains seem to be in the $90 range. AAA, which tends to "overrate" Comfort Inns IMHO, tends to award them 3 stars, although sometimes only 2. You also usually get an extended continental breakfast at Comfort Inn. I've also noticed that the Choice Hotel promos tend to get you rates comparable to "mom and pop" properties, which tend to be even more modest in quality.

Obviously, none of this is as good as a priceline rate, but you usually can't get priceline if your travels take you to smaller towns -- especially those beyond the interstates. Since I'm used to staying in 3 star and 4 star hotels through priceline for much less than 90 bucks, I can't bear to pay that for a Holiday Inn Express! Choice Hotels, regardless of their frequent traveler program, is likely to get more of my business.

Hampton Inn or HI Express are the best choices
 

Hi Clipper12, welcome to FT. I second your opinion about the discount guide. These coupons will beat any AAA or AARP rate. This free Hotel Discount guide has a green cover. It is also found at most Denny's and some IHOPs. You can find out more at www.travelerdiscountguide.com. I would recommend sticking with either HI Express or Hampton Inns. Both have high speed internet for free. Hampton Inns will give HH benefits, regardless of the price, but IC properties may not if the coupon price is below the hotel's threshold for PC benefits. These coupon rates are also based on availability and may not be available on certain days. I wasn't able to score $49 Hampton Inns in the Nashville area Wednesday because they were fully booked. I am writing this from a Hampton Inn & Suites in South Bend, where I have a suite that I was able to get for the decent price of $74, since coupons were not available. I am working on my Diamond recert between IC promos for PC points. tbatty, if you travel after May 1, you may want to look at the benefits you can get from multiple nights with the IC promotions. See the IC forum. I have stayed at other chains, but quality and service are inconsistent. See the Wall St. Journal yesterday for an article about bed bugs at Days Inn properties in Canada and NC. Another reason to stay with an upper end budget hotel.

Outoftown

I second that. Both have consistent quality, and they are located almost everywhere. HI Express is normally my first choice due to their massive promos and easy status attainment. You really should check out their board (Intercontinental).

When you write "Discount Hotel" programs, I immediately thought of TripRewards & Choice Hotels - for Choice hotels, they often have promos where if you stay twice, you get a free night - and if you're driving cross-country - in all honesty I don't recommend necessarily focusing on one particular chain.

I've traveled all aroudn the US & even drove cross-country & back twice in one summer - from what I found from that experience is that when you're traveling like that, you don't want to blow the cash on the room, but on the adventure. If you look up any of the towns that you're planning on sleeping in - you can check the prices of Fairfield Inns, Hampton Inns/HGI's, Comfort Inns, etc - and you will probably find that 9 times out of 10, the Hampton Inns & HGI's are the most expensive, followed by the Fairfields, and the Comfort inns, etc.

My recommendation (as someone who's done this a few times before & is a super-budget traveler) - forgo the bigger name hotels while traveling - the highlights of the trip shouldn't be the room you sleep in, but the adventure you have. Invest 200 bucks & buy 2 sleeping bags & a decent tent. Spend at least 30-40% of your time in campgrounds (you can find camping practically anywhere west of the Mississippi) & you can do it cheap or free in most places. When you need hotel/motels, join TripRewards & Choice's program & try to stay with those places in transit stops (i.e. places where you're just staying to spend the night, not necessarily explore the towns) - when you go to bigger cities, then, maybe look for the Hampton/HGI's & Fairfield Inns - but don't get them in the city, get them in the suburbs - i.e. to stay at a select service hotel in Arlington, VA is easily 50-100 less than staying in Washington, DC - you'll have a car - use it. Use the highway exit guides (you can get these at McDonalds & Rest Areas along interstates). See what free discounts you can get too - here are some examples (from the Mileage Run Tools thread):

- 15% off Red Roof Inns - just write the number & account code down & call ahead with your cellphone when you get to a town that has a Red Roof Inn (you'll see signs along exits & maybe some billboards) -

-10-50% off Cendant hotels & 10-35% off Choice Hotels - again, just call ahead & write down the numbers & keep them in your wallet - no one will ever check for ID.

Basically, go budget - don't bother with the major brand name hotels unless you have to - all you really need is a clean safe place to crash for the night & a free continental breakfast! One major recommendation would be to apply for a credit card that gives you 5% back on gas - like the Citi Platinum Dividend card - the Chase Freedom card gives you instant gas rebates & considers many convience stores to be gas purchase too for some reason.

Another vote for Hampton Inn, especially for the free breakfast and free Wifi.

All I got as a perk in Port Huron was a bag of peanuts, a Fast Break candy bar and two bottles of water. It ain't much, but at least is something ;)

Hampton Inn and Hilton Double Tree are great. I have stayed at both and have been quite satisfied. Also, much of how you are recognized as an omni-member depends heavily on the individual property. I have been treated very well at some, and other not at all. Some have even upgraded my room prior to arrival!

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Hampton
 

I think that Hamptons,Garden Inns, and Hiltons will win out with me just because of the points and the ability to "move up the chain". I appreciate everyone's help--I have learned so much! FT rocks.

http://roomsaver.com/ has all the coupons from their printed guides on-line.

Why don't you use priceline.com to bid 1- or 2-star hotels. In most places big or small, you will get $40-45 a night including tax and fees. It's best for driving travelers, because you have big range of location choices and you can bid almost unlimited times, but you need plan your hotel stay at least one day before to get good price.

I totally agree with using priceline for a trip like this. If you can pre-plan your stops then it can really save you some money. I would stop in Amarillo when driving between DFW and Denver and could usually get a room in a name brand budget hotel for about $25-30. Same for El Paso and several other places. Priceline rocks for this type of trip. Checkout http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding as it will give you suggested successful bidding levels for many areas around the country.

Now, the HH AMEX also permits you to spend shorter consecutive periods of time on a reward stay at a discount vis a vis the per night reward rate.

Normally, you would need to stay 6 consecutive nights at a Category 5 or 6 hotel to get the best "point discount" per night for the specific property.

However, if you are a cardholder, you only need spend 4 consecutive nights at a Category 5 or 6 for you to get a very good point discount.

Although the Category 5 is 15,000 points over the 4 nights, the Category 6 discount is quite, quite good.

A six night stay yields a per night point cost of approx 29,167 point per night.

However, with the HH AMEX "AXON" 4 night code, the rate only rises to approx. 31,000 points per night.

Not only is this a significant savings, as most know, the problem with HHonors rewards is getting 6 consecutive award nights!! Therefore, this 4 night reward really helps!!