I don't know if this belongs here but...

Soon, my girlfriend and I will be driving across the country to explore the US. So we'll be needing to stay a LOT in hotels at the Days Inn/Comfort Inn/Hampton Inn sort of level. I assume it is the best to focus on what chain?

So would would be the best chain? Do any have any particularly good airline linkups?

I am a Gold VIP in Hilton, but that doesn't get you much in Hampton Inns.

On the contrary, Gold can get you a lot at many Hamptons.

I wouldn't put Days Inn in the same level as Hamptons; not too sure of the Comfort Inn chain.

I just did a three-day drive from Buffalo to Minneapolis. It's relativele easy to lay out the route and pick your favorite chain. In my case, since I was working the Marriott Megabonus promo, I looked at everything Marriott from Fairfield Inns on up, and played with the booking engine and the various promo codes until I got what I wanted at a price I was willing to pay.

Very many Hamptons provide a nice breakfast, some provide "manager's receptions" (light dinner) at night, and with your status you might very well get a bigger room, jacuzzi suite, etc. Something the other chains don't even have.

And if you stay enough times on this odyssey (check your account for the new "rolling tier" level), you might wind up the trip as a back-door Diamond!

At that level of hotel, I'd be more concerned about the quality of the properties than the rewards. That said, I like Hampton Inns over their competition - and the little perks you get with HH Gold actually aren't that bad. Nothing sucks worse than a bad motel, and you can usually find passable Hamptons wherever your travels take you.

IMHO, Fairfield Inns are not as consistent and reliable as Hampton Inns. YMMV. Four Points by Sheraton seems like a good brand, but I don't see nearly as many of them in the Midwest and West (my primary roadtripping country) as I do Hamptons and Fairfields.

Defititely Hampton. On my big road trip I made a list of all the Hamptons and would call when I started to get tired. One time someone beat me to the last room so try to call as soon as you know how far you can make it.

The free breakfast in the Morning makes the decision easy. Plus you'll be requalifying for Gold vip next year.

Been there done that go with Hampton.

I personally like Hilton Garden Inns better than Hampton Inns and the rates are often comparable. With HH Gold, you get a free continental breakfast at HGI or credit toward a more expensive one.

There are a lot of value chains available, but, I think most people would say the best quality of the value chains is probably Hampton Inn. That said, they may not have the best reward program, if that is what you are looking for.

You might find that Choice (Comfort Inn) has a better program, with bonuses available most of the time. I think they are currently running a triple points promo or triple Southwest credits, but you might need to find something more concrete as I don't stay there much.

You could also look at IC Hotels group -- which includes Holiday Inn Express. Most of those properties are as nice as the average Hampton Inn, and comparably priced. They also ALWAYS have generous promos running, which will help you earn free nights faster.

Stevekoe

As mentioned, we are not comparing apples to apples. Hampton is in a different class than Days, HoJo's, Comfort, etc. In terms of consistency, I've found that Hampton's are among the best in the lower mid-market category; however, rates tend to be much higher than Choice hotels (e.g., Comfort, Quality, Clarion) or Cendant (Days, Ramada, Super 8, HoJo's, etc) properties.

You would be best to compare Hampton's to Holiday Inn Expresses. With that said, I've found that both the Choice and Cendant frequent travel programs are inferior to all others. Their credit cards make earning a room more difficult than at a Hilton or Starwood property. In addition, I've had nothing but difficulty waiting for points to post, or having them post as points rather than miles. In all cases, the respective companies refused to re-post the points as miles correctly. With that said, points tend to take over a month to post. In addition, Choice only allows you to redeem points for hotel stays within 30 days of arrival. This can make planning a trip several months out a challenge.

I do prefer the Comfort Inn brand over the Cendant properties becuase they tend to be a bit more up to date/renovated. One never knows what one is getting with Cendant.

Fairfield Inn's are a different story becuase you have Marriott running the show, with a descent frequent stay program. Of course, it will taek quite some time to earn a free night with Marriott if you are only staying at Fairfield's.

Jerry's point about HGI's is a good one: since that's a relatively new brand, you will get a lot of clean, new buildings - in many cases priced only a few bucks above a Hampton.

Since the OP is roadtripping across the country, I assume he's doing a mix of rural/city stays, not just all rural. In that case, it's an even stronger recommendation for sticking with HHonors, as you'll probably want to "move up the chain" a notch or two in a bigger city. (The cleanest Hamptons are the rural ones.)

TTT's point about s-l-o-w earnings at Fairfields is true, but if you're going soon you could hit Marriott's Megabonus promotion, which is 5,000 points for every three stays. But given the existing HH Gold status, I'd probably just go with HHonors.

I'd highly recommend getting a AAA membership. Aside from the obvious benefits related to the roadtrip itself, it will almost always save you a few bucks a night at Hampton Inn. AAA rates are available at almost all HHonors hotels, but higher up the chain it's hit-or-miss whether it's really the best rate vs. the other promo rates available. At Hampton, it generally is the best publicly-available rate.

If going with Hampton, also get one or both of the Hilton branded no fee credit cards -- AMEX or Visa.

AMEX I think now has a 20,000 point promotion with their Hilton card.


Of course, you could always use Priceline for a number of your stays and you likely will pay much less than a chain property and if you use the EBAY portal, you can earn EBAY points that can be converted into a number of frequent flyer programs, etc., if you join points.com


Good luck!

Only caveat with Priceline is that their systems roll over to the next day at some point early in the evening. (I think it's 6PM, but unsure which time zone.) So if you want to use PL, you probably have to make your decision on how much farther to drive by late-afternoon and then give 'em a phone call (unless you happen across a WiFi zone). You can't be sitting outside a Hampton Inn at midnight, on the phone with PL placing bids.

Perhaps the Travel Bidding board has more specific info...

Since you are driving I suggest you stop at state rest areas and pick up"traveler discount guide". These contain coupons for unsold rooms, just call the hotel first to find out how booked they are and tell them you have a coupon. We travel every weekend Feb. through May and have stayed at Hilton Garden for as low as $58.00 a night. Hampton Inn is featured as well as all the others mentioned.

I've had some bad experiences with some of the lower tier hotels (Choice & some Ramada's) when it comes to internet access. Often your only choice is a noisy dialup modem, which is almost like no internet access.

I've stayed 9 times at an HI last year (my Gold lapses this month) and the reason I chose them again and again was not the water, goodies, etc. but a consistently quiet place, breakfast, and a decent high speed internet access.

Even as a Silver, I'll continue using HI.

I have that problem at many, many fine hotels. Fortunately, this is getting better with more Wi-Fi across the brands.

Even worse is if the hotel has any kind of nonstandard PBX system. The last time I had to use dialup at a Doubletree, I was pulling 9600 baud. It would have been faster to use a carrier pigeon to check my email.

One of those chains has a 3 stays and get 1 free night or 2 stays and get 1 free night if you pay with Mastercard in a television ad. I thought it was Choice but I may be wrong.

If you like your HHonour status, Hamptons are decent and you might stay enough to renew your gold or even get Diamond. If staying at Hampton for 1 night, I found the best choice for me is .5 credit on WN under points and mile.