Do you think staying at an expensive hotel usually impresses your business colleagues? For example, are you more likely to get a contract if your business associates know you're staying at The Four Seasons and not Holiday Inn?

I'm also wondering if this varies from country to country.

Personally, I don't find it makes any difference. (Am UK-based, working with customers across mainland Europe). The customer tends to be split between confusion that I stay at a hotel in town rather than the one in the middle-of-nowhere business park near the office, and admiration that I generally manage to get a rate that's roughly half what they pay when they put their own guys from other sites up in the same place.

I am not sure...have you thought that the reverse may be true too?
"Look at that salesman, he must be paying $9721.38 a night for his hotel, imagine how poor their on-budget record must be / how big a discount we can get off them by stressing how well they do." Being somewhat stereotypical, I'd almost expect German/Scandinavian/Dutch people to think like that!

I traveled extensively for business for many years, and always sought very middle-of-the-road hotels. Usually mainline Marriotts or Hiltons. Nice places, but not so nice that a client might think "Why am I paying for that hotel?" Nor did I do the flipside - stay at the HoJo - and have clients wonder other things about our company.

I always felt that the 3-star hotels sent the right message to anyone who actually cared: our company treats its traveling employees well but cares about your expenses. Rates for most cities were typically good - $130-150/nt. in the pre-Priceline era.

You would think that clients shouldn't care about the brand as long as the rate is good, but for whatever reason some do. I guess it's a pet peeve for some people, as irrational as we all might think it is. Same goes for rental cars - I've politely declined some very sweet upgrades from Hertz because I didn't want a client to see me rolling up in a Lincoln - even though I paid the regular F rate.

I guess that would depend what business you're in and if it caters to the high, middle or low end of the market. If you're in the luxury biz (i.e. representing Cartier, LV, Bentley and the like,) then yes, where you stay definitely matter. Kind of like the clothes you wear when you go into a business meeting.

I'm with pinniped - cheap corporate rates at the local Marriott show the ability to get value for the money. I have stayed at a Four Seasons visiting client CEO/board, but I felt out of my realm.

He he...that's another topic, another forum, but I have some funny stories about that one! When I started in the business consulting biz, we were given a freaking manual about how to dress at the client site. (This was back in the all-suits days.) Long story short: don't wear a $1000 suit; don't wear a $99 suit. Both evoke negative emotions in clients, rational or not. Basically, we were given discount cards to a very middle-of-the-road menswear store in town and told to go buy very conservative, medium-quality suits. I was 21 at the time - that was fine with me.

Kind of funny looking back: the fact that they had that manual to begin with means that, without guidance, people will show up to work in gear from all ends of the quality spectrum!

A lot of the places I travel only have one or two hotel choices. In northeast Iowa recently, my only choice was a Super 8. As Super 8's go, it was decent because it was nearly brand new. But did you know, BTW, that you pre-pay at the Super 8? And they don't give you shampoo?

I was also going to add that while hotel choice may not matter to those I am visiting, I have experienced some negative emotions from fellow employees over hotel choices. One colleague complained to the boss that I chose to stay in expensive hotels (a mainline Hilton at an airport location) while another colleague complained that I stayed at the airport hotel instead of the nicer hotel downtown! Many of my colleagues are shocked that I would ever stay in a Super 8 (although I only do when it's the only thing around) or even a Country Inn or a Holiday Inn Express - while other colleagues can't believe how extravagant I am to choose the Courtyard over the Hampton or the mainline Holiday Inn over the Fairfield. I look for the least expensive hotel about which I am most confident of getting a good night's sleep and an invigorating shower in the morning, and nothing more. Sometimes that's the $200 a night palace and sometimes it's the $65 highway motel.

I once won a big project partly by mentioning that for the pitch trip, I had stayed at a nearby Hyatt that I'd Pricelined for $28. As the presentation broke up and we were chatting, I gave them the www.biddingfortravel.com URL. When they called to award me the gig, they said they were impressed with a consultant who knew how to travel in relative comfort AND watch his overhead so carefully.

I never stay in Super 8s or Red Roof Inns or any Cendant property if I can avoid it. If not Pricelining I think Courtyards/Hamptons/HGIs send the right message: I am not in penury and have my self-respect, but I don't need a $12.95 pot of coffee.

Every day, I learn something useful on FT. It's only mid-morning, and now I have today's nugget!

I do about 5 roadside motel stays a year. I typically try to do Hampton Inn first, Fairfield Inn second, and if I'm dog-tired and neither of those is around, I just pick the one that looks the newest. (I've stayed in some passable Sleep Inns, Holiday Inn Expresses, and even a decent Motel 6 or two.)

I can kind of figure out from the lighting in the parking lot and the condition of the building whether it's going to be a place where I can sleep or a place where I will be awakened at 2AM by the keg party in the room next door. I'm sure you, with your NE Iowa travel, have become an expert at this as well!

This is the situation I faced...

My 8 am next day meeting would have been at least 2 hours drive from the nicer hotels in Cedar Rapids, which meant a 5 am wakeup after arriving at 11 pm night before. So I drove on. My choices, as I departed from the highway toward my meeting destination, were to stay in one of the following:

Urbana, Iowa - Only a Super 8, 1 hr drive in the morning.
Independence, Iowa - Only a Super 8, 40 min drive in the morning.
Olewein, Iowa - Only a Super 8, 25 minute drive in the morning.
Fayette, Iowa - Only an AmericInn (which I know nothing about, but they advertise rooms for $39.95 and up, which was a bad sign), 10 minute drive in the morning.

I stopped in Urbana as I exited the highway and got gas and a bottle of H20. I asked the gal behind the counter what she knew about hotels between here and there, and she suggested the Super 8 right there next door because it was only a few months old. So I decided it was my best bet, and I only had an hour's drive in the morning. Besides, the night clerk at the Gas N Go in Urbana, Iowa would know all about hotel quality, right?

So from this experience, I discovered that the Super 8 is prepaid, with no PPV movies, no long distance available and free local/800 calls. No opportunity to run up any charges besides the room fees. And it was $49.95 plus tax. Also discovered the lack of shampoo, but I had my own anyway. And then I didn't get my wakeup call the next morning, so I had to push my 8 am meeting to 9 am. And for good measure, I've since been told that the AmericInn in Fayette, Iowa, is a pretty nice place and also brand new. Maybe I'll stay there next time...

I thought all hotels were pre-paid!

I got tired of dealing with hotel alarm clocks or worrying about a wake-up call that doesn't happen, so I bought a watch with an alarm.

When I visit a new client, which includes new locations of old clients, I ask where they recommend staying. They generally name the hotel where they'd put up a visiting customer, so it tends to be convenient and at least good. They also often have a negotiated rate, but even if they don't, they can't complain about "lack of cost-consciousness" and it conveys an appropriate image.

Actually, nearly every hotel takes your credit card number and gets preapproval from your bank for the amount of the room charge plus a certain percentage over that. This is to cover things like telephone charges, pay movies, room service, or other things charged to your room, or to cover any potential charges for damages or theft. That's why when you checkout, you either have to settle up the bill at the desk or use express checkout, by which the hotel has the right to charge you after you leave if there are any additional fees to be recouped.

And I nearly always set the alarm on my cell phone, but for some reason this time I didn't. (sound of Boofer kicking himself)

Just a word on AmericInn: http://www.americinn.com/

These have actually been some pretty reliable places for me. They have very quiet rooms and you'll know why, if you ever happen to catch one under construction. All of the interior walls in between the rooms are made of concrete block. They always had clean pool areas and well-kept common areas. Rooms are unspectacular, but it's a LOT better than a Motel 6. I would put it on par with something on the order of an HI Express.