Samster
Well-known member
Don't shoot the messenger on this one but there's a lot of competition out there in the hospitality arena....so this is food for thought.
I'm traveling this weekend to explore an area where we might "retire" to in a year or so. I booked an economy chain hotel (that we've also been using recently for some trips to another city to visit our son) online for 2 nights after I got discouraged in the B&B realm. A large upscale inn was over $300/night.
When I arrived & checked in, the clerk graciously gave me a handled bag with a note, "We think our *insert reward program* members are really SMART! Thank you for choosing us!" Inside was a premium bottled water brand and a 100 cal bag of popcorn. How much did that really cost them?
You would have thought that they gave me gold! I had driven almost 3 hours to this town from my first stop on Thursday night and then had spent about 4.5 hours looking at developments, neighborhoods, and homes. Skipped lunch so the little snack was nice and I downed the water right away.
My room has free WiFi, a desk, King bed, large bathroom with tile floor, plenty of amenities & soft towels, 32" flat panel TV, and a fridge & microwave. Nice common areas, exercise room (I used the treadmill this morning), and free, decent hot breakfast. I walked to a really good Mexican restaurant last night and when I got back there were yummy self serve chocolate chip cookies by the desk.
The local B&B had NO ONLINE BOOKING, a rate range so I didn't know exactly what the room would be for my dates, and I had to do multiple clicks to get to 360 degree room tours. Keep it simple, please! I wanted to pick the better way to stay but it wasn't the easier way to stay.
Oh, and this B&B is on the main drag with lots of traffic.....sigh.
I'm traveling this weekend to explore an area where we might "retire" to in a year or so. I booked an economy chain hotel (that we've also been using recently for some trips to another city to visit our son) online for 2 nights after I got discouraged in the B&B realm. A large upscale inn was over $300/night.
When I arrived & checked in, the clerk graciously gave me a handled bag with a note, "We think our *insert reward program* members are really SMART! Thank you for choosing us!" Inside was a premium bottled water brand and a 100 cal bag of popcorn. How much did that really cost them?
You would have thought that they gave me gold! I had driven almost 3 hours to this town from my first stop on Thursday night and then had spent about 4.5 hours looking at developments, neighborhoods, and homes. Skipped lunch so the little snack was nice and I downed the water right away.
My room has free WiFi, a desk, King bed, large bathroom with tile floor, plenty of amenities & soft towels, 32" flat panel TV, and a fridge & microwave. Nice common areas, exercise room (I used the treadmill this morning), and free, decent hot breakfast. I walked to a really good Mexican restaurant last night and when I got back there were yummy self serve chocolate chip cookies by the desk.
The local B&B had NO ONLINE BOOKING, a rate range so I didn't know exactly what the room would be for my dates, and I had to do multiple clicks to get to 360 degree room tours. Keep it simple, please! I wanted to pick the better way to stay but it wasn't the easier way to stay.