As part of my “Battle of the Budget Hotels”, I picked the Comfort Inn San Francisco Airport North for a short stay near the San Francisco airport. It’s an older style motel, but in good shape and good value in one of the most expensive areas of the country. Read my review to find out […]
If you are planning a getaway to the Northern California wine country, finding a reasonably priced hotel has become difficult. Even budget hotels frequently run over $200/night and the sky is the limit for luxury hotels. So, I was surprised to find the Comfort Inn Calistoga for $154/night mid-week and was looking forward to my
Norwegian Air is a European discount carrier how started flying across the North Atlantic, bringing fares as low as $149 one-way and an intense fare war with the legacy carriers on those routes! Flights between the US and Europe have never been this cheap – and they are about to get even cheaper! Norwegian Air
California’s Highway 1 along the dramatic coast line between San Francisco and Los Angeles is one of my favorite road trips in the world and I have done it at least 10 times. I usually stop at least one time to break up the drive, often in Monterey or Santa Barbara, but for this trip
Quality is one of the core brands of Choice Hotels with over 1,700 hotels around the world. They are priced as a midscale brand these days and their marketing is pushing modern amenities, but they have their roots firmly in the roadside motel market. Find out who they are and what experience you can expect
As part of my “Battle of the Budget Hotels” tour of America, I booked a stay at the Super 8 Monterey hotel during a getaway along California’s Highway 1. It was better than some of my other budget hotel experiences – but at an upscale price of $221/night in expensive Northern California during a peak
Super 8 is Wyndham Worldwide’s largest hotel brand with more than 2,700 hotels, making it also the biggest budget hotel brand worldwide. When Super 8 launched in 1974, the price for a room was $8.88 – giving it the iconic name. A lot has changed since – so read my review to get the background
For my second stay in a Summer Getaway to Lake Tahoe, I had picked the Rodeway Inn South Lake Tahoe, a Choice Hotel, as part of my research into the Battle of the Budget Chains. After the bad experience at the nearby Howard Johnson South Lake Tahoe by Wyndham, I braced myself for another bad night
Rodeway Inn is a budget brand of Choice Hotels with over 500 properties in the US and Canada. They are mostly smaller motels outside the big cities and focus on the basics for a stay on a budget! Find out who they are and what experience you can expect at a Rodeway Inn! Who are
As part of my tour to research US budget hotel chains, I picked the Howard Johnson South Lake Tahoe for a summer getaway from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. It’s in a good location, just steps from Lake Tahoe’s beach, but that’s were the good news ends. The rest of the Howard Johnson reminds me
On a recent trip through California, I needed a hotel in Woodland, near the capital Sacramento. As part of my “Battle of the Budget Hotels” research, I picked the Quality Inn & Suites. At a much lower price than the local Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn, I had low expectations. Yet, it turned out
Howard Johnson’s, lovingly called HoJo’s, is one of the many Wyndham Worldwide hotel brands. It has a rather turbulent history, leaving it with almost 400 hotels in North & Latin America, Europe and Asia, ranging from old roadside motels in the US to upscale, full-service hotels in Asia. That turbulent history makes HoJo’s one of