I get that something like a Waldorf is high end.

Where do the more mainstream hotels tend to rank in quality?

I hear about Hilton often but it seems like that’s actually many different chains now, like Doubletree, Hampton and Tru.

Is Hyatt the same?

What are approximate prices and amenities you should expect at each?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Oz_Shadow,

They are all many chains from high to low. Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt are the big 4 now:

- Hilton ranges from high to low: Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Hilton, Doubletree, Hilton Garden, Hampton, Homewood Suites, Home 2. Tapestry, Curio and Tru are newer and fit somewhere in the high, middle, and low area.

- Marriot merged with Starwood and has a bunch: Ritz Carlson, St. Regis, W, JW Marriott, Marriott, Sheraton, Le Meridian, Westin, Courtyard, Springhill, Fairfied, Residence Inn, and many others.

- Hyatt has: Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Place, etc.

- IHG has: Intercontinental, Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge, Candlewood, etc.

Quality and price depends on the chain, location/country, specific property, age, and management. Generally the higher up you go the better, but not always. In the U.S. low tier can be less than $75 a night for a standard room and $500+ in the higher tier. If you want a suite or special room, it goes up from there.

Across the "superchains" each Tier level is somewhat consistent with each other. Waldorf, Ritz, Park Hyatt are similar. Conrad, Intercontinental, JW Marriott are similar, and so on.

I will say that the U.S. generally has the most poorly trained employees and service. I've been Gold or Diamond in Hilton and Gold or Platinum in Marriott for most of the last dozen or so years. Best quality and service at the mid to high tiers is in Asia.

If you want specifics by tier, I can do that for Hilton...

I just happen to be involved with the division of J. D. Power that analyzes guest satisfaction at hotels. Each year, we ask over 30,000 persons to evaluate their hotel experiences. You might be interested in the results of our 2024 study which comes out in July.

Here are the 2023 results… scroll to the end to see the rankings among the various price/amenities categories.

https://www.jdpower.com/busine...on-index-nagsi-study

I have always liked the Hilton Garden Inn, everyone I have stayed at has been clean and nicely furnished. But I normally stay at Hampton Inn due to their 100% satisfaction guarantee. I think I have been refunded my stay about three times over the last 10 years. I stayed in a really bad one in Houston and had some problems checking out at one in Kerville and got refunded both stays when leaving feedback.

I used to use an Amex card with Hilton rewards exclusively until Amex made me mad and I stopped using their cards (after over 20 years of being an Amex user).

Lefty, this is very interesting. I travel occasionally, and we have some sort of membership with IHG. Is intercontinental their highest level?
For high end, I’ve stayed at St. Regis, 4 seasons, Intercontinental, and a Ritz. I thought the St. Regis did the best with the intercontinental right behind them, but it may very well have been location.. and perhaps I didn’t delve into the amenities as deeply at the other locations.

Currently staying at holiday inn express type situations. I was ok with the last place, but there were a couple best westerns that made me shudder. What are your best recommendations for hotels at that level (we are doing travel teams/kid sports at this moment in time).

The different brands that are owned by major hotel corporations are just different price points.

The branding is just code, to tell consumers what to expect and the relative price for that market.
In other words, High end, mid-range, budget, etc.

Intercontinental has the high level market, Holiday Inn and Express are also owned by them but are a few levels down in price and amenities.

The bottom of this page gives you a list of their IHG brands.
https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/about/brands

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Lefty, this is very interesting. I travel occasionally, and we have some sort of membership with IHG. Is intercontinental their highest level?
For high end, I’ve stayed at St. Regis, 4 seasons, Intercontinental, and a Ritz. I thought the St. Regis did the best with the intercontinental right behind them, but it may very well have been location.. and perhaps I didn’t delve into the amenities as deeply at the other locations.

Currently staying at holiday inn express type situations. I was ok with the last place, but there were a couple best westerns that made me shudder. What are your best recommendations for hotels at that level (we are doing travel teams/kid sports at this moment in time).

I generally avoid IHG unless it's the only option. Yes, Intercontinental is their highest Tier, and they are good, but more like Hilton/Conrad, JW Marriott, and not up in the Waldorf, Ritz Tier.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express just never impress me much. Crowne Plaza is OK, but again only if it's the only option. The rewards club isn't that good either.

Best Western, Travelodge, Super 8, and such are non-starters.

For you, Hampton or Hilton Garden are good. Hampton only has breakfast and similar to Holiday Inn Express but better in my opinion, while Hilton Garden tends to have a full service restaurant and bar. If traveling with family, Homewood Suites is like a Hampton with bigger rooms - can get separate bedroom suite with pullout couch in main room. It costs more than Hampton but you get a much better room.

That was really the point of the thread. To find out how they rank and if they were pretty consistent by brand.

Oz, the hotels I’ve been staying in for the last 6-8 months have been about $150-199/night. Low to mid, I’d say. We are in the Midwest. They are relatively (don’t use a blacklight) clean but small with no frills, and there’s always an overchlorinated pool that burns my eyes and kills my sinuses. Kids love them.

They've been of the hilton family, ihg, best westerns, holiday inns, maybe a Hampton in there, so yes, there’s consistency.
These are kids sport hotels and the coaches/leagues get a small price break for groups. Heck, we went to the Quad cities recently, and we were required to use one of the hotels on their list for our tournament or we would have to pay extra to play. They were within $10-20 of each other iirc.

In all honesty, if it wasn’t for the camaraderie of being with the group, I probably would’ve chosen other options in almost every case.

I would say it depends. We have stayed at "higher end hotel chains" like Double Tree and some others but some of the hotels were bought/taken over of prior existing hotels and then refurbished. One issue is some of the older hotels that were redone have the same older things you would not expect- like window shaker a/c units, ice makers on certain floors, etc.. I am not saying it is bad or wrong but if you pay more for a "nicer hotel" or have a perceived notion that the hotel you want to visit, you might want to research where you are staying prior to your trip and make sure it is what you want it to be.

I only stay 3 to 5 nights a year. A mix of training classes and leisure travel. I always choose Hilton properties when they are an option. They are usually consistent, clean and well maintained. Wynwood seems a step down. Of the Mariot hotels, the JW Mariot has always been the nicest to stay at.

working in the gun biz, and doing 25 or so weekends of gunshows, I stay in hotels about 40 nights a year, give or take (4 shows are in my home town, so not room needed, and I have free logding at another show)

I am an IHG member, and have been for many years,

Holiday Inn and Avid have been good in VA, the oldest I stay in is clean and now going thru a remodel,

the AVID is a nice no frills kinda place that is clean and no issues,

in the past 5 yrs or so, I have only had to request a change in rooms (overflow or water issue in the bathroom when walked in the room) once, and was immediately taken care off,

I travel for business and we have a good amount of leeway on where to stay. Everyone has their preferences, usually it's sticking to a specific loyalty program and getting it to work for you. Most everyone is either on Hilton, Marriott or, IHG program...I was Hilton Honors for many years, two years ago I switched to Marriott. The Hilton properties I stayed at was usually Hampton or, Garden Inn; Hampton was one of the first sub-$200/nt properties to that had comforters vs the cheap foam or, crochet-type blankets...this was nearly 15yrs ago. Garden Inn offered hot meals which was nice if I was late or, I planned to stay-in.

I switched to Marriott properties last year as the Hilton locations were getting pretty ratty and the franchise operators were not being held to a standard. I'm usually at Courtyards, Springhill, Fairfield or, Four Points but will get into a W when available. Every place I've stayed at has been clean, the AC works fine, lighting is solid, plenty of outlets and the TV system is consistent across all properties vs. Hilton properties where there was a wide variance in locations.

As pointed-out above, some properties are either rebranded from another hotel or, they're refurbished an older building so, there may be all manor of quirks and oddities at certain properties. The more you stay on the road, the more you notice and pick-up on differences. The main thing when looking at hotel properties is knowing who owns them, where they stack-up in the list of brands, and their points of differentiation.