Hotels with 'suites' in America

blindman

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I'm visiting Texas in Spring this year and I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction of the differing qualities/grades in hotels that offer 'suite' accomodation.

I'm travelling with Mrs Cat, a six year old and a three year old and we're very keen on staying in hotels which offer seperate sleeping rooms to 'living rooms'. The advantage for us is that when the children go bed about 8ish, we can carry still relax in a seperate room whilst they get a good nights sleep.
In the past we have stayed in the Embassy Suites chain of hotels, which fit the bill for us perfectly, but which 'ahem, cough, cough' certainly know how to charge for their services.
Does anyone have any experience of Comfort Suites, Homestead Studio Suites, Extended Stay Hotels, Candlewood Suites etc, etc ?

May be worth asking this Q over at Tripadvisor Texas forum as the local hotels tend to do their own thing.

I've stayed in all the types (Priceline 2.5* hotels) and there is no guarantee that the bedrooms are separate.

We've had a few that had separate rooms and ones where there was a free evening "meal" with beer

The Extended stay types are usually the most basic, but good value.

Murphy_The_Cat

carolann215 wrote: »

Hi Murphy,

I've stayed at the Staybridge Suites in Orlando. It wasn't new but it was a nice hotel with the complementary breakfast which had a good choice considering it was free. There was something going on in the evenings as well but i'm not sure if that was free a we never went.
They are part of the Holiday Inn group the same as the Candlewood Suites and we joined the Priority Club and booked direct. Not sure if we got anything for doing that except a star on the door saying prefered guest! I think it means you get points per stay and then redeem them for free nights.

Carol

thanks Carol. I'll enrol on their Priority Club so that I'll get any freebies/airmiles taht are going.

jfdi wrote: »

Comfort Suites in Orlando were fine - but ours was more like a studio - beds, sofa table, kitchenette all-in-one (and free brekkie!) - but the ones I liked best were Courtyard by Marriott in Palm Springs - bit pricier but 3 proper rooms! However - only a fridge, no cooking facilities & no free brekkie! The bed was big enough for about 6 people! LOL!

Sounds like a cracking room arrangement. I'm not a cheapskate, but I am being led into the direction of 'free breakfast & dinner' for four ATM. Even if we didn't take advantage of the dinner each day.

neilbond007 wrote: »

No worries. Glad to be of service.
I should of mentioned the free "dinner" and beers is only Mon - Thurs night.

I'm stopping in the one in Baltimore tonight (on the harbour). I'm extremely excited as this one has a pool table too The one I stopped in at Palm Desert had a putting green!

One of the things that i enjoy in the US is dining around in different places, so its something that I would use, but not exclusively.

Multiple apologies for not replying earlier, time has been rather short this week.

Murphy_The_Cat

neilbond007 wrote: »

More thoughts....
I stopped at a Hyatt Summerfield Suites Miami Airport for 1 night earlier this year. These were excellent (had a 2 bedroom room all to myself. I made the most of it and slept in each room either side for 1/2 night ). Not sure on price as I paid with Hyatt points.

I also had the chance to stop at a "Springhill Suites" in Cincinnati when I moved over here in April of last year. I looked at their "studio" room and it was tiny. The one bedroom suite wasn't much better...

I think that I can take Springhill Suites off my list of possibles.

ferf1223 wrote: »

we've stayed at an Extended Stay in my hometown in Illinois before - it was very basic. Yes, it had a small kitchen, but the room we booked didn't have a separate bedroom and the room itself was very, very basic...we stopped staying there as it was just a little too basic for us (not even shampoo in the bathroom!)

We recently stayed in a suite at a Country Inn and Suites and it was fantastic - free buffet breakfast, lounge area in the main hotel bit with a huge telly and sofas, pool, etc...business centre, work out room, free cookies every afternoon at reception and our room had a separate bedroom, fridge, microwave. We plan to go back.

& Extended Stay look like they are a gonner as well.
Country Inn & Suites sound good.

neilbond007 wrote: »

I didn't have a cold one. Had 2 glasses of red instead
Hotel rooms as normal are superb. Very big. Kitchen has microwave, hob, fridge / freezer, dishwasher. I've got a room with 2 doubles (one bed to dump clothes!)
Free meal was fish with veg, potatoes and bread rolls. Tomorrow is Lasagne, bread sticks, ceasaer salad.
Beer - Bud and Bud light
Wine - Red an White. Carafe's that were filled up as soon as they were emptied! Ate the food and drank the wine in front of a log fire. Superb....

Now thats just rubbing it in :rotfl:

I'm getting more excited now. I'm beginning to work out how long in each place.

Murphy_The_Cat

Thank you to everyone for helping me on this thread.
I've now booked 2 x Homewood Suites for part of my hollys (& got sparkling rates for doing so, PLUS lovely jubberly airmiles) & a B&B Inn for a bit of a change of scene.

neilbond007

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Thank you to everyone for helping me on this thread.
I've now booked 2 x Homewood Suites for part of my hollys (& got sparkling rates for doing so, PLUS lovely jubberly airmiles) & a B&B Inn for a bit of a change of scene.

Have a great trip!

I hope them homewoods are up to scratch now

duchy

Hiya Murphy-another big cat family trip eh ?

Another vote for Homewood suites (don't forget as they are part of Hilton you can sign up for their loyalty card and double dip with hotel points and airline miles). Really nice to put the kids to bed and relax in the properly seperate lounge.

Residence Inns do nice suites too (part of Marriot)

I

Murphy_The_Cat

neilbond007 wrote: »

Have a great trip!

I hope them homewoods are up to scratch now

The first one definitely is, but the second one gets reviewed as 'a little older and it shows in places' type reviews by a few people, but overall gets the thumbs up from folks. When we book accomodation we are very happy to take advantage of things like free breakfasts, free 'evening meals' etc, but I'm not to bothered about screwing every last cent out of a booking. On a Cat family holiday, the order goes something like this.
Are the children happy with the hotel ? Yes.
Which leads on to.
Is Mrs Cat happy with the hotel ? Yes.
Which means that Mr Cat can get on with his holiday and his favourite job -- making sure that his family is happy :j

duchy wrote: »

Hiya Murphy-another big cat family trip eh ?
Another vote for Homewood suites (don't forget as they are part of Hilton you can sign up for their loyalty card and double dip with hotel points and airline miles). Really nice to put the kids to bed and relax in the properly seperate lounge.
Residence Inns do nice suites too (part of Marriot)
I

Hi Duchy.
Yep, we're having 16 nights touring Texas :D. We're flying AA again, this time, 3 of us have got AAdvantage reward flights and just MTK2 is paying for the flight.

BTW, we've selected a 3 and a half hour connection time in ORD for this trip, so the plane handling monkeys in Manchester will have to work really hard to muck up the connection time.

I had already signed up for the Hilton Loyalty Card and its Double Dip function and I've used it in the past to keep the AAmiles rolling on (as you know, if you have no activity on the card in 18 months, you lose the miles).
Here's one that you may not be aware of - if you use AA.com as your booking agent, you get 500 AAdvantage miles per booking on hotels worldwide. So if you are staying for one night at a time they very quickly rack up. They have got an enormous selection in the UK and even includes 'cheapy' places like Days Inn.
They run a 'price guarantee' promise and when I've used it, its worked really well. But it is per booking, not per £/$ spent. But 500 miles for a nights B&B, in a 3 star hotel with pool & gym for £33 in the UK makes me happy:j.

I did look at Residence Inns / Towne Plaza Suites but they didn't guarantee bedrooms that were seperated by a closing door - most were simply divided spaces.
& for us, that is a must. Get the children to bed at a decent time, for a good nights kip and the rest of tomorrow everyone is happy.

newfoundglory

http://www.amerisuites.com/

ailuro2

I see you've booked, we are going with Hampton Inn in the US this summer, stayed on one in Canada, it was spotless, had a nice free breakfast but had a kitchen area also, the one we've booked this year has a full kitchen area and a living room, with one bedroom off, for an extra $50 a night we could have had a 2 bed suite, we decided to save the money and let DD sleep on the sofa bed.:o

blindman

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Hi Duchy.
Yep, we're having 16 nights touring Texas :D. We're flying AA again, this time, 3 of us have got AAdvantage reward flights and just MTK2 is paying for the flight.


I had already signed up for the Hilton Loyalty Card and its Double Dip function and I've used it in the past to keep the AAmiles rolling on (as you know, if you have no activity on the card in 18 months, you lose the miles).
Here's one that you may not be aware of - if you use AA.com as your booking agent, you get 500 AAdvantage miles per booking on hotels worldwide. So if you are staying for one night at a time they very quickly rack up. They have got an enormous selection in the UK and even includes 'cheapy' places like Days Inn.
They run a 'price guarantee' promise and when I've used it, its worked really well. But it is per booking, not per £/$ spent. But 500 miles for a nights B&B, in a 3 star hotel with pool & gym for £33 in the UK makes me happy:j.

Any chance of an Itin?

I've not been to Texas mainly 'cos I couldn't think of what to do for 14 dayes etc.

Only me and the missus so no kids to entertain.

If you sign up for the Holiday Inn credit card you'll get 20K points which can be a free night.

Sign up Mrs MTC onher own card :eek: she'll get the 20K

For Hilton and Holiday Inn look at Flyertalk for how to get bonus points.

Using AA.com as the booking agent how long does it take for the miles to post and do they always post?

I need to add some miles to AA before July and have just got the Hilton card (again). I was a bit slow in getting another Citibank card and now they've stopped them!