Do any American Hotel Chains still have connecting doors as standard

Murphy_The_Cat

Due to unforeseen circumstances, my May 2011 holiday to Maryland & Virginia is 'up in the air' at the moment and my chances of going are currently 50/50 at best.

Usually by this stage I have my route planned and all of my accommodation booked (& paid for) in advance so that comes the day, i(we) can get along with the difficult job of enjoying my(our)self(ves) - but this year we are unable to do this.

Our usual accommodation of choice is suite type rooms (Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites), where there is a separate bedroom(s) from the living area, so that after about 7.30 at night when the little Cats have gone to bed, the big Cats can still stay up and do big Cat things. In the past when you book & pay ahead, the savings are very generous but the rooms are non-refundable -- but if you book the cancellable/refundable rates the price goes bumping up. On some occasions in the past, we have booked adjoining rooms with connecting doors and this has proven to be an acceptable alternative. So, rather than looking at paying $200 per night for a Homewood/Embassy Suite room, it may work out better for us to buy 2 'regular' rooms with a connecting door. But which hotel chain to look for ???

If anyone knows of a hotel chain that regularly, always or even frequently features connecting doors, could you let me know on this thread ?

There is a real possibility that we will not know if we are going until the day before departure (if so, we'll book the first few days & last day before leaving), but the idea of trawling through an endless line of hotels to find one that fits our criteria is my ideal of a personal hell --- but if we know that Hotel Chain XYZ features connecting doors, we'll look for them each time.



OR........... does anyone have a rough idea what the 'walkin' rate at an Embassy Suite/Homewood Suite is, compared to the regular/prebooked price i.e is it the same, a bit dearer, a lot cheaper etc

dmg24

I would say that most of the mid range US chains do - Holiday Inn/ Express and Marriott spring to mind.

bagand96

As dmg24 said, I would hazard a guess that most US hotel chains do offer it.

However, the vast majority of hotel chains in the US are franchises so it will vary from site to site. I find Hotels.com very useful for the list of hotel features is gives for each property. Not neccesarily the cheapest/best to book with, and I am not saying their facilities lists are definitive but may be an option for you just to check individual hotels.

neilbond007

Hamptons have conecting door rooms.

Vikki_74

I've definately noticed connecting doors being shown as a feature when looking through various hotels which are part of the ICH group. Can't say for sure without checking back but I would think it was either Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express in particular so they might be worth looking into.

My guess would be that a lot of the mid range chains offer it, but not necessarily in every location - for example, I know I've stayed in a Best Western with a connecting door to the next room in the past but wouldn't assume they have them everywhere, especially as most of the individual locations are franchised.

Murphy_The_Cat

thanks folks, plenty of good ideas there.
I seem to recall a decade ago that connecting doors were nearly 'standard' in most hotel chains, but in recent years I thought that they had become less so - obviously, I've been staying in the 'wrong' chains.

Fingers crossed after today, I'll be a bit closer to finding out if we are going or not. If the answer is 'yay' I reckon that the making a cancellable booking with Homewood/Embassy Suites may be the best route for us - with the knowledge that Holiday Inn/Express, Marriot, Hamptons will be a good alternative for us.