DISchurners Hotel Reviews Thread (extension of I love credit cards so much! thread)

Grand Hyatt Washington DC 1000 H St NW - 2 Double Beds


Travel Dates: May 25-26, 2019
  • Cash rate was $519 this was Memorial day weekend, so think it was extra inflated price and not usually that high (right now showing $162 for same room)
  • We used 15,000 Hyatt points There were no extra fees, but beginning June 1, 2019, all new, future reservations will have a destination fee of $20.00 plus tax applied to each night of your stay (Courtesy Card Holders & Globalists Excluded). This fee includes: (see website, long list)
  • Parking is $60 overnight Valet or $42 overnight selfpark in attached garage - (I think the valet would have been $60 plus tax, the garage was a flat $42) Was hoping to get money back from Hyatt on my Chase offer, but Hyatt does not own the parking garage and we paid at a kiosk for it.
  • No free breakfast
  • There is 2 onsite restaurants and a Starbucks Reserve inside. Did not eat at either restaurant and have no idea what makes a Starbucks Reserve different, but they made a big deal on website it was Reserve. Did get a Chai here, seemed like a normal Starbucks to me.
I think it was a great location. The Metro Center subway stop is beneath the hotel so you don't even need to go outside to get to subway. We did not use the subway, just walked everywhere. I don't think we had any kind of upgrade as Explorists. We were on the 8th floor with a street view. I think the atrium view is the upgrade. For being 8 floors up, the street noise was actually pretty loud, but once I went to sleep didn't notice it anymore. I remember seeing they had a big ballroom and it looked like they were hosting a Prom on the night we were there. It was a nice hotel and good location, but will maybe look for cheaper options that include breakfast and don't have the destination fee next time. We booked the day before a holiday weekend, so choices were limited.




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Hyatt Regency Los Angeles Airport - 1 King Bed

Travel dates: May 26-27
  • The cash rate on this room was $192
  • We used chase points and it was 12,000 URs
  • We didn’t have a car so I’m not sure about parking fees but there is a big parking garage right next to the hotel
  • No free breakfast
  • There is an on-site sit down restaurant, a bar, and quick service restaurant. We ate at the bar for dinner and it was pretty good. We also grabbed some snacks from the quick service.
The location itself is hard to beat. It’s the closest hotel to the airport and the shuttle was great. We waited no more than 5 minutes waiting at the airport and at the hotel to get on it. All of the staff we encountered in the hotel were friendly.

Pros
  1. Close to airport
  2. 24/7 shuttle
  3. Starbucks coffee in the room
  4. big tv
Cons
  1. Very dirty rooms
  2. Fixtures broken (towel holder, shower head wouldn’t stay up)
  3. Airplane noise
First room was disgusting, stains all over carpet, couch, and counters. We called and they said the hotel was sold out but were able to move us to a new room. New room was better but counters still were dirty, coffee stains and marks. Just seemed like they came in to switch the sheets and that was it. Seemed like the rooms were updated recently but get a lot of use and housekeeping isn’t keeping up.

ETA: some of my pictures are sideways and I’m not sure why
 

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Just wanted to try to contribute by posting pics from our stay at the Moxy Minneapolis Uptown. Thanks to Marriott's Twitter as well as the 29 Ways to Stay we were able to book our 3 nights here all on points from those games. We chose a Loft Style room. And the no closet didn't bother us as there were many wall hooks to hang our bags purses clothing etc.

The check in desk was right at the bar....What a way to start a vacation! And as you can see their lobby is no typical lobby. Had live music on certain nights. We enjoyed our stay here. IMG_3138.JPGIMG_3139.JPGIMG_3140.JPGIMG_3141.JPGIMG_3143.JPGIMG_3144.JPGIMG_3153.JPGIMG_3154.JPGIMG_3157.JPGIMG_3158.JPG
 
Airbnb in Shibuya
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10582789?source_impression_id=p3_1561210609_Mx3aR4gdnntaHmfR

Travel dates: May 28-June 2
  • We used discounted gift cards to pay for this
Our host was absolutely AMAZING! If you want to stay in the Shibuya area I highly recommend her. She and her husband are both from New Zealand so speak perfect English, but she's also very fluent in Japanese and can help with any issues. Her house is located next to a local station and about a 10 minute walk to a metro station. There are 7-11s and restaurants nearby. We loved that her house was tucked back in an alley away from the hustle and bustle of everything Tokyo. We heard no noises at night except for some trains. Here's my pro and con list for staying there:

Pros:
  • Amazing and accommodating host
  • Very clean
  • Close to transportation and shopping
  • Apartment was stocked with food and other items
  • Quaint and quietly located in an alley off the main streets
  • Guidebooks and recommendations left by previous guests
  • Washer/dryer and full kitchen in the unit
Cons:
  • A little small
  • No housekeeping
 


Yumoto Station Hotel MIRAHAKONE - Standard Double Room

Travel dates: June 2-3
  • The cash rate on this room was $128.20
  • We used chase points and it was 8,546 URs
  • There is a sit down restaurant in the bottom of the hotel, but we were only there for one night so we didn't eat there
We only stayed here for one night and knew going in that it was a small hotel with small rooms. The hotel was very close to the Hakone Yumoto Station which was nice. The room looked really updated and new, including the bathroom. Outside of the room there was a microwave, fridge/freezer, and an espresso machine for everyone on the floor to share. The staff was very friendly and kept our backpacks before we were able to check in. They spoke good English and gave us a map of the Hakone circle route with restaurants, too. There is a restaurant beneath the hotel but we didn't try it. If you're in the area for a short amount of time I would definitely stay here.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...machi_Ashigarashimo_gun_Kanagawa_Prefect.html
 
Hotel Gentle Fox Kyoto - Studio

Travel dates: June 3-9
  • The cash rate on this room was $697.88
  • We used chase points and it was 46,525 URs
We stayed at the Hotel Gentle Fox for 6 nights while in the Kyoto area. Our main reason for picking the hotel was because it was so close to the Inari shrine. It was a little far from the JR station, but really it could be walked in less than 10 minutes. I think it just felt far because it's right next to another station (not JR). Here is our pro and con list from our stay:

Pros-
Large studio apartment compared to other Japanese hotels, had a washer/dryer combo, daily housekeeping, very friendly staff

Cons-
Very busy street with lots of car noise, low water pressure in shower, high tub so I hit my knees a lot getting in

Some other cons were specific to our room that we were given. We had the room right next to the hotel office. It had a very weird layout because of that. Our kitchen was in a long hallway instead of having everything be open concept. It got a little annoying at times because my husband and I had to try sliding past each other in the hall. We also heard the metal screen the opened and closed for the hotel office window. It was pretty annoying to hear in the morning and at 11 pm. I think they would've been better off not putting anyone in this room. It just seems like they tried squeezing another unit in that didn't quite work well.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...oto-Fushimi_Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html
 
Hilton Tokyo Bay - King Celebrio Ocean

Travel dates: June 9-15
  • We used Hilton points to pay for 5 out of the 6 nights here. It was 257k points for those 5 nights.
  • The rest we paid with cash and it was $285.09
We stayed at the Hilton while we were visiting the Disney parks. The hotel is so close to bayside station (monorail). We booked a King Celebrio Ocean View room and the room was very big! There were some big stains on the white chair and blue couch in our room. I was able to wipe the chair off easily so they clearly just didn’t clean it. The view of the bay was gorgeous! We had a huge window overlooking it. The room itself looked pretty modern but just not cleaned well (I’m sure it gets used A LOT). There were lots of drawers and storage space. There was a cool feature to play music through your phone into the bathtub! Here is our pros and cons list:

Pros-
Tall ceilings, large room with king bed, very close to monorail station, 24/7 convenience store, disney store inside hotel, ocean view room

Cons-
Lots of school groups and other large groups, breakfast is the same every day, room was dirty with stains coming in, musty room smell

Here are some other notes about staying here. Housekeeping did a great job restocking and gave us two water bottles every day since we are Hilton Gold members. We got priority at breakfast and free breakfast every morning for also being gold members which was a big perk. The line for breakfast was really long every morning. We would definitely stay here again if we were going to the parks. It was such a good alternative to the overpriced Disney hotels. We paid for 5/6 nights with points and only had to pay for one night.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...Tokyo_Bay-Urayasu_Chiba_Prefecture_Kanto.html
 


Radisson Collection Hotel In Edinburgh

We used 70,000 points per night for a two night stay to start off our Scotland trip. DH and I each have the Club Carlson credit card. One of the perks for your annual fee besides gold status is 40,000 points each year on the card Anniversary.

The location is amazing. It’s right by the Royal Mile and steps away from the esplanade of the castle. We were given a room with a perfect view of Arthur’s seat. This brought back memories of hiking to the top of Arthur’s seat a few years ago.

I like the bright and cheery decor much better than the Radisson Blu down the street which we stayed at on points two years ago.

The staff is super friendly and we’d happily stay here again.

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Inverness, Scotland- Holiday Inn Express

We used 30,000 IHG points to stay here since paying real money or using any Ultimate Rewards points would have been too painful. These were IHG points we won in a sweepstakes so I was ok parting with them. Sadly, none of the B&Bs in the area were taking one night bookings.

Out of the 2 bath towels, only one was clean. There is no AC so we were given a couple of fans. Wash cloths are also not available so we used the hand towels as giant washcloths. There are no amenities like shampoo, conditioner etc. Good thing that I bring my own. Breakfast is included and there is a restaurant just across the parking lot. The food is edible but nothing to write home about.

All in all it’s fine for a one night pit stop if you aren’t too picky and that was all we needed. I’ve stayed here before but only for a night. If we had been staying more than one night there is no way I’d stay here. There are some really nice B&Bs in the area that we like.

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Scotland - Kirkwall, Orkney
The Lynnfield Hotel

This is a luxury (for the area) Country house B&B and on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Holiday Inn above. Of course it’s not available on points but can be wiped off with a Barclay Arrival Plus which is what my mom is doing. I am likely going to take a statement credit off my UR stash for it. We are in a double room named Tjaldr (155 GBP) and my mom is in a single room called (100 GBP). I am told that Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander books series stayed here’s during her visit to the Orkney Isles.

If we return to Orkney down the line, Is definitely stay here again!

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DoubleTree Suites Disney Springs
July 12-13, 2019
King Suite
35k Hilton Points

We stayed here for one night over the weekend because we planned to walk to Disney Springs and it's within walking distance. Our room had a separate living area and a small kitchenette. We are Hilton Gold members and were given bottles of water and cookies at check in. The check in staff was a little slow, but very friendly. Here are my pros and cons about this resort:

Pros:
-Resort fee is complimentary if you pay for your room completely on points
-The King suite was large compared to Disney resorts with a bedroom, living area, and kitchenette
-Check in staff was friendly
-Walking distance to Disney Springs (about 25-30 minute walk)
-Very clean room

Cons:
-A/C wouldn't stay running. If it was turned down to 66 or lower it would completely shut itself off. We had it set to 68 and noticed it would stop running a lot so we had to turn the fan on high
-Digital key didn't work for parking or the outside doors like it was advertised on the app
-TVs need some updating. The remotes were slow to respond and hardly any channels worked. It's sad that they have a sign acknowledging that they know the signal is bad and they tell you to unplug and plug the cord in again (which did nothing on our TVs). I shouldn't have to unplug and plug in the cord to get signal on the TV

For a quick trip it wasn't bad and we had our own car so it was easy enough getting to the parks. I would've hated having to use their shuttle to and from the parks. It's a nice option for larger families or guests going to Disney that have Hilton points. I definitely missed the Disney magic, but like I said it was fine for a one night stay.
 

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Hampton Inn by SeaWorld Orlando
July 27-28, 2019
King Bed
10k Chase URs

We went to SeaWorld for one day so we stayed here the night before. The main reasons we chose this hotel were because it offers free parking, free breakfast, quick que, and is walking distance to the park. We walked the morning of to the park and it took us about 15 minutes which isn't bad at all. It's much cheaper than driving to the park and paying for parking or choosing a hotel that's closer and paying for their parking.

There wasn't a lot of information about how to get the perks for staying at this hotel: 10% off dining, 10% off merch, quick que passes. Luckily I looked ahead of time how to get the quick que passes. We had to go the morning of and walk next door to the Staybridge. They have an Expedia desk that helps you get them. All you have to do is say where you're staying, how many in your party, and when you need the quick que for. It was a pretty easy process, but I never would've known it was an option if I wouldn't have found it on the DIS. Unfortunately, we didn't know we had to ask for the 10% merch and dining and later found out in the park you are supposed to get a card for that.

Here are our pros and cons from our stay:
PROS
-Very friendly front desk staff
-Free parking
-Free breakfast
-Quick que passes are included

CONS
-Slow internet
-Bathroom was dirty (dark hairs along shower base/in shower and baseboards were dirty)
-Breakfast ran out of almost all items, but were refilled after about 15-20 minutes

Overall, I thought we had a very nice stay. We had no noise issues at night and had a good night's sleep. I would definitely stay here again.
 
Hilton Tokyo Bay - King Celebrio Ocean

Travel dates: June 9-15
  • We used Hilton points to pay for 5 out of the 6 nights here. It was 257k points for those 5 nights.
  • The rest we paid with cash and it was $285.09
We stayed at the Hilton while we were visiting the Disney parks. The hotel is so close to bayside station (monorail). We booked a King Celebrio Ocean View room and the room was very big! There were some big stains on the white chair and blue couch in our room. I was able to wipe the chair off easily so they clearly just didn’t clean it. The view of the bay was gorgeous! We had a huge window overlooking it. The room itself looked pretty modern but just not cleaned well (I’m sure it gets used A LOT). There were lots of drawers and storage space. There was a cool feature to play music through your phone into the bathtub! Here is our pros and cons list:

Pros-
Tall ceilings, large room with king bed, very close to monorail station, 24/7 convenience store, disney store inside hotel, ocean view room

Cons-
Lots of school groups and other large groups, breakfast is the same every day, room was dirty with stains coming in, musty room smell

Here are some other notes about staying here. Housekeeping did a great job restocking and gave us two water bottles every day since we are Hilton Gold members. We got priority at breakfast and free breakfast every morning for also being gold members which was a big perk. The line for breakfast was really long every morning. We would definitely stay here again if we were going to the parks. It was such a good alternative to the overpriced Disney hotels. We paid for 5/6 nights with points and only had to pay for one night.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...Tokyo_Bay-Urayasu_Chiba_Prefecture_Kanto.html

@Haley R, your trip looks like it was awesome! I hope it's okay to ask followup questions in this thread...I'm planning a tentative January 2021 trip to Japan, with two full days in Kyoto, a day in Hakone (or an extra day in Tokyo), two days for Tokyo proper, and two days for Tokyo Disney. Would you say the Hilton Tokyo Bay is too far out from the center to make it a base for the two or three Tokyo days? With limited time on the ground I'd like to minimize hotel/luggage transfers as much as possible, and I like that there's a direct bus to the airport from the resort area. But I also know how big and sprawling Tokyo is, and enjoyed staying in the relatively central Asakusa neighborhood when I was last in Japan 10 years ago. Thoughts?
 
@Haley R, your trip looks like it was awesome! I hope it's okay to ask followup questions in this thread...I'm planning a tentative January 2021 trip to Japan, with two full days in Kyoto, a day in Hakone (or an extra day in Tokyo), two days for Tokyo proper, and two days for Tokyo Disney. Would you say the Hilton Tokyo Bay is too far out from the center to make it a base for the two or three Tokyo days? With limited time on the ground I'd like to minimize hotel/luggage transfers as much as possible, and I like that there's a direct bus to the airport from the resort area. But I also know how big and sprawling Tokyo is, and enjoyed staying in the relatively central Asakusa neighborhood when I was last in Japan 10 years ago. Thoughts?
I’ll pm you
 
Marriott Resort and Spa at Grand Dunes- Myrtle Beach, SC

Travel dates: July 30-August 2, 2019
Redemption: 140,000 Marriott Bonvoy points; 35,000 a night with Buy 4 get 1 free night. Regular rates vary from $200-400 a night cash during the peak summer season, but I think it goes down to $100-200 range off peak. There is a $25 a night resort fee. Parking was $15 a day. However, there was no way of knowing who was parking there as a guest and who was parking there to go to the beach. So it’s totally on the honor system to tell them you have a car.

We had a two queen room for myself, DH, and our 7 and 9 year olds. Our view looked at a random building (points redemptions rooms have no view of the ocean.)

The room had been recently updated and looked nice but the bathroom was a little tight because they only painted the door instead of replacing it. It was one of those super wide doors from older hotels and it made navigating the otherwise spacious bathroom a real pain, especially for four people.

We declined housekeeping and got 500/night so I can’t speak to that.

I forgot to snap pics of the room until after we had junked it up so I’m not attaching those.

Pros
-directly on the beach
-really good restaurants
-2 outdoor pools; 1 indoor pool; 2 hot tubs (1 inside and 1 outside)
-service was great
-video game room for kids (not an arcade but a room with tv’s and PlayStations)
-spa on location but I didn’t use so idk how it is
-gorgeous views from communal spaces
-great large towels provided for beach and pool at no cost
-rooms were a good size

Cons:
-pools were showing age and wear
-some cleanliness issues outside but once told manager via the app, was taken care of immediately
-bathroom door made it a pain
-pool bar closed early Like 8:00
-elevators were a little slow; not awful but not great
-could rent beach chairs from the hotel for $40 a day for 2 chairs and an umbrella; however, you couldn’t move them from where they were set up and they packed everything away at 4:00 every day
-chairs at the pool were a little hard to come by

Overall, this was a great use of points for a beach getaway. We would return there the next time we go to Myrtle Beach definitely!
 

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Hilton Anaheim

Stole some pictures from the website for you guys on this one.

Stayed at the Hilton Anaheim July 29-31. We chose a standard king room. The Hilton members rate for our days was $124/night, which I thought was very reasonable for a hotel of its caliber within walking distance of DL.

Available Rooms:
1. Standard rooms- 2 queens or 1 king.
2. Theme Park View
3. Lanai Deck
4. Pool View
5. There are also a number of suites available, but I didn't look too hard into these options.

Rates:
It varies a lot by date for both cash and points redemption. Our standard room was $124 a night for the Honors rate. It looks like the theme park views start in approximately the $150/night range. The point valuations are all over the place. I looked at a week's spread of points redemptions for the theme park view and it was between 22,000 and 50,000. I saw one night of pool view as high as 85,000. I think you really just have to play around with the dates to see what your best value would be. I ended up with a triple points promotion as a Hilton biz cardholder, in addition to the 12x Hilton points I earned with my credit card, which made this a great value for me.

Location:
- Approximately one mile from DL. I have no way to screenshot right now, but I think @Lain has a good map on the Dischurners Reddit. It's located on the back side of CA Adventure, so south of the park. DH and I are two able-bodied adults and made this walk 8 times roundtrip over three days. We left the park one night at 6:00, went back to our room and napped for a few, then got back up at 8:30 and walked back to the park. It's not as close as the other hotels, but I also think it runs a little cheaper on the cash rate.
- Our Uber ride took about 35 minutes from LAX and was $60.
- There is ART bus transportation from the hotel to the park, but we didn't utilize it.

Amenities:
- While it doesn't say free Wi-Fi is available to all on the website, there was a note in our room saying that Wi-Fi was available to all guests free of charge. I didn't have to put in a code or anything to get on it.
- A nice pool, apparently, though I didn't use it.
- Car rental desk.
- Can buy Disney tickets in the lobby.
- Starbucks in the lobby.
- This was a REALLY big hotel, so chances are if you need something, they will find some way to get it to you.

Photos:

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(This room is exactly what our room looked like)

Pros:
- Reasonably close to park
- Reasonable cash rates
- Beautifully decorated lobby and rooms looked very nice

Cons:
- A little far from the park if you're not a reasonably fit adult up for a good walk to and from the park
- Point valuations can either be really good, or ridiculously bad with no rhyme or reason

Personal Review:

Our stay here was... fine. There were some really great aspects. I checked in on the Hilton App 48 hours out and was able to select my room. I wanted a high floor and was able to select the 14th floor. When I was going through the rooms, I noticed that one appeared to face DL. I wasn't sure this was accurate as there was no upgrade cost and I had only selected a standard room, but from all angles it certainly looked like we would be able to see the park.

When we arrived, we got in the check-in line for Hilton Honors members. Pro tip: this line actually moves slower than the standard check-in line. While waiting, I heard the front desk clerk tell the people in front of us that there were no theme park upgrades available. When I checked in and dropped off my bags, I just asked to keep the same room I selected and was told that was fine. I was given two complimentary bottles of water and was also given this note describing what I would receive as a Gold member:

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I wish I had read this note before the front desk clerk gave me his spiel. Unfortunately, he made it sound like I could get 1000 points OR a breakfast, AND we would get the free drink and pastry for both of us at Starbucks. I selected the 1000 points, but had I known it was an "or" option between the three, I actually would've chosen the Starbucks because I already knew that's where we would be getting breakfast. But oh well, you live and you learn.

We then went to the park and came back that evening. My digital key said it wasn't activated on my app so we had to stop by the front desk again. They activated it immediately and we went up to our room to discover that it was in fact a theme park view!

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I mean, that's a theme park view to me! I don't know how else you would describe it, and I think the only other rooms could call theme park would be the rooms you can see there on the end of the T shape coming out, which I believe were suites based on the hotel map. So I was certainly pleased that we got this view without paying anything extra!

When we came into our room, we noticed that it was pretty warm and humid. I figured it was because of the big windows in the room, even though the blackout curtains were closed. DH turned the AC down to 66 in an effort to get it to cool down in there.

Unfortunately, the room didn't cool down... for our entire stay. The AC ran nonstop all night and (presumably) all day. I sent a message to the front desk on the app the second day to let them know that it was very humid in our room and didn't appear to be cooling down. They said they would send up an engineer. When we got back to the room around 10:30 that night, we had a post-it note on the thermostat that said "We checked the AC!" Except it wasn't any cooler and the AC was still running nonstop. DH started turning the thermostat up to see what the temperature actually was. It finally turned off at 77 degrees...

Other than this, our room was very comfortable. Bed was nice, view was nice, bathroom was nice.

My only other completely first world problem is with the Starbucks in the lobby. We went there our second morning and bypassed the very long line to get int he Hilton Gold line, which there was no one standing in. We stood there for probably a solid minute before somebody finally looked at us and said "have you been helped?" I ordered a venti iced mocha since I was exhausted and really needed some caffeine. Unfortunately, I didn't take a sip of my drink until I had left the hotel and started walking to DL. That's when I discovered that there was absolutely no coffee in it at all. So, basically I paid $6 for an iced chocolate milk. I wasn't super thrilled about that and ended up throwing most of it away because I wanted caffeine and not really just a giant chocolate milk. I did get an email afterwards asking me to rate my Starbucks experience there in order to receive an additional 10 Starbucks stars. I reviewed it accordingly, but there was no option to add any comments. I'll see if I get any follow up contact about it.

I've also sent Hilton an e-mail about the issues with our AC and included the review of the Starbucks as well. I received an email this morning saying that my email had been forwarded to the hotel and to expect them to follow up with me.


So, there you have it. My first Hilton experience. Not stellar, but not too shabby either. Honestly, if it wasn't for the AC issues then I would be willing to give this hotel pretty high marks. But when you're hot and sweaty after being in the parks all day, it's not that enjoyable to come back to a suspiciously humid room!


Thanks for the review, we are talking about taking the whole family to Disneyland in 2021, if not sooner... and have been looking at this spot... the only thing is I will need transportation to and from the park, with the grandkids walking is not an option... Did you happen to notice if there were restaurants close by, looking more for breakfast options? nothing fancy, like Chick fil A or Denny's
 
Wayside Inn in Bethlehem, New Hampshire
Used 10,996 Ultimate Reward Points; cash price was $137.45 for three people
Included breakfast
Date of Stay: July, 2019

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Located at the edge of the White Mountain National Forest in northern New Hampshire. We had an evening flight into Manchester and the Wayside was a brief overnight stop on our way to Quebec City.

This is a small bed and breakfast with about 10 motel units also available. We stayed in the motel section. It was a dated and basic room, with two double beds. The furniture is older and the bathroom tiny. But it was very clean and the biggest draw for this location was the balcony facing the Ammonoosuc River. Sitting on the balcony, you are within 15 feet of this pretty, clear stream that we were told is stocked with trout.

Breakfast is in the main building where they evidently serve dinner on many nights. It was evident this used to be a popular hotel but now has a lot less visitors. The breakfast is cooked to order from a small menu and it was very good.
 
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Quebec City Hilton
One Queen and sofa sleeper on Executive Level
Three people, two nights.
We paid 50,000 Hilton reward points and $335 (including taxes)
Date of Stay: August 2019


The major draw of this Hilton is location. Prior to booking this we had a cute boutique style hotel booked that was a 15-minute walk to Old Town. I'm so glad we changed to this location. It was perfect and after walking all day long, we didn't feel like walking a long way back to a hotel.

This Hilton is right across from the Parliament Building.


The hotel itself is fine, nothing fancy. I believe it will undergo renovations early in 2020. The lobby furniture seemed worn to me. The room was fine, and spacious. The pool was too small for the number of people it had to serve. Parking garage is large and very confusing, with a self-park cost of $19 Canadian per day.

The Executive Lounge served breakfast and afternoon snacks. It offers a two-direction panoramic view of Old Town/Chateau Frontenac/St. Lawrence River and is just stunning.






I would definitely stay here again, especially for the location. We were able to walk everywhere in Upper/Lower Town. Within sight of the front is Parliament and the Tourny Fountain, the Citadel and Plains of Abraham. One block behind it is Rue St. Jean with many shops and restaurants
 
Atlantic Eyrie Lodge, Bar Harbor, Maine
Three adults for two nights in a 2 Queen, Pet-friendly Room
$480, breakfast included
Date of Stay: August 2019


We loved this hotel and would highly recommend it. It is about one block off the main road into Bar Harbor, but so quiet you couldn't hear any traffic. It was so clean, comfortable and nicely furnished. Not fancy, but you could tell the owners care about every detail.



We chose a pet-friendly room simply because it was $40 cheaper. That meant we were on the first floor rather than higher up, and this location worked out well for us. The pet-friendly room has tile floors, and a furniture cover for the sofa.



The room had two queen beds, one sofa sleeper, large dresser and a pine table with two chairs. It also had a balcony with two chairs. Even though we were on the first floor, we had great views of the ocean.



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The 'kitchen' portion of the room is near the entry and has a refrigerator, microwave and coffeemaker.
There is an additional vanity and sink in the main part of the room, as well as a sink in the bathroom, which made it easier for two people to get ready at the same time.



The Island Explorer bus pulls up right out front of the hotel and will take you to the Village Green where you can get explore Bar Harbor, or get other buses to locations within Acadia National Park.

Breakfast at Atlantic Eyrie is basic hotel fare. Nothing hot, unless you make your own toast or waffles. But it was fine, and plentiful. The dining area is spacious with many tables, and even a few outdoor patio tables overlooking the pool area and bay.

We really enjoyed our stay at this hotel and would recommend it for families.
 
El Tovar, Grand Canyon National Park Lodge
2 Adults, $263 per night, plus tax
Date of stay: April, 2018

This beautiful national park lodge is all about location. It has a simple, western design and small, charming rooms.

I'm not sure if there was an elevator, we carried our luggage up to the second floor. Our room had a queen bed.



This large wardrobe took up a lot of floor space. The closet is a step-up walk-in style with plush robes for guests use.



Lots of western charm and simple style.






The bathroom is also step-up (have to watch that in the middle of the night). It's also a beautiful vintage design.










The location is what you pay for here. Literally walk out the front door and see the canyon. We wanted to see the sunrise, and only had to get up about 10 minutes beforehand.



Elk wandering through the park. My husband is standing in front of the El Tovar entrance walk, so you can see how close the canyon rim is in proximity.


The upstairs lounge has an open circular design. There are lots of board games available to play. The large window looks onto to the main lobby below.


El Tovar lobby is dark and simply furnished.


The restaurant on the premises was okay for dinner, and better for breakfast.

I had always wanted to stay in this lodge, and I'm so glad we had a chance to do so. It was expensive for the room quality, but well worth the cost for the location. I'd definitely stay here again.
 
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