Category — Hotels

Hampton Inn Florence-North
1826 West Lucas Street
Florence, South Carolina
United States 29501

Tel: +1-843-662-7000
Fax: +1-843-661-5150

For a Google map, click here.

I suppose you could say that we went to the wrong Florence! The drive from Maryland to Hilton Head is long and dreary. Traffic can be horrendous in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, and the door-to-door distance from our house in Maryland is 630 miles. Quite often we stop on the way. And there aren’t many interesting places unless you stray a long way from I-95, the interstate that runs from top to bottom along the east coast of the United States.

This time we decided to stay in Florence. We did not come to Florence to see the Ponte Vecchio or the Uffizi Gallery. Rather this town is just across the South Carolina border, and we felt that crossing the border would create a sense of accomplishment. We would be in the same state as our beloved Hilton head. This is the third Hampton Inn where we have stayed recently. Our rate was only $66.00, and I have to say that I have been very impressed with this chain every time I have stayed at one of their hotels.

Our room accommodated all four of us in two double beds although Iran thought our bed was just a little narrow. Shampoo and lotion were provided and the bathroom was excellent. The air conditioning worked well. The bedding was good too. We had a perfectly adequate breakfast in the morning, which was included in the price of the room, and we got a newspaper in the morning. A final touch is that we got Hilton points and British Airways miles. And the person at the reception desk was really nice and very helpful!

For the price and the location, I don’t think you could expect much more! Incidentally, it was much nicer than a horrid Holiday Inn, where we stayed in the other Florence a couple of years ago!

The beach at Hilton Head

We have just come back from a week on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We have been here several times before, but it reminded me what a wonderful and relaxing place this is.

There are twelve miles of beautiful beach. There are good restaurants, and excellent golf courses.
 

Best Western
3535 Chain Bridge Road
Fairfax City
Virginia
22030-2703

Phone: 703-591-5500
Fax: 703-591-7483

I used to avoid Best Western hotels, but after staying in a couple of nice ones, my mind opened on this chain. Now, my mind has closed again. The Best Western website provides the following description of this property:

Welcome to the suburbs of Washington D.C. and the heart of Fairfax, Virginia. We are a boutique property in a quiet, peaceful setting with the largest outdoor pool in our area, which shines like a fountain in winter.

Admittedly, the pool looks quite nice. And they do provide wireless Internet service, but everything else about this hotel is not particularly pleasant. The rooms are dismal, and they smell of mildew. These motel-style rooms overlook balconies so that, if you open the curtains, everyone can see into your room. If you don’t the room is dark and dreary.

There was a restaurant on the premises, but that has now closed so that you can’t even get breakfast here!

The public areas are badly in need of renovation. The staff are not particularly friendly. When I asked them to credit my Best Western Gold Crown Account for the night, they told me that they would because I was “not paying for my stay.” Now that is a wonderful incentive for the business traveler to return! And return to this hotel is something I would never do.

This is an expensive area. When I compared its prices to other hotels in the area, this hotel seems to be fairly reasonably priced at around $140 a night.

The bedcover is decorated with physics formulas!

The huge and very comfortable bed

Stylish bathroom!

The Hotel @ MIT seems to really understand that some travelers need to work!

Hotel @ MIT
20 Sidney Street
Cambridge, MA 02139

General Comments

This is a really nice stylish hotel with a modern hi-tech decor. The staff are really helpful, efficient, and welcoming. It creates an MIT theme very effectively. The bedcovers have physics formulas on them.

The Hotel @ MIT is a Doubletree so you get Hilton points and miles if you stay here.

Pluses

• Clever decor and use of the MIT theme
• Really comfortable beds
• Good bar and restaurant (See review of the Sidney Grille)
• Internet connectivity (Ethernet and wireless) for free
• Ability to send print jobs from the room to a printer at the front desk (free)
• Nice pen! (How many hotels provide nice pens?)
• Attractive stationery in the room — MIT-themed cards with transparent envelopes.
• Excellent work space in the room
• Good public lounge
• Good bath robes (dressing gowns)
• Nice rosemary/mint Aveda shampoo and conditioner
• Self-service business center with free facilities (photocopier, fax, computers, etc.)
• The bedcovers — you can solve formulas as you go to sleep!

Minuses

• Some “old fashioned” stuff that was inconsistent with the “hip,” modern theme. (A clunky analog thermostat, old bath fixtures, old fashioned television.
• No body wash — a hotel of this class should offer liquid soap as well as the solid kind.
• No mouthwash — ditto!
• No on-site pool (but you can use the MIT sports facilities for a fee.)

Recommendation

Stay here if you ever get the chance. It is a really special place.

Cost

$204 plus $11.63 State Tax, $8.16 city tax, and $5.61 city tax. A lot of taxes!

The Zephyr Room at the Hyatt Hotel is a nice place for drinks in the evening in Cambridge.

You can get draft beer ($5.00), some interesting wines, including Beringer Knights Valley ($12.00) by the glass, and all sorts of cocktails.

Also you can sit outside and watch the people doing rowing practice on the river. 

Whether it is a Hilton, an Embassy Suites or a Doubletree, there is a new kind of clock radio. It is pretty good and easy to set. It also has one touch tuning and a connection so that you can plug in your MP3 player.

But more than once, I have found that they have stirred me in the middle of the night.

If you are staying, make sure that someone has not set the clock. And, if you have that kind of sense of humor, set the clock for the next occupant! 

The lobby of the Crystal Inn, Aurora, Colorado

Crystal Inn, Aurora, Colorado

Crystal Inn
3300 North Ouray Street,
Aurora
Colorado 80011

Phone: 1-303-340-3800

Toll-Free: 1-888-890-3800
Fax: 1-303-340-3808

Email: res.dia@crystalinns.com

General Comments

This hotel was booked for us because United Airlines could not get us back home tonight. Although it is an “airport” hotel, like many of the Denver airport hotels it seems to be miles away and in the middle of nowhere. I was really not expecting much but, this is a very comfortable and well appointed hotels. It offers spotlessly clean rooms at very reasonable prices.

Don’t expect to walk out of the door, though, and be able to “hit” all the bright spots of Denver. Right opposite there is a reasonable truck stop kind of restaurant, and that’s it!

Crystal Inn seems to have a small number of properties across the country, including Maryland, Montana, Mississippi, and several hotels in Utah.

Pluses

• Close to Denver Airport (DEN) (relatively)
• Very friendly staff
• Efficient and rapid check in
• Swimming pool
• Computers with Internet connection
• Wi-fi access
• Very good cooked breakfast
• Newspaper delivered to your room

Minuses

• Miles from everything else!
• It feels as if it is in the middle of nowhere, but I would be the first to admit that I do not know the area well.

Cost

Nothing for me! United Airlines paid for this room as I was delayed from a flight. I tried booking it to see how much it would be and a double/double seems to be $68 yo $75 a night.

Recommendation

I would not go out of my way for this hotel, but for a good functional hotel, it is definitely above average. I would put it in the same class as Extended Stay America. Certainly, if I needed a bed and I was in the area, I would repeat the stay.

The heated outdoor pool was really nice!

Grand Hotel Tijuana
Blvd. Agua Caliente #4500
Col. Aviación C.P. 22420
Tijuana B. C., México.

General Impressions This is a five-star hotel with all the amenities that you would expect from a first-class hotel. It has a golf course, a swimming pool, an executive floor, and a highly-rated restaurant, which was closed for the Easter weekend.

Pluses

This hotel is run with friendly efficiency. It is conveniently located about 15 minutes from the International Border, but it is away from the mobs of drunken teenagers who haunt the area around Avenida Revolucion. Nice heated pool!

Minuses

You don’t know you are in Mexico! But if you seek out a modern five-star hotel, what do you expect?

Cost

$75.00 per night. This rate was the AARP rate. (Yes, I am over 50!) Good value.

Recommendation

I would stay here again if I were in the area. It’s fine!

AAlthough this hotel is smelly, the bedrooms are pretty nice, and the beds are really comfortable

HILTON HOTEL
6360 Canoga Avenue
Woodland Hills
California
United States 91367

For a Google map, click here.

General Impressions

Generally speaking, this is quite a well-appointed hotel with an unacceptable flaw — it smells horrid.

Pluses

Comfortable beds. Good location. Also, Hilton gets its room amenities from Crabtree and Evelyn now, and they are nice.

Minuses

This hotel stank of mold in the bedroom and in the public areas. The desk clerk did not seem to know what she was doing. And the clock radio in the room was set to wake us up at 4:30 in the morning. Nobody asked us if we liked our stay. Also, the room was pretty noisy. We realised why in the morning — they had left the window open. Presumably, this was so that we would not notice the moldy smell.

Recommendation

Avoid this hotel until they get rid of the moldy smell.