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Tags: Budget Hotels / Ibis Hotels / Etap Hotels / Golden Tulip Hotels / Travelodge Hotels / Holiday Inns / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
The Five Worst Budget Brands In Europe
You’re headed to Europe and despite all the talk about airline deals, getting there has eaten up a lot of your budget. So you're going to stay on the cheap. Yesterday, we listed our Five Best Budget Brands in Europe so that you will know the best hotels to hit up and what you get for your money.
But you also need to know which ones to avoid. Sure, the prices are right at these budget brands but there are times you may want to pay a little more for your peace of mind.
Tags: Snapshot / Holiday Inn Express / Holiday Inns / → All Tags
Behold: The Biggest Holiday Inn Express Room We've Ever Seen
This just in, dispatched from a tipster road warrior who is currently traveling across the country visiting different baseball stadiums (how cool is that?): there appears to be a Holiday Inn Express in Cleveland, Ohio with absolutely ridiculously large rooms. The Holiday Inn Express Downtown Cleveland, specifically.
He sends this snapshot over to us, along with this description:
So far, I've talked to four different employees and all have been fantastic — friendly and polite. The room itself definitely seems like a value, given the square footage (or, more accurately, the cubic footage, given the super-high ceiling) and the fixtures. I'm normally a no-frills traveler, but I do enjoy feeling like I'm in a nice place as opposed to a run-down motel.
This bad boy goes for exactly $125.34 this evening, and we're totally impressed with space and the hardwood floors. There's also a desk that wouldn't fit into the frame here. Apparently, the hotel is actually inside a 19th century historic Guardian Bank Building and was renovated in 2004.
Another pleasant surprise from the budget chain that seems to be turnin' heads this year.
[Photo: T.J. Ryan]
Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Holiday Inns / Airport Hotels / Santiago Hotels / South America Hotels / → All Tags
Holiday Inn Santiago Airport Makes You Wish You'd Missed Your Flight
The Holiday Inn brand doesn't necessarily evoke a sense of hipness or luxury, but the Holiday Inn Santiago Airport just may change everything you think about this well-known chain.
Located literally less than 50 steps from the front entrance to Aeropuerto de Santiago, this property has every amenity the business or casual traveler needs for a long layover or comfortable overnight stay. If you miss your flight or get delayed, there may just be no better place to stay in Santiago.
Tags: Hotel Cocktails / Holiday Inns / Family-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags
All Ages Can Partake in the Par-tay with Holiday Inn's Mocktails
Where: United States
Random hotel fact of the day: 64 percent of all drinks consumed in hotels are alcohol-free, or so says PR firm Weber Shandwick. (Side note: We can't help but wonder what percentage goes to those $8 water bottles…)
And nowhere does that stat probably skew even further towards non-alcoholic than at Holiday Inn, a hotel chain about as synonymous with families as Disney World. So it makes perfect sense that Holiday Inn would offer a line of "mocktails" for its guests who want a more sophisticated way to beat the summer heat than a Big Gulp from the nearest 7-11.
Holiday Inn enlisted Virginia Willis, author of "Bon Appetite, Y’all! Three Generations of Southern Cooking," to craft a signature line of libations fit for alcohol-abstainers, from spritzers to slushies to lattes. After a successful launch last summer, the mocktail menu will continue to be served this summer at Holiday Inns nationwide.
Tags: Hotel WiFi / WiFi Hell / Holiday Inns / Hong Kong Hotels / → All Tags
Internet Charges at Holiday Inn Hong Kong Are Just Wrong
Oh noes. Say what you will about Holiday Inns, but HI's Internet is usually, these days, fairly fast and totally free. Well, 'round these parts, anyway. We're sad to hear from Canadian blogger Andrew Currie that, over in Hong Kong, that's notsomuch the case. He documents his Internet troubles at the Holiday Inn Hong Kong Golden Mile:
Unlimited access set me back $160 HKD per day, or about $25 CAD. At this price you might think I'd be tempted to leave my laptop packed and use my phone exclusively, but even with Opera Mini paring down the average full web page to a paltry 50K or so I would still pay 5¢/kB in data roaming charges — or in other words, for the same cost per day I'd only be able to pull down a mere 10 web pages on my phone!
For an extra $40 HKD/day ($6.25 CAD) I could supposedly access the hotel-wide WiFi via my phone — a great idea for reading the morning news over breakfast in the restaurant, except that interTouch uses some kind of stupid web redirect to log in to their network, likely designed with laptops only in mind.
Boo. Oh, and to translate that to US dollars: that daily Internet charge of 160 HKD works out to just over $20, while the 40 HKD WiFi charge comes out to around $5. And the worldwide free WiFi crusade continues.
[Photo: Andrew Currie]
Tags: Retro Motels / Hotel Porn / Historic Hotels / Holiday Inns / → All Tags
Motels of the Past as Design Inspiration Now
Just because the holiday season is over doesn't mean you have to stop reminiscing over the warm and fuzzy family memories, and for us that most definitely involves road trips around the United States. Back in the olden days when Holiday Inns hosted the Rat Pack and Howard Johnson was the closest thing to a boutique chain, motels began their rise to cult status and their way into our hearts.
Just as it is today with all the hottest properties, motels back in the day were decorated with the latest hip furniture and trendy colors. Thankfully, the look was often times more Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs and Alexander Calder mobiles than grandma's powder room. Of course inspiration for the future usually hearkens back to the past, and we were thrilled to come across a Flickr Set showcasing one person's collection of vintage motel postcards. There's even a set specifically dedicated to Holiday Inns.
The sets pay tribute to the days when motels had names like romance novels--"Melody Manor," "New Townhouse," and "Astro Motel"--but also include some recognizable properties like the Hyatt Lodge in Palm Springs or Las Vegas' Boulevard Motel, which gets no love from the Flickr user: "This motel was built in 1963 and demolished in 2005. It was, by far, the ugliest hotel on the strip." Others were luckier, as most exist today as renovated Comfort Inns or something as such. Next time you roll through Yuba City, California or Michigan City, Indiana, keep your eye out for these relics; one of them could be a favorite designer haunt.
[Edgewood Motel, NY postcard: roadsidepictures]
Tags: Holiday Inns / Bali Hotels / Hotel Openings / Beach Hotels / → All Tags
Bali Hai Is Calling You ... To The Holiday Inn
It's too bad Bing Crosby isn't around to hear about this: a Holiday Inn is opening in Bali in March! Not only will the Holiday Inn Baruna Bali be the first in the tropical area, but it will feature perks like direct beach access and a departure lounge in which guests are encouraged to chillax before their flight home.
Expect it to have all the exoticism you desire from Bali, like public areas with thatched roofs and tropical gardens, paired with the practical business side of a Holiday Inn (hello, wifi). This could be huge for family reunions and the Knights of Columbus.
Start talking to your bingo buddies now as they're already taking bookings beginning March 1. Opening rates are a very affordable $119 a night, considering how the mangy old Holiday Inn Chinatown in New York City likes to charge upwards of $300. Book directly through the Holiday Inn website here.
Tags: Sydney Hotels / Holiday Inns / New Years Eve 2009 Hotels / → All Tags
Sydney Hotels Filling Up Fast for New Year's Eve
With an ever-shortening countdown to New Year's Eve, it's hard to get a good rate in Sydney for the big night. We already decided the Shangri-La's rates were no great deal and now there are just a handful of central Sydney hotels with rooms still available.
One of them is the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour. Now, we're not usually big fans of Holiday Inns but when New Year's Eve is fast approaching, well, you know the saying 'bout how we can't be choosers.
The Holiday Inn still has some packages going for New Year's Eve (at least it does on lastminute.com.au--weirdly the hotel site itself claims fully booked like everywhere else in town). For A$699 ($450) you get breakfast and a bottle of sparkling wine. We still think this rate is far too high--you can stay at the same hotel for A$169 the week before--but if you're running out of New Year's choices then you'd better book fast.
One important thing to know is even though Darling Harbour rates a mention in the hotel's name, you shouldn't be expecting any harbor views. The Holiday Inn is kind of sandwiched between other buildings and good views are pretty much non-existent, so be sure to head out to celebrate the turning year.
[Photo of sandwiched hotel: Manigat]
Tags: Holiday Inns / Holiday Inn Express / Hotel Ads / → All Tags
Holiday Inn Cleans Up Image by...Rapping?
Where: United States
The Holiday Inn chain of hotels hasn't always been known for bonuses like a complimentary hot breakfast bar and occasionally clean pools; no, they used to be real dens of iniquity, serving almost as petri dishes for staph bacteria.
The heyday of their seedy reputation came in the late 1990s, when the term "Holiday Inn" was slang, referring to any cheap motel for unsavory activities regardless of hotel brand. Mentions in popular rap songs, including "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang and the more recent "Holiday Inn" by Chingy, dug a deeper hole for the hotel chain and their image dropped to an almost unsalvageable low.
Tags: Anti-View / Toronto Hotels / Holiday Inns / → All Tags
Room With an Anti-View: Centrally-Located Holiday Inn Markham in Toronto
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
When the hotel's own publicity chooses the opening words of its advertising blurb to be "Centrally located near major highways", we're imagining rooms with views over spaghetti freeways and wasteland. At the Holiday Inn Markham in Toronto, it's slightly better than that, but still fits into our definition of an anti-view : car parks, flat roofs and boring straight roads as far as the eye can see.
The standard of the hotel seems just slightly above the standard of the view. Neat, mostly clean and mostly decent service prevail, but previous guests have complained that they've paid too much unless they win a cheap room on Priceline at around C$60 for a double. Don't pay too much, don't look out the window, and you'll be fine.
[Photo: Julep67]
Tags: Holiday Inns / Hotel Loyalty Programs / Mattress Runners / Priority Club / → All Tags
Complaining at the Holiday Inn Might Get You More Priority Club Points
If you're a fervent hotel loyalty program member then you might be familiar with the term Mattress Runner.
These are people who just book hotel rooms to garner a certain amount of points that will either take them to the next loyalty echelon (gold, platinum, etc.) or earn them a free stay.
So the question for Mattress Runners is: What would you put up with for 50,000 points?
We have a first-hand experience of one guest who had much to complain about at a Holiday Inn near the Atlanta airport. Yet it turns out, all that grief made him loaded in Priority Club points. Mattress runners take note.
The full story is after the jump.
Tags: Hotel Sex / Holiday Inns / Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / → All Tags
New Holiday Inn Chelsea May Look Sexy, but It's Not Good for Sex
Last week, we had the chance to stay overnight in the brand new Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Avenue, one of the first HI properties to sport the brand's more upscale look, which includes the upgraded logo and all sorts of the new, chic decor planned to hit all Holiday Inns by the end of 2010.
And while we admit that the hotel did look pretty sexy (especially, you know, for a Holiday Inn) we couldn't help but notice that it would have been a terrible hotel for having good old fashioned sexytime -- and sorry, Spitzerface and Edwards: secret affairs here would be totally out of the question.
The reasons why (and a full review) after the jump.
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