hotel points

Super 8 Hotel Review in Mt. Carmel: A Business Traveler’s Perspective

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It doesn’t look like much from the street, and I’m not a big fan of Super 8 for various reasons, but I thought I would add a recent review of my hotel stay in Mt. Carmel, Illinois.

I had an overnight business trip in this area, and it’s common knowledge that there aren’t many decent hotels in rural East Central Illinois. Most business travelers in this area go across the state line and stay in nearby Princeton, Indiana, which has a Hampton Inn and a Holiday Inn Express. My plans had been a bit up in the area before this stay, and I put off making reservations. In addition, the hotels on this night, in this area, seemed to be much higher than usual. I assume there was some local event driving prices up.

I started to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express as I needed some IHG nights and had a decent promo for extra points, but the reviews seemed really bad for that location.

The Hampton seemed much better, although the current Hilton promo is bad, and I don’t value Hilton points as much. For the night I needed the price was nearly $200 a night! Very high for this area, so I put it off. Big mistake. When I was ready to book the day before my trip, the Hampton was sold out, leaving a bad HIX or….A Super 8, the horror… I’ve stayed in a few Super 8’s over many years, and none were good. Usually built like cracker jack boxes, noisy, trucks idling all night outside the window, full of drunk construction workers, etc., etc. Many also came off as dirty, bugs, mold, smelling of pot, you name it.

So in desperation, I looked again at the Super 8 in Mt. Carmel, and the reviews on Google showed 4.0, not bad, but sometimes reviews are relevant to the client base. It’s one thing for a person who stays at a lot of Super 8 hotels to give it a good review over someone who is used to staying at nicer level hotels, for example. I’m not a fancy person, but the other reason I don’t stay at Wyndham hotels is that I don’t collect or value their points. So I checked out TripAdvisor and again good reviews and good photos. I then went to American Airlines Hotels and booked it so I could earn 1,600 AA miles.

I knew I would arrive about 5pm and would leave early the next day, so it wasn’t like I needed a pool or spa experience, just a clean place to sleep. Arrival was underwhelming, but I “toughed it out” 🙂

I should have captured more pictures of the many rules and signs. Warning about not driving trucks under the front canopy or how to clean your shoes before entering. All a result of some past experience. One sign suggested a “$1,500 fine for hitting canopy”.

The hotel was quiet with only a few cars when I arrived on a random Wednesday night. A good sign that it might be quiet. My stay was quiet, but I wouldn’t guarantee that for every experience, of course.

I started to pick up the “Pink Phone,” but soon a desk clerk came out of the private “office” area / Living quarters to check me in. He was very nice and asked about my trip. I was exhausted after a VERY long day and was thankful to have my keys so I could head to my room. I’m always disappointed when a hotel starts breakfast at 7am, as he informed me, but he said coffee would be available 24/7, so I would survive, as I had to get up at 4am the next morning.

When you enter the room, it has a vanity, refrigerator, and microwave to greet you. Not a fan of having carpet near a vanity, so laminate flooring would be a better choice for this hotel, but the carpet looked new and was spotless.

Bar soap is provided, which is my main request of hotels. It’s a personal preference, but I don’t use body wash and washcloths. I need bar soap, so I appreciated this minor feature that most hotels have gotten rid of in the name of saving the planet from soap waste or something dumb.

You could tell this was an older building by the setup of the bathroom and the small toilet set low to the ground, but it was spotless. I was impressed. I like to complain, so I don’t say this lightly. The shower turned out to be fine. The shower head was decent, however, I would have moved to shampoo and bodywash dispenser to the far wall as it was right next to your arms when you try to shower. By the way, is there a major difference between “Body Wash” and “Shampoo”? I’m sure there is, but if they want to save money and the planet, why not just combine it all into one gross dispenser 🙂

A small work table and a decent-sized TV with a good selection of cable TV channels were available. I didn’t take a photo of them, but each wall light also had USB and USB-C plugs AND electrical outlets. Very nice indeed.

The beds were clean, the pillows good, and the mattresses seemed new and nice. Everything was fresh. It was a pleasant surprise. 5 Stars! I really didn’t love the metal bedframes, and they sat a bit too far from the wall without a headboard to sit against while watching TV or working on my laptop, but a minor complaint. I had a decent night’s sleep and got up early to enjoy several cups of coffee before my early morning meeting was moved later, so I would have a chance to grab the 7am breakfast after all.

The breakfast was much better than I’ve had at Super 8’s in the past. It offered oatmeal, apples, cold cereal, a few Danish items, toast, and even a waffle machine. No sausage, bacon, or eggs like you might get at the “Fancy” HIX, Fairfield, or Hampton level hotel, but it was fine. I didn’t find any juice or bananas that would make it a bit better for me.

Overall, I would rate this Super 8 a 4+ stars for a quick business overnight. There is no pool, fitness room, or other such frills, but I don’t usually use those anyway.

Pros: Clean, location that was convenient for my needs, friendly staff, and 24-hour free low-quality coffee. Good TV.

Cons: A little lacking on breakfast items, and the price I paid was $133, which is about $40 more than I would expect to pay at any Super 8 in the Midwest for a rural location. Then again, it’s the only hotel in town that most people would stay at. That night, the hotels in nearby Princeton, Indiana, were nearly $200, and I couldn’t even find an available Airbnb.

The other Con is that it’s a Wyndham hotel, which I don’t really participate with, but many wouldn’t mind that. I did end up with 1,600 American Airlines miles out of it, so I’d value that much as I would 3,000 or more IHG or Hilton points.

Fun Hilton Honors Points Explorer Tool

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I’ve been in the points and miles game since the early 1990’s back when hotels would issue paper certificates, so things have changed a lot since then. Most tools and websites that are useful, I already use or at least know about, but somehow I missed the Hilton Honors Points Explorer Tool.

The tool is simple and allows for good sorting and mapping by location and type of stay.

You can enter a location without dates or without “Looking for something specific” and it will show all options within the points range slider limits you chose.

It then allows you to sort by date, distance, and amenities like most hotel sites.

This isn’t rocket science, but many other hotel brands don’t have an “easy” to use feature like this, or their website is very slow. To Hilton’s credit, this site seems to be fast and accurate. You can enter locations by city or country, but it doesn’t seem to allow a broad search like “Asia” or “Europe”.

For my quick United Kingdom search, I found out that the London DoubleTree Kensington was the most expensive by points. 56,000 to 496,000 per night is too expensive for my points wallet! Wow!

The downside to the tool that I have found is that some locations don’t seem to show up without being logged in and dates entered. For example, in my search for “Israel”, it wouldn’t show any locations in the whole country, yet there are at least 2 properties there. The error seems to be linked to hotels that are available or unavailable on points stays without specific dates, is my guess.

Hopefully, this tool can be useful to you as a quick search to see how far your Hilton points can take you.

Why Amex Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts Benefit is worthless to me.

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So I found myself at 7pm on 12-31-22, once again trying to figure out a way to use the American Express Personal Platinum card Fine Hotel and Resorts $200 annual credit. For those living under a rock, this benefit is supposed to be a way to claw back some of the overpriced annual fee. It is basically as useful as most hotel discount rates. I’d compare it to the IHG Ambassador free weekend night benefit but less useful due to the limited locations for the average person.

So I sound really negative but here is why. If you look at the entire list of FHR or Hotel Collection locations there are entire states and major cities without a single location. The Proud Money blog has a nice list for example. Sure California, New York, and Florida all do pretty well but 1 location in Indiana and none in Kansas are just a few examples of holes in this program. This doesn’t even mention locations all over the world that either lack any locations or only have a few (which are all super expensive of course).

Ok so I’m mad I couldn’t figure out how to use this again for the 2nd year in a row and 2023 isn’t looking promising. Maybe I’m just bitter so I’ll give you an example of why this program isn’t worth anything to me.

This is a summary from the Amex website that makes this sound awesome. I’ll overlook the fact that it’s now 2023 and Wi-Fi, like Color TV, should be included at all hotels for free anyway. In some odd way, Amex is promising “strong coffee” but I assume that comes at a price.

Amex promises extra benefits on FHR 1-night prepaid stays or Hotel Collection 2-night stays in addition to the $200 rebate. You can book it far in advance and get the benefit once per calendar year so you could book your 2022 benefit into 2023 and then use the 2023 credit as well. This all sounds good but unless you are already planning to pay for a stay at one of these higher-end properties it might not be your best rate, by far.

So one potential location that would have worked for me is an upcoming trip to Israel that I’m considering so I checked Israel. I was in luck as there are several properties there that could work. Let’s compare the rate for one.

A web search finds the IHG Intercontinental Tel Aviv for $314 per night on Google Maps. Now, this isn’t 100% fair since the $314 is a prepaid 3rd party OTA site and doesn’t include taxes most likely but even the IHG website has it for less than about $350 a night for most nights. But let’s look at the Amex website. Keep in mind that as an IHG member with just about any status at all you will earn bonus IHG points., late check-out, etc. so this offsets any Amex 5x benefits except for the food credit which is usually around $100 if you want to eat at the hotel while in Tel Aviv.

$415 seems high compared to the $314 on Google? Weird that this is around a $100 difference, huh… Now I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that not all FHR properties are like this. I have found a few that are about the same but at the end of the day, you still aren’t getting the best rate. No such thing as a free lunch as they say.

For this hotel, I could also use around 60,000 IHG points for a free night which I could likely buy at around .5 cents per point or less so about $300. Since I’m an IHG Ambassador status person I’ll likely skip the Amex benefit but this is just one example of many that I’ve found.

I’ve been able to use the $200 airline credit at less than $200 in value for misc junk like miles and such. I’ve also made good use of the Saks $50 credit but I bought stuff I really didn’t need at a store I don’t love, at prices that are much too high so I don’t value that at $100 per year. I think I’m going to have to downgrade my Platinum card for 2023 back to Gold so I at least get 4x at restaurants.

Bottom line: Are there some deals and value to be found with this benefit? Sure, but not for most people, and certainly not for me. When combined with the higher fees and the new 2023 limits on Centurion Lounge access the Amex Platinum card is no longer worth it to me.

Photo Review Marriott Waikiki Beach Hotel

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We recently had a short two night stay in Waikiki. Thanks to the Marriott points temporary discount I was able to use two of my 35k free night certs that are usually useless on Oahu.

Due to my low Gold status I did end up in a nice beach view room. We really enjoyed the large balcony and view of the nearby hotels.

Pros of this hotel include location at Waikiki and near the Zoo. Friendly staff and recently renovated rooms.

Cons of this hotel include $50 resort fee per night, $45 per night parking fee and location on Waikiki which is Branson Missouri west with tourists and traffic. Noisy night and day and also tons of homeless citizens all over the beach. Also the band at the hotel next door plays late into the evening which you can hear in your room. Street racing on the street below with horns, people yelling all night etc.

Overall I would stay here again and enjoyed most of it. The check in using the Hawaii covid website is a real pain as the hotel won’t take a printed QR code, they make you log in and go through 2 factor authentication to show them it on your phone while a line forms at the check-in desk.

A photo review of Marriott Courtyard North Shore Oahu Hawaii

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A quick review of our recent stay at the North Shore Marriott Courtyard Laie, Hawaii on Oahu.

Courtyard North Shore
Patio Area
Beach access 50 yards from Hotel on NE side of Oahu
Resort Pool, hot tub, surf board checkout, pickle ball, snorkle gear, volley ball area are all available at little to no cost. Cabana are very reasonable as well.
Beautiful and well kept property (lobby area with activities desk, hula and lei lessons)
A good fitness center and laundry is available
The Polynesian Cultural Center is across the parking lot with plenty of restaurants. BYU University is a few blocks away as well.
Loaner bikes are helpful as there is a nice bike path along this part of the highway
Very Clean well-appointed rooms. They do lack balconies but good views all around.
Good WiFi and internet TV with Showtime on Demand, YouTube and Netflix
Bathroom

Pros of this property: Located on the NE end of Oahu close to the North Shore big wave and surfing areas. Close to BYU University and the Morman run Polynesian Cultural Center which is a big tourist draw. Beautiful tropical area. Away from the busy Honolulu areas.

Cons of this property: Points cost is high for Marriott and only likely to get worse with the devaluation move to dynamic awards. Cast price is about average for Oahu. A long drive to Pearl Harbor sites. Laie Hawaii is a “dry” town so no alcohol sales in this area. Most restaurants are closed on Sundays with the exception of the hotel Bistro and McDonald’s nearby.

Photo Review of IHG Staybridge Albuquerque North

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Recently had a chance to do an extended stay at the IHG Staybridge Suites Albuquerque North hotel. Some of the features such as full breakfast, evening reception, indoor pool and the fitness center remained closed due to the Covid19 scare. The laundry pet area and pantry was available. They also feature long term storage closets at this location as well.

The pantry was nearly empty but had a few items for purchase. The local staff as this hotel was the true bright spot. The rooms are super clean and had standard Staybridge set up with kitchen and sperated bed area. I’d say the only compliant I’d have was that many of the rooms have queen sized single beds which are a bit small in two player mode.

Hilton Garden Inn Cherry Creek Denver Colorado Photo Review

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    A quick overnight for business at the Hilton Garden Inn at Cherry Creek was a good experience.I usually stay at the Holiday Inn across the road but a client booked this hotel for me. While the Holiday Inn is nice and a bit cheaper I think I’d give the edge to this hotel. The best part about the Garden Inn is that it’s located in an upscale trendy shopping center so there are multiple restaurant basically on the ground floor.

    Overall I enjoyed my time here. I like staying in this area because of the Cherry Creek bike trail which offers a great place to run or bike. There are public shared bikes along the trail as well.

    Photo Review Holiday Inn Express Austin Airport Texas

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    Short one night stay at the HIX at Austin Airport. Hotel is a good location just a few minutes from the AUS terminal by car. The hotel features a nice outdoor pool, fitness center with decent equipment.

    It also passes my test of offering the free breakfast at 6 am instead of the weird trend of 6:30 am that many hotels have moved to. It also has small guest laundry and the fitness center is open 24 hours. This hotel is located in a business park type area so not a tourist centric property but most of Austin is a car centered culture anyway. #traffic.

    Separate bath and toilet area are a bit dated with dark lighting but spotless. Only complaint is the overdone water softener setting giving me that “swimming in the dead sea” spa experience.
    I didn’t use the airport shuttle but they seem to have two drivers and vans on call at all times. Check with the hotel for details of course.
    Overall a nice hotel with clean comfort and well located.

    Photo Review of Holiday Inn Elgin Illinois

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    This quick photo review of the Holiday Inn hotel Elgin reflects the good clean rooms and a nice hotel.

    Pros include updated clean rooms with good staff service. Great location just North of the Interstate.

    Cons include lack of evening room service even from the Bennigans on the lobby. They do offer breakfast room service but lack of dinner is bad because there aren’t a lot of restaurants in the area.

    Photo Review of Super 8 Elgin Illinois

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    This is a budget hotel that is well located in the NW Suburbs of Chicagoland. I’m not a big Wyndham fan but stayed here for work location purposes. It’s a clean hotel that is decent and being remodeled to boot. The staff is friendly but breakfast is underweleming. Toast, cold cereal and coffee are the highlights. No pool or fitness stuff to weigh down the cost but good safe location with comfortable rooms and beds.