Hotels

During the past 6 years I have spent a lot of time on the road. Most of it has been for work. When I first started travelling, someone gave me the advice to always use the same hotel brand, airline, car rental, and even credit card. The airline was kind of forced on me, since there are only two that serve my local airport. The rental car was sort of forced on me too, since there is only one locally, Enterprise. I try to avoid them at all costs, even going to the airport to get Avis. The hotel is something that was more or less chosen though. There were some situations that I have to stay with what is available, but for the most part I stay at Comfort Suites (Choice Hotel Brand). When not available, it is Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, and Sleep Inn. Just about everywhere I have ever been has this chain (except Hawaii). Every Comfort Suites has been nice. The others, are not glamorous. Some, are kind of scary. However, I have managed to build a lot of points with them. This is why I chose them, they advertised that you get more free nights for the dollar. It took an average of ten paying nights to get one free night. With other hotel brands, it typically took 15 to 20 paying nights to get one free night, and they were typically more expensive. In retrospect, I definitely made the right choice. Shortly after joining Choice Hotels, they had a special. Stay twice and earn a free night. This means two separate stays. Most of my work travel required me to stay in one town one night and another town the next. I was earning a free night every time I hit the road.

They accumulated fast. I also got the Choice Hotel credit card. Points accumulated faster. I took several trips using my points. Free hotel nights are sweet. When I got married, I offered most of the out of town guests at least two nights in a hotel. My dad and mom got even more nights. All were free. We went places and we travelled. We went to the beach. The points still accumulated.

Then we planned the trip to Hawaii using our airline miles for free tickets. Unfortunately, there are no choice hotels in Hawaii. For the first time in 4 years I was forced to pay for a hotel room with my own money. I had chosen once or twice to stay at a motel at the beach, but mainly because someone else was sharing the tab and this motel was closer to the beach than the hotel that would have been free. It was my choice though.

Then, the baby came along and I stopped travelling for work. I do not regret that one bit. But, since then we have been steadily chipping away at the hotel points. Couple of nights here, a weekend in Vegas, and suddenly, the nights were numbered.

Then my dad had to have surgery. He lives in Houston. I packed the family and headed that way. We only had 4 free nights left. We were planning to be gone for 6 nights. We used the 4 nights free for the same hotel in Houston and planned to pay for the hotel wherever we were or needed to stop. I used my own money for 2 nights. It has definitely been a blessing having the free nights. I have used almost 100 free hotel stays. I guess the 180 bucks I spent on those two nights I paid was worth the 100 free nights I didnt.

Although most people would prefer a more luxurious hotel to a Comfort Inn, they have all been good to me.