# Hotels



## 911 (Aug 22, 2019)

My biggest complaint with hotels is their beds. Why don’t the better hotels offer a firm mattress in at least some of their rooms? I have stayed in numerous hotels (mostly 4 & 5 star) and I have yet to find one hotel that had a comfortable mattress. 

My mattress here at home is like a slab, which my wife and I enjoy. When we travel, we are both wishing that our mattress could go along with us.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 22, 2019)

My biggest complaint about hotels is the price!

When I travel all I need/want is a safe clean quiet place to sleep, shower, and store my possessions.


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## hollydolly (Aug 22, 2019)

Large Chain  Hotels in the UK tend to have very good mattresses...perhaps you and your wife  should come here to visit , @911


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## treeguy64 (Aug 22, 2019)

Never had a bad mattress, and I traveled quite a bit, in my younger days. 4&5 star hotels have bad mattresses?  Better check who's giving out those stars! Better yet: When you hit town, visit the local hardware store, buy two 3/8" 4x4 sheets of plywood, put them under your 4&5 star hotel mattresses, and sleep "easy." If all else fails, pull the sheets and covers off the bed, and sleep on the "slab" floor. Sweet dreams!


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## Patio Life (Aug 22, 2019)

I'm usually so tired after a day of sight seeing, eating yummy food and a few glasses of wine - I could sleep in the lobby.

We usually stay at hostels or rent apartments. I haven't stayed in a hotel in over 20 yrs.


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## 911 (Aug 23, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> Large Chain  Hotels in the UK tend to have very good mattresses...perhaps you and your wife  should come here to visit , @911



I was in London about 10 years ago. We stayed at a 100% British hotel, which my wife and the travel agent selected. As I remember it, I can’t remember us complaining about the hotel, just the food. I mean, Baked Beans and Fish for breakfast? Really? BTW, the breakfasts at the hotel was much better than the hotels here in the states offer.


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## 911 (Aug 23, 2019)

Aunt Bea said:


> My biggest complaint about hotels is the price!
> 
> When I travel all I need/want is a safe clean quiet place to sleep, shower, and store my possessions.



I totally avoid what I call “trucker motels.” I like Hilton, Holiday Inn, Radisson and Hyatt. I am OK with Hampton, HI Express, Sheraton and Embassy Suites. 

Super 8, Clarion, Ramada, Motel 6, Red Roof and Quality Inn, I avoid.


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## Don M. (Aug 23, 2019)

I tend to agree with 911 about most hotels/motels.  We've driven fairly often, in the past, and seldom found a place to stay overnight that was of any real quality...irregardless of price.  Over the past few years, our "hotel" stays are largely at the casinos, and their beds and facilities are very good....and for us, free(of course, we pay for them at the slots and poker tables).


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## hollydolly (Aug 23, 2019)

911 said:


> I was in London about 10 years ago. We stayed at a 100% British hotel, which my wife and the travel agent selected. As I remember it, I can’t remember us complaining about the hotel, just the food. I mean, Baked Beans and Fish for breakfast? Really? BTW, the breakfasts at the hotel was much better than the hotels here in the states offer.


 Oh yes baked beans at breakfast... (I'm not a great fan I must admit)..but it's a tradition. However you wouldn't have got Fish with baked beans.. fish is served on it's own..kippers, smoked haddock, etc....and baked beans are genrally  served either on toast, or with a full traditional English breakfast..sausages, eggs, bacon,  mushrooms, toast etc... 

I'm pleased you found our breakfasts to be superior to hotel breakfasts in the USA.. , they're generally very good!!


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## JimW (Aug 23, 2019)

911 said:


> My biggest complaint with hotels is their beds. Why don’t the better hotels offer a firm mattress in at least some of their rooms? I have stayed in numerous hotels (mostly 4 & 5 star) and I have yet to find one hotel that had a comfortable mattress.
> 
> My mattress here at home is like a slab, which my wife and I enjoy. When we travel, we are both wishing that our mattress could go along with us.



I don't really have problems with the mattresses, but the pillows are terrible. They're never firm enough, just little feather puffs. I'm always calling for extra pillows. Wife and I try to bring our pillows from home whenever we can.


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## Lc jones (Aug 23, 2019)

Any thoughts about staying in an AirBNB? My daughter always stays in them while traveling and loves them


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## JimW (Aug 23, 2019)

Lc jones said:


> Any thoughts about staying in an AirBNB? My daughter always stays in them while traveling and loves them



The house we just stayed in last week for vacation in Maine was an Air BnB, it was pretty good. First time we've ever done the Air Bnb.


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## Lc jones (Aug 23, 2019)

JimW said:


> The house we just stayed in last week for vacation in Maine was an Air BnB, it was pretty good. First time we've ever done the Air Bnb.


Were the beds comfortable? How about the cleanliness? Those two items are really important to me as well as it being peaceful


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## JimW (Aug 23, 2019)

Lc jones said:


> Were the beds comfortable? How about the cleanliness? Those two items are really important to me as well as it being peaceful



Yes, the beds were comfy, just a little smaller than what we're used to. We have a kingsize bed at home and the largest bed in this house was a queen, still not bad and the price was pretty good too. The house was very clean, they had a cleaning crew in a few hours before we arrived.


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## 911 (Aug 23, 2019)

H


hollydolly said:


> Oh yes baked beans at breakfast... (I'm not a great fan I must admit)..but it's a tradition. However you wouldn't have got Fish with baked beans.. fish is served on it's own..kippers, smoked haddock, etc....and baked beans are genrally  served either on toast, or with a full traditional English breakfast..sausages, eggs, bacon,  mushrooms, toast etc...
> 
> I'm pleased you found our breakfasts to be superior to hotel breakfasts in the USA.. , they're generally very good!!


Holly....The fish was separate. I asked the hostess what it was and she said, “Fish.” I asked the Hostess what it was that I was looking at and she told me fish. I was surprised. I thought maybe it was left-over from dinner. 

I did see the eggs, potatoes, sausages and bacon. I was impressed with the variety and the food was hot.


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## retiredtraveler (Aug 23, 2019)

911 said:


> I was in London about 10 years ago...... just the food. I mean, Baked Beans and Fish for breakfast? Really? BTW, the breakfasts at the hotel was much better than the hotels here in the states offer.


Oh man. The Full English Breakfast (a.k.a. heart attack on a plate) is the best part of travel. I normally stay in B&B's and look forward to ham, sausage, eggs, black pudding, potato, tomato, mushrooms, (everything fried ) along with the beans. It's my once a year deviation from a healthy diet and I enjoy it. Don't normally get fish --- usually have to special order something like kippers if it's offered at all (at least in my experience).
   As far as original posting, I have stayed for single nights at Premier Inns (the 'budget' chain of the UK) and found them comfortable. But everyone has different ideas of comfort.


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## retiredtraveler (Aug 23, 2019)

JimW said:


> The house we just stayed in last week for vacation in Maine was an Air BnB, it was pretty good. First time we've ever done the Air Bnb.


We do AirBnb and VRBO on many trips. We've had overwhelmingly good experiences. Worst case we had was a place with inqdequte A/C (and we were there in hot weather). That was definitely the exception. The online reservation and messaging site is really well done. Easy to use, questions usually get answered within 24 hours (if not within a few hours). You can go online and look without signing on to see yourself. We like them because we're not big on eating out. We'd rather cook for ourselves and maybe go out a couple of times for the fun of it. Even if you don't cook, the places usually (in our experience) cost less than a hotel room. Often, significantly less. We're going to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City soon and the hotel prices there are quite high. We're using AirBnb for the entire trip.


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## hollydolly (Aug 23, 2019)

911 said:


> H
> 
> Holly....The fish was separate.* I asked the hostess what it was and she said, “Fish.” I asked the Hostess what it was that I was looking at and she told me fish.* I was surprised. I thought maybe it was left-over from dinner.
> 
> I did see the eggs, potatoes, sausages and bacon. I was impressed with the variety and the food was hot.




How rude of your hostess... !! She should have told you exactly what fish it was. The usual fish for breakfast is smoked haddock , or Kippers... and of course you could have kedgeree, which is spicy (curried)  rice and eggs, with flaked haddock,

Where was this, do you remember ?


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## hollydolly (Aug 23, 2019)

retiredtraveler said:


> Oh man. The Full English Breakfast (a.k.a. heart attack on a plate) is the best part of travel. I normally stay in B&B's and look forward to ham, sausage, eggs, black pudding, potato, tomato, mushrooms, (everything fried ) along with the beans. It's my once a year deviation from a healthy diet and I enjoy it. Don't normally get fish --- usually have to special order something like kippers if it's offered at all (at least in my experience).
> As far as original posting,* I have stayed for single nights at Premier Inns (the 'budget' chain of the UK) and found them comfortable. But everyone has different ideas of comfort.*



Premier Inns are ok for one or 2 nights, usually clean but very basic..I prefer Travellodge when it comes to the  Chain hotels in the UK ...


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## 911 (Aug 23, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> How rude of your hostess... !! She should have told you exactly what fish it was. The usual fish for breakfast is smoked haddock , or Kippers... and of course you could have kedgeree, which is spicy (curried)  rice and eggs, with flaked haddock,
> 
> Where was this, do you remember ?



I have been trying to remember the name. I think it has the word “field” in it. Maybe something like Chesfield or something like that. Just drawing a blank.


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## hollydolly (Aug 23, 2019)

911 said:


> I have been trying to remember the name. I think it has the word “field” in it. Maybe something like Chesfield or something like that. Just drawing a blank.


 Chesterfield In Derbyshire?..In the North of England?

Truthfully there's lots of places with ''field'' in their name in the UK


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## 911 (Aug 23, 2019)

My wife just came home and I asked her. She got out her journal from there and told me that the hotel was the Chesterfield Mayfair. I think we were close to Buckingham Palace.


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## hollydolly (Aug 23, 2019)

LOL...you were talking about the Hotel and not the place it was in.....

The Chesterfield is an Upmarket Hotel with fine dining restaurants .... I'm shocked your server (not the hostess)  would say ''fish'' when asked ...

This is their breakfast menu...as you can see the breakfast fish is '' smoked  Salmon''  or  haddock... (as I said previously that it would be)

https://www.chesterfieldmayfair.com...hash=3412F96EBA44E2526B2867E569D7E85A644832FD


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## fmdog44 (Aug 23, 2019)

The last time I stayed in a motel they mistakenly gave me a smoking room. I opened the door and the stench of X number of years of smoking in it damn near floored me and I used to smoke. I went back and got a nonsmoking room.


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## 911 (Aug 24, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> LOL...you were talking about the Hotel and not the place it was in.....
> 
> The Chesterfield is an Upmarket Hotel with fine dining restaurants .... I'm shocked your server (not the hostess)  would say ''fish'' when asked ...
> 
> ...



I remember my first morning there. It was a beautiful day and the hotel was just as beautiful. When we went to breakfast for the first time, I strolled up to the buffet and looked over all of the items. I wasn’t completely sure what some of the items were, so I asked the hostess if she would tell me what all the items were. When we came to the fish, she said, “Fish.” I asked her, “For breakfast?” She told me that it was common to have it for breakfast. I also questioned the beans and she smiled and told me to try them, so I did. They were good. 

We also ate dinner there. For the first night, I had the Fish and Chips. Second night, a steak. All of the food was excellent. The wine was served chilled, just the way I like it and the lodging room was absolutely more than I had expected. The folks at the hotel couldn’t have treated us better. I think my final bill for the five nights was around 3 grand or so and worth every penny. 

I would like to go back, but my wife said we were going somewhere else. We traveled quite a bit since my retirement. My wife is a retired nurse and she studied in France during her senior year in college, so we had to go there, of course. I wasn’t comfortable over there, but I did enjoy my trip to Normandy. At that time, there was no translator app, so I carried a pocket translator, which worked out OK. 

I would still like to return to the U.K. The small villages outside of London really caught my eye. People are very friendly and willing to speak with you. One lady even invited us to stay for dinner. I asked her what was she having and she said Lamb. Uh, no thanks.


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## 911 (Aug 24, 2019)

fmdog44 said:


> The last time I stayed in a motel they mistakenly gave me a smoking room. I opened the door and the stench of X number of years of smoking in it damn near floored me and I used to smoke. I went back and got a nonsmoking room.



Yeah, I agree 100%. Most of the better hotels don’t offer smoking rooms and it’s in their rules that if you smoke in the room, they will charge your credit card xxx hundreds of dollars. They make you sign an agreement at check-in not to smoke and if you do they will charge your credit card.


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## hollydolly (Aug 24, 2019)

911 said:


> I remember my first morning there. It was a beautiful day and the hotel was just as beautiful. When we went to breakfast for the first time, I strolled up to the buffet and looked over all of the items. I wasn’t completely sure what some of the items were, so I asked the hostess if she would tell me what all the items were. When we came to the fish, she said, “Fish.” I asked her, “For breakfast?” She told me that it was common to have it for breakfast. I also questioned the beans and she smiled and told me to try them, so I did. They were good.
> 
> We also ate dinner there. For the first night, I had the Fish and Chips. Second night, a steak. All of the food was excellent. The wine was served chilled, just the way I like it and the lodging room was absolutely more than I had expected. The folks at the hotel couldn’t have treated us better. I think my final bill for the five nights was around 3 grand or so and worth every penny.
> 
> ...


 Well I'm so pleased you enjoyed your visit here... I hope you return.  I've been to France many times as you can imagine..being as it's so close..

I live in a village on the edge of a small market town, just outside London..if you look at the photo thread.. you'll see some pics I took of  my neighbourhood yesterday afternoon... but if you want to see some really beautiful chocolate box villages.. then you would do a lot worse  to go to the Cotswolds..


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## 911 (Aug 24, 2019)

Last week when I was in Key West, my wife and I also took our daughter and grandson along. Up until I was 50 y/o, I would occasionally dive off a boat. I was not a “deep” sea diver or a cave diver. My grandson saw all of the dive shops down there and said that he would like to try that someday. My daughter told him to “Ask your grandpa to take. He used to dive.” 

Long story short, here I was on a boat. I hadn’t dived in years, but hey, how hard can it be to do it again? Like the old saying goes, “Once you ride a bicycle, you never forget.” We both rented our suits and equipment. My grandson did a really good job. I was really surprised at well he did. Me, OTOH, I kind of just went down about 30 feet and then came back up. I did that 2 or 3 times and I had enough. I was never really into diving anyway, but it was fun. I did enjoy looking at the many different fishes.


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## 911 (Aug 24, 2019)

hollydolly said:


> Well I'm so pleased you enjoyed your visit here... I hope you return.  I've been to France many times as you can imagine..being as it's so close..
> 
> I live in a village on the edge of a small market town, just outside London..if you look at the photo thread.. you'll see some pics I took of  my neighbourhood yesterday afternoon... but if you want to see some really beautiful chocolate box villages.. then you would do a lot worse  to go to the Cotswolds..



I saw your pictures and did reply. Did you ever see the movie “An American Werewolf In London”? It starts out with 2 American college boys walking out on the moors. That looked interesting to me. I think I would enjoy walking out on the moors if the weather permitted. Then, stop at a pub and shoot some darts with the locals while sipping on a Guinness.


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## hollydolly (Aug 24, 2019)

911 said:


> I saw your pictures and did reply. Did you ever see the movie “An American Werewolf In London”? It starts out with 2 American college boys walking out on the moors. That looked interesting to me. I think I would enjoy walking out on the moors if the weather permitted. Then, stop at a pub and shoot some darts with the locals while sipping on a Guinness.


 Yes I saw it when it  was first released and watched it a couple of times since. The action too place in Yorkshire (north of England) ..some beautiful places in Yorkshire.. ..I have to tell you there's not many pubs who have dart boards these days!


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