Click here to read the first part of this two-part series post: Back from vacation – and a big thanks to the guest posters!
Yep, so I was on vacation. Basically it was a road trip on the east coast in the United States. Spent a few days in New York City, then drove up to Niagara Falls and back down to Washington DC while passing through Amish territory in Pennsylvania.
This is the hotels I was staying on (and whether or not I would recommend them) – I unfortunately cannot comment on “value for money” for any of the hotels, as I purchased a complete trip that included hotel vouchers.
New York: DoubleTree Hotel – Chelsea (recommended!)
Slow elevators and only two of them. Breakfast buffet was like $20 but it was okay. Internet expensive, $10/day per device. Rooms also quite small. Overall it was a nice and clean hotel and located on Manhattan, it was within walking distance of Times Square, Apple Store on 5th Avenue, subway etc. If visiting New York, I can recommend a tour in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – you even get to see the gold vault. It’s free, you just have to book in advance.
Ithaca: Country Inn & Suites (recommended!)
Not really a hotel as such, but room was big and had two flat screen TV’s. Breakfast was included in price but it was a rather limited breakfast buffet. Free complimentary wireless Internet and laundry service available for self-service.
Niagara Falls: DoubleTree Resort Lodge & Spa (recommended!)
Very nice hotel! I seem to remember there was a charge for overnight parking, but not too expensive. I also seem to recall that Internet was free but I’m not 100% sure. It had a somewhat nice view over some of the falls though you couldn’t see the big ones. Rooms was nice and the elevators on this DoubleTree hotel were much faster than those in New York.
Corning: Ramada Painted Post (NOT recommended!)
Internet and parking was free but that’s about the only good thing to say about this hotel. The hotel only had laundry/dry cleaning service on weekdays (which is fair enough) but the laundry machine that guests could use, didn’t work. The room was old and smelled funny, the hallways also smelled funny. The restaurant/bar was creepy and seemed to be a hangout for locals. As for breakfast buffet, I skipped it. The room was very dark and there didn’t even seem to be a buffet out – or it was very limited (and hidden). No waiter in sight, either. I read somewhere that they recently updated/added new rooms, so it’s possible that you could actually get a nice room in this place, but I’d probably try to find another hotel.
Lancaster: Lancaster Arts Hotel (recommended!)
Awesome hotel with free wireless Internet and free in-door parking. It highlights art so it has paintings both on the hallway walls and in the rooms. A rather creative place and a different styled hotel room, seemed more like a loft – but in a good way. Breakfast buffet was free, but rather limited. Surely enough to suit most people but I did miss bacon and scrambled eggs (because I don’t usually eat that but I like it as part of breakfast buffet on hotels)…
Washington DC: Omni Shoreham Hotel (highly recommended!)
Last hotel on the trip so I decided to step it up a notch and go for something really nice – and Omni didn’t let me down, what a fantastic hotel and oh my, how expensive it was (my own fault – I’m a sucker for ordering room service after having been out walking all day). Internet was $10/day but if you sign up for their “Select Guest”-program (free) you will get free complimentary Internet for all your devices. Unfortunately the wireless antenna next to my room was really bad, so I had like five phone calls to the Internet help line for them to reboot it every now and then so I could get back online. Breakfast buffet was little over $20 but they had it all – well worth it. Oh, and they had a little Starbucks located in the lobby, too. Downside to this hotel was the valet parking, $28/day and only one free in/out service per day. Plus you might have to tip the valet a few bucks as well.
That’s it for my short hotel reviews. So, in case you ended up at this article by googling for some of the hotels above, I hope you could use my opinion. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or contact me directly – I’ll be happy to assist.
I hope that I could go to hotel too someday.
Thanks for all review. I like it and it is very impressive and outstanding.
Very useful post. I will surely look on the first part of this article. Thanks for sharing your reviews about the different hotels. Had you tried to visit some of the Darwin Hotels? I’m sure you’ll love lots of them.