I've just been offered a Best Western card , a loyalty scheme, and I see I would get one free night for only 10 days stay 'based on a room rate of $80'. My question is 'what kind of hotel or room is it that is $80 a night?

(I hope no Americans are coming to London expecting anything much for that sum ! Even in the provinces you'd not be looking at anything approaching grand, to put it mildly).

Best Westerns are your basic, no-frills accommodations. I remember one trip, however, where our family had a horrible experience at one, and that kind of soured us on Best Western. This one was at Crow Agency, Montana. It was hotter than Hades, well up over 100 degrees, and the only water in the swimming pool was rain water. Their idea of a salad was a couple of brown wilted leaves, and the sofa in the lobby was split with the stuffing and springs sticking out. And the air conditioning didn't work. Needless to say, that wasn't a great night.

They just opened a Best Western in my town, and for $80, it's all right. Free continental breakfast(pretty good fare, too), milk and cookies at night, refrigerator and microwave in the rooms (perfect for buying snacks from the grocery store I work at, which is right across the street!). It also has a lounge, swimming pool and spa, fireplace in the lobby, and fitness center. And there are all sorts of amenities for the business traveler as well.

If you're looking for good, basic accommodations, with nothing very fancy, then your $80.00 is a decent buy. (But don't go to Crow Agency, Montana!)

Best Westerns that I have been thoguh have clean rooms and are well-managed, but are definitely far from upscale. A good place to stay if you don't care about frills but want something above a sketchy motel.

Thanks for that you two.

In the UK Best Westerns are all privately owned and run;none seem to belong to owners with a second hotel; most are of character. I've rarely found a BW in a truly modern building, even in cities.

A typical BW here is an old hotel in a small town. It is often of the Olde Worlde type, with exposed beams and enormous fireplace in the lobby.

The one I was booking which is in Liverpool, in a park about 3 miles from the centre. It is a mid C19 property. It looks as though it was once an industrialist's house . A 3* ( 5* is top here), it is £89 a night (c $125).

The last I remember was in Suffolk and backed on to the town's ruined castle; they kept the key to the site behind the bar. This seemed about right for a rural BW !

So you see we are not thinking just better than a motel here.

$80 is only £62 or so.Well,my £89 ($125) in Liverpool for a 3*seemed reasonable value, even at full rate, in April but the place is out of the town centre. I have just paid £40 ($56) a night for a Bed and Breakfast in Dover ( a cross -channel ferry port in Kent) but that was a touch luxurious for a B and B; the room had an ensuite shower and lavatory ( but only a single bed ,was at the top of the building (3rd floor)and had no elevator, of course).

This all reminds me of telling a Swiss friend that I'd stayed in a Movenpick in Egypt. This company, back home, is only known for having cafeterias ( 'diners')so he was imagining the hotel equivalent. It was in fact quite the best hotel, I thought, in Luxor ( own island on the Nile, acres of garden etc). So companies sometimes have a different image or policy away from home.

[This message was edited by FredPuli on 08-09-03 at 09:57 PM.]

My only complaint about BW's is that the walls are thin...can hear the people next door. But otherwise, they are very clean and have in-room coffee, which travellers consider very important!

The best western here in our city seems to be a little better than what you all have talked about. I did not find the thin walls. They have a swimming pool, cable TV, a bar, and lounge, breakfast buffet that comes with your room price, a nice restaurant that is open early to late at night, laundry, banquet and confrenece rooms, New looking carpeting, very comfortable beds, hairdryer, coffee, microwave and refrigerator standard in each room. All for 42.99 each night. I won't pay 80 dollars a night to stay anywhere unless it is in a resort area. My last stay around the resort area of Pigeon Forge TN was only 95 dollars a night, and actually it was a very luxurious Best Western.