Why Do We Stay There?
We have been lucky to travel around the world and stay in some pretty great places. But our favorite hotels are not going to bust your budget. You can stay in a lot of places in Napa, but the Best Western Ivey is a bargain. We have three reasons that we stay at certain places, and go back to them: Personal service, room size, and price.
Hotels do change – but these are the hotels we go back to again and again. We have links to the hotel websites- and if we have reviewed the hotel we also have a link there. Please note, we have not been paid for these links- except in love and care from the hotels – for which we are grateful.
Hotels we have loved for personal service, location, and price:
Toronto
Beijing China
London UK
- The Savoy Hotel (A Fairmont property)
- The Corinthia Hotel
- Four Seasons Canary Wharf (for our review: click here)
Normandy, France
- Hotel la graniteiere (for our review – click here)
Adare Village, County Limerick , Ireland
Oslo Norway
Rome, Italy
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
California – Los Angeles Area
- Four Seasons Beverly Hills (for our review click here)
- Four Seasons Wilshire (for our review click here)
- Hotel Angelo by UCLA (for our review click here)
- Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica
California – San Francisco Area
- The Fairmont San Francisco (for our review click here)
- The St Regis San Francisco
- The Loews San Francisco
California – Napa/Sonoma Area
Oregon – Portland Area
- The Century Hotel,
- The Monaco Hotel
- The River’s Edge (for our review click here)
Washington – Seattle Area
- The Four Seasons Seattle (for our review click here)
- The Woodmark in Kirkland
- The Hilton at SeaTac Airport
Chicago Area Hotels
New York City
Tampa, Florida
Anchorage Alaska
- Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska (for our review click here)
Seward, Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
- Best Western, Grandma’s Feather Bed (for our review click here)
Talkeetna, Alaska
- Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge (the best view of Mt. McKinley in the world)
Copper Center, Alaska
We Like Room
Hotels with room. The more room you have, the better you feel. When we look at hotels in different cities we look for room. If you get a baby sitter, it is nice to have room in the hotel for them to play and interact. So when we look at price- we also look at price per square foot. Small room is fine for one traveler, but when you have more- you want more room.
Some hotel chains will upgrade you, but as we search for hotel rooms we seek a hotel that gives us that up front, not as a “we will see what is available.”
The Price
Hotel rooms are more competitive these days. Some offer discounts for booking ahead of time, and there are limitless sights that will offer discounts. But when you have many great choices- it is always nice to have a choice.
When there are conventions, hotel rooms do fill up quickly, and some will offer stay two and get three, some offer discounts if you pay in advance.
We used Priceline and got an amazing deal at the Intercontinental in Rome – great hotel in the perfect location.
Personal service
This never changes. When they know you are coming, the welcome you, and if they have anticipated your needs. Typically these are upper end programs that monitor social media channels, and will go out of their way to help you. But not always.
We have seen this a number of times with Four Seasons Hotel chains. From the first time we stayed with our infant son, to other times- most Four Seasons hotels are interested in helping you make your stay a positive experience.
If you are like us, there are certain places you travel frequently. One of them is Los Angeles. It turns out Four Seasons at Beverly Hills was one of JJ’s first great hotel experiences. It is our “go to” place in Los Angeles.
JJ has become a part of the Four Seasons Beverly Hills Family.
So you can imagine a few years later – meeting again
But that does not mean other hotels won’t compete for your business. Which is a great position to be in. When the other Four Seasons found out we were going to come to Los Angeles they said – “give us a try.” So we did. When we pulled into the parking lot everyone said, “There’s JJ.” Anytime we would walk through the area different workers recognized JJ. It was simple- they wanted to compete for our business – so they did, with service, with the personal touch, and they even upgraded us.
Going up to the Restaurant BLVD – JJ is given a hand
We feel fortunate to have two great places to stay in Los Angeles – but the Four Seasons at Beverly Hills kept coming back for more. Hard not to go there.
