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I’ve stayed the last 3 nights in Las Vegas.  First night was at the Best Western McCarran Inn – my review – (2 stars on TripAdvisor) and the Luxor Las Vegas (3.5 stars).

View from the Mix club on the 64th floor of the Delano hotel

Luxor hotel (the pyramid!) as seen from the 64th floor of the Delano hotel

They were both free for me (the Best Western on a Best Rate Guarantee, and the Luxor as part of a Boarding Area conference that I was at), so price was not really an issue this time.  So which do you think I preferred?  Best Western, hands down!  Here’s why:

Breakfast

Best Western has free hot breakfast.  I’ve had better, but it was the basic hot breakfast (waffle maker but no pancake maker) as the “hot” option, plus your basic array of juices, danishes, cereal and such.

Luxor?  Oooh suerie – breakfast buffet is $16.99 and no comps unless you’ve got good status.  Supposedly you can get vouchers if you buy show tickets, but we struck out twice.

Internet

The Best Western has free wi-fi all throughout the hotel that works great

Luxor?  Free wi-fi in the lobby, but no wi-fi AT ALL in the rooms. There’s one wired ethernet connection but a) that won’t work for phones or tablets and b) I couldn’t get it to work anyways

Parking / Shuttles

In Las Vegas, the Best Western had a free courtesy shuttle from the airport (although in my case it took an hour to show up…).  None of the “fancy” hotels have free shuttles from the airport – instead you’ll be paying $15-20 for a shuttle or taxi.

Parking isn’t as big of a deal in this particular case, but oftentimes the “fancy” hotels charge for parking.  A few years ago, I had 2 separate weeks of training for work in Chicago.  First week I stayed in the Palmer House Hilton – Category 7 hotel and one of the most historic hotels out there.

a large ornate building with a decorated ceiling

Grand Lobby at the Palmer House Hilton

The second night was at a Holiday Inn Express (coincidentally, the same one I ended up staying at 7 years later).

Internet – included at Holiday Inn Express, like $15 / day at Palmer House

Breakfast – included at Holiday Inn Express, $10 or so at Palmer House

Parking – included at Holiday Inn Express, $42 / day at Palmer House

This is on top of the fact that I’m sure the rack rate was at least 2-3 times as much at the Palmer House (I didn’t care once again, because work was paying for it 🙂 ).

Family Travel

For family travel, there’s even more of an incentive to stay at your more basic hotels.  If you thought the $15 price for breakfast was crazy, try multiplying it by 8, like us!  Not to mention at the Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express, you don’t have to worry about your kids destroying priceless heirlooms 🙂  Something tells me too that your average guest at the Palmer House is a BIT more likely to be bothered by loud kids (maybe they’ll even call them ‘monsters’!)

Don't bother with a so-called fancy or designer hotel - 'budget' hotels are WAY better for these 3 reasons

What about you?  What’s your preferred category of hotels?


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