An Overview of United States Hotel Chains: Differences and Tiers

An Overview of United States Hotel Chains: Differences and Tiers

by Ryan Vagabundo

Hotels, motels and Holiday Inns are a reality of life on the road. Well, unless you're the most hardcore dirty backpacker or "traveler kid", I guess.

Booking them can be confusing if you're new to traveling or are an infrequent traveler, however. Or if you're visiting another country that you're not too familiar with. Due to market pressures in many countries (the United States foremost among them), the hotel/motel scene is dominated by big-name chains. There are a ton of different chains, though, and the differences between them aren't real obvious at a glance. The various "star systems" you see around are arbitrary and mostly useless; there isn't any central authority for ranking hotel quality comparable to, say, Michelin stars.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that chains can differ wildly from location to location, because the vast majority of hotels and motels are franchised by a local owner rather than being owned by corporate. They aren't purpose-built like a McDonalds or Starbucks usually is; they're often a conversion of some older property. The local owner just has to pay the franchise fee, meet some basic list of requirements the brand gives them, and then they're a member of the chain. So you don't really know what to expect just from the name alone.

You can divide the U.S. hotel and motel chains into rough tiers, however. These tiers give you at least some idea of what you'll be getting when you book with them. That's what today's guide is all about.

Budget Tier

Reasonable Price Range: $30-65 USD

                                              Pictured: Motel 6

Budget hotels and motels (mostly motels) are the most basic and consistently inexpensive options. They used to be not much more than a bed and shower, and often could be quite old and gnarly, but chains have been forced to step up their game in the last few years due to tightening competition (especially with AirBnb getting into the market) and the proliferation of online reviews. Motel 6 kinda led the way by installing laminate faux-wood floors, bigger TVs and new beds with pillow tops at many of their properties starting around 2012, and since then many of the other budget chains have copied them. (For a fun look at the budget motels of yesteryear, check out this New York Times article from 1990)

What you can realistically expect from the budget tier:

• Will most likely be in an older building; expect floors to possibly buckle/creak and walls to be anywhere from "toilet paper thin" to "kinda thin"

• Usually a motel configuration with doors and windows outside facing to a parking lot (though there are numerous exceptions)

• Small but modern TV with a decent cable package

• Will only have fridges and microwaves if they are in a competitive low-traffic market (not in major tourist areas and many big cities); there may be a communal microwave or two in the lobby somewhere

• Free wifi (even Motel 6 has finally started doing this), though it may be a slower option that you can pay to upgrade

• Small and basic non-heated outdoor pool

• Unlikely to have a fitness room; if they do it's probably like two cardio machines and some dumbbells

• Very basic coffee in lobby in the morning; in more competitive markets you may get an in-room coffee maker and/or coffee constantly available in the lobby

• Limited on-site laundry (one or two machines) if at all

• Rooms with two beds stand a good chance of not having a table or computer desk; the "desk" may also be just a little strip of wood bolted to one wall

• Most likely no shuttle service

• May or may not be breakfast; if there is it will be a very basic continental - cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, packaged pastries, possibly fruit or boiled eggs. Very competitive markets may have a limited hot breakfast (prefab egg patties and sausage that are heated up)

• Since these are often in older buildings, conveniently-placed power outlets may be a problem

Chains in the budget tier:

• • Motel 6 (Blackstone)

  • Econo Lodge (Choice)

  • Rodeway Inn (Choice)

  • Days Inn (Wyndham)

  • Super 8 (Wyndham)

  • Howard Johnson (Wyndham)

  • Travelodge (Wyndham)

  • Knights Inn (Red Lion)

  • America's Best Value Inn (Red Lion)

Lower Midscale Tier

Reasonable Price Range: $45-75 USD

                                             Pictured: Sleep Inn

These properties are at least a noticeable step up from budget chains. You'll see some bleed-over between these two groups in terms of amenities and conditions, as some franchisees are more on the ball and working with better building bones than others. But when you book one of these you can be pretty confident it will be a cut above a Motel 6.

What you can realistically expect from the lower midscale tier:

• More solid buildings / walls than the budget tier; floor buckling/stomping from upstairs is still fairly likely, but the walls usually muffle all but the noisiest idiots

• May be a motel or a hotel configuration, but some chains are interior corridor only (like Sleep Inn, Ramada and Microtel)

• Usually about the same size TV as a budget hotel, but often a better cable package

• Fridges and microwaves are usually standard unless you're in a notoriously gougy city (like Las Vegas or New York City)

• Decent free wifi

• Small and basic non-heated outdoor pool

• Good chance of there being a small and basic fitness room

• Almost always a coffee maker in-room and coffee / tea / hot chocolate in the lobby throughout the day

• Usually a couple of washing machines and dryers around somewhere

• Almost always has some sort of desk and table; chair quality varies

• Possible shuttle service in cities where it makes sense

• Will at least have continental breakfast, and many have a basic hot breakfast

• Usually have power outlets built into desks, lamps and tables for convenience

Chains in the lower midscale tier:

• • Quality Inn (Choice)

  • Sleep Inn (Choice)

  • Red Roof Inn

  • Ramada (Wyndham)

  • Baymont Inn (Wyndham)

  • Microtel (Wyndham)

Upper Midscale Tier

Reasonable Price Range: $60 - $90 USD

                                            Pictured: Comfort Inn

This tier is where you make a big step up from the budget world. Odd properties in this tier might fall short in one or two categories, but all-in-all you can have peace of mind that you'll have at least a pretty good experience when you book one of these brands. This is also the tier where the riffraff starts getting filtered out; not that people with money can't be assholes, but usually your tweakers and low-level criminals and such will shy away from the price and atmosphere of these places when cheaper lodgings abound in the area. These hotels are usually occupied by tourists, families and working people being put up by their employer while on the road.

What you can realistically expect from the upper midscale tier:

• More solid and modern buildings, often purpose-built for this particular chain

• Almost always a hotel configuration (room doors open to interior corridors)

• Bigger TVs with better cable packages

• Nearly always have fridges and microwaves in every room, some chains have kitchenettes

• Good free wifi, some chains also have wired ethernet in-room

• May have an indoor pool

• Almost always has some sort of fitness room

• Virtual guarantee of a coffee maker in room and various hot drinks in the lobby all day

• Usually at least a small laundry room

• Usually a proper computer desk and chair

• Shuttle service to the local airport and/or downtown center

• Almost always a well-stocked hot breakfast

• Some properties have free snack pantries for loyalty program members above a certain level

• Copious power outlets all over the room

Chains in the upper-midscale tier:

• • Hawthorne Suites (Wyndham)

  • Wyndham Garden

  • Comfort Inn (Choice)

  • Clarion (Choice)

  • Red Lion

  • La Quinta

  • Best Western

  • Candlewood Suites

Upscale Business-Class Tier

Reasonable Price Range: $80-125 USD

                                                                                  Pictured: Embassy Suites

Hotels in this tier are about as nice as things get before you start getting into vacation resort territory and luxury accommodations. Lot of corporate accounts putting up their management-level staff at these places. Not everything will always be perfect at every property, but these are a reliably very good experience. Of course, they're also expensive.

Basically, expect everything from the upper midscale tier but with bigger rooms, usually with the bedroom area separated by a closed door from the main living area. Also lots of little perks like premium coffee, a hot breakfast spread with an omelette chef in the morning, indoor heated pools and saunas, a full-size fitness room and so on.

Chains in the upscale business class tier:

• • Holiday Inn

  • Fairfield

  • Cambria

  • Doubletree

  • Embassy Suites

  • Hilton

  • Marriott

  • Sheraton Four Points

  • Hyatt House / Place

  • Radisson

  • Residence Inn

  • Springhill

  • Staybridge

Luxury Tier

Reasonable Price Range: $130-300 USD

If you're rich or splurging on an annual vacation, these are the places to look.

Chains in the luxury tier:

• • Four Seasons

  • Grand Hyatt

  • JW Marriott

  • Mandarin Oriental

  • Nobu

  • Ritz-Carlton

  • Taj

  • W

  • Waldorf Astoria