Originally Posted By misty2 Pros: Biggest reason for booking was the balcony, loved it. Room was fairly large and very, very clean. Housekeeping was great. Gift shop staff extremely friendly and helpful. Cons: Expensive for a motor inn - I think we paid $120/night. I asked for a group rate for 100 plus folks in March and was told $120/night without breakfast. Yikes! Far walk if you are tired. Nothing to write home about.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Cons: Expensive for a motor inn - I think we paid $120/night. I asked for a group rate for 100 plus folks in March and was told $120/night without breakfast. Yikes!<< I am puzzled as to how HoJo's gets away with charging so much these days. The last time we stayed there (Oct 2005) we only paid $55 + tax (and that was not the infamous entertainment card rate). Last time we stayed at the BW Anaheim Inn for $70 a night (plus tax) and much closer to the crosswalk. While HoJo's is nice, IMHO its not that much nicer than most of the "crosswalk" motels, and is much farther away. For the same price as HoJo's one can stay at an Embassy Suites, and that includes a real breakfast every morning (which is a $40-50 dollar value for a party of 4).
Originally Posted By Ursula I've noticed with Hojo's rate fluctuations, that it is higher during the busy season and lower in the off season. Since I'm a local and usually stay there in the off-season (sometimes, you just wanna pretend you're on vacation!) I tend to get the lower-priced rooms. But, I've also found that in high-season, Hojo's rates seem to match that of others. Where is Embassy Suites? Is it walking distance to the DLR? I'm all for trying new places, too, or to have as a back-up when Hojo's is booked.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer I wouldn't call HoJo's a Motor Inn, I would call it a hotel. Vehicles do not park in front of the room doors, all rooms are accessed from enclosed hallways. <a href="http://www.stupidquestionsanswered.com/answered/hotelmotel.htm" target="_blank">http://www.stupidquestionsansw ered.com/answered/hotelmotel.htm</a> >>When working on a degree in Hotel/Restuarant Management at the Technical College of the Low Country on Hilton Head Island, SC, I was taught that the difference between a hotel and motel was simply that a guest can enter the room of a motel from the parking lot whereas a guest of a hotel must enter the room from an indoor corridor. I haven't done any personal research, but I have noticed most properties along the interstate with exterior room entrances refer to themselves as motels.<<
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Where is Embassy Suites? Is it walking distance to the DLR?<< There are two. The closest is a few blocks south on Harbor (technically its in Garden Grove). Definitely not walking distance, but IIRC it has its own shuttle bus.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Since I'm a local and usually stay there in the off-season (sometimes, you just wanna pretend you're on vacation!) I tend to get the lower-priced rooms.<< FWIW we checked HoJo's for Oct 2006 (about the same time we visited the year before). The rates were still sky high, which is why we ended up at the BW. HoJo's rates were high March last year as well (over $100). That time we stayed at the now former Holiday Inn at the Park for about $60 a night.
Originally Posted By Ursula Very interesting! Thank you. I probably wouldn't stay at the Embassy Suites because well, we stay at a hotel nearby usually because we're doing wine-tasting and scotch-tasting at the Napa Rose and usually shuttles stop working too early for us. I would never drink and drive, no matter how close the hotel. But, when we do the ChocWalk, if Hojo's is booked, I'd consider Embassy Suites simply because so many people here endorse it. I did find Hojo's to have higher prices last year, but that hasn't been the case for me as of October 2006. We even stayed New Year's Eve and paid a very good price.
Originally Posted By doodlebug Okay so I was looking at booking HoJo's thru GetawayToday for the week of President's Day and can get it for about $105.00 a night.. Haven't called HoJo's directly yet but online isn't much available because it's a busy week.. We always get our tickets thru Getaway so is this a good deal on the hotel?? And second question if we do book thru them can I still email Willie to request a type of room )
Originally Posted By Ursula ^ Yes. For a holiday, $100 range isn't bad, but email dear Willie and see what he can do for you.
Originally Posted By doodlebug Thank you so much.. I will pop an email off to him and see what he can do for us. We usually stay at DLH but are trying to go lower budget this time around since it's kinda last minute!
Originally Posted By Ursula ^ Yep, we do that all the time. Either we're splurging at the DLH or the AKL or we're saving at the Hojo's! Last minute stuff is so fun. We once ended up at this very bad hotel across from DL, we paid $99 a night, and the room was so small the door hit the bed! We were right above the check-in office and drive-way, so it was very loud all night long. Good thing we're good sports.
