La Quinta Hotels vs Others

Perhaps I’m being a little inaccurate here, but I’d call them the Southwest of hotel chains. The rates are reasonable and the rewards program is generous. Sign up for the no-annual fee credit card and get extra points that way. The rooms are pretty big.

Compare them to say Courtyard Marriott and the only downside might be less fancy breakfasts, but the upside is a cheaper rate. On the other hand, some Fairfield Inn are actually a little nicer than La Quinta. This is a weird thing since Fairfield Inn is Marriott also, but supposedly lower end than Courtyard.

I must say that I’ve had a pretty bad experience with Hawthorne Suites which is a Hyatt hotel partner. They attempted to bald-facedly bill me for an extra day thinking I wouldn’t notice (0% chance I wouldn’t), and they never credited my Hyatt points. I would never go with them again.

I did recently stay at the Hyatt at Embarcadero in SF, and it’s pretty nice. I guess for a couple hundred dollars it better be.

Southwest Airlines (Updated Oct’09)

Good: Rapid Rewards program is easy to redeem, it used to be that you could have any available seat /route can be used with mileage.  But a year or two ago, this was changed to be more like other airlines where only certain numbers of mileage seats are available.   Online check-in, inexpensive fares, some hot flight attendants in shorts.
Bad: Meals made up of crackers (having trans-fats), no non-stops to go across the country.