I have stayed there and while it's showing age I agree it's a good place and reasonable by New York standards. Definitely superior to the now defunct Pennsylvanian.
Hotels convenient to Amtrak
- Thread starter Mystic River Dragon
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I am staying at the DoubleTree in Newark, New Jersey, and yes, it is convenient, with the option of PATH, New Jersey Transit, or Amtrak to get into NY City. It's a bit pricey, at $644 for three nights, but what the heck.
One odd thing: They take an 'incidentals' deposit of $75 for each day, so a three day stay locks up $225.00. I'll be watching to see how quickly I get that back. I'm getting used to these deposits, but this is the first place I've stayed that took it by the day.
One odd thing: They take an 'incidentals' deposit of $75 for each day, so a three day stay locks up $225.00. I'll be watching to see how quickly I get that back. I'm getting used to these deposits, but this is the first place I've stayed that took it by the day.
In the current hotel landscape $644/3 doesn't sound all that bad if the location is ideal. The deposit thing is an emerging trend in the industry. It replaces the "pre-authorization" of usually one night's room rate to verify a credit card. It can sometimes take a couple of days for the amount to be adjusted, whether that's upward to reflect your actual "spend" or a refund of an unused amount. The change is that they are now actually charging your card which, of course, reduces your available credit - especially if the amount is significant. It's less of annoyance if one is travelling in their home country (e.g. American in the US, Canadian in Canada, etc.) since foreign transactions lose in both directions - the charge and refund rates differ - unless one has one of those now-rare cards that waive foreign exchange fees.
The FNBO AGR card waives the exchange fee, at least the Preferred one does. I use it in Canada frequently.
Devil's Advocate
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Part of the foreign transaction fee is charged by the network rather than the credit issuer. The issuer can decline to pass the network fee along to their customers but the more common these charges become the more it's going to cost the card issuer and the more likely they will start charging in the future.
I hope the $99 annually I am paying FNBO for my AGR card will continue to cover such incidentals as far as they're concerned
I used to have a similar card but unfortunately they're dropping like flies in recent years.
My BOA Alaska card waives it, too.
My wife and I are staying here in a few months for our 30th Anniversary trip.
When I visit cities with union hotels, I do what I can to stay in a union hotel, and that is one of them in Manhatten and it is so close to the station
The hotel workers union, UniteHERE, has a website to help find union hotels and avoid the bad ones on the boycott list. One can download a file that lists distance the hotels are from convention centers and distance from airports as well. I used it just last week to find a union hotel in DC for a short trip for my wife's birthday. When I noticed the airports were listed in the CSV file and not Amtrak stations I sent them an email suggesting that some of us take Amtrak due to the unionization rate (that includes some Amtrak UniteHERE members in Local 25) and adding a field for distance to Amtrak would be a nice addition.
The website I use for union hotels can be found at
https://www.fairhotel.org/
The website I use for union hotels can be found at
https://www.fairhotel.org/
I just checked it and it seems good for major cities, but medium size and small ones, not so much. I tried a series of small and medium cities I use fairly frequently as overnight stops, Boise, ID, Twin Falls, ID, Coeur d'Alene, ID, Salt Lake City, UT and Eugene, OR and there were none listed. Still, it is a good resource and, all things being equal, I would prefer to stay at a property that is on record as treating its people decently.
Those cities you list do not have union hotels or at least not unionized with UniteHERE. A few other unions have some union contracts such as IUOE but not many at that and they don't push them with a union label from what I can tell. The entire state of North Carolina has zero union hotels. I don't think there are any in South Carolina either. They have a boycott on the Marriott in downtown Greensboro but as far as I know it is boycotted due to issues at other Marriotts that are convention center type hotels and as far as I know there is no organizing their though maybe there was an organizing drive decades ago.
My Doubletree Newark stay was disturbed by the total failure of PATH due to a switch problem on Thursday morning, April 26th, necessitating a ride into the city on New Jersey Transit, which did cross-honor my ticket (Don't see how anyone could've got through to check, as the train was jammed. I did get a seat, though, through fortuitously being right where a door opened. I spent my day in NYC, getting back about 10 PM, to find the bridge across closed, without any instructions about an alternate route. All of the Gateway Center signage points to the bridge. Finally figured it out, crossed at street level and made it inside. But, when I tried to get on PATH, my Metrocard was short, it wouldn't say how much, the machines are very impatient with new users, threatening to time out on my repeatedly as I tried to add a dollar to my card. IT STOLE A $10 bill from me, Finally used a credit card to buy a 1 trip ticket. I recommend that for others $2.75. Don't know that I'll stay here again. Too many things can go wrong. Only good thing now is I am steps away from my southbound train in the morning. No PATH or NJT.
Unionization at hotels is precarious, I think, given the slashing of housekeeping and the reduction of front-of-the-house staff. Maybe what I mean is that unionization in general is precarious these days, though saying anything more than that would breach site rules.
Devil's Advocate
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I support the right for workers to unionize but I'm not basing where I stay on how unionized each hotel is. Around 95% of Las Vegas hotel/casinos are unionized and those have been some of my worst experiences, so I do not find this to be a compelling statistic.
Everyone has their own level of what they will put up with as a paying customer. My interactions with hotel staff are generally minimal so I can't make any comments that are negative. Check me in and out and clean the room as requested and I am good to go. When I have stayed at Motel6 types I know what I am getting and have expectations set to that level. I do sleep a bit better knowing I am helping push the needle to the side of trying to lower the wealth gap and giving everyone a better chance at a better life. And unions are not perfect on this but overall they are pushing the needle the best they can with the power and laws stacked against them so heavily. The reality is that I don't travel all that much out of the state to these much larger cities so when I do it is a special treat and I like to do it right in my eyes.I support the right for workers to unionize but I'm not basing where I stay on how unionized each hotel is. Around 95% of Las Vegas hotel/casinos are unionized and those have been some of my worst experiences, so I do not find this to be a compelling statistic.
I am willing to put up with a bit of surliness or other small problems in customer service, as that to me is better to have than knowing the employee is in a position of having no power on the job and one little slip could mean their job. But everyone has their own limits on that, and at some point I do as well, but my threshold is likely higher than it is for you.
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Mystic River Dragon
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Welcome to New Jersey!
Seriously, though, I’m sorry things were so messed up. Hope the rest of your trip is better.
After reading this thread it may be that most of the big city hotels are charging high rates in the busy months but tourist areas seem to be getting on the bandwagon. Flagstaff AZ hotels are in the $200-$300/ night range. The Marriot is only 3 blocks away from the station. . Hotel El Tovar at the train station (not Amtrak) in the Grand Canyon South rim, AZ is now pricing out at $500-$800 per night. If you take Amtrak to Salt Lake City and drive to Zion National Park expect rates of $480 per night and thats in a rural but busy tourist area. If possible get outside the city to lodge. Rates at the LaPosada (former Harvry House) in Winslow, AZ are about $160/night and the best part is that the Amtrak station stop is right at the rear of the hotel. Lodging is very nice and they now have cars rentals at Winslow Ford.
Not hotel specific but it does involve a place to place your head. There is a very nice campground at a federal park in Greenbelt, MD just outside of DC.
https://www.nps.gov/gree/planyourvisit/campground.htm
We took the kids there when they are almost but not quire sullen teens and spent a few nights there. The park is near-ish a park-n-ride Metro lot so we jumped on the subway and did all the museums for free and never had to deal with finding parking. The park is not walkable to the subway station but there could/should be bus lines at the park entrance so it would be possible to get around without a car. Getting camping equipment on Amtrak and then taxi to the campground might be a problem but not impossible. This was about 14 years ago.
https://www.nps.gov/gree/planyourvisit/campground.htm
We took the kids there when they are almost but not quire sullen teens and spent a few nights there. The park is near-ish a park-n-ride Metro lot so we jumped on the subway and did all the museums for free and never had to deal with finding parking. The park is not walkable to the subway station but there could/should be bus lines at the park entrance so it would be possible to get around without a car. Getting camping equipment on Amtrak and then taxi to the campground might be a problem but not impossible. This was about 14 years ago.
In my experience (admittedly, a few decades ago) iconic historic hotels in U.S. national parks have always been expensive.
In 1974 (I was about 20) my girlfriend and I drove from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in mid February. We had some sleeping materials in our station wagon, but decided to inquire at the El Tovar, the only facility open. A bored desk clerk said it was $30 for a room, which was out of our price range. So we found an even more bored park ranger, who told us we could park anywhere in the campground we wanted, we were the only ones there. It was bitter cold, and we had to wake up a few times and run the engine to warm up the car. In the morning a ranger tapped on our windows to make sure we were still alive.
Since then, I have stayed at the El Tovar once and the Bright Angel Lodge many times. Twice I snagged a rimside cabin. Those were the days...
Since then, I have stayed at the El Tovar once and the Bright Angel Lodge many times. Twice I snagged a rimside cabin. Those were the days...
Looks like I picked a Good Time to stop taking Amtrak Sleeper Trips and staying @ Nice Hotels!
I'm planning a Canadian Circle trip in early -mid November and am planning layovers in Toronto, Vancouver, and Seattle. I'm checking hotels at a reasonable price that are close to the stations, but I would like some recommendations. My initial search seems to indicate that downtown Toronto is ~$300-$400 (Canadian, I presume), downtown Vancouver is ~$250-$350 (Canadian?) and Seattle is in the $300 a night range. Obviously, if I could find some decent places conveniently located at more like $150-$200 (US), I'd prefer that. I'm a Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton member, but I'd also be interested in interesting unique local hotels, too.
You might want to look for an AIRBNB single room. You can often get them for around $100 a night. It's a bit strange staying with a stranger, but if the owner has a zillion good reviews, it should be fine. I've done it several times with no problems. You can also look at bed and breakfasts, sometimes they have an odd small room with bathroom down the hall for good prices.
Here's an example of a nice looking AIRBNB room near the Toronto train station going for $138 in November.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48765870
Here's an example of a nice looking AIRBNB room near the Toronto train station going for $138 in November.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48765870
By the way, my son and I stayed in a similar AIRBNB room in Toronto the night before we took the Canadian. The Canadian was almost a full day late departing, so the next night VIA put us in a deluxe stationside room in the Fairmont Grand York with a rack rate of $500+, so we went from one extreme to the other. They even bought us dinner in the hotel. I had planned a few days in Vancouver, since you never really know when you are going to get there.
