While maybe a tad expensive, the Hilton at Charles DeGaulle DOES NOT justify an accomodatin to avoid warning. It is very pleasant.

Do not stay in the Portofino Beach Hotel apartments in Newport Beach, CA. Reportedly, they have nice hotel rooms in a separate building, but their apartments are musty and dirty and do not appear to have been redecorated since the early '90s--or earlier! Dirty wicker chairs and a worn-out couch reside in the living room. The prints are from another decade. It's just ugly. <BR> <BR>But here is the worst part: though they have an ant problem, they rented an apartment to us, and we soon found a great deal of them crawling in my purse, suitcase, and groceries. And, of course, walking across our persons. It was disconcerting, and absolutely disgusting. <BR> <BR>Also, they said they were located in a quiet neighborhood, but the apartments are a block from a busy, noisy highway. Making matters worse, after months of planning a quiet time together, our vacation was completely ruined by the skate shop carnival--complete with loud, banging skate ramp, booming music and yelling--right across the street. Tell me they didn't know this was going to happen that weekend. <BR> <BR>With all of this, did they provide any compensation? No, and they didn't demonstrate any sense of caring. Every time we would come into the lobby for their lousy continental breakfast, or sat in the lounge to enjoy the ocean view, we were rudely questioned as to whether we were hotel guests. We are conservative dressers, and are quiet and polite people, so there was no reason for this. When they came to spray the ants the first time we complained, they took their time, then looked and talked to us as though we brought the ants in ourselves to trick them. Later, they blew me off when I complained again about the ants--that simply reappeared the day after he sprayed--at check out. The clerk just said, "I thought we took care of that problem," the same kind of thing the first clerk told me when he came to spray. He said, "Every time we spray the outside, and they go away." Every time? That means, you KNOW you have a bad ant problem, and you go around and put a bandaid on the problem with a cheap spray can instead of paying for a professional exterminator, and rent that apartment anyways. <BR> <BR>When I was first planning this vacation, I asked other people to tell me what they knew about this establishment, but I didn't have any luck. I hope this keeps the next person from wasting their precious few vacation days at this place. At least not in their apartments.

Roscoe, <BR> <BR>What's the problem with the J.W. Marriott in DC? <BR>

YOSEMITE WEST CONDO'S....worms in the bathtub, no onsite management, thin walls etc,..etc.. If anyplace makes you pay in advance for a room...BEWARE!!! <BR> <BR>We moved to Yosemite Lodge in the park; $10 cheaper and a lot nicer.

There is no problem with the JW Marriott. It's a lovely hotel.

Hampton Inn near or in Harrisburg, PA. We stayed there on the way to Baltimore, thinking it was part of the Hampton Inn chain. Now I knnow why reservations clerk chuckled when I asked if it had a pool or whirlpool. It was an independent motel, actually behind a busy sleazy bar with an outdoor hot tub,. Rooms were awful (I slept in my clothes), seemed to be a transient home for many odd sorts. lots of BBQs outside of rooms for the roadkill I suppose. We found it in the AAA guide book and it was clear they advertised themselves to look like the Hampton Inn chain. Never again

To No More: <BR> <BR>I'm sorry you had a terrible experience but I had to laugh. You always wonder if "it's as good as the brochure says" but in your case, I don't think they even HAVE a brochure. And if they do, I hope it is burned. <BR> <BR>The zinger was the family having only one pot. I nearly fell off my chair. <BR> <BR>Glad you survived the experience. Yikes!

First, I avoid all Days Inns. On a move across country, I let my husband pick the hotels and he picked, for some still unknown reason, all Days Inns. Each one was worse than the rest--services promised (hot breakfast or swimming pool, for example) not provided or closed, rooms smelled, not clean, etc. After the third night, I canceled all our remaining reservations and took over the hotel selection. <BR>The other hotel I give a BIG thumbs down to is the Quality Inn-Downtown Chicago on Halsted. Was assigned a room there for a convention. It's NOT downtown and there's nothing quality about it. Bad service, awful rooms, terrible location. No matter how cheap a room they offer, don't take it. Our corporate travel planner got an earful when we returned.

The Riverfront Hilton the New Orleans. The rooms were OK, but the staff was horrible. The room was never cleaned before 6 pm, we couldn't get accurate info about the airport shuttle, and when we asked to check out at 2 instead of noon on the last day (after a five day stay), they said there would be a $50 charge. When we went to catch the airport shuttle, one employee told us where to wait. Another employee came up ten minutes later and practically yelled at us for waiting there. <BR> <BR>The stupid little things like that can make you never want to stay in a place again <BR>

We recently stayed at the Clarion in Groton CT. The room ($135) was disgusting -- paint peeling off the ceiling, the carpet was filthy and buckled. There was a layer of dust on the nightstand. The bedspreads were ripped and worn. <BR> <BR>I will never stay there and would warn anyone else not to stay either.

The Econo Lodge in Montpelier, VT. For $89/night, we got the most disgusting room I have ever stayed in. Bathroom floor was sticky, sheets were extremely thin and threadbare, the carpet was something I wouldn't walk barefoot on, the shower had two temps - scalding hot and freezing cold... The maid service was fine and I think they did all they could with what they had, but the place seriously needs to be gutted and remodeled. <BR> <BR>My husband and I are veterans of many cross-country road trips with seedy motels at $25/night, but we agreed this was the worst of the worst and WAY overpriced!!!

Edgartown Commons on Martha's vineyard. We paid $170 per night (I guess it wasn't enough for Martha's vineyard in June) for a studio/efficiency in this complex. The room looked nice from the outside (classic grey shingles, white trim etc.) but had shag rug carpeting, vinyl barrel chair with a tear repaired with tape, saggy bed, dank & dark bathroom, horrible kitchen. For about $1000 they could have redone the entire place and made it much more pleasant. What a letdown. Luckily we were with a group and there for only a couple of nights. Friends stayed at an inn where they paid $175 a night and had a hole in their wall behind the curtains.

The Viking Motel, US192 Kissimmeee, Florida. We shared a room with a cockroach the size of a Tank !!!!

Gross! <BR>Keep them coming

OK. We always rent a house in Nantucket, but could only get a ferry reservation the day before we could get into the house. It's not easy to find inns in Nantucket that can accomodate 4 or will even accept children. I found the Beachside Inn, for $ 230/night which looked very nice in the photos (again, not to be trusted). They should be ashamed to charge that much for the hovel of a room we stayed in! It had one queen bed (horrible mattress) and a shabby pull out sofa for the kids. The furniture looked like someone's family room cast-offs, faded, worn, stained carpeting and what looked like rust stains on the curling at the edges wallpaper. The dresser appeared to be made out of fiberboard. You couldn't open the drawers and like everything else was chipped. We had a lovely view of the parking lot. A nice touch was the dusty fake flower arrangement. I really think there ought to be a law against charging so much for such low quality, Nantucket or not. Take my advice, don't stay there. A complete rip-off!

hotels can be very personal. I've walked out of "luxury" hotels because I couldn't stand the mildew smell, while others paid big bucks, then I've had wonderful experiences in not so highly rated places. I think when you're requesting info on a hotel you should be pretty specific about what's important to you. My husband likes big rooms, I like the hotel to be new. I always ask when it was built. New renovated usually scares me. I know there are gorgeous wonderful hotels that are old but if I smell the "old" I can't stand it. I prefer a new Hampton Inn to a historic hotel. Yet I love to go to old historic hotels for the restaurants or events...I can't stand the smell of the renovated hotels on south Beach. I still smell the old Miami Beach scent...so I agree with earlier posts that it helps to explain what you didn't like about it. someone else may like that feature.

The Little Nell - Aspen, Co. <BR>Lovely, luxury hotel BUT I was almost killed there. Went to open the sliding screen door on our balcony and the 9 foot 4" beam came right out of the ceiling, missing my nose and head but throwing my glasses to the floor. It had been nailed into the ceiling but not into any studs.The draperies and sheers were attached to this beam. It must have weighed close to 100 pounds. Maintenace came up and they were horrified to see how it had been anchored. Do you think that management gave me even an apology or free cup of coffee for this trauma?

We will not ever stay at a Motel 6. I like to be thrifty, but I also like to feel like the sheets have been changed...On the 'thrifty' side, we made a terrible mistake outside Savannah (Hardeeville, just over the SC line)...stopping at the Royal Scot Inn (I think that was the name...Scot or Scottish was def in it). Very scummy and rundown.

Another poster complained about the Riverfront Hilton the New Orleans. I've stayed there a few times and always found the service to be very good and helpful. Our rooms have been up to the standard I expect from a Hilton. The location is within easy walking distance to the French Quarter and there's plenty to be able to walk to right in that immediate area. I actually appreciate staying at this hotel vs. some of the places I've stayed at in the French Quarter because it doesn't have the musty smeel of some of the other older facilities. All in all, I'd recommend staying at the Riverfront Hilton.

I think it's interesting that there are (a) so many responses, and (b) so many complaints about hotel/motel chains. <BR>I can't help but wonder how many people take the time to write a letter (so easy to do on the computer) of complaint after finding such unacceptable conditions and service at a specific location of the chains. <BR>There's even a website for complaining at the following address: <BR> <BR>http://www.howtocomplain.com/ <BR> <BR>Independent lodgings are, of course, a different matter. However, it is easy to find that city's Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce using just about any Internet Search Engine and many have e-mail these days. <BR>Where there are health and safety issues, a phone call, e-mail, and/or letter to the respective county's Health Department is something that really should be done. <BR>