I just want to make point about inexpensive chain hotels especially in a great town like Santa Fe.
Unless there is no other way around the fact that you absolutely need the least expensive hotel available I highly recommend taking a little time and effort to research and being willing to spend a little more for the experience of staying in a nice hotel in the heart of a place like santa fe.
If you choose to stay at lets say the Holiday Inn express you will be out on a noisy busy 4 lane road that looks like it could be in Omaha, Missouri or any other generic place in the USA. I always feel bad for the poor saps who travel all the way to a great place like SF and end up way out on Cerrillos in a boring place like HIE. Most times it doesn't cost THAT much more in really be able to stay at a place where you can experience the place your visiting. Instead of being able to walk around at night after dinner and smell the pinon are you just going to go back to the hotel and..watch TV?

FYI, my original post is from last February. I already took this trip, in October. We stayed at El Rey Inn in Santa Fe and Dona Luz B&B, formerly El Rincon, in Taos. Neither was more than $125 a night and they were perfectly suitable. I wrote a trip report if you care to hunt for it.