Salt Lake City Hotel recommendations
 

My husband and I will be visiting Salt Lake City in early Sept. to begin a two week vacation in the southwest. We pick up a rental car at the Hilton downtown so would like to be nearby. However, Hilton is showing mixed reviews from this and other forums. I've never tried Priceline or Hotwire and fear I'll get something far away or not so nice, so I'm afraid to try. Thanks for any suggestions!

We stayed at Little America last year at the end of the trip.

Basically, it's a very nice hotel in the front with motel style rooms in the back. These rooms are very nice.

I particularly liked the motel style back area since we did some sight-seeing in the morning and then made a quick get-away from the parking lot to the airport.

No valet to get in the way in the motel area.

We always stay at Little America, but I'm not sure what the proximity is to the Hilton? You can find that info. on Mapquest. SLC has a good rail system that runs a block from Little America.

Looks like most people are getting The Little America hotel on Priceline for about $51. I stayed there in May and on check in they said they would match Priceline rates if you just called and asked them to match the rate. The Hilton is easy to get to from Little America.

I have also stayed at the Hilton and it is nice. Especially if you are just staying one night. I wonder why you aren't just renting the car at the airport instead of at the Hilton?

I've been reading this forum for weeks about Little America and its gotten mixed reviews. Glad to hear you are all so positive about it. Sometimes it's hard to know whether my own biases match the reviewers here. So if I try Priceline, etc. is it considered a 4 star hotel?

Anyway, I wanted to be downtown within walking distance of everything. That's why I thought picking up car nearby after our two days of SLC sightseeing made more sense. Then found out it is $50. cheaper to rent from downtown so that sold me! Good to know that trick.

Yes Little America is coming up as a four star hotel. Have you visited Bidding For Travel? http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/

Have stayed at both and prefer the Little America. We usually upgrade to a corner room for an extra $10. I don't mind the Hilton, but the parking is more of a hassle. The Hilton is about 3 blocks away from Little America.

I was in SLC last month for a conference, I stayed at the Marriott, across the street from The Salt Palace, and it was quite nice.

However, a couple that I know who were at the conference opted to stay at a lovely nearby inn instead, and they invited us to come for a visit and see their "mansion" - and they weren't kidding! It's called The Inn on the Hill, and it's really special - a beautiful victorian mansion, complete with a billiards room and stained glass windows. It's between Temple Square and the State Capitol. Our friends had a large, beautiful room that opened onto a private terrace that had a great view of the city - and it was less expensive than our room at the Marriott. They were quite delighted with their stay there. Here's the Inn's website, you might want to check it out:
http://www.inn-on-the-hill.com

There's an incredible amount of construction going on in downtown SLC right now, whole blocks being developed into high rise condos and retail complexes, so the areas all around the Salt Palace and Temple Square were pretty noisy, and we had to detour around a lot of construction when walking down the streets (very surprising, given the economy). Things were much quieter in the neighborhood where the Inn on the Hill is.

Yes, the Inn on the Hill is very nice and there are a couple of others (B&Bs) just as nice. You might want to check. Always better than a cookie cutter hotel.

Karl Malone (Jazz) and his wife used to own one, but I believe they sold it when he retired. It may be the Inn on the Hill, but I'm not sure. Their's was named Grey Wolfe, or something....

we've stayed at Little America and it was lovely..great food too..ran into the Utah Jazz as they hang at the hotel when at home..

BTW - IF you use Priceline, stay with 4 star category. All of the 4 star hotels are within walking distance of Temple Square, are within the free-fare zone of Trax, and are all pretty nice. I think we got the Little America for a bid of $50 last time we stayed. A bargain.

$50 for Little America...dang, thats a great deal Dutch!

Thanks all for such good ideas. I looked at Carlton but it doesn't seem to have two double beds in a room so maybe Little America it is. I've trusted Fodorite suggestions many times before and have not been disappointed.