I love all-suites hotels. You don’t need a special upgrade or media credentials to get a great room with plenty of space. You know when you check in that every room is going to be a suite. I was excited when my girlfriend gave my husband and I a gift certificate for a free night at the new all-suites hotel in Pittsburgh.

Cambria Suites is attached via parking garage to the new CONSOL Energy Center (home to the Pittsburgh Penguins), which I’m sure makes it convenient for anyone coming into town for a hockey game. It is not conveniently located near any other major Pittsburgh attraction and is just outside the downtown district and away from major bus routes. Here for a game or have a rental car? You’ll be fine.

Location issues aside, Cambria Suites is a beautiful hotel that lived up to my expectations as an all-suites property. Our king standard room included a large living area, plenty of space to work (which I happily ignored), and the most important feature of any hotel room: ample outlets for charging electronics.

The bed was comfortable, too.

The bathroom gave me pause. The modern design featured a shower with no shower curtain or sliding door. Half the shower was enclosed with a glass wall and the other half, the part farthest from the shower head, was open. Another design oddity included having the faucet for the shower on the wall opposite the shower head, eliminating the early morning cold water screams. While that design decision was brilliant, I’d love to hear the logic behind an open shower stall in a hotel bathroom.

Photo: Cambria Suites

Choice Hotels International has launched its widest reaching travel promotion yet. Now through April 30, 2010, when members of the company’s Choice Privileges rewards program complete just two separate qualifying stays, they’ll automatically earn enough bonus points for a free night at more than 1,500 hotels across the globe. To qualify, members must book at 800.4CHOICE or ChoiceHotels.com.

Choice Hotels International Spring 2010 Promotion good at the above brands

Choice Privileges members can participate at any Choice-brand hotel in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe.* Participating Choice brands include: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn as well as the Ascend Collection membership program. Read More »

Cambria Suites, the all-suites brand from Choice Hotels, recently conducted a survey which shows that there is very little hotel guests won’t do to get a suite upgrade.

Cambria Suites Indianapolis Airport

Lying about being on a honeymoon and sweet-talking front-desk staff were at the top of a list of sneaky methods used by guests to con a hotel into giving them a suite upgrade.

Some were even willing to cut other travel expenses in order to upgrade to a suite. If they got an upgrade:-

• 46% said travel would be less stressful
• 23% said they’d feel like they died and went to heaven
• 20% would never want to leave their hotel suite

Of course travel would be less stressful and you’d never want to leave a suite in a nice romantic hotel, especially if said suite was ‘acquired’ in a free upgrade.

And once they get their wish and got inside the suite, the same survey also found that the top 10 amenities that guests expect in the suite are Read More »