Exterior entrance or interior corridor hotel

[fan-of-fans]

Forgive me if this has been posted on, I can't recall.

Do you like hotels better with the exterior entrance or interior entrance hallway? To me it's more convenient with the exterior entrance because I only have to move bags from the back of the car right in the door. But corridor seems more secure and upscale to me.

I guess most people feel the same because I don't know of any new hotels that have exterior entrance rooms. I'm guessing the last of them were in the 70s or 80s? Most of the ones I've stayed at built in the 90s or 00s have had interior corridors.

Most chains hotels have seemed to sell the exterior corridor properties off and usually they are bought by individual owners or turned into resort type places if it's a touristy area.

The last exterior I stayed at was a Hampton Inn in 2007, it wasn't long before they moved to a new building though and sold that one. Before that I stayed at a Best Western in 2004 that was exterior, it had just been remodeled and was pretty nice, I don't know if they still have it or not.

 

[perc-o-prince]

The Sonesta...

I stay at one when I'm at our corporate offices and it's 5 buildings of all exterior doors right to the room. 4 of them are 2-story but one is 3 story, and all buildings have front and back units. I too appreciate the convenience of car-to-door unloading!

Maybe this configuration is because it's also an extended stay suites-format property? I "lived" there for 3 weeks at a time when I was in training.

IIRC, a hotel usually has interior corridors and a motel (motor hotel or motor lodge) has exterior. Or is that terminology terribly outdated?

Chuck

 

[lordkenmore]

My only preference for a motel is simple. I want the place free of knife wielding maniacs who might interrupt one's shower.

 

[imperial70]

Interior

I want it to be difficult to get raped in the middle of the night.

 

[circlew]

Most places I've stayed in recent years have had interior hallways. An exception is the Baymont (formerly Jameson Inn) in Florence, AL, with doors to the outside.

 

[turbokinetic]

Lived on the road for 20 years...

...and spent 200 - 300 nights a year in hotels at my busiest.

 

My preference is the standard "motel" configuration with exterior room doors. This is more convenient by far. Also, I am in a vehicle which is either a work vehicle with valuable tools in it; or my car which is valuable to me.  I want to park right outside my room and have access to the vehicle most easily.

 

The others' points about security are valid, but in my case I have more to worry about than just my own security.

 

Sincerely,

David

 

[jamiel]

I'm actually indifferent---early in my career spent 250 nights/ year in a motel (typically a budget hotel of the time...La Quinta/Budgetel were my preference, Red Roof was OK but not my favorite, before the days of Holiday Inn Express/Fairfield/…. Those in those days were about 60% external 40% internal corridor. Gradually things have migrated to 80% internal corridor in that price range. Did stay at a cool place over the weekend in Fort Wayne--the GuestHouse Hotel---was a local hotel/banquet facility and was a lot of fun--they put some $$ into whimsical décor which worked pretty well with the old-style bathrooms etc. It was kind of nostalgic staying in a place which hadn't beaten out all of the 1960's chic from the hotel. Well recommended!

 

[superocd]

I prefer properties with interior corridors. If and when I can't fall asleep, I wander the halls in my PJs until I start to feel somewhat tired, then I try falling asleep again. I have a problem with falling asleep in any other bed except my own, no matter how "good" the mattress is.

The other reason why I prefer properties with interior corridors is that interior corridor hotels tend to be the newer, well-kept properties. Properties with exterior corridors have kind of languished and almost all of the properties built within the past 20 years have interior corridors.

It's been my observation that in general, the properties with exterior corridors tend to be older, lower-end and possibly in various stages of disrepair. Of course, there have been a few exceptions. I've been to a few really nice properties with exterior corridors and really crappy properties with interior corridors.

I've also stayed at a couple of older exterior-corridor hotels out of nostalgia and didn't worry about the condition or its Tripadvisor rating as much as I usually did, as I stayed there on some family road trip when I was a kid (which wasn't too long ago, about 15-20 years ago) and wanted to relive a memory. Sometimes the places I stayed at as a kid barely changed, if at all. Even the old meter-spinning PTACs I remembered and loved to play with at age seven or eight were still installed in the rooms and still running when I returned to stay years later (GE/Zoneline or Carrier seemed to be popular back in the day, some were old enough to be pushbutton controlled). Unlike most kids, I skipped the TV. Instead I would sit in front of the AC after a long day in the car and listened to the compressor roar to life as it pumped out REALLY COLD air. Aside from that, the place would still have the same hunter-green carpet typical in 1980s or 1990s lodging. The bathrooms would look the same too. The only changes that were usually made were changing the TVs to flatscreen LEDs, changing out the mattresses and maybe the furniture as well.

While we are on the topic of lodging, I love taking in the starchy, clean scent that most hotels/motels have. Combined with the soft lull of the ice machine in the hallway on each floor, it relaxes me after a few laps around the hotel. I love taking in the smell of the towels, which have the same clean, starchy smell. I wish I could replicate that scent in my home and my linen.

 

[askolover]

Tom--CircleW

How did you like Florence, AL?  That's practically home for me.  My mother, myself, my sister and her two kids were all born in Florence.  We lived 7 miles into Tennessee but that's only 25 miles from Florence.  Both my parents worked down there.

 

I don't sleep at night anyway...throw in a strange place with a strange bed and strangers right outside my door to the outside world and I won't sleep at all without the help of some Ambien!  But I prefer interior corridors for security.  The place we usually stay at in NOLA has both interior and exterior rooms.  I always request interior because they are quieter and easier to cool, and they have always obliged (we've been staying there for so long they know us by name).  Plus...the curtains never seem to block out the bright light that's right outside the doors. 

 

[good-shepherd]

I prefer exterior.

Much easier to lug belongings back and forth from the car.

Also, fire safety, anything happens I can be out of the room in seconds.

There was big motel fire a few years back here at the Jersey Shore, several guests died trapped in their rooms.

 

[circlew]

Hey Greg

I've stayed in Florence numerous times over the years, both as a child with my family, and on my own. I used to stay at the BW Executive Inn near the river, but it was torn down and a Hampton Inn was opened there - nice, but expensive. I always stop in at Bunyan's BBQ to get a pulled pork sandwich and some of the hot mustard slaw for dinner.

The last visit I went to see the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House, very interesting. They had a mid 50's Frigidaire 40" range which was brown. The man giving the tour insisted it was the original color, but I told him Aztec Copper wasn't introduced until later! I wanted to see the model tag, but resisted the urge to ask! Have you ever toured it? Another place I like to visit is Ivy Green in Tuscumbia - been to it 3 or 4 times.

I've not been down there for 5 years now - was planning to go to Mississippi the end of July for my Aunt Doris's 91st birthday, but wasn't feeling well then. She passed away Aug. 14, so won't be going there now until at least next Spring.

If I don't make it to Florence, I stay in Columbia. It would be fun to meet sometime when I'm down that way.

 

[mrsalvo]

Wholeheartly agree with Superocd, I wish there was a way to replicate that starchy clean smell in the rooms, linens and towels. Anyone have any ideas!
If I'm alone in traveling I prefer indoor corridor entrance for safety. Many, many years ago I was staying in a motel with exterior door and a horrid storm blew in overnight and blew the door wide open, scared the daylights out of me, felt vulnerable and I never got over it. Plus too, there was a lot of over-the-road truckers staying there, this was in Waco Texas and at that time was considered a rough town.

Barry

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

"Hotel--, Motel--, Holiday Inn!"

I see & hear how people are in the habit of "Ho-Tell", (well, MO-tel is where "that" takes place) instead of "Hotel or Motel" or "just a place to stay", or even "Inn"...

Recently just stand at Blue Gate Garden INN in Shipshewana, IN (Indiana) just last week:

As for preference,--not really; stayed & seem to not really dislike either, or almost-prefer them both... A motel en route from Knoxville TN, though had better & cheaper accommodations, and was next door to the Krystal House for breakfast (though at least offered a small continental breakfast) vs. A Best Western hotel that I used to stay at downtown (that had a full-serve breakfast, that I just didn't like making my own waffles, as the iron was shoved in a little corner--at least Blue Garden had more other offerings--a buffet, even your own omelette, so left the waffle making to the kids!)

And lastly, what I'll say was real neat about it was a lounge in the hallway (there are three floors, I said on the third floor, so I am unsure about the second floor, whereas the first had a number of other nice amenities, too), that I just saw at a time it just wasn't if it ever is "generally", used...

-- Dave