Whenever I travel I do look for the chains because I just don't trust some towns "Cozy Shack" until I see the place. One hotel I often look for is the Best Western and I haven't had any disappointments and I have been in three different locations. They do run both motel and hotel establishments, however this doesn't mean for lack of service.

First experience

My first experience with Best Western was in August 2000 in Woodbury, New York. When I called for a reservation they didn't ask for a smoking or non-smoking room. However, for some reason I didn't realize it at the time until we arrived at the Best Western. They then asked if we wanted smoking or non-smoking. We wanted the non-smoking, but unfortunately, they didn't have any non-smoking rooms and the smell of smoke bothers both myself and my boyfriend. So told us there was two things he could do for us.

One - He had a friend at another hotel he would have called for us to see if they had any non-smoking rooms available.

Two - He also let us know of a room in their motel that just was recently (w/in the week made non-smoking) and he would let us check it if if we wanted to make sure it was to our liking.

We decided to check it out. The first thing we noticed as we walked in was the wonderful aroma as we entered into the room. To our right was a coffee table with a very comfortable couch. Next to the "living room area" was a king sized bed. On both sides of the bed was end tables. They had a large sized dresser and a nice sized television. The bathroom was also very clean and well kept up with.

We went back downstairs and told him that we were going to stay. In fact at the end of the stay, I filled out the comment card and let Best Western know what a wonderful employee they had.

Not only did the Woodbury Inn have a wonderful front desk staff, their housekeeping staff does an outstanding job of maintaining the rooms. We stayed 2 nights and we even saw how they before they vacuumed they used carpet freshener and used air freshener to make the room smell superb.

However, there were no outstanding features of this Best Western. This location had more of a "motel" setup. You would be outside by opening the door to your hotel. They did have an outdoor pool, which we didn't use so I can't comment on how it was. From everything else I experienced there I am sure it is kept up as much as everything else in the motel is. The motel was also in a very good location with a lot of choices of restaurants around.

Second experience

My second experience with Best Western was in their Cooperstown, New York location in January 2002. This location was set up more of a hotel. The lobby was beautiful and well taken care of. They had a small "living area" with couches, coffee tables, end tables and a big screen television. They had a fireplace to the side. They also had a little gift shop to the left of the counter, which was all the way in back. They had high ceilings and from the top of the ceiling was a beautiful chandelier. Unfortunately, we couldn't check out the pool because the week we went the pool was closed for their yearly maintenance.

The room wasn't as nice smelling as the one in Woodbury, New York but from the look of it you knew they had a good staff on duty. As you walked in the bathroom was on your right. Then you had a mini closet to hang any of your belongings that you would like hung. One additional feature that I liked in this one is that they had a small fireproof safe with a key so if you had valuables you could feel safer by locking them up. As you walked into the room to your right was the king sized bed with the two end tables and in front of you was the dresser and television. However, this location didn't have a couch or coffee table. Instead of this feature it had a desk next to the dresser with two comfortable chairs.

This hotel is not close to a lot of places it takes 20 minutes to get to either 1-88 or 1-90. However, it is close to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The hotel is in a mini shopping plaza. In the plaza itself it had a sports grill/bar restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, supermarket and a dine-in pizza hut. In downtown Cooperstown there was a CVS and local owned stores.

Both of these hotels had a coffee maker with both decaf and regular in the room.

Third experience

My third experience however had it ups and downs. We stayed at the Best Western in Concord, NH in August 2002. As soon as you walked in the counter was right there. That has it's advantages and disadvantages. Since it is located in New Hampshire with the counter being very close to the door, in the colder months, both customers and employees will be cold with the door opening and closing.

The man at the front desk was nothing amazing, but nothing to complain about. One feature I liked though was we could choose what floor we wanted, if we wanted the first or second. I like seeing views so we picked the second floor.

As you walked in it was pretty much the set-up like the one in Cooperstown, NY. Minus the fire proof safe. Instead, this location had a small kitchenette. It had a mini fridge, microwave and water faucet. They had a decent amount of cabinet space. It was two cabinets (or one long one) Also this one didn't have the couch or coffee table but it had the desk and chairs.

The bed here however wasn't very comfortable. I was very glad to come back home to my comfortable bed. Also the day we were leaving I noticed that the extra pillow, the pillow case had a coffee stain.

Another feature that was quite annoying was how thin these walls were. On a good note, this hotel allows you to bring your pets if you would like. However, since the walls were so thin, whenever the dog next door to us barked we could here him. Also, I don't have perfect hearing. My problem is hearing base or far away sounds and I could hear the television, vacuuming in the morning and sounds of the dog barking pretty well.

I did check out the pool however. The pool was inside and in ground. The water didn't go deep which I loved because I'm not a strong swimmer. The deepest was 5ft. They also had a sauna and it was a decent temperature. You weren't slowly walking in saying, "ouch, ouch, ouch" It was extremely relaxing. If you wanted to get hot without the water they also did have a dry sauna. The pool room is equipped with a cabinet full of average sized towels and they have a hamper so after you dry yourself off you can place it in there.


Each of these Best Western's offered a complementary breakfast. They were consistent. All offered bagels, muffins, cereals, fruit, hot drinks, juices and milk.

Yes granted this is a chain but, overall, every Best Western I've passed has been kept up and I highly recommend
this chain. The price isn't bad either for what you pay. Off season will be less expensive (around $65-$85 a night) and during peak season may run around $100-150 depending what type of establishment it is, such as if it is a motel or hotel. So next time you are planning on taking a trip check in the area and see if there are any Best Westerns!!


Recommended: Yes