DonRocks Posted January 30, 2016 Posted January 30, 2016 Location and Rates - Website Prologue - Part One Well, I beat the traffic (barely), and I beat the storm (by a full day); now, I just needed to get well out of range, and find a decent place to stay. As I was driving South, I knew I'd be gone for at least several days, and decided to take advantage of the DC Snowstorm by making a themed vacation out of it. A couple months ago, I needed to go to New York, and decided to make that trip "the 2015 James Beard Semifinalists in New Jersey," hitting three of the four (Elements, The Flaky Tart, and Zeppoli); now, I'd do the same thing with "the 2015 James Beard Semifinalists in North Carolina," at least as well as I could under the circumstances: Given the track of the storm, I headed east, already knowing that on Friday evening, I'd be having dinner in Kinston. Washington, DC to Kinston, NC is 293 miles - not brutal by any means, but considering I'd left mid-afternoon, I got in late, and was glad I had some provisions in the car. I got a two-night reservation at the Hampton by Hilton in Kinston which really didn't look like very much: but it had strong reviews online, and turned out to be the nicest hotel I'd stay in for the duration of my trip - which also turned out to be longer than I thought it would. I guess I checked in around 8:30 (after a quick stop at Smoke & Brew ), fairly tired, and glad to have a warm, dry bed to sleep in. I'd gotten a special rate (*) of $89 a night, and these days, any decent hotel you can find under $100 seems downright cheap. Forget the outside of the hotel which is generic and bordering on ugly; this place was pretty nice inside, with an ingratiating front desk staff, clean rooms, a good mattress, a decent bathroom, small exercise room, and linens you have no problem sleeping in. Not only did I stay at the Hampton Inn, Kinston for two nights, I extended my reservation for a third. On a five-star scale, this is a three-star hotel, but it's a *solid* three-star hotel, with no outstanding weaknesses. As with all Hilton properties that I've stayed in of late, there's round-the-clock coffee, and it's not at all bad - I've mastered the trick of carrying three cups *and* pushing the elevator button; it's when you get to your room, and have to set them down on the ground where it gets a little tricky. Most Hampton Inns are individually owned franchises, it needs to be added, so even though there's some "Hilton consistency," there will still be variation from hotel-to-hotel - this place is one of the good ones. Boy oh boy did it rain the next day, but I knew that what I was seeing as rain, was something a lot flakier than that 293 miles to the north - I was *so happy* to be here, and I was even happier when I went to dinner the following evening - this hotel is just a few minutes away from Chef & the Farmer. Also nearby is the CSS Neuse Memorial. (*) Hey look, I'm not implying anything, but those of you over 50 are eligible for AARP at only $16 a year. I would *never*, of course, admit that I'm getting older by joining such an organization (cough, cough), but I'm just saying that you can get a consistent 10% off the lowest-available rates if you do join, and if you spend just two nights a year in hotels, the membership fee more than pays for itself. And this hotel felt like a steal at $89.
dcs Posted January 20, 2023 Posted January 20, 2023 On 1/30/2016 at 4:36 PM, DonRocks said: Boy oh boy did it rain the next day, but I knew that what I was seeing as rain, was something a lot flakier than that 293 miles to the north - I was *so happy* to be here, and I was even happier when I went to dinner the following evening - this hotel is just a few minutes away from Chef & the Farmer. The Impossible Art of Keeping a Restaurant Afloat, by Vivian Howard, January 20, 2023, on nytimes.com. 2 1
zgast Posted January 20, 2023 Posted January 20, 2023 24 minutes ago, dcs said: The Impossible Art of Keeping a Restaurant Afloat, by Vivian Howard, January 20, 2023, on nytimes.com. Very much appreciate you sharing that article - I hadn't seen it. 1
reedm Posted January 21, 2023 Posted January 21, 2023 23 hours ago, dcs said: The Impossible Art of Keeping a Restaurant Afloat, by Vivian Howard, January 20, 2023, on nytimes.com. One of the things I enjoy about this site is that it is full of hidden nuggets of information. Don's thread about Kinston is over 6 years old, but as it turns out, my daughter and SIL had their rehearsal dinner at the Chef and the Farmer, and It was quite good, particularly for that part of the country. Little did we know, the night of the rehearsal dinner was the same night as the BBQ Fest on the Neuse, which occupied several blocks and made parking an unexpected challenge. Sad to learn that Vivian had to close the place. 1
Steve R. Posted January 31, 2023 Posted January 31, 2023 Forget talking about restaurants, lets get back to Don’s point(s) about Hampton 😇 We drove down to Florida again this month, as we’ve done quite a few times before, and, again, we stayed exclusively at Hampton Inns. Since we’ve varied our stops over the years (in both directions), I think that I have a reasonable perspective on what Hampton brings to the table (okay, so I had to get some food reference in). Almost to a one, we’ve been satisfied. Yeah, there was the night where the curtesy refrigerator was louder than the a/c unit (I unplugged it) and the morning where all water was out (turned out to be throughout the city of Florence, SC so not Hampton’s fault), but the locations near I-95, the free parking, the breakfasts (minimal, but good) and the reasonably predictable room standards make it an easy overnight in & out. There’s almost always another Hilton property next door or across the street, but the Hamptons just about always beat them out for our business. You can join Hilton’s membership program and get the same discount as AARP or AAA. And get points - we took out a Hilton Amex card years ago and use it only for these stays, gathering enough points (w/bonuses) to use for free stays several times, more than equaling the perks that our Sapphire Reserve card would have given. Okay - back to the food board stuff.
saf Posted February 3, 2023 Posted February 3, 2023 On 1/31/2023 at 8:25 AM, Steve R. said: Forget talking about restaurants, lets get back to Don’s point(s) about Hampton 😇 We drove down to Florida again this month, as we’ve done quite a few times before, and, again, we stayed exclusively at Hampton Inns. Okay - back to the food board stuff. We have done Hamptons, and also found them decent. The boy's preference these days is Best Western Plus. They bought his favorite place in San Diego, and on that same west coast trip we stayed (randomly) at several other of their properties. Worked out well.
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