Budget hotels in the US

[crocodileshavenoears]

I'm planning a trip to the US in 2018, visiting various places - definitely Washington DC, probably Philadelphia, maybe NYC, etc. I'm just wondering if there's a budget hotel chain anyone would recommend? In the UK I always go for Premier Inn - cheap, clean, I know what to expect, and I never want to spend much time in the hotel anyway - is there something similar?

Avoid Travel lodge, they tend to be franchises and quality can vary considerably. We used to prefer staying at B&Bs in US (very diff from B&Bs here in UK!) but now we have 6 year old DS most of them don't cater for children under 12.
From recent road trips we stayed at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, also Doubletree. Decent quality rooms and breakfast as well as prices especially if literally only using room as base. Hope this helps!

Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express sounds a good bet, and more likely to be in the centre of a city if that is where you will be.

Low-cost wise, a long time ago we stayed in some Red Roof Motels and Knight Inns - the quality was variable tbh (Trip Advisor would be your friend here) but there was a lot of them about if you are doing a bit of a road trip. We didn't stay in city centres in them (picked better hotels for that!) so they may not be 'city centre' hotels IYKWIM.

We found independent motels were better when travelling around.

I liked Red Roof , nice rooms very cheap and a guarantee similar to premier inn if you are not happy you get the night refunded. Nothing flash but clean ,good shower ,comfy bed, tv and free light breakfast. I don't need anything more than that on a US road trip. It is a franchise though so always check TA reviews.

I did use the Red Roof guarantee after I got locked out of my room one evening and the receptionist insisted on serving me with a bag of ice on her head. Turned out she had a migraine and shouldn't have been working but no one would cover her. All the other staff were charming and normal though.

Last time we did NYC we refused to pay the outrageous Manhattan hotel prices and stayed in New Jersey , cheap 20 minute bus from outside the hotel to the Port Authority.....saved us hundreds. Airbnb would be another option to consider if you want to stay in the cities themselves.

I would look at something like Holiday Inn Express or one of the suite hotel chains like Embassy Suites. in DC there are some nice Embassy suites. Also they include breakfast as part of the room rate.

Do not use Airbnb or any apartment rental site for New York as short term rentals are illegal. many are also scams and sites do not check the veracity of listings.

We like Hampton Inn (on the higher end of what we consider budget), also Comfort Inn and Baymont Inn. Holiday Inn Express is good, but beware that Holiday Inn (without the Express) usually refers to a more full service establishment (restaurant, bar, etc) so is sometimes more expensive.

Embassy suites. Sadly the great one down in nyc financial district is now a very expensive something else, but the dc convention centre on is nice. Big rooms that will sleep a family of four, decent breakfasts, free evening drinks. Seen by Americans as downmarket for out of towners, but very serviceable. Stayed in them on my own for work and with family at various ages.

Not chains necessarily, but look at hotels in Long Island City for NYC - it's on the subway network and about 15mins to the heart of Manhattan. Miles cheaper though. It's an area that has seen quite a bit of investment in the last ten years or so - the hotels are fairly new in comparison to many in Manhattan.

In DC we stayed at the Americana. It's an older style motel in Crystal City. Clean, well run and Crystal City is on the metro system so convenient for the National Mall, etc. The free breakfast was rubbish though!

I have found that booking direct can often be cheaper for independent places than going through the likes of booking.com.

If you can find a family run independent they are often great value and the owners care about the business and their customers. TripAdvisor is a brilliant resource for finding those kinds of places.

Thanks everyone - lots to be looking at there! And thanks for pointing out the difference between Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.

If you're using holiday inn be sure to join the rewards program. You get free nights and free wifi. Also if you stay enough you get free drinks or extra points.

I also find often the full holiday inn can be cheaper than the express. But have also stayed in a crowne plaza for less the the express by choosing an airport hotel Over city centre