Best "Choice" Hotel in DW area?

[tgr1116]

We have Choice award points to use this summer to extend our stay at BWV. Which is the best, newest and closest choice hotel (ie comfort, quality, clarion etc) ? Any recommendations would be appreciated!

 

[Toots]

I've read several positive post about Comfort Suites Maingate East. But I haven't tried it yet.

 

[tgr1116]

Anyone else have good/bad experiences at Choice Hotels?

TIA!

 

[winterman]

I would highly recommend the Comfort Suites Maingate East.
I am returning for my second visit this May.
Great Features of this hotel: Excellent location, newer property, Fabulous free breakfast buffet (Continental), good size rooms, well maintained, nice pool area with plenty of chairs & towels, and a poolside bar for liquid refreshments.

If you do a search of this hotel on this board, you will note many good reviews.

 

[ushkina]

I saw good rates for this hotel for mid-May on hotelmartusa.com.
We haven's stayed there yet, but looking forward to, I read good reviews.

 

[winterman]

Ushkina,

Since you found the good rate ($53.50) on Hotelmart, you can lower this by 10% if you book at www.choicehotels.com and then file an e-rate guarantee. This would apply if you have not yet booked the room. If you have ressie already $53.50 is a good rate at this hotel.
Have a great trip.

 

[ushkina]

Winterman,
Yes, I know this tip - thanks for posting it anyway!
I already booked the room with hotelmartusa, I am not sure whether they charge smth in case I cancel my reservation with them and book through choicehotels. Honesly I was happy to pay more than 53.50 price for this hotel - I read great reviews - we are soo looking forward to staying there! Thanks again

 

[holidayfun]

I'm just wondering how this e-rate guarantee works. I looked on the choicehotel website, but did not see anything about e-rate guarantees.

Thanks in advance

 

[BeesKate]

We just returned from Quality Suites Maingate East. This is a review I wrote for some other sites:
This hotel is great for larger families, or groups. The large suites gave us enough room, good storage in closets with wire shelves (for spreading out the wet socks on rainy days). We liked the hotel, beds were comfortable, we had people sleeping on the foldout sofas & they were plenty big enough for 2 adult-sized people. We always had enough towels for the total number of occupants. However, some the 2-room suites did not have TV's or alarm clocks in all the rooms. Housekeeping was fine
The breakfast in morning was about what I'd expect for this type of hotel -- a little better than some, a little worse than some. I would have liked bagels, but most other bread options were available: muffins, Danish, sliced bread, English muffins, toaster waffles, canned or fresh fruit, plain instant oatmeal, 2 plain cereals: cheerios & flakes, low on protein options, go to 7-11 or Dunkin Donuts for coffee). A Publix grocery is a block away, a 7-11 right by it (buy gallon jugs of drinking water there for $1.39 to refill water bottles). We didn't use the pool/hot-tub at all, but it was landscaped beautifully and was nice to look out on.
My only complain is this hotel advertising complementary scheduled transport to area attractions. If you'll have your own vehicle, you'll be fine. The shuttle was extremely limited and the bus driver (granted these were not hotel employees, but the hotel did contract with this company) was grumpy (unless you happen to get Giovanni - who was a real pleasure, but apparently not the main driver for this hotel). If you have your own vehicle you would probably love your stay. We did not discover how limiting the shuttle was until too late before our trip to do anything about it. For example, the first bus out in the morning gets you there after park opening.
An option is the city bus system. Link 56 picks up right across the street from the hotel & runs every 1/2 hour (between 6:30 AM and 9:50PM) to/from the WDW ticket & transportation center (the same place the hotel bus drops off). We used this most of the time, and then used WDW transport. Large groups with their own charter bus would work out fine, but a moderate-sized group like ours was challenged.

 

[ushkina]

holidayfun, here is the link to e-rate garantee:
http://www4.choicehotels.com/ires/en-us/html/BestRate?sid=TcBBi.2TZxDJnnUi.4

Before reserving with them, make sure that some other site (like hotelmartusa.com for example) has better rates for the same hotel/same dates/same room type etc... And you need to fill out the request within 24 hours if I am not mistaken. I never used it myself though .. I just checked recently and noticed that choicehotels is not offering Maingate Suite East for my dates anymore, so I can't use it..

 

[ushkina]

BeesKate, thanks for your review!!!

 

[J&D]

The Comfort Suites Maingate is a very nice hotel. We stayed there during the Christmas/New Year rush. The place was very clean (especially the bathroom), and the free continental breakfast was very good. They offer free shuttle service to the parks, but it is a very short drive to WDW if you want to take your own vehicle. We also stayed at the Quality Suites Maingate East during that trip. Comfort Suites was much nicer.

 

[holidayfun]

Thanks a lot for the info. I hope I can find a good rate on another internet site for the time we're going.

 

[holidayfun]

I checked the rates on hotelmartusa.com. I'm confused now!! On the site you can get the rates for Comfort Suites Maingate East and also for the Comfort Suites Maingate Resort. Which hotel is the one that we are talking about in this thread. The Maingate East one, right?? I don't want to make the wrong reservation, so please let me know !!!

 

[winterman]

Comfort Suites Main Gate East
2775 Florida Plaza Blvd.

This one.
Have a great trip!

 

[100%Disney]

I was able to get CSME for $55 per night through hotelmartusa, I did the E-rate guarantee on choice.com, they beat the price by 10%. We are now paying $50.14 per night for ten nights, starting on 5/20/04.