Rapid Travel Chai

Office parks are widely viewed as soulless, the last place to spend a holiday or weekend. And that is what often makes them great hunting grounds for hotel value.

The Atlanta-based reader who contributed posts on transport for the airports in Beijing and Shanghai, and a humorous quip on tourist traps, asked The Rapid Traveler for help locating a hotel for him and wife in their Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area. The joy of this blog for The Rapid Traveler is helping readers and learning from readers.

The order was for a mid-upper level hotel for a romantic getaway. The search had focused on downtown San Francisco but rates were out of budget and the reader preferred to not try his luck at Hotwire/Priceline. It turned, out, though that they would be visiting friends around Silicon Valley and so be renting a car, only spending part of the trip doing things within San Francisco.

The Rapid Traveler suggested that he check office parks, of which Silicon Valley has in abundance. The skepticism was overcome by The Rapid Traveler’s assurances that these hotels are often quite nice and arguably have more professional, accommodating staff than in leisure hotels. Staff at business park hotels are generally more attuned to a relational approach, hoping to win repeat business, than the transactional, ‘take them to the cleaners’ approach of many leisure hotels. To wit: resort fees. Also, typically, free parking and few rambunctious children (unless you bring ’em yourself). A downside can be that on-site facilities may be closed or have limited hours on holidays and weekends.

Photo by faceless b

The reader found a deal he was happy with and a day into the stay, The Rapid Traveler’s inbox is free of furious emails, so he shall assume things are working well.

Happy Thanksgiving to US readers, and those worldwide who work for US companies and are happily enjoying the respite from the constant stream of emails from HQ.