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Date: Mon, 20 Jun 88 17:54:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Koenigsberg <ckk+@andrew.cmu.edu>
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To: bovik@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Pgh. hotels summary

Dear Harry,
Here's the mail I received in reply to a question about Pgh. area hotels
besides the Station Square Sheraton ($123/weekday), the campus housing office
(~$15/person but not air conditioned), the Vista (similar to Sheraton price),
and the University Inn (ditto, and not as comfortable). I was mainly asking for
some cheaper hotels, assuming they'd be somewhere around Monroeville.

I enclose only the bodies of the messages, having stripped away people's return
addresses and greetings.
************************************************************************

Point Park College may still be a "supplemental accomodation"
of the American Youth Hostels; I think they use(d) spare dorm rooms.
Call them or AYH and ask (AYH only answers Thursday evenings).

Also, call the YMCA, YWCA to see if they rent rooms or know who might.

Finally, if you know of a building suitable for a hostel (exactly
what you seem to be looking for), I know someone who wants to
get one operating in town.

************************************************************************

Stay away from the Best Western Conley Inn in Monroeville.  My parents
and brother stayed there once (just once) and we noticed at least one
instance each of:  broken air conditioner, dirty floor, ancient
worn-out matresses, broken shower.


************************************************************************


There is a fairly new Red Roof Inn on Route 48 in Monroeville.  I have stayed
at other Red Roof Inn's and they are pretty nice.  Definitely not your local
Hyatt, but not bad for $32 (approximately) a night.  It's a "motel" though, no
food facilities at the Inn but within close proximity are a few eating places.

There is also the Howard Johnson's in Monroeville.  I have absolutely no idea
on what the prices for that place would be.  It's an idea though.

************************************************************************

 As far as I know, the cheapest hotel within reasonable distance of Pittsburgh
is the Envoy Inn, in Moneorville.  I forget the name of the road it's on, but I
think it's PA 48 (close to the Turnpike/Parkway interchange).  A single is
$25/night, and they provide free popcorn.  Friends of mine have stayed there
and liked the place very much.

************************************************************************

You've come to the right place!  Before I worked here, I worked in a few motels
around Pittsburgh.

In Monroeville:  I worked at the Best Western.  Avoid this place like the
plague:  they are horridly overpriced for thie dinky, drab rooms that they
have.  Also, at this time of the year they specialize in tour buses filled with
nice little-old-people.  All the Conley motels do this [all the Pgh Best
Western's, except Parkway Center, are owned by the Conley's].   What I know
about other Monroeville motels:  The HoJo's is supposed to have very nice rooms
but is fairly expensive.  There is a Red Roof Inn, which has plain, cheap
rooms.   I'm sure you know to avoid the Blue Moon!! [the only motel I know
where each person gets 1 can of Stroh's per hour they are checking in for....]

There is also the section of Motels halfway between the Airport and Downtown.
Most of them are within spitting distance to the Parkway West, and are
resonably priced.

My recommendation:  The Knights Inn.  Yes, I used to work there [they also
fired me...].  The rooms are very comfortable, parking is supposed to be "right
outside your door" [occasionally, it gets crowded with cars], and the staff is
great.  A double room is about $40.00, and although they don't have food
service, they are right next door [read: easy walking] to a Kings Restaurant
that is open 24 hours [the company's policy is for a restaurant to be within
500 yds].   However, if you want about 10 rooms, I'd call NOW [they only have
about 200 rooms] .  Make sure [if you do call]  that you call the right Knights
Inn: there is also one in Bridgeville, and as both are near 79,  they get
confused often [i.e. we'd get lots of people with reservations for one at the
wrong motel....].  The one you want has a phone number that starts with 922
[its just outside of Crafton].  Ask for Brice, he's the manager [unless he's
been fired, too] and is the one who has to do all the arranging for multi-rooms.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions; having worked both in the
Parkway West zone and Monroeville, I've at least heard about most of the motels
in both areas.

************************************************************************

As far as hotels - I researched the ones in Monroeville a month or so
ago and the Holiday Inn was the best.  There was a $49/night weekend
rate for a double room - we had 4 in the room.  It was convenient and
very nice.  THe others in the area were a bit more expensive -
I beleive the Howard Johnson and Radisson were at least $60/night for
the weekend.

************************************************************************

Try the Hampton Inn in Greentree (about 2.5 miles west of the Fort Pitt
tunnels).  If I recall correctly about $50/night, nice clean rooms, kids
stay free and a discount for senior citizens.

************************************************************************


I had family coming over a few times and have some experience with hotels
around here.

Kings Motel: in Monroeville, just accross Miracle Mile (where Pier Imports is)
             is quite cheap (25$), clean and used mostly by traveling salesmen.
             We succeeded to get the price down to 20$ because we stayed a long
             time (> 10 days).

Swissvale Holyday Inn: in Swissvale. Very nice hotel, right on the Parkway but
                       the windows are very thick and you don't hear anything.
                       I think it was around 60$ and was almost as nice as the
                       Sheraton and closer to CMU. There also, if you have many
                       rooms/days, you can get the price down (we did).

Oakland Howard Johnson: very nice rooms. The hotel is the usual HJ stuff but the
                        rooms are really perfect. If you tell them that people
                        come to visit somebody at Magee or Children's they give
                        you a discount and it's only 52$. As far as I know they
                        never asked for any proof of that. You can also tell
                        them the truth and try to get the discount anyway.
                        I was very pleasantly surprise by the service and the
                        quality of the rooms (I went to University Inn and
                        they treat you like shit - make an appointment if
                        you want to see a room).

University Club: Accross from Pitt Bookstore. I never sent anybody there but
                 I checked it. It was around 60$, the place looks like an old
                 university library, very pleasant ambiance but the rooms are
                 not as nice as HJ. You have to have some link with Pitt
                 or CMU and you really have to book in advance.

************************************************************************

As a resident of Monroeville, I can tell you that there are some inexpensive
brand-new hotels on Rt. 48 (Moss Side Blvd.) just south of Business Rt. 22.
These are very convenient to the Parkway (exit 16S) and the Turnpike
(Pittsburgh interchange #6, Monroeville exit ramp, then immediate left at
light).

The Envoy Inn and the Red Roof Inn look nice from the outside and charge $30
or so.  They have also driven the more luxurious Howard Johnson to reduce
its prices to about $35.  The last time my sister visited, she stayed at
HoJo's and found it quite nice.  My only problem with it is that the owner
is reputedly a Mafioso.

There's also a Holiday Inn there, but I don't know about its prices or
quality.

************************************************************************
Monroeville has at least two fairly cheap hotels.  One is the
Red Roof Inn which is brand new.  The other is something like
Envoy Inn.  They are both located off Mosside Blvd (Rt 48).  My
guess is the rates are about $30.

In addition, the Monroeville Ho Jo always has this add displayed
for rooms starting at $26.  I never have called to find out what
the catch is.  There is also a Conley Inn (Best Western).

************************************************************************

My folks stayed at the Harley Hotel (on Rodi Road, just
this side of Monroeville).  Nice  (two pools, tennis courts,
chocolates).  A couple years ago it was < $50 for a weekend night.

************************************************************************

Though this is sort of the opposite direction you're looking in, it's not too
far and when I was at this place I really loved it.

It's called the Residence Inn, and it's in Green Tree.  The rooms aren't rooms,
but little condos (sort of).  They come with two bedrooms (one upstairs, with a
bathroom, tv set, etc) one downstairs (that is seperated from the rest of the
place with a curtain).  Downstairs there is also another bathroom, another tv
set (with cable!), a small dining area, (table and chairs) a living room (a
sofa, love seat, coffee table, and working fire place), and a fully equipped
kitchen (stove, oven, full size fridge/freezer, dishwasher, sink, plated,
glasses) and I know that on weekends they serve a free continental brunch in
the main lobby.  The place is new, very nicely kept, and you get the whole
place I mentioned for $125 per night.  This is pretty good considering all you
get, and that two couples (or four people) can share the place.  We were there
in the winter and they even gave us complimentary DuraFlame logs for the
fireplace.

************************************************************************

If you are looking for something in intermediate niceness, there are a few
Holiday Inns around, and I seem to remember reading that Holiday Inn is having
a special promotion this summer -- I think they all have rooms for $56, which
certainly beats $123 at the Sheraton.

************************************************************************

When my parents were here I put them up at the University Club on N. Craig.
They liked the accommodations.  There are no phones in the rooms, however
calls are announced by buzzers in the rooms.  The cost: $60/day with
breakfast.

************************************************************************

We used Buskey's Motel on Route 8 near exit 4 of the Penna Turnpike.  (Linda's
parents lived in the North Hills, anyway, and that's where a reception was.)
Reasonable prices, reasonable rooms.  Nothing super-plush.  Possible down-side
for you is the distance to Oakland: you'd have to allow 1/2 hour travel time.

************************************************************************

Envoy and Red Roof Inns in Monroeville are both nice, but if you're
looking for something close to campust, try CMU's own College Club on
North Craig Street.  $40.00 for single, $50.00 for double, includes continental
breakfast.  Rooms are small, but very nice; sort of like a European Inn.
Another option would be the University Inn on Forbes Avenue.  They have a
CMU rate of $63.00 for one person.  Parkway Center Inn on I279 (exit 5) has a
weekday rate of approx. $75.00 and a weekend rate of $45.00.  I think that mght
include breakfast as well.  My in-laws stayed there and were very happy.  For
grou
groups or families, the Residence Inn in Greentree has 4 person suites for
about t
$60.00.  Basically, it's a matter of choosing between more convenient location
or o
or lower prices.

************************************************************************

I'm sure you'll find cheaper hotels in Monroeville and also up north
near where 19 hits the Turnpike (Warrendale, I think).
Look up "motel" in the yellow pages to get a lot of suggestions.
You should also press the closer hotels for their *lowest* price.
For example, Marriott has a special "two-for-breakfast" rate of $69
including breakfast on the weekend, with $49 for an additional night.
However, if you don't ask for it , they won't tell you about it.
Holiday Inn (there is one east of town on the parkway between Sq. Hill
& Monroeville) also has specials called "Great Rates"  I also think
these are mainly for weekends, on the order of $59.

Finally, you might want to try the Harley Hotel off Rodi Road, 1 exit
east of Monroeville.  We put my husband's family up there for
graduation, and were very impressed with the place.  The price was
competitive with Marriott and Holiday Inn, but they also gave the
weekend rate for Sunday.

One other possibility for weekends - the Bigelow downtown is an
"apartment hotel" which charges very reasonable rates for suites.  A
1-bedroom suite will sleep 4 (2 in bedroom, 2 in living room).  I have
never tried this one, but I was very impressed by the concept when I
stayed at an apartment hotel in Manhattan.  Again, this may not work on
weekdays.

************************************************************************


We had our family reunion at Conley's Motor Inn in Monroeville recently.
Although not luxurious the rooms were OK; they gave rooms w/kitchenettes to
families with small children, which was nice.

You might also want to try the Monroeville Howard Johnson's Hotel.  It's OK
too.

Another place to try is the Redwood Motor Inn on Banksville Road.  It's not
far out of town; has a decent restaurant if you like steak-and-potatoes
cuisine.

All of these places should come out to around $40 or less per room per night.

Hope this helps.  These are not *recommendations* but just signs pointing to
places that come to my mind when thinking about where I'd stay around here
if I had $40 or less per night to spend.

************************************************************************
  you might want to check out 'The Priory - A CIty Inn'.  Its number is
231-3338 (from the phone book).  I think that it's on the North Side and
I seem to remember it advertising rates of around $50-60 per night.

************************************************************************