Omaha, NE: Average Room, Bad Breakfast, And High Price Equals Poor Value

Comfort Inn - Omaha
330 N 30th Street
Omaha, NE 68131

Phone: (402) 345-2222
Website: choicehotels.com/ComfortInn

Prices: $$$$

On the outskirts of downtown Omaha, the location was convenient, but a car is necessary if you want to eat or do any sightseeing. The hotel is your basic five-story box, there is a gym, but there is no pool or hot tub. 

A free "hot breakfast" is advertised and, although true, the hot food consisted of powdered scrambled eggs, bright orange potatoes (potatoes should not be orange unless they are sweet potatoes), and what I assume were breakfast sausage links that likely have a shelf life somewhere into 2035. I have had MREs that tasted better and fresher than Comfort Inn's hot breakfast. There was a sign above the eggs saying: "due to avian flu, locally sourced egg products will not be available for the foreseeable future" or something along those lines. Delightful ... appetizing!

Our room was decent, your typical chain hotel room, with a king size bed, TV/cable, desk and chair, and a small sofa. The wi-fi was very difficult to access and when I asked the woman at the front desk what the problem was, she told me "I don't know, that's the right password, that's all I know". When I asked why the log-in screen would not display so I could enter the password, all I got was a shoulder shrug. Very professional. Considering that our phone's signals were so weak (all over Omaha, including the hotel) that it made it impossible to access the internet or make even a phone call, decent wi-fi at our $100 per night hotel would have been very helpful. Why a city the size of Omaha has such a weak cellular (T-Mobile) signal is beyond me, particularly so close to downtown. Bizarre.

The biggest drawbacks were the leaky toilet in our room that refilled itself (very loudly) every 90 seconds - night and day, the poor wi-fi access, the crappy breakfast, and the front desk woman with a chip on her shoulder. Otherwise, Comfort Inn - Omaha was mediocre at close to $100 per night. A basic room like ours in a budget hotel with no pool in Omaha, Nebraska should cost no more than $70, closer to $49 would have actually been more appropriate.

CombatCritic Gives Comfort Inn - Omaha 4 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

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Title: Average Room, Bad Breakfast, And High Price Equals Poor Value

Key Words: Comfort Inn, comfort, Inn, Omaha, NE, Nebraska, hotel, breakfast, wi-fi, gym, pool, 30th, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, restaurant, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor

St. Joseph, MO: Historic Inn + Dilapidated City = Slightly Overpriced Accommodation

Whiskey Mansion Bed and Breakfast

1723 Francis Street

Saint Joseph, MO 64501

Phone: (816) 676-1529

Website: whiskeymansion1885.com

Prices: $$$$

A beautiful, restored historic mansion in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood in St Joe stand as stark contradictions, but once inside Whiskey Mansion the world outside is much less conspicuous. Having suffered arson and gutting back in the 1990s (from what I understood), this mansion, which was built by a whiskey baron back in 1885, has been meticulously restored to its former glory. Too bad the rest of St Joseph has not been treated quite so well.

Entering through the covered porch into the large sitting room, the formal dining room is straight ahead and the room where breakfast is served is to your left. A large entry hall leads to the ornate staircase that takes you to the guest rooms upstairs. On the second floor are seven bedrooms, five large with en suite baths and two "maids rooms" with a shared bath, one of which was our room ($89+tax, including breakfast). 

The rooms are nicely furnished with antiques or reproductions and have TVs with cable, a small refrigerator, heat/air conditioning (Mitsubishi), and wi-fi. There is even a staircase lift for disabled guests on the back (servants) stairs.

Breakfast is served from 7am to 9:30am downstairs and from what I understand, French toast is the norm. Baked in the oven, two large pieces with maple syrup and globs of butter on top came on the plate along with a small fruit cup with fresh pineapple and honey dew melon cubes. The French toast was good, rich and sweet, but there was a little too much of a good thing and I would hate to know how many calories we consumed. Some eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy would have been nice, but I do not think the kitchen has that capability. If you are paying $100+ per night for a room, you should get more than French toast and some fruit for breakfast. Coffee and tea were self-serve.

A historic and important river city, St Joseph was the hub for westward expansion in the 1800s  with Station #1 of the Pony Express as well as its headquarters and the prime railway embarkation point for Gold Rush travelers headed west. Unfortunately, there is not much happening downtown these days and many of the beautiful old buildings and homes have fallen into disrepair or have been boarded-up. If you are looking for things to do or good restaurants to eat at, you will be challenged in this "once" thriving town, making $100 per night and up for a room a bit of a stretch. I have stayed at nicer B&Bs in much more attractive locales for $75/night, probably a price more appropriate for St Joseph, Missouri.

So, with deductions for being slightly overpriced, the limited breakfast menu, the lack of decent restaurants in the area, and the sketchy neighborhood ...

CombatCritic Gives Whiskey Mansion B&B 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Bombs Are Good!

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Title: Historic Inn + Dilapidated St Joseph = Slightly Overpriced Accommodation

Key Words: Whiskey Mansion Bed and Breakfast, Whiskey, mansion, bed, breakfast, B&B, hotel, inn, Francis, Street, St Joseph, Saint Joseph, Missouri, TravelValue, travel, value, review, Yelp, TripAdvisor

Mercogliano, Italy: A Bit Dated, But Otherwise Excellent Value If Visiting Montevergine

Hotel Mercurio

Viale San Modestino, 7

83013 Mercogliano, Italy

Prices: $$$$$

Wanting to visit the Santuario di Montevergine, we found a good price on a “Booking” website and made a reservation for a Friday night at just €40 for a double room, including breakfast, at the base of the mountain in the town of Mercogliano and a 20-minute drive to the Abbey of Montevergine.

Mercogliano is a quaint, quiet hillside town about 30 miles (50 kliks) and a world away from Naples, Italy, very close to the famous abbey. Montevergine has been the site of religious orders dating back to the 12th Century and sits almost 5,000 above the base of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. It was reportedly the hiding place of the Shroud of Turin during World War II and is home to the massive and celebrated Byzantine painting on wood of the "Madonna" (Blessed Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus).

Hotel Mercurio is clean, but a bit dated in architecture and furnishings, reminiscent of the 1970s. The staff were friendly and very helpful, giving excellent directions and recommendations for meals and shopping. The restaurant next door, Pizzeria La Tavernetta, was outstanding and very reasonably priced, garnering 10 out of 10 “Bombs” by this critic. We were given a nice size room with a balcony and a view of the valley below, nearby Avellino, and the mountains in the distance. The bathroom, on the other hand, was small and a bit cramped, making it somewhat difficult for a moderate sized person to shower and use the toilet.

The only complaints I have were the surprise parking charge that I later found out was hidden in the small print on the booking website’s confirmation and the “indoor pool” which was actually a community pool a half-block’s walk from the hotel. There is no street parking nearby and the lot across the street is free, but only for two hours, so we paid the minimal fee of €5 for the convenience and security of indoor parking under the hotel.

Breakfast was decent, your typical Italian selections, including choice of coffee (cappuccino, caffe latte, espresso, Americano, etc.), yogurts, cereals, juices and water, bread rolls, salami and cheese, and cornetti, a Southern Italian croissant filled with various crèmes and jams. They have a large dining room, but being a beautiful early-June morning we chose to sit on the veranda overlooking the tennis courts, valley, and mountains. Breakfast is served from 7am (although the server was a little late that morning) to 10am, a reasonable period to expect breakfast.

Hotel Mercurio is an excellent value, providing clean accommodations and very good service at a very reasonable price.

CombatCritic Gives Hotel Mercurio 7 Bombs Out Of 10 With Deductions For The Hidden Parking Charge, Community Pool, and Dated Look … More Bombs Are Better!

Title: A Bit Dated, But Otherwise Excellent Value If Visiting Montevergine

Key Words:  Hotel Mercurio, hotel, albergo, Mercurio, Montevergine, abbey, mountain, Avellino, Viale San Modestino, 83013, Mercogliano, Italy, CombatCritic, TravelValue, review

Goa, India: You Will Not Find A Better Accommodation Value In Goa ... Casa Praia Is THE BOMB!

Candolim Beach

Casa Praia

Vaddy, Candolim, 
Bardez, Goa, 403515, India

+91-997-044-4666

CasaPraiaGoa.com

Prices: $$$$$

With a dearth of available options over the New Year 2015 holiday in Goa, a last minute cancellation gave us an opportunity to book a room at Casa Praia (4,000 rupees/$64 per night), a relative bargain at a property with an unprecedented 9.9 rating on Booking.com and 5-star rating on TripAdvisor.  I jumped on it and am I glad I did!

4,000 rupees per night will get you a 3 or 4-star hotel in many places in India, but Goa is unlike anywhere else in India thanks to supply and demand, and hotels and taxis are at least triple the price of anywhere else I have been (Dharamsala, Rishikesh, New Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar, Cochin, Varkala). But this is Goa, Candolim Beach in particular, a beachside party town packed to the gills with Russians and Brits ready to party, and just two budget-minded Americans that I knew of … my wife and I.

Paul (or “Hardip” as he likes to be called) and Sophia, the owners and hosts of Casa Praia, greeted us by email immmediately after our booking and offered to send a taxi to meet us at the airport at the standard government rate of 1,100 rupees ($17.80), so we took them up on it as their property is an hour’s drive from the airport and the hotel/guesthouse is somewhat secluded and not easy to find. Our driver met us outside the terminal as promised with sign in hand and we proceeded to Casa Praia.

Being early evening on New Year’s Eve, Hardip, Sophia, and some other British guests (Brits) were sitting around the pool enjoying a beverage and chatting, and after showing us to our room we were invited to join in the celebration. We enjoyed a wonderful night of conversation and commaraderie with our new friends and former rivals, the Brits plus one Swede (Sophia).

Our room was large, well appointed, and very tastefully decorated with three sets of French doors, one opening onto the garden with the pool not far away. The stone tile floors were immaculate, the queen size bed had fresh sheets, plenty of pillows, and a mosquito net tasefully draped near the headboard and there was plenty of storage space for our clothes and personal belongings. A decent size flat screen TV with cable was provided, along with air conditioner and ceiling fans (2), a small refrigerator, sink, cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, and plenty of filtered water throughout our stay thanks to Raja, a friendly, attentive young Goan that works on the property. The bathroom large, it had all the necessities, including toilet paper (a rarity in Indian hotels), and plenty of hot water thanks to the solar panels on the roof. I have to say that although somewhat expensive by Indian standards, it was the nicest $64 room I have ever stayed in.

Breakfast is included and Sophia and her cook, Jessica, cheerfully greeted us each morning with a choice of yogurt (curd) with granola and fruit (bananas and pomegranite were in season while we were there), oatmeal (porridge to the Brits) with accompaniments, or eggs (any style – I liked the cheese and onion omelete with green chilies), along with fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee or tea, and toast with butter and jam (get some peanut butter for the Americans Hardip – Delphino’s has a nice locally made butter for 250 rupees per jar). Seriuosly, the breakfasts were marvelous, the food fresh and hot, and we never walked away hungry like some places we have stayed.

The property has four buildings, two large two-story structures with four guest rooms each, a small kitchen building, and the Hardip residence where Paul, Sophia, and their two beautiful (and very well behaved) children, along with Feni their sweet cat, live. The grounds are lush and well maintained with a medium size pool (relatively new), plenty of stone tile deck space, lounges, tables, umbrellas, and chairs and is surrounded by a six-foot concrete wall with locked gates for added privacy and security.

Casa Praia sits midway between Candolim Beach (250 meters) and the main beach road (150 meters) in Candolim (not sure if the road has another name), so you can exit one gate and walk to the beach for a day of sun, the Arabian sea and lounge chairs, umbrellas, drinks, and food at one of the countless beach “shacks” along the coast (the place we went to had a 400 rupee/$6.40 minimum, but all the comforts were included if you spent that much, a relative bargain) or through the other gate for a stroll into town.

There are an overwhelming number of restaurants, bars, and shopping options within a stones throw of Casa Praia, so you do not have to venture far unless you are so inspired. We ate at Floyd’s our first day and were unimpressed, The Mango Grove our second and were equally unenthused, but on our third and fourth days we found The Bistro, which was a continental delight, and Tuscany Gardens, an Italian restaurant with nice, relatively authentic food. Please click on the links above to read my full reviews.

And if you staying over a Saturday night, you must go the the Saturday Market, a 20-minute ride (350 rupees for a Tuk-Tuk/500 rupees for a taxi) away where you will find an international food court with numerous options and a maze of countless stalls selling everything from Kashmiri scarves and hand painted boxes to local and name-label clothing, jewlery, and everything in between.

Old Goa is also worth a visit, so hire Garesh, one of the few “Goan” taxi drivers in town, and a very honest and warm person (his English is very good too, another rarity in India where one of the National languages is English BTW) to take you there with a stop by the two local forts on the way back. Old Goa has some nice, old Portuguese (Catholic) churches, one being the Basilica of Bom Jesus where Saint Francis di Xavier (their patron saint whom is encased in a glass casket and brought out for his festival which is only held every ten years – we were there during the festival, but opted not to atttend because of the reported massive crowds and traffic jams), Se’ Cathedral (a large, but unispiring church), Saint Augustine (a Portuguese Catholic church in ruins, but well worth a visit), and Saint Francis Church (adjacent to Se’ Cathedral, smaller, but much more ornate) which has an archeological museum attached (closed on Fridays, the day we were there of course).  Fort Aguada and its lighthouse are also worth a visit, but are not overly impressive, and Reis Magos Fort, a smaller, more attractive option (50 rupees entry, includes van ride to the top) with beautiful views of the river, the Arabian sea, and the cliffs below.  We paid 1,200 rupees/$19 for the six-hour tour (taxi), a bargain by Goa standards, so just ask Hardip to contact Garesh or contact him directly at +91-901-194-8499 if you need a lift anywhere.

Saturday Night Market

On a final note, I was ill during our stay and realizing I had become dehydrated and needing medical attention, Sophia and Hardip jumped to attention and without hesitation rushed me to the local hospital, a large clinic with beds actually, where I was given IV fluids and kept overnight. Hardip returned later that night to drive to five pharmacies to find the potasium I needed (the hospital did not have any), and again the next morning (twice) to pick my wife and I up (she had spent the night in the bed next to me) and deliver us back to the hotel where I spent the next few days recovering. We also needed to extend our stay by three days, and good thing we did because of the unforeseen emergency, so Hardip shifted some bookings (we basically displaced Sophia’s older daughter, who was visiting from Scotland, we found out later … you’re a gem Sophia!) so we could remain the in the same room even though they were “fully booked”. All I can say to Paul and Sophia is “thank you for your unparalleled compassion, extreme kindness, and oustanding hospitality”.

Without a doubt, Casa Praia is “THE BOMB” and deserving of my highest rating, rarely bestowed on a hotel or restaurant …

CombatCritic Gives Casa Praia The Maximum … 10 Bombs Out Of 10 … More Bombs Are Better!

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Title: You Will Not Find A Better Accommodation Value In Goa ... Casa Praia Is THE BOMB!

Key Words: Casa Praia, casa, Praia, hotel, guesthouse, guest, house, Candolim, beach, Goa, Bardez, India, Arabain Sea, sea, ocean, CombatCritic, review, TravelValue, travel, value

Rishikesh, India: Cottage Maybe, Swiss Not, But A Decent Hotel Value

Hill Top Swiss Cottage

Swiss Cottage Complex

Rishikesh, India

Prices: $$$$$

View of Ganges River Valley From Room

Hilltop Swiss Cottage sits in its own small self-contained village atop the hills of the High Bank of Rishikesh’s Tapovan area and a little over 1 kilometer from Laxman (Lacksman) Jhula (bridge), the northern most bridge over the Ganges (Ganga) River in town. The “Swiss Cottage” area has seven or eight hotels and guest houses, an equal number of restaurants (Raasta and Nirvana Cafés, Swiss Garden, and Oasis to name a few), a couple of small markets, a laundry, travel agancies, yoga studios, and massage parlors, so you never even have to leave the hill if you desire. It is a relatively quiet area compared to town, but is an easy walk to restaurants, the river, or numerous ashrams and other attractions.

There are cheaper options even within the Swiss Cottage compound (200 rupees/$3.20 per night and up), but I had a nice, large room with a view of the river valley below, flat screen TV with cable (no CNN or BBC), relatively fast Wi-Fi, and a bath with Western toilet, tub, and a great shower with plenty of hot water for 800 rupees ($13) per night.

The staff are not overly friendly and I got the “evil eye” from numerous locals during my stay, but otherwise I would say westerners are well “tolerated”, unless you are an attractive female in which case you are given a great deal of (unwanted) attention.

Their restaurant, The Oasis, was empty every time I walked by and other than a pot of coffee and an omelet my first morning I steared clear because the place was absolutely freezing. There were also a couple of characters there, one Dutch (I believe) and the other appeared to be from the Middle East, that were odd to say the least. The Dutch guy tried to whistle tunes with no melody and went off on a couple of Indian men for no apparent reason and the other guy kept whispering something to me I could not undertsand while looking at me like he wanted to slit my throat. Unnerving, so I ate breakfast at Raasta Café from that point forward.

They have their own yoga studio and meditation hall, but when I stopped by at the appointed times on my first morning, I had apparently awoken the instructor who appeared at the door disheveled from sleep and not ready for a class as advertized. Nothing opens before 8am in the compound, so if you are an early riser be prepared to keep yourself occupied until then. The room did have a small fridge and a boiler (kettle) for hot water, so you can buy some coffee, tea, milk, or soft drinks to have in the room (no alcohol because Rishikesh is a "dry" town).

Being December and in the foothills, Rishikesh is chilly when the sun goes down and the room (and everywhere else for that matter, because India apprently has not figured out central heat yet) was freezing. When I booked the room on Booking.com I clearly saw “heater” advertized in the room, but when I arrived there was none to be found. I asked the manager and he told me that I had reserved the “standard” room without  heat, but when I checked my reservation again I was in-fact correct and he quickly brought me a heater, a small space heater that barely kept the room warm.

CombatCritic Gives Hill Top Swiss Cottage 6 Bombs Out Of 10 … Bombs Are Good!

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Title: Cottage Maybe, Swiss It Is Not, But A Decent Hotel Value

Key Words: Hill Top Swiss Cottage, hilltop, Swiss, cottage, Tapovan, Laxman Jhula, laxman, lacksman, jhula, jhula, Rishikesh, India, hotel, review, Raasta, Nirvana, CombatCritic, TravelValue, YouTube, Facebook