For frugal traveler, try midscale hotels

Chris Williams appreciates plush surroundings. He and his wife have stayed in a $350-a-night Ritz-Carlton in Florida. "Marble everything," he said.

But the couple from Rome, Ga., decided on the Holiday Inn Express Hollywood for a more recent getaway to Los Angeles, where room rates start about $112 a night. "It's nice to live in luxury," said Williams, who supervises technicians at a cable-TV company. "But it's not feasible."

Millions of frugal travelers agree. With their help, so-called limited-service hotels — modestly priced, predictable and a cut above Motel 6, Super 8 and other economy brands — have become the fastest-growing trend in hospitality.

And why not? Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta Inn, Ramada Limited, Wingate Inn and similar chains often charge half as much as full-service Marriotts and Hyatts just up the road.

And although their guests can't expect on-site restaurants, fancy lobbies or around-the-clock room service, they typically are not charged for these things: local phone calls, Internet access, parking and continental breakfast.

The 52-room Holiday Inn Express Hollywood offered all these perks, plus a sparkling swimming pool. Four blocks away at the towering Roosevelt hotel, the 79-year-old doyen of Hollywood hostelries, rooms start around $250 a night. That doesn't include parking ($23 a night) or breakfast at the hotel's hip Dakota restaurant, where coffee costs about $4 and granola $12.

Don't get me wrong. The Roosevelt is elegant and, no doubt, worth every penny to guests who cherish its style and unique history. But as Williams put it, if all you really want is a bed, such hotels may be "a waste of money."

Room rates have been rising steadily since their post Sept. 11 slump. In Manhattan last year, the average nightly rate hit a record $234, according to PKF Consulting, an international firm of specialists in the hotel and tourism industries.

Upscale-hotel rates have grown fastest, making nightly room tabs of $300 and up common not only in New York but in many cities and resort locales.

Midscale hotels that don't have food and beverage — they're "limited service" in industry jargon — can be havens from this price inflation. And you won't have to look far.

Holiday Inn Express, launched in 1990, clones itself at the rate of about two hotels per week, said Verchele Mills, vice president of brand management for the chain at parent InterContinental Hotels Group in Atlanta. There are now more than 1,500 worldwide.

By forgoing a big lobby, meeting space and 24-hour food service, he said, such a hotel can cram in more revenue-generating guestrooms and operate with a staff about one-third the size found at full-service hotels.

Cheap land helps the equation pencil out. Limited-service inns originally sprang up along highways and in suburbs, where real estate generally costs less, and they catered to business people traveling by car.

Now, spurred by demand and increasing room revenues, these hotels are migrating uptown — and there are Hampton hotels, Holiday Inn Express and Wingate hotels even in the heart of New York City.