Lodging: Park Inn & Suites (Santa Fe)
For perhaps the first time ever, I started enjoying trashy reality TV during my downtime in Santa Fe. Specifically, "America's Next Top Model"...it's strangely addictive! Since I found Santa Fe uninteresting as a solo traveler, I really wished my TV had better reception. But since my total hours of TV time was pretty low, I never bothered to inform the staff.
I stayed two nights in Santa Fe at Park Inn & Suites, which I'd scored for $38/night on Priceline. At this hotel, a king room counts as an upgrade—which doesn't make a ton of sense to me since more people can sleep in a double room than a king—but the double room was perfectly comfortable. My room was very close to the parking lot yet I never heard any excessive noise. Shower pressure was OK, not the high-pressure massage of the one in Los Alamos but still fine.
This hotel offers free internet in-room for those who travel with laptops, but for people like me there's no free shared lobby computer. There's a pay computer that takes credit cards but it wasn't working when I was there.
According to the staff, the pool is open 24 hours unless there are noise complaints! I was deeply disappointed I never had time to use it. Most New Yorkers can only dream of pools in the summertime. According to the hotel's website, there are free waffles in the morning as well...I also wish I could have partaken in this but I was getting up so early every day. Online reviews indicate the waffles aren't particularly good, so maybe I didn't miss out.
Everyone I'd discussed my trip with seemed surprised that I would consider staying out on Cerrillos Road instead of downtown, but for the amount of time I expected to spend downtown (again, alone) didn't justify the prices. On arrival I found that I was only about 20 minutes from downtown...much closer than some other Cerrillos Road hotels and certainly survivable. For my trip, which was mostly spent trying to get OUT of Santa Fe onto the backroads, it was convenient enough. In addition, for those who find emergency needs to stop in a Target or Walgreen's or similar during their vacations, those stores are easily found on Cerrillos Road. I would definitely try to get this hotel again the next time I'm in Santa Fe.