Best Hotel Rooms with Kitchens
Sure, I like dining out, but I also love to cook simple, fresh, local food when I travel. Here are the best hotel chains for doing so.
As promised, I’ll be featuring occasional travel stories on this site; most are focused on nearby destinations, but this one will help you out wherever you go. P.S.: As a “paid subscriber” bonus, I’m offering my one and only go-to chain-fare takeout order for those times when I neither want to eat out nor cook. You’ll find that at the end of the story.
These Are the Best Hotel Rooms with Kitchens
If you, like me, tire of eating in restaurants on extended road trips, I can help! I’ve taken some major road trips in the past four years. At this point, I’ve stayed in all of the major hotel chains with kitchens, and I’ve come up with my absolute favorites.
But first: Why am I cooking so much on the road? Isn’t eating out part of the fun of traveling? Of course it is! But sometimes—especially on longer trips—you simply tire of either spending so much money at high-end places or the monotony of casual spots—the Caesar salads, burgers, pizza, pasta, tacos, french fries and so on.
That’s when I prefer to pick up something fresh that I really want to eat and cooking it at home. Let’s face it: It’s a healthier option, too.
And so … here’s the list of the absolute best hotel rooms in American with kitchens. Please note that I have not received any compensation from hotels for these reviews. All opinions are independently mine, which is why I can be utterly frank.
All the kitchens in these American hotel chains offer a cook-top, dishwasher, microwave, cooking pans and utensils, plates and flatware, and a three-quarter to full-size refrigerator, unless otherwise specified. Note, however, that very few of them offered ovens.
The Best American Hotel Chain with a Kitchen:
Element by Westin
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When I walked into our hotel room with a kitchen at the Jacksonville Beach Element Hotel by Westin, I said, “I want to live here forever!” A huge window letting in bountiful natural light, plus an open, airy space and sleek, clean-lined modern furnishings in light, contemporary natural colors, made this such a joyful place to be.
Upsides: The hotel room kitchen was perfectly furnished with all kinds of high-quality pots and pans plus other things I needed, such as a grater and a colander and a solid set of knives.
Minor downside: The side-by-side seating at a high-top table in our room was not ideal for the kinds of leisurely, extended dinners we enjoy. Our workaround? We always travel with a little card table and portable chairs. That way, we can have a table by the window everywhere we go.
Second-Best Hotel Room with a Kitchen:
Home2Suites by Hilton
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This hotel chain with kitchens also gets high marks for having a bright, airy, clean and modern feel. As a bonus, Home2Suites also has, to me, a certain European feel — the rooms remind me of how the best vacation rentals in France get the most out of small spaces.
Upsides: I love the “module” style of furnishings — the dining table rolls out from underneath a desk when you need, it, and is space-savingly stowed when you don’t. Ditto with the coffee tables — they’re easily stowed away. Also, Home2Suites are generally a little less expensive than Element, and often less expensive than my third-place choice, Residence Inn by Marriott.
Downsides: Home2Suites do not have cooktops! They have everything else (dishwasher, microwave, nice-size fridge, etc.), but if you want to cook in a pan, you have to borrow an induction cooktop from the front desk. That’s no problem … except the only pan that comes with the cooktop is a six-inch skillet. Therefore, this kitchen-furnished hotel chain is probably best if you’re only cooking for two.
Tied for Third: Residence Inn by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott
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When it comes to hotel rooms with kitchens, I can also highly recommend these two Marriott chains. They are generally very comfortable and nicely furnished — I just happen to prefer the cheerful, bright, airy furnishings and decor of the Home2Suites and Element.
Upsides: They usually have actual dining tables, which matters a lot to us (as you’ll see below, some places do not offer dining tables or anywhere else to sit and eat … argh.).
Downsides: Residence Inns have been around a while (I first stayed in one in 1996!). While some of the properties are brand-spanking-new and beautiful, others are a bit dated. Certainly, all of the ones we stayed in were clean, but compared to the bright, airy feel of the Element Hotels, one location, in particular, felt tired. The three different locations of TownPlace Suties we’ve experienced were perfect.
Note: TownePlace Suites are generally less expensive than Residence Inns. And some of the most recently built spots—like the one we stayed at in Ocala, Florida, did not have a dining table. It was an outlier, however.
Other Nice Hotel Chains that Offer Kitchens
While these didn’t place in my top three, I would stay at any one of these chains again, provided the online reviews didn’t send up red flags.
Candlewood Suites
These are simple-yet-pleasant value-priced hotels with kitchens within the IHG group. I especially appreciated the committed dining area — always a place to sit and eat.
I should mention that this chain often attracts longer-term work crews that sometimes like to sit outside and enjoy themselves come quittin’ time. I get it! But be advised that you might just hear music playing out of a pickup truck below your window—which happened to us in Greenville, S.C. In the end, it wasn’t a problem, because after 10 p.m., some crabby lady (I won’t say who) called down to the front desk and asked the clerk to tell the partiers to quiet down. Which they did. So, in the end, no problem. It wouldn’t stop me from staying at one of these spots again.
Homewood Suites by Hilton and Staybridge Suites by IHG
These two hotel chains with kitchens are very much alike in quality, furnishings, and price. While I can certainly recommend them, what I absolutely do not get is why some of the rooms do not offer a table or other place to sit down and dine. Are they assuming that most Americans want to shovel food into their mouths while slumped on the couch in front of a TV? Well, they might not be wrong…
Note that some rooms in these chains offer dining tables and some do not … but you can’t always be sure you’re going to get one. If this is important to you, call the hotel ahead and ask which of their rooms truly offer a place to sit down and eat, as the photos of the rooms don’t always tell the truth (I’m talking to you, St. Petersburg Staybridge Suites!).
Of course, we always travel with a table … and we always set it by the window. Problem solved.
So — do you have a favorite hotel chain that offers kitchens? Do tell! And of course, there’s always VRBO (which we also did), but when moving from place to place, these residence-style hotels work well. As a bonus, in general, the cancellation at chain hotels are so much more flexible than with VRBO.
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My One Go-To Chain for a Great Takeout Dinner
When (for whatever reason) I can’t snag a hotel room with a kitchen, and I don’t feel like dining out, I’ve found a terrific option for takeout from a chain restaurant you’ll find all over the place. This little bonus is for paid subscribers only.