Green Hotel Rating System

AllStays has had a green hotel guide since early 2005. We were the first travel website to do so when it wasn't getting much respect or attention. But now it is getting more and more popular as we add and expand it on a weekly basis. Now we are taking it to another level.

We are currently rolling out our Green Hotel Rating System. It is now being added to our Green Hotel section, which includes motels, bed and breakfasts and retreats. The system breaks down lodging with 24 green aspects and then rates the hotel based on how many of those a property is integrating and running. An icon is added for easy reference, along with the list of the aspects at that hotel. Easy to read and spot what that property is doing to make a difference.

Our green rating system will be expanded and added to all normal section listings over the near future as well. Over three thousand lodging places have been rated so far.

Arizona Green Hotels

We just added 4 green and environmentally friendly hotels today in Arizona.

Under Sedona green hotels, we now have the Bell Rock Inn, Junipine Creekside Resort, Los Abrigados Resort, the Southwest Inn at Sedona and the Wildflower Inn.

As always, when you make your reservation, please let them know you are making your decisions based on their environmental practices. When you are making a reservation at other hotels, ask them what they do to minimize their impact on the environment. Do they use florescent lights or even better, LED lights? During holiday season, do they use LED lights that use a fraction of the power of normal holiday lighting? Do they let you re-use your towel or sheets? Do they use recyclable products? There are many more things that can impact the environment but these are just a few.

Halloween Haunted Hotels

It's Halloween again and tis the day to check out our Haunted hotels section. We have recently added over 30 places and their stories and will continue adding more as we do the research. What better way to celebrate fall and Halloween than to spend the night in a real haunted place.

From California to Florida, we have some haunted lodging coast to coast so there is bound to be one within reasonable driving distance of where you are located.

California Green Hotels

We added about 18 green and eco friendly hotels today in California and a couple in Arizona. We have another dozen to add in other states over the next day or two. The movement keeps moving forward as more and more places take action to minimize their impact on the planet.

When you make reservations, please let them know you are making your decisions based on their environmental practices. When you are making a reservation at other hotels, ask them what they do to minimize their impact on the environment. Do they use florescent lights? Do they allow you to re-use your towel or sheets during your stay? You probably don't wash your bedding every single day at home so why do it at a hotel?

River Rapids Lodging Search and Maps

Whether you go rafting, kayaking, boating or just like the sound of rushing water, AllStays.com created a new guide that may be of interest to you. Our new guide for river rapids across the United States includes the exact location on map and satellite views. We then make it easy to search for the nearest hotels from those rapids.

Camping is usually closer connect to river rapids than hotels but we also know you may want a nice bed before or after your trip. More importantly, you may want to drop family off at a hotel while you feel the rush of the water. You don't have to stay dry forever just because you have family that can't do what you want to do. There are many reasons we created this river rapids guide but mostly just because we wanted it ourselves. We hope you like it too.

Feel free spread the word to your group members. You can also send a quick email to rewards@allstays.com to get a $10 cash discount off your room rate for yourself and your group.

Hotels Near Baseball Parks

We have created a new way of finding your way to and around your favorite MLB teams home games. The season is getting late but our guide will remain for this year and beyond. Our guide to Major League Baseball stadiums and nearby hotels is online now. You can select by team name or by location on a map. The balloon that pops up on the map when select a team lets you get more information about the park. The map you can see has it's real GPS plotted location. Zoom in and see it on the satellite or map views. If you zoom in all the way, you can find parking lots and the way the roads look around the city.

From another link there you can find the closest available hotels with distances from that baseball park. And yet another link will put the baseball field and ALL hotels and motels on the map. This includes small independent motels and their phone numbers as well as the chains that are bookable anywhere.

For cross referencing, we also add this info to city pages. For example, if you look at our map of Chicago hotels, you'll see all the sporting venues highlighted on the map and the sidebar on the right side of the map.

Military Campgrounds & RV Parks

We have enhanced and relaunched our guide to Military Campgrounds and RV Parks. These are also referred to as FamCamps. Each campground has a different set of who qualifies to use it but the general idea behind it is provide lower cost camping options for military, veterans and their families.

We took as many as we could find (around 200 of them) and placed them on a United States map. (We zoomed it out more than usual so we don't forget the Alaska and Hawaii locations.) From there you can click on either the icon or the proper name of the facility on the right hand scroll bar to bring up more information. We link to websites when they exist, provide fee ranges, number of sites and seasons of operation.

If you already use or can take advantage of FamCamps, we highly recommend you take advantage of this guide whenever you can to help you find these alternatives to high cost rv parks.

NFL Game Hotels Easier to Find

We have created a new way of finding your way to and around your favorite NFL Teams game this season. Our guide to NFL stadiums and nearby hotels is online now. You can select by team name or by location on a map. The information balloon that pops up on the map then lets you get more stadium information. If you're like us, you sometimes get annoyed by the NFL team websites and their fancy slow loading designs. Sometimes you just need information in a hurry. From these links you can get directions, parking, and seating maps. And on the map you can see it's real GPS plotted location. Zoom in and see it on the satellite or map views. If you zoom in all the way, you can find parking lots and the way the roads look around the area.

Another link lets you find the closest available hotels with distances from that stadium. Yet another link will put the stadium and ALL hotels and motels on the map. This will include small independent motels and their phone numbers as well as the chains that are bookable with us as well as other major travel websites.

In the near future, we will have this feature set up for all other sports teams and events as well.

Primitive Camping

What is primitive camping? It is where you'll find campsites, usually further out in nature and away from towns, that are not developed. You'll usually have toilets (but not always) and not much else. No hookups, no running water, no showers, no fancy buildings or amenities. The site may be totally free or a minimal charge that you pay on the honor system. It is usually the Forest Service or BLM that controls these lands. The sites will always accommodate tents and maybe small RVs. It is more difficult to go to these kind of places with big RVs. They may be on remote forest roads or on top of mountains. You may even have to hike or boat in to a site.

Primitive camping is common out west where there is more land. Generally, in the eastern half of the United States, you won't find as many primitive options.

We love primitive camping and are expanding our listings to include every place we can find, no matter how small or remote. We added some large map pages that help show all places to camp in a state, including primitive campgrounds. We plan on adding more features related to primitive and tent camping in the near future. We realize not everyone has a big rig or wants to stay in crowded RV parks.

State of Nevada campground example

Haunted Hotels Provide a Chill to the Night

The air is getting cooler outside. The weather forecast is for a warmer than normal fall and winter but you can still get a chill from a more spooky source. Whether you are on a Halloween spookaway or looking for dying leaves, we found some places that just may put a chill in your pajamas. Across the country and around the world, there are many places where you can stay the night alone, with a loved one or perhaps with someone of a ghostly nature. From the US-Mexican border and southern plantations in the southeast to the heart of hollywood in California, you can explore a bit of history and maybe even feel the past come back to you.

There are places in almost every state in the United States, in all different price ranges and AllStays is constantly adding more as they find them and try to fill in the history. For something warm and near the southern border, try Douglas in southern Arizona.

Many employees and guests of the Gadsden Hotel have had encounters with the Gadsden Ghost. The ghost has been reported mostly in the basement and is said to be a tall man in black clothing and often with no head. Some believe this ghost is the ghost of Pancho Villa himself. At the time of his death in 1923, Pancho Villa was reported to have a hidden treasure somewhere in the mountains of Northern Mexico. The only map to this location was tattooed on Villa's head. It is said that upon his death, Villa's loyal followers cut off his head and buried it under the ashes of the recently burned Gadsden Hotel in order to forever keep the secret location of the treasure concealed. Unknowingly, the Gadsden Hotel was re-built over the top of the skull and Pancho Villa remains wandering the dark damp halls of the Gadsden basement searching for his head and the map to his treasure.

Another Arizona location is the Hermosa Inn in Scottsdale. A cowboy and artist named Lon Megargee owned some land in Paradise Valley in the 1930s. After building his home by his own hands, he had to pay for the house's maintenance. One solution was to rent out rooms to travelers. Finally, in 1941, he was forced to sell what he called "Casa Hermosa" along with all of it's contents, furniture, and artwork. Even today, photos of Lon and his original art still hang on the walls. Not wanting to leave after his death in 1960, Lon still makes appearancs in his cowboy dress. He is a pleasant, friendly ghost, only flushing toilets and breaking a few glasses.

One night after an argument with her husband, Sallie White, a chambermaid at The Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, stayed at the hotel (presumably with another man). The next day her husband threatened to kill her. On March 28, 1876, Sallie was attacked by her husband and she died two days later. The hotel paid for the funeral cost of $32, as recorded in the hotel ledger. Legend has it that Sallie White still roams the halls of the Victorian wing of the hotel. A few years ago, a guest wanted extra towels. He opened the door of his room and called out to a maid who ignored him. The guest called the front desk to inquire why the maid was so rude. He described the maid and her uniform -- one that was worn in the late 1800s.

If smaller places are more to your interest, there is the R and R Station Inn located in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. The restaurant inn was built in 1883 and has some customers that checked in more than 100 years ago and remain there today. Things would disappear and then reappear later. The owners heard footsteps when no one was there, and would hear children bouncing a ball upstairs and pots and pans would fly off the racks. The evidence points to numerous ghosts including a couple of former owners. The current owners embrace the past and have events and tours around it.

And there is always the most haunted town of all. Gettysburg is a not just a town with a haunted hotel. Wherever you stay, you may feel or see something out of time and earthly place. Overall, you'll find no shortage of ghostly phenomena around town. Most common reports have been on the battlefield and the Gettysburg College. There is a ghost tour at night, like many historic cities are now doing, that highlights the area haunts.

"Ghost encounters are never for certain. In fact, most of these places only have a few documented events spread out over many years. It's more about the history, the imagination and what you think could happen while visiting. You just never know what may be around the next corner, in the shadows or what may wake you up at night. It's fun and adds a little something to another night away from home."

So if you are looking for something really different in this world, try spending some time at places with occasional visitors from another world. Plan ahead if you are looking to stay around the end of October as many of these places are busy or have special events for Halloween. Some of them wish the ghost would move on and others relish the added attention and business. Many of the larger hotels will not deal with reserving of a particular room tied to a ghost story, but you may get lucky. Or unlucky depending on your point of view.

Haunted Hotels: That Time of Year

It's always a great time of year to spend the night with a ghost but now it's October. And you know what October leads up to....Halloween. Make your plans now to find a room at a haunted hotel this month. Many of them are booked many months in advance, and some hotels do not guarantee a particular room, so you may even want to think about next year as well.

Not traveling? Well they are all around the country so a ghost is probably within a couple hours of you right now and just waiting to cuddle, snuggle and chill you all night. Or just sit back with a drink, listen to some rustling leaves outside your unlocked screen door and read the stories here at our Haunted Hotels Guide.

Yoga Retreats May Be A Passionate Vacation Choice

Whether you've been doing yoga for years or just began recently, the time to go deeper may be here. Whether you teach others in a local class or practice alone in your own living space, you can take it higher. You can make it a vacation that you can take home with you. A yoga retreat vacation works from the inside out. And the wonderful feeling lasts longer. The return airporttrek and the first visit with your boss can't take it away from you. Full story

Remote Getaways

Need to getaway? Far far away?

Here are a few places that will get you away from it all. Far far away from it all....From forest fire look out towers to rusti cabins. These are cheap on the wallet but not easy to access. Full story

Extended Stay Hotels Provide More Comfort

You may not need to throw the leftovers away or sit in the lobby to find a comfortable couch and internet service. Extended stay hotels are more common and more affordable for everyone these days.

Are you a modern day road warrior or just the occasional traveler who wants a few comforts of home? Perhaps you want to save some money and stock your own food and drinks while attending that conference. Maybe you are part of a family who needs to stretch the vacation budget without signing charge receipts or leaving tips for every hunger pain. Full story