Here's a question for you, fellow Berkshire County residents. When you're doing any form of traveling(not necessarily during the holiday season, but anytime) whether it's within the borders of the Bay State or not, do you have a particular hotel chain that you prefer?

I remember way back when anytime the family did any traveling(and we did a lot of traveling) we always seemed to prefer Hilton hotels or Holiday Inn hotels. I'm sure there were plenty of folks who couldn't rest their weary heads unless they were at a Howard Johnsons.

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Recently Shane Co, the largest privately owned jeweler in the United States, conducted a study on the most popular hotel chains in every state. They divided the study into 4 categories: Budget Hotel Chains, Upscale Hotel Chains, Luxury Hotel Chains, and Boutique Hotel Chains.

For the study, the Shane Co team analyzed the Google search volume for those 4 categories in each and every state. As always, some surprising results were found. For instance, the most popular budget hotel overall across the country was this one:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Hampton Inn was the most searched budget hotel in a whopping 21 states, including the Commonwealth. Here's a picture inside the Hampton Inn in Salem, Massachusetts:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Moving on to upscale hotels for those who have a little bit extra to spend while traveling, the most popular overall upscale hotel chain country-wide is Hilton Garden Inn, taking 8 states. Close behind at #2 is Aloft Hotels by Marriott. Neither of those chains was most searched in Massachusetts, though. In the Bay State, this upscale chain takes the cake:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Apparently, Massachusetts prefers Residence Inn by Marriott. How's this for a beautiful outdoor lounge/relaxation area? This photo is from the Residence Inn in Natick:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Now we take a look at Luxury hotel chains, for those who have a lot of extra money to spend(hey, it's a vacation, right? If you can afford it, hell yeah splurge!). This category wasn't even close, with Luxury Collection(also by Marriott) Hotels being the most searched in 12 states including Massachusetts:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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That's an awfully impressive building. That's the front of The Liberty in Boston, part of the Luxury Collection. Here's a look at their outdoor lounge area(with shuffleboard) at night(BTW, the 2nd most popular choice for luxury hotel chains is Omni Hotels and Resorts):

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Last but not least, we look at the most popular boutique hotels in the country. BTW, boutique hotels are the fastest-growing sector in the hotel industry. In case you're unfamiliar with the term, boutique hotels are not about being big and fancy.

They're about personalization and authenticity. If you're looking for a unique experience infused with some local flavor, a boutique hotel is the way to go. The most popular boutique chain in the country is the Hotel Indigo chain.

It was the most searched in 11 states, however, one of those states was NOT Massachusetts. The most popular boutique hotel chain in the Bay State is this one:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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Lark Hotels was the most searched in Massachusetts. The picture above is from The Lark in Nantucket. Here's a look at one of their cozy bedrooms at 21 Broad Street:

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Image Courtesy Facebook
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There you have it. Shane Co's ranking of the most popular hotel chains across the country and right here in Massachusetts. For a more in-depth look at the rankings, visit their website here.

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