Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn...or the Aloft Plano in this case

Part of our Dallas fun trip this weekend was checking out the Aloft brand of hotels by Starwood.  I am a huge fan of Starwood (see SF Palace Hotel pics here) and Aloft is touted as the younger sister version of the W brand of hotels.  Aloft offers "urban-inspired, loft-like guest rooms, enhanced technology services, landscaped outdoor spaces for socializing day and night, and an energetic lounge scene."  Yeah you read that correctly.  When we checked in on a Friday night, there was a DJ in the lobby complete with strobe lights and dancing guests.  B looked at me and yelled, "I hope our rooms aren't close to the club!"

But anyways, here are the reasons why we chose Aloft Plano for our trip:

(1) Location: close to my favorite hunting ground, Nordstrom Rack and Lion City--a Singaporean restaurant where we ate every meal (it was that good).  However, quite far from downtown (where the Dallas Flea was held) and my beloved Northpark

(2) Comfy comfy beds:  I've always had the best night's rest on a Starwood Westin Heavenly bed (gotta love the Texas touch on the headboard)

 (3) Really pet friendly: no pet deposits and our two pups were happy to be greeted with a plush dog bed, water and food bowls, treats and toys.  Plus they put us right on the 1st floor by the exit for easy access for potty breaks.  The way they treated our pets and how they accommodated us made a HUGE impression on us.

(4)  Free wireless internet (this really should be the standard everywhere) and a 42 inch flatscreen tv with CABLE! (this is very significant if you are like us and live off a digital antennae--we're like kids in a candy store when we see all the cable channels)

 (5) Great facilities like a workout room and pool (although we didn't use either because, well see reason #4) as well as coffee maker, fridge, magazines, etc in the room

(6) My absolute favorite BLISS products!

(7) The decor: yeah so some of it is too urban and hipster-ish (hello Dwell magazine?  DJ in the lobby? Greeting me by saying "aloha?") but I did like how streamlined the room decor was and wanted very badly to take this little clock home

(8) Very inexpensive: rates run at about $79-89 a night and we got an even further reduced rate through the website with the second night at 50% off.  When you account for the free parking, internet access, pet friendly, free water/coffee, etc. it all adds up to a really good value.  We usually stay at the Palomar in Dallas but now there's some friendly competition from Aloft!

ps: this is no way an ad for Starwood hotels and I was not paid for this. Yes I am this crazy about traveling and hotels in general to be blogging about them.  And yes, I can also be bought to review any other hotels, just sayin'.

(pictures: top two from google images, the rest of the fuzzy ones were taken by me)