{"id":46696,"date":"2026-08-13T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46696"},"modified":"2026-08-07T06:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:49:35","slug":"best-hotel-chains-new-unesco-sites-oldest-usa-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/best-hotel-chains-new-unesco-sites-oldest-usa-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Hotel Chains\/New UNESCO Sites\/Oldest USA Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Best Hotel Chains in the USA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each year I update this post on the best cheap hotel chains in the USA<\/a>, but I use the JD Power & Associates survey that covers all categories as the source. (Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf-Astoria are tops overall if that\u2019s your income level.) With the four largest hotel corporations having more than 110 brands between them, we could all use a shortcut. The winners in each category from the bottom were Microtel, Tru by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Hyatt House, and Drury Inn. The worst score of all went to OYO Hotels, which you\u2019ll find bad reviews for all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New UNESCO World Heritage Sites<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UNESCO recently announced its latest batch of sites added to their lists for this year and you can see them all here<\/a>. Some are not much to look at, the \u201cheritage\u201d being the key factor. Some are well-known though, like Mount Olympus in Greece, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, and Sarnath Buddhist temple in India. There\u2019s a tilt to modern buildings in this round and I\u2019ll be seeing one entry soon: \u201cTashkent Modern Architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where You\u2019ll Get Triple-taxed to Visit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It has unfortunately been a return subject on here this year: new taxes and fees popping up for you to stay in a specific country or city. Europe has led the way, with Edinburgh being the most recent one: as of July 24, you\u2019ll pay an extra 5% per night on your room. While we understand the dual motivations of tempting revenue increases gleaned from people passing through and the hope that fees will deter overtourism, these charges are on top of plenty more. There\u2019s the destination tax already included in your airline ticket, the hotel or rental apartment tax you\u2019re already paying, and other local taxes levied for rental cars, restaurants, taxis\/rideshares, and tours. Here\u2019s a full rundown of new ones this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oldest Bar in Every State<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you want to get a drink in a place that has been around for a century or two, this rundown of which bar is the oldest for every U.S. state<\/a> will give you a destination. To the best of my recollection, I have only been in two of them. One in a historic mining town in Montana, the other a couple of blocks from my first apartment in Nashville, TN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of\u00a0A Better Life for Half the Price<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The World\u2019s Cheapest Destinations<\/em>. See\u00a0past editions here,<\/a>\u00a0where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nomadico issue #219<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2385],"tags":[2386],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46697,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46696\/revisions\/46697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}