From Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Whether you are searching for the best romantic getaways, pet-friendly hotels, beachfront campgrounds or luxury five-star resorts, we’ve got you covered. While all of the writers on this blog have journalism backgrounds, we also love to travel and share our tips with you.

We focus on US-based lodging destinations and try to bring you first-hand reviews as much as possible. Personally, I think one of the best features of the blog is that we aren’t trying to sell you anything. Our job is to provide you with an honest take on lodging; that includes the good, the bad and the ugly. We hope you’ll take advantage of our travel knowledge and let us know your thoughts on our recommendations. We love comments!

Meet the Lodging Gurus

Nancy D. Brown

Nancy D. Brown: Nancy makes her home in Northern California near the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two teenagers. While she loves European travel, she finds plenty to write about in California and the Pacific Northwest.

Nancy is the Lodging Editor at Uptake as well as a travel columnist for the Contra Costa Times Lamorinda Sun and a freelance travel writer. Her favorite Uptake blog posts: Wine Country Romance Honor Mansion because she had such a nice time in Sonoma Valley and Romantic Little River Inn on Mendocino’s California coast because the people are so friendly.

Lisa Dion

Lisa Crovo Dion: Lisa lives in San Francisco with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing for the San Francisco Chronicle she’s co-publishing Defenestration, a collection of Bay Area women’s writing.

Betsy Husband

Betsy Husband: Betsy lives on the far North Coast of California, where the redwoods tower above the Pacific Ocean. After spending the last 35 years traveling the world, she’s finally taking time to travel domestically, and loving it. She likes any style of travel, from budget to bourjois.

Betsy was published in the Gringo Gazette in Los Cabos years ago, teasing her into a writing career and a degree in journalism. Her stories are found in SkyWest Magazine, Tasmania 40 South, the Humboldt Beacon, and the now defunct Eureka Reporter. Her favorite Uptake Lodging posts are: Waterfront Condos in Victorian Old Town Eureka, Modern Urban Glamour at Mondrian Scottsdale, and Vacation Rentals are a Good Alternative.

Brooke Morton

Brooke Morton currently calls Orlando, Florida home because that’s where her dog is. As the associate editor of Sport Diver magazine she has traveled to many amazing places.

Kara Williams

Kara Williams: Kara makes her home in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains with her husband and two young children. While she loves to visit — and subsequently write about — sand-sun-and-surf destinations like Hawaii and Southern California, she also finds plenty of fodder for Lodging blog posts by traversing her own great state. With family and friends on the East Coast, she makes an annual pilgrimage “back home” to New Hampshire each summer (great excuse to get an urban fix in Boston and eat plenty of “lobstah”).

A longtime journalist, Kara’s travel articles can also be found in such publications as Every Day with Rachael Ray, Denver Post, Dallas Morning News, Porthole, Denver Life and Mountain Vacations. Her favorite recent Uptake Lodging blog posts: Best Affordable Hotel in New York City, Great Wolf Lodge Indoor Waterpark Resort and Top 10 Reasons I love the Outrigger Lae Nani in Kauai, Hawaii. She also blogs about all things travel related at Traveling Mamas.