Star baseball players share favorite hotels, amenities

Like most people who travel frequently for business, baseball players spend a lot of time in hotels. During the course of the 2012 baseball season, USA TODAY Travel asked our panel of star players for travel advice on best spring training spots, favorite road cities, steakhouses and how to kill time on a flight.

Now we're turning to Matt Kemp, CC Sabathia, Justin Verlander and Shane Victorino for what they've learned in countless hotel nights across the USA.

We asked each player to name his favorite hotel in a visiting city. Dodgers outfielder Victorino loves the Trump in Chicago, which he calls "amazing and luxurious." Teammate Matt Kemp also favors the Trump, plus the Ritz Carlton in Denver, for their "spacious rooms." Verlander, whose Tigers start play tonight against the Yankees in the ALCS, calls out another Chicago property, the Westin, which is "right off Michigan Ave and by a lot of great restaurants and stores." He also likes the New York Hilton: "if you get a high floor ... you get some incredible views." Yankees pitcher Sabathia picks The Island in Anaheim for being quiet and close to good restaurants.

Guests who spend several straight nights in a hotel room like room to spread out, and these players are no exception. Asked the most important factor in a room, Verlander and Sabathia cite size, with Kemp adding, "space, I'm a big guy!" Victorino names a "comfortable bed" as his top priority.

Hotel minibars are a hot-button issue among travelers, so we asked our group simply, "love 'em or hate 'em?" Put the players down as minibar fans. Victorino enjoys having "something to eat at any hour," while Verlander finds that a "five dollar bottle of Fiji water hits the spot." Kemp, perhaps showing the ambivalence many travelers feel about those five dollar bottles of water, says he "hates to love them."

As for the first thing each player does when he checks into a hotel room? Sabathia says he "turns the air conditioner to 60." Verlander surveys his on-demand movie options. Kemp, after joking about jumping on the bed, says he unpacks his clothes. Meanwhile, Victorino gets the gold star for this answer: "I call my wife and family."