I travel a lot for work. I guess "a lot" is relative. Generally somewhere around 60 nights a year in a hotel somewhere.
I prefer the Hilton branded hotels. For one night at a time and a free breakfast, Hampton Inn.
Sometimes cheaper rates and breakfast and dinner, bar, is Hilton Garden Inn.
Tru is fairly basic, more towards the Hampton Inn scale but set up more for longer stays .
Double Tree's are nice $$$ but more for longer stays with restaurants and bar inside.
The farther out you book, generally, the lower the rate.
Bigger cities are going to be pricey. I did a quick check on Nashville TN for the 1st Thursday of June. Not sure what's going on in Nashville but if they're not sold out, prices are high. If you go 20-25 miles either side of Nashville, they're much cheaper.
Marriott branded hotels are my second choice. Of those, Fairfield Inn is comparable to Hampton Inn.
Any hotel near a major route will likely have at least a chain restaurant nearby.
Best Western, some Holiday Inns, just about any major brand won't be too bad for a single night. Days Inn is hit or miss.
Motel 6 is usually your cheapest but then you can play guess the stain on the carpet/bed/wall/ceiling.
I'd give you some points but currently my wife, daughter, son in law and the grands are using most of them for 2 rooms for 2 nights in Boston.
Let me know if you need any help setting something up or any other questions