Red Room Chronicles

There’s nothing worse than being at a hotel and being sick at the same time. It’s bad enough that I’m away from home on a business trip. But here I am having to make the best of it.

I also happen to be staying at the Residence Inn Galleria in Houston, aka the “RIG”. That fact makes the experience just a bit better.  I was able to stop at the store and pick up some things for a light meal that I’ll cook up tonight here while I hunker down and rest for the evening. It’s just something you can do in a regular Marriott. I could order room service sure but my track record with that hasn’t been so hot lately.

The chef was nice enough to send this tray up tonight along with a note apologizing for the “ant incident” last night. I was definitely surprised by the gesture. So much so that I wasn’t ready to tip the guy who brought it up.

A few weeks back I spoke for a little while with Christopher Elliott for an article about travel blogs. That article has finally been published and can be seen on the NY Times website here.

The article focuses on the power to change business travel via blogs. Why not? People who travel a lot have many experiences, good and bad, that hospitality and travel firms can learn from.

As an aside, My friend Shel Holtz is also quoted as a result of his Road Weary travel blog.

I recently had a very nice stay at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Arizona. This is a very nice resort that sits in the foothills of Tucson Mountain Park.

Amenities include a golf course, spa, several restaurants and a very nice pool area with a fountain for the kids.

I’ll get off my butt and post a full review very soon.

Tags: Marriott, JW Marriott

I’ve been posting here infrequently for one simple reason. I haven’t been traveling all that much and when I have been traveling I haven’t been staying at Marriott hotels.

Well I’m back staying at one of my usual Houston spots, the Houston Marriott Westchase. In general I’ve always been happy with the property and the service but I do have some suggestions that could be implemented across the Marriott chain.

It would really be helpful if travelers could actually pick the exact types of amenities they would like in their rooms. These days you need to go beyond just smoking and bed preference. For example, this Marriott offers rooms with both wired and wireless access to the internet. Not all rooms have wired access though. And when I’m paying $9.95 per day for access I want a wired connection.

Another example is that this hotel has some rooms with balconies and some rooms that face to the inside atrium. A guest should be able to choose their preference even if they’ve never stayed here before.

The hotel business is more than just a business of booking rooms. In 2006 it would behoove lodging firms to think ahead of basic needs and allow customers to have an experience that gives them confidence that they’ll land in a room that meets their needs.

Tags: Marriott, Lodging, Travel, Hotels

Got my 2006 member package in the mail today. Once again I failed to reach the Platinum level. That’s two years in a row that I’ve been Gold. I guess it’s a good thing. I am spending more time working from home or commuting within driving distance. I can’t help but think that if that one other client had been in a Marriott town that I might have made it. I spent about a month of work weeks in 2005 in a non-Marriott town. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. I even joined another hotel’s rewards program. The nearest Marriott was about an hour drive away so I resigned myself to my fate and merely dreamt of room upgrades, concierge lounges and welcome gifts on arrival.

It’s been a little while since staying at a Marriott. You could say that I’ve been going through withdrawl. As fate would have it I just haven’t been in a position to stay at a Marriott hotel over the last month. We’ll the opportunity has finally arisen again. In the wee hours of this morning after a long trip down from Newark I checked into the JW Marriott Hotel at the Galleria in Houston. If I have to be away from home then I certainly don’t mind staying at a quality property like this. I even got a darn good rate. The new beds are great as well. Okay, enough evangelizing for one day. Full review to follow by the end of the week.

Another week of travel and yet another hotel stay, but not at a Marriott. I’m in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania which is about 15 miles from Wilmington, Delaware and even further from the nearest Marriott. For better or for worse I’m staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. I am less than a mile from the client so it’ll be a very short commute for the next couple of days.

Remember my mini odyssey last month in Houston? First my hotel was full, then Hurricane Rita forced me out after only one night. Well I’m back and the weather is a lot nicer this time around. And I’ll be staying at yet another Marriott property in the vicinity of my office. This will be the third property in my last three trips to Houston. I’m at the Fairfield Inn Houston Westchase, which is less than half a mile from the office. I’ve stayed at this hotel many times but a full report will follow before my stay is over.

What a wacky week! I flew into Houston on Tuesday and later that day detailed issues with my room reservation at the Residence Inn Houston Westchase hotel. Alex (the manager of the Residence Inn) was very nice in explaining the situation and booking me a room at the Courtyard Houston West University hotel. I tried to find a hotel closer to my office with no luck so I took Alex up on the offer of the alternate hotel, which was about twelve miles away from my office. Residence Inn also took care of the bill for that night.

Yesterday I was preparing to begin a two night stay at the original hotel but Hurricane Rita changed my plans. In the end I was none the worse for wear.

So what could have Marriott done better? Well, the original situation I detailed in my previous post was one that the folks at the Residence Inn could have anticipated a day or two prior to calling me. A little advance notice of the situation might have enabled me to search for an additional hotel based on my own preferences. In the absence of that, they did take care of me by arranging alternative arrangements and taking the further step of picking up the tab.