Red Room Chronicles

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.

I’m in San Antonio staying at the Emily Morgan Hotel for four nights. It’s a nice place but I’d rather be staying at one of the Marriott hotels nearby. There’s the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk and the Residence Inn San Antonio Alamo Plaza which is nearby as well. So no points and no Marriott benefits. Reservations were set up by my company with special rates so I had no choice on this one. I just hope that I don’t end up four nights short of platinum status at the end of the year.

There are three things that please me immensely when I’m staying at a hotel on business. First, a quick check in process. Second, a room whose climate has been controlled properly prior to my arrival. Third, a room that is spotless clean and smells nice. I just hate musty or stale smelling hotel rooms. It makes me feel like I’ve checked into a morgue instead of a hotel.

I’ve been a Marriott Rewards member for years as I’ve been a traveling consultant for the IT and now Energy Industry since 1998. After staying in so many Marriott’s I’ve come to value inside information on the company for both business and leisure purposes. My hope is that this blog will become a fine resource for travelers everywhere who prefer Marriott Hotels. Part of the inspiration for doing this came from Shel Holtz, who recently started his own travel blog titled Road Weary. I hope that between myself, Shel and all the business travel veterans out there, we can share information that makes all of our travels just a little bit easier.