Red Room Chronicles

Marriott recently announced that they would be offering free WiFi in public areas at five of their brands in U.S. and Canada. The list includes two of my Marriott favorites Courtyard and Residence Inn.

Marriott says in their press release, “Having introduced free guest room high-speed and WiFi Internet access three years ago, these five Marriott brands are again responding to guests’ needs, eliminating WiFi charges for guests in lobbies and other public areas.”

Its not just business travelers who want to be connected these days so this is a welcome move. Connectivity in general should be a priority for all hotels. And that idea includes cellular connectivity as well.

There have been plenty of instances where myself and a colleague have wanted to work in the lounge or breakfast area after hours so we could sit at a larger table. Sometimes we couldn’t do it because we lost our net connection. This will help prevent those sorts of problems.

I’ve talked about this before but the discussion is continuing. Jeremiah posts about the future of hotel websites.

Small chains are smart to create a different kind of internet experience for their customers. Big chains like Marriott should do the same thing. Time to get the hotel wiki going!

Marriott PR alerted me to a new brand within the Marriott brand today. Marriott is teaming up with Nickelodeon to create Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott.

There is a site announcing the launch here. Looks interesting.

As a parent of a young daughter I can say that I know I will be looking for family friendly resorts in the future. Given the following statement on the press release website, “a breakthrough new lodging resort brand and concept for travelers seeking fun and adventure, “Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott,” with 20 potential hotels expected to be under construction by 2020.” my daughter may be a little too old for something like this by the time the properties mature.

The first resort is slated to open in San Diego in 2010. So if we’re headed in that direction I’ll keep the Nick Marriott combo in mind. Til then, I think it would be great if Marriott could come up with a family strategy that could be applied to their existing brands. A couple of things I can think of that would be great:

• Family Rooms - sort of like suites but with things (like a dirty diaper container) that would help families with small children.
• Family Care Paks - packages with diapers, sanitary wipes, milk and bottled water so people have basic supplies when they arrive.

My last trip with the family definitely gave me some good ideas.

Identifying Information

Marriott Brand: Residence Inn
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Property Web Page: Residence Inn Beverly Hills

Critique of the Property

Common Areas: Highrise hotel with seven floors above the lobby. Below the lobby there are two floors which include and exercise room, guest laundry and a spa. Breakfast room and lounge area are in the lobby just past the reception desk.

Guest Rooms: Stayed in a studio suite with a small kitchenette. Rooms are generally smaller than typical Residence Inn properties.

Other Amenities: Wired and wireless high speed internet access are free. On site valet parking is $20 per day. Complimentary shuttle available to destinations within five miles of the hotel.

Things To Watch Out For: In studios, the small dining table is cramped and also serves as the desk. You may bump into post operative plastic surgery patients in the breakfast area. Higher floor rooms have views of downtown L.A. and Hollywood sign.

Staff: Attentive staff to help with bags and park the car. Valet service was always quick and friendly.

What’s Nearby?

Beverly Drive shopping district is about a five minute walk north of the hotel. Rodeo Drive shopping district is also in walking distance. Lots of shops and restaurants in both those areas. Adjacent residential areas are quiet and good for a nice walk or jog. Ralph’s Supermarket, Office Depot and Coffee Bean coffee house are just around the corner on Pico Blvd.

Restaurants: No onsite restaurant. Room service available from Spark restaurant around the corner. Factor’s Famous Deli is across Pico Blvd.

Other Marriotts: None

Other Hotels: Crowne Plaza, Avalon Hotel

Tags: Marriott, Residence Inn, Travel ,Hotel

I don’t travel with the family too often but this week is one of those trips. We’re out in Los Angeles for a wedding that took place yesterday.

Since my wife and I have a two year old daughter accomodations can be tricky. A child at that age needs lots of snacks and lots of naps. As a result I decided to reserve at a Residence Inn.

The Residence Inn Beverly Hills is the only Residence Inn brand hotel in the Los Angeles area, although there are a number of Marriott properties around the town. The in room kitchenette is a must if you’re traveling with little ones.

The hotel staff provided us with a small ‘pack and play’ type crib so our daughter is set for sleeping accomodations. The studios here are smaller than the average Residence Inn property so nap time for daughter means nap time for mommy and daddy. Next time we’ll get a one bedroom.

The onsite included breakfast is a bonus for the family too. With so much to handle during the day it’s nice to know that we can get up and have a meal ready for us before we start the day.

More on the hotel and surrounding area in the next post.

I’m staying at the Courtyard Newark - University of Delaware this week.

The hotel is on the campus of the University of Delaware. They don’t have my favorite newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. The hotel is in the footprint of Cingular’s 3G network. The hotel serves complimentary coffee, which is set up just past the front desk.

Some people might consider those types of observations minutiae that really don’t make a big difference in the travel experience. Frequent business travelers would probably want to know all of those things though. Where do you go to find that info?

Sure you could come to this blog, but I could not possibly catalog a significant number of Marriott hotels on my travels alone. You would need the help of a community to get that kind of detailed feedback across a meaningful slice of the Marriott hotel brand.

Traditional travel sites like Trip Advisor and Yahoo! Travel allow users to rate hotels and write reviews. But even when you get down to the hotel level on those services the reviews are still categorized by the reviewer and not by the type of information.

I might only want to see comments about restaurants or about net connectivity. I might just be concerned about what’s in the surrounding area. If you’re a frequent traveler there may be other things that you care about.

I would want to read these sorts of observations from the people who actually stayed at the hotels, along with some commentary on the experience related to the particular category in question. I would also want to know a little bit about the person writing the observation.

Sounds like a wiki to me. A wiki or some sort of social network. A MySpace for a hotel chain? Every hotel chain should have one.

I know that hotel chains would worry about people just writing angry missives or posting general complaints. That sort of stuff can happen anytime you have an openly editable website. So how about inviting editors from amongst frequent traveler programs? Then slowly open up the editing and membership capabilities to more people. Something like that could be a perk and a privilege for those who patronize frequently and want to give back knowledge to others.

Some might say that such a venture is a risk because someone might see something about a hotel they don’t like and book elsewhere. That is true. But its also true that the most demanding customers are going to be more satisfied if their expectations are set properly before arrival.

After all, why should someone have to search all over the internet to get information that they can probably find if they just use one of the sites mentioned above or even Google?

Something like this would be a bear for any person to set up. But the Marriott hotel chain, with their significant resources and database of locations could set up the shell of the site with a comprehensive list of hotels and the placeholders for the categories. Their many customers could do the rest.

An interesting idea if I say so myself.

I couldn’t find my usual accommodations near Kennett Square, PA so I find myself in a new Marriott. This week its the Courtyard Newark - University of Delaware.

This Courtyard is very nice. Looks and feels new. Free coffee in the very large lobby just past the registration desk.

When I booked I didn’t realize that this would literally be right no campus. I immediately had visions of the film Animal House as I pulled up. Noise is a nightmare for this business traveler. Thankfully things appear to be quiet.

Getting here was a real pain from Kennett Square. No real direct routes from that way. Somehow I missed one turn and I was in farm country. I’ll surely be studying the online map before setting off back to my client tomorrow morning.

I stayed one very uneventful night at the Residence Inn White Plains two nights ago.

There are two notable things about this hotel. First, the rooms are huge. My one bedroom studio suite was about 800 square feet. Second, there’s easy access to Manhattan. The White Plains Metro North stop is a five minute walk away. From there its about a forty minute ride to Grand Central station.

My reason for staying there was the fact that I need to get to Manhattan for a 9AM meeting, but also had my car with me and didn’t want to fight traffic at rush hour. So I enjoyed the complimentary guest parking while I was at my meeting. Afterwards I hopped back on an off peak train to White Plains where I picked up my car and drove home to upstate NY. Mission accomplished!

I was recently afforded the privilege of getting a preview of the now public Plug In To Marriott campaign recently launched by Marriott Hotels. Some of the folks in Marriott public relations and advertising are watching the blog (Hi all!) and invited me to impart my opinion on the campaign.

I don’t really know a lick about advertising or public relations but I do know what I like in a hotel. What I saw and heard about the campaign from their new website at www.plugintomarriott.com looked really promising. Certain rooms at a growing list of Marriott hotels have what really amounts to a digital media center that will allow you to plug in and get the benefits of your various portable media devices. This media center also doubles as a very nice flat panel television.

So you can plug in your laptop and work via the flat screen tv display. You can plug in your mp3 player and take advantage of stereo sound throughout the room. You can also plug in a DVD player, digital camera or camcorder as well. Portable game systems are pluggable as well. The setup will definitely be a boon to folks like me who travel with gadgets. The camera and game options sound great for family vacations.

I welcome the addition of upgraded technology in hotel rooms. It really helps to be in a place that fits the digital lifestyle (if that’s up your alley) when you have to be away at home. With something like this the implementation is as important as the announcement though. The systems need to work. I’m sure that won’t be a problem. One potential issue I mentioned to the Marriott team involved cables. What if I forget or just don’t have the right cable? Would be nice to have some standard loaners available at the front desk.

The reservation process is affected here as well. I think it’s really important for people to be able to get a guarantee for these rooms ahead of time. If such a room is not available I think that’s okay. But a traveler should also be able to definitively reserve a plugged in room if one is available at the time of booking.

I also heard that Marriott is planning to provide a video tutorial on the system which will be accessible via the television. I think that’s a good idea so people can understand and get the most out of the capabilities of these new rooms.

One thing I would like to see associated with this effort which I forgot to mention while on the call with the Marriott team was RSS feeds. How about an RSS feed (or email updates) to provide updates on the list of hotels that have these special rooms? For the moment you can go to the Plug In website to view the list of 25 hotels that have added this very special digital amenity.

The grace of heaven has lead me to the Residence Inn Saddle River. Sounds dramatic I know but what a day!

I started by driving from Woodstock, NY to Newark Airport. Once at the airport I was on and then off a flight to Atlanta on Continental Airlines.

It became evident around 4:30PM that no one was going anywhere so I got in line with the masses to try to get a refund on my flight. After waiting a frustratingly long period of time on line I decided to make a dash for the Continental President’s Club at Terminal A in Newark Airport. I’m not a member but the $45 day access fee was worth it to save a heck of a lot of time. The agent there spent almost an hour on hold waiting for them to finish my refund.

In the meantime I got some coffee and set up at a workstation. I canceled my reservation at the Courtyard Executive Park in Atlanta.

At around 7:30PM I decided to get moving. The airport monorail system was closed at Newark. Luckily my parking lot was near Terminal A. The short walk got pretty long while trying to walk down and unshoveled walkway in the midst of an ice storm. I departed the parking lot at 8PM.

I had decided to drive part of the way home and get a hotel. The roads are beyond treacherous right now. Snow and freezing rain are everywhere. As a result the 1 hour drive from Newark Airport to Saddle River was a white knuckle affair. My knuckles turning white gripping the steering wheel while knuckleheads in four wheel drive vehicles and tractor trailers careened through inches of ice and snow.

There are quite a few small hotels along Route 17 in New Jersey. Most of them are probably less expensive than the $103 AAA rate here at the Residence Inn. I knew what I would get here though. The theme of this evening is peace of mind. Sometimes the peace of mind of a brand is a really good thing. And my wife and mom have the peace of mind knowing that I’m off the road and safe for the evening.