Ready? Set?.....go figure!

I arrived at the Crowne Plaza in Little Rock, Arkansas fairly late in the evening. It would have been nice to have had my priority check-in ready to go when I got there, but it wasn't. The desk clerk gave me my keys and said thank you. I had to ask where to go to get to the room. I asked if I was on the executive floor and she said yes. Since she didn't offer any other information I decided that I was on my own.

The executive level "club" floor of the Crowne Plaza Little Rock is key access only. My room was spacious, nicely decorated, comfortable - and right next door to the ice machine. So here is a bit of advice to anyone staying in room 507 of this hotel...make sure you have earplugs. Fortunately, Crowne Plaza Hotels usually provide these in a little amenities bag on the bed when you check in. Earplugs are in there along with an eye mask, and linen spray. I never use the spray. Or the eye mask. But the earplugs come in very handy when people decide they need ice at 2:00 in the morning.

The executive floor had a concierge lounge with complimentary breakfast, evening appetizers, and children. Children everywhere. Now, one of the things I like about executive floors is the fact that the concierge lounge offers a quiet area to snack and unwind at the end of a long day. Not so when the executive floor is filled with children. I finished my nice appetizers and went to my room.

I stayed in this hotel on a business trip, so my stay was during a work week. Apparently the executive floor of this hotel isn't a "quiet" floor catering to business travelers. It was more like a race track in a daycare center. I listened to children running track and field time trials as they raced up and down the hall. When they weren't running they were knocking on doors and slamming them once they were let in. Well, they were slamming them when room service wasn't delivering, which was every thirty minutes or so. This went on well into the night. Somewhere around 2:00 in the morning I arrived at the conclusion that the parents couldn't stop them because they were busy filling their ice buckets.

The second night of my stay, (more accurately the second morning) I received a phone call at 5:08 AM. I picked up the receiver and the guy at the other end of the phone asked if I had received my earlier wake-up call. I said I had not, but then I hadn't actually requested one either. The guy said "Oh, I guess I read the number wrong. I apologize." But he didn't sound very sorry. I was sorry, because he woke me up out of a no-children-no-ice machine sound sleep.

Crowne Plazas take their wake-up call service very seriously. In fact it's guaranteed that you'll be awakened as requested. Hence the call to make sure I'd received the call. But I didn't want either call at 5:00 in the morning. I wonder if they have some sort of guarantee that they'll call the right room?

I ate dinner one night in the hotel lobby bar, Rocks. They had a live artist who played guitar and had a lovely voice that reminded me a bit of Dan Fogelberg. He played to a group of people that basically ignored him like they would elevator music. And, he had the background accompaniment of the kids screaming and laughing in the lobby's indoor pool. But I clapped and said thank you. He seemed a little surprised that anyone was actually listening. I've played to audiences of 6 people, too. I sensed a psychic bond between under-appreciated performers. Just then, the waitress, a 20-something sweet young thing stopped by and asked "Can I get you anything else sweetie?" Suddenly I felt like I was the little blue-haired lady on the front row at a Sunday afternoon matinee.