Tissue on request

After spending the night at the Michael Phelps Suite at the last hotel, I checked into the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport, in Birmingham, Alabama. This was an older hotel, where the staff answers the phone with "Thank you for calling Birmingham's award-winning Holiday Inn."

When I stay in hotels I tend to look for things that will encourage me to book with them again, and if all else fails I look for the entertainment value of the overnight stay. This was a combination of the two. Like I said before, this is an older hotel which has obviously undergone recent renovations - and some of the improvements were definitely interesting.

For instance, the bathroom. This bathroom had two sinks. Not two sinks in the same vanity, but one sink outside the "water closet" and one inside the "water closet." (That means the room with the toilet for those of you needing a translation.) The first sink wasn't a wet bar, just a vanity. I found it rather strange, but I guess it would be kind of nice if you are the type of person that likes to spread out your stuff all over the place. The little bathroom had a very small vanity, the tub, and the toilet. It also had a really odd layout. There was only about an inch clearance between the door to the toilet. When it was time to "take care of business" I had to step in, move to the side, and then close the door. Leaving the door open was not an option without being skilled as a contortionist. It made me wonder how many people alone in a hotel room actually close the door when they gotta go?

I think there was a toilet tissue shortage in the hotel. My room didn't have any when I checked in, but they bought it to me immediately when I called the front desk. On my way to dinner I passed by a housekeeper delivering it to another room. Maybe it was service on request or something. I think it was a good thing that I noticed the lack of tissue before I closed the bathroom door. That could have been awkward.

I stayed on the second floor, which also happened to be the "housekeeping" floor. When I got off the elevator, it looked as if I'd accidentally pushed the button for the basement. The tile floor looked like a work space and in the mornings the the hallway was lined with housekeeping carts. It was kind of handy if you are the type that takes the little bottles of shampoo, but it created a traffic jam in the mornings as all the housekeepers and their assigned carts made their way toward the newly vacated rooms.

Probably my only "real" complaint was the location. While the hotel was convenient to the airport, it was a less than desirable location for everything else. I'm not sure I would have even ventured out after dark. The first night I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was quite average to say the least, and was way over-priced. The next night I found a restaurant before I went back to the hotel.

While I had a few issues with the hotel, I had nothing but kudos for the staff I encountered. They were wonderful. But I do think it would be nice if the hotel automatically offered Priority Club members complimentary toilet tissue along with a cocktail at check in.