A hotel in the middle of a shopping center. What'll they think of next? The Crowne Plaza in Fort Meyers, Florida is average as far as hotels go. Nothing really outstanding, but no real complaints, either. I was given a room on the key-access fifth "Priority" floor, and found myself completely underwhelmed. The room was quite small and had a slight musty smell. Some really funky smell came up through the sink drain in the bathroom, but since I was only staying one night I could deal with it. The internet was wireless. Wireless. Yay! (Yes - this is a running theme.)
When I travel I often eat dinner sitting at the hotel bar. This time when I went to find a place to sit at the at the bar, it was full. Many of the seats were taken by children. Fascinating.
The lounge reminded me a bit of Las Vegas, a cacophony of light and sound. (I find myself thinking about Las Vegas a lot these days, probably because I have a holiday scheduled there soon.)
There were at least 28 flat-screen TVs encircling the room, all playing a different channel, mostly sports. I counted them, but I suspect I missed a few, too. The voice-over playing on the speakers was coming from a source I didn't see, and trying to find the screen that matched the sound provided me with the evening's entertainment. I never did figure it out, and it made my dinner interesting. I wondered if anyone actually watched any of them.
I'm glad I didn't sit at the bar, because it wouldn't have had been nearly as much fun. And I think the drink special must have been Shirley Temples.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Don't mess with Texas
Texas loves slogans. Texas Proud, Texas: It's Like a Whole Other Country, and Texas: State of the Arts among others. But my favorite is Drive Friendly the Texas Way. It received my vote for the most amusing, because if you've ever driven anywhere in Texas you're probably laughing with me at that one right now.
Then a while back, some Austin advertising guys decided that all Texans should forget about that friendly stuff and embrace their inner Bubba. They introduced us to Don't Mess with Texas. It was originally created as an anti-littering campaign slogan, but the attitude struck a harmonious chord with native Texans and was widely embraced. Now it is much better known than the actual state motto: Friendship. Friendship. Really? Bubba would not have approved of that one.
So, what does all this have to do with hotels? I wrote my first draft for this entry while sitting in an Austin hotel a couple of blocks away from the Texas State Capital. The Capital building is really pretty, especially at night. And it has a Don't Mess With Texas kind of feel to it. In fact, the whole city sort of feels that way.
When I found out I was going to a conference in Austin I had no problem staying in the host hotel, The AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. If you've followed this blog you'll know that I've stayed at almost all of the Holiday Inn properties in Austin. I finally gave up on finding the perfect "Holiday Inn home-away-from-home hotel" in the city.
The AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, Texas is on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and made attending the mandatory conference a real pleasure. The room was spacious, the bed was just right, and they had fast wireless internet. It was wireless, and it was fast. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to see if I was dreaming, but I was awake. The hotel scored a perfect 10 on that account alone. If they take reservations for regular hotel stays I'll most likely make this hotel my next choice.
Maybe I need to come up with a slogan for my hotel experiences. How about Don't Mess With My Wireless, or Sleep Friendly, the... ? Okay. I'll stick to my current profession and leave slogan writing up to the advertising guys.
Slogans are important to Texas. Really good ones define us. They tell our story.
Austin's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." I thought it was just a cute little catch phrase until I drove by a sign for a local restaurant. The sign read "Arab Cowboy: Cafe and Hookah Lounge. I think Austin got it right. The city wears the title well.
It makes a Texan proud.
Then a while back, some Austin advertising guys decided that all Texans should forget about that friendly stuff and embrace their inner Bubba. They introduced us to Don't Mess with Texas. It was originally created as an anti-littering campaign slogan, but the attitude struck a harmonious chord with native Texans and was widely embraced. Now it is much better known than the actual state motto: Friendship. Friendship. Really? Bubba would not have approved of that one.
So, what does all this have to do with hotels? I wrote my first draft for this entry while sitting in an Austin hotel a couple of blocks away from the Texas State Capital. The Capital building is really pretty, especially at night. And it has a Don't Mess With Texas kind of feel to it. In fact, the whole city sort of feels that way.
When I found out I was going to a conference in Austin I had no problem staying in the host hotel, The AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. If you've followed this blog you'll know that I've stayed at almost all of the Holiday Inn properties in Austin. I finally gave up on finding the perfect "Holiday Inn home-away-from-home hotel" in the city.
The AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin, Texas is on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and made attending the mandatory conference a real pleasure. The room was spacious, the bed was just right, and they had fast wireless internet. It was wireless, and it was fast. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to see if I was dreaming, but I was awake. The hotel scored a perfect 10 on that account alone. If they take reservations for regular hotel stays I'll most likely make this hotel my next choice.
Maybe I need to come up with a slogan for my hotel experiences. How about Don't Mess With My Wireless, or Sleep Friendly, the... ? Okay. I'll stick to my current profession and leave slogan writing up to the advertising guys.
Slogans are important to Texas. Really good ones define us. They tell our story.
Austin's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." I thought it was just a cute little catch phrase until I drove by a sign for a local restaurant. The sign read "Arab Cowboy: Cafe and Hookah Lounge. I think Austin got it right. The city wears the title well.
It makes a Texan proud.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The trip from the Twilight Zone.
From start to finish, this was a weird trip. I expected Rod Serling to pop up any minute reminding us not to adjust our sets.
I travel to the Dallas area often and I have yet to find the perfect "home" hotel for my visits. I keep hoping I will connect, but it hasn't been an easy search. This time I started this trip staying in the Crowne Plaza on Midway Road in Addison, Texas. I must say this was a lovely hotel in a nice location. The club lounge was very nice and offered excellent appetizers in the club lounge. But, the guest rooms didn't offer wireless internet.
[This is another rant, so if you don't want to hear me complain please fast forward.] Charging for internet access? No wireless? Good grief. What century are these hotels in???
Anyway, with no wireless internet and only a short access cord, I abandoned the idea of relaxing in my room while surfing the net and went to have a snack in the executive lounge. I mentioned the issue to the attendant in the lounge and she told me that wireless was available there in the executive club lounge. I must admit that I seriously thought about going back to the club lounge in my pj's. I could make myself comfortable, all propped up in front of the TV... But, after seriously thinking about it I decided that only when enough guests take their business elsewhere will they pay attention to what we want so I checked out after one night and went to another hotel.
OK. That might have been a mistake.
I looked up another IHG property on the internet and found the Holiday Inn-Dallas North Addison. I must admit that I was a bit concerned when I saw the sign outside the door that said "no public rest room inside." And there were no cars in the parking lot. But, I decided to go in but asked to see the room prior to checking in. It's a good thing I did, because the room I was given had a broken security latch on the door. The second room they gave me was disturbingly shabby. Needless to say, I left immediately.
By now I was very frustrated and did what every self-assured female business traveler would do... I called my husband. I had him look up other hotels in the area, and he gave me several options. I called a hotel I had stayed in previously, the Crowne Plaza Market Center in Dallas, Texas. After all, the manager had really encouraged me to give them another try. So, I decided what the heck... I would try them again. I was extremely disappointed in the front desk clerk who argued with me on the phone, and decided that a second chance was not going to happen.
Finally I decided to just drive to the closest hotel to see if I could check in. It happened to be Intercontinental Hotel, in Dallas, Texas. I'd stayed in the hotel before, and the only real complaint I had was the lack of wireless internet. By now I didn't care because I was tired and just wanted a place to relax.
The young man at the check-in desk upgraded me to the executive floor, and I took the elevator to the 15th floor and checked in to my room. This time when I checked in I asked if it was possible to get a longer access cord so I could use my laptop while sitting in the easy chair. He arranged for one to be delivered to my room. The hotel just got my vote for "wonderful" status.
So, I went to the room, unpacked my stuff and settled in for some down time playing on the internet. After I plugged into the modem I kept getting a message that my computer had "limited or no connectivity." I called the 24 hour internet help number and they told me to call hotel maintenance for a new phone cable. I did, they came and replaced it - and it didn't work. The maintenance guy called the internet guy and the two of them decided that the problem was in the wall. So, the maintenance guy called the front desk guy who decided to call the bell guy at 9:00 PM to move me to another room.
My silver stud earrings somehow didn't make the move. I never saw them again. sigh.
Anyway, the new room was fine, although a bit smaller. It had a connecting door to another room which normally isn't too big of a deal. But, when I signed on to the internet (which worked by the way) it signed me to room 1504 - which wouldn't have been so bad except that I was in 1509. Hopefully they were platinum members as well.
After a long trip of nothing going the way it should have gone, I ended my day in the hotel lobby bar where the guy at the end of the bar was carrying on a lively conversation with himself.
Somehow, I think I know what he was talking about. He must have ignored Rod Serling's warning and adjusted his set anyway.
I travel to the Dallas area often and I have yet to find the perfect "home" hotel for my visits. I keep hoping I will connect, but it hasn't been an easy search. This time I started this trip staying in the Crowne Plaza on Midway Road in Addison, Texas. I must say this was a lovely hotel in a nice location. The club lounge was very nice and offered excellent appetizers in the club lounge. But, the guest rooms didn't offer wireless internet.
[This is another rant, so if you don't want to hear me complain please fast forward.] Charging for internet access? No wireless? Good grief. What century are these hotels in???
Anyway, with no wireless internet and only a short access cord, I abandoned the idea of relaxing in my room while surfing the net and went to have a snack in the executive lounge. I mentioned the issue to the attendant in the lounge and she told me that wireless was available there in the executive club lounge. I must admit that I seriously thought about going back to the club lounge in my pj's. I could make myself comfortable, all propped up in front of the TV... But, after seriously thinking about it I decided that only when enough guests take their business elsewhere will they pay attention to what we want so I checked out after one night and went to another hotel.
OK. That might have been a mistake.
I looked up another IHG property on the internet and found the Holiday Inn-Dallas North Addison. I must admit that I was a bit concerned when I saw the sign outside the door that said "no public rest room inside." And there were no cars in the parking lot. But, I decided to go in but asked to see the room prior to checking in. It's a good thing I did, because the room I was given had a broken security latch on the door. The second room they gave me was disturbingly shabby. Needless to say, I left immediately.
By now I was very frustrated and did what every self-assured female business traveler would do... I called my husband. I had him look up other hotels in the area, and he gave me several options. I called a hotel I had stayed in previously, the Crowne Plaza Market Center in Dallas, Texas. After all, the manager had really encouraged me to give them another try. So, I decided what the heck... I would try them again. I was extremely disappointed in the front desk clerk who argued with me on the phone, and decided that a second chance was not going to happen.
Finally I decided to just drive to the closest hotel to see if I could check in. It happened to be Intercontinental Hotel, in Dallas, Texas. I'd stayed in the hotel before, and the only real complaint I had was the lack of wireless internet. By now I didn't care because I was tired and just wanted a place to relax.
The young man at the check-in desk upgraded me to the executive floor, and I took the elevator to the 15th floor and checked in to my room. This time when I checked in I asked if it was possible to get a longer access cord so I could use my laptop while sitting in the easy chair. He arranged for one to be delivered to my room. The hotel just got my vote for "wonderful" status.
So, I went to the room, unpacked my stuff and settled in for some down time playing on the internet. After I plugged into the modem I kept getting a message that my computer had "limited or no connectivity." I called the 24 hour internet help number and they told me to call hotel maintenance for a new phone cable. I did, they came and replaced it - and it didn't work. The maintenance guy called the internet guy and the two of them decided that the problem was in the wall. So, the maintenance guy called the front desk guy who decided to call the bell guy at 9:00 PM to move me to another room.
My silver stud earrings somehow didn't make the move. I never saw them again. sigh.
Anyway, the new room was fine, although a bit smaller. It had a connecting door to another room which normally isn't too big of a deal. But, when I signed on to the internet (which worked by the way) it signed me to room 1504 - which wouldn't have been so bad except that I was in 1509. Hopefully they were platinum members as well.
After a long trip of nothing going the way it should have gone, I ended my day in the hotel lobby bar where the guy at the end of the bar was carrying on a lively conversation with himself.
Somehow, I think I know what he was talking about. He must have ignored Rod Serling's warning and adjusted his set anyway.
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