I've just returned from Burlington, Ottawa, Atlanta, (insert city here), where Marriott made me feel welcome. They love me, so I've promised to ignore their decor. They give me extra foam pillows, a fridge in my room, access to the concierge lounge and, in Burlington, a stash of hard boiled eggs and water. (I've got a buddy on the room service staff.) My points give me free nights so I can impress my Dad (Mom: Oh my, did you see what they get for this room per night? It's posted on the back of the door!) And if they can, they upgrade me to a suite when I arrive. Why they think I need the extra space is anybody's guess. I lived in a 500 square foot studio in Manhattan. Regular hotel rooms are usually larger. Do you know that they offer me up to 10 keys for my room when I check in? I asked for 7 in Ottawa just to see if I could get a reaction at the front desk. Not a raised eyebrow.
Anyway, we arrive in Chicago on Saturday the 19th, and we are booked into the St. Louis Marriott, the Tulsa Marriott, (do you think they have a concierge lounge in Tulsa?), the Oklahoma City Marriott, the Amarillo Marriott, the Albuquerque Marriott and the Flagstaff Marriott. It's a pretty fair bet that there's no concierge lounge in Flagstaff. No afternoon wine and cheese, I guess.
I've tried to explain to Neil that we don't have to keep all the reservations. We don't have to keep any of them, actually. But I like having them there. I like knowing there's consistency at the end of my day when I open the door and face the ugly green carpet and the bizarre smelling orange/ginger bath products that say "Welcome back, Ms. Finkelmurphy, er Finkel Murray, uh, Mrs. Finkel, Ms. Murphy."
In a poor imitation of the Westin, Marriott has gone with the white on white bed linens. I'm sort of uncomfortable with those. I keep looking for cat hair and it isn't there. But I enjoy piling up 14 or so pillows plus a giant neckroll to sleep with. Neil won't sleep well there. He doesn't sleep well unless he has his four little buddies curled up to him. Maybe I'll go outside and find a lizard in the desert for him to curl up with if he's lonely.
1 comment:
Good. Glad we're back on topic.
While we're on the subject of accomodations...
I vaguely remember my jaunt down 66. At that time there were no Marriotts, Holiday Inns or even Motel 6's. It was more like Wanda's No-Tell Motel, Bunny's Good Time Chalet and Miss Vicky's Pleasure Palace. No phones, no credit cards, no wireless internet, no air conditioning, no color TV, no soap in the shower, no free buffet breakfast, no newspapers in the little plastic bag delivered to your door and sheets guaranteed not to have been used more than a dozen times. The mirrored ceilings and vibrating beds were certainly a plus. The more unpleasant aspects included having to get up once an hour to pay and something named Bertha pounding on the door two or three times a night asking if I needed a "date". That aside it wasn't bad.
I have stayed at the Marriott in Tulsa. Must say it pales in comparison to Wanda's.
db - terminally grim
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