Baltimore is going to get a massive convention center hotel this summer that might actually be cool.
The Hilton Baltimore will open in the city's downtown Inner Harbor, directly across from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and connected to the Baltimore Convention Center by one of those cool, enclosed, pedestrian skybridgey things.
For baseball fans the hotel will also have views of Oriole Park so you can watch the Baltimore Oriole baseball games from your rooms. And it gets even better. The hotel will have ten hospitality suites overlooking the ballpark with prime balcony views of the field.
Guests can stay here overnight or they can choose to stay in one of the Double Beds BallPark View guest room, of which there are 448.
We'll have to wait (at least) a year or so for it, but Bill Marriott and co. reckon they are bringing Baltimore its very first officially certified green hotel.
The hotel will be part of the Marriott chain's Fairfield Inn and Suites and will have 154-rooms when it opens in Spring 2009. Based on the energy-efficient equipment and processes used the hotel will be eligible for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a first for Baltimore and just the second time a Marriott Hotel will gain the big green light. Their first LEED-certified building is the Inn & Conference Center at the University of Maryland.
We were saddened to hear that this green hotel would be part of the Fairfield Inns brand (boring) but the history of the property is kinda cool. The site of the hotel will be the old Baltimore Brewing Co. spot in downtown Baltimore. Aside from being green in construction and operation, the hotel will also incorporate aspects of the brewery building from the site.
For example, beer storage tanks from the brewery will be used to collect rainwater for the hotel's use, and they're even keeping the original Baltimore Brewery sign to incorporate into the design, as well as using some of the original bricks.
Perhaps that's handy for a bit of cost-saving as well as adding to the green tag. And we do hope this trend of building green hotels in big cities continues in the future. Afterall, we can't travel to the jungle every year for an eco-hotel experience.
Did Joe Torre walk out on the Yankees because he had to pay for his own room service at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel? Doubtful, but how frustrating must it be to make $7.5 million a year and then get a note from accounting about a $39.98 in-room dinner. The rest of the Yankees didn't do much better during the 2005 season, routinely getting expenses docked from paychecks any time they racked up charges at hotels.
While Joe didn't want to be on the same floor as other players and frequently requested a "corner suite" with "feather pillows," he wasn't as particular about dinner: grilled chicken, two Amstel Lights and a pay-per-view movie. Still, the Yankees wanted their 40 bucks back for that meal, even after the team dropped a total of $67,916 on the team's four-night stay.
The team did better to focus on Gary Sheffield who racked up a room service bill of $637 and charged a $1,042 room upgrade after staying in Cleveland. He also had four Kahlua cocktails. Wait, Kahlua? No wonder Joe didn't want to be on the same floor the players.
Like many people who stay at The Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, we chose it for its location--downtown Baltimore, across the street from the waterfront--as much as for the rooms. Here are impressions of our two-night stay this past weekend in two rooms (We had two peeps in each room.) We'd reserved both rooms by phone with the hotel earlier this summer. One was with a waterfront view. The other overlooked the hotel atrium.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Suze07 gave us the Perfect Contributor Storm we have been anticipating, submitting a hotel review AND uploading the pictures to the HotelChatter Flickr Pool. Here's her review of the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel. Enjoy.]
I have to admit, I'm biased towards Marriott Hotels. I've stayed in many, mostly resort types, around the world, and I've honestly never been disappointed. Marriott has always taken care of us, no matter what the issue. That said, now that you know my built-in prejudice, I want to rave about the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel.
It's old news that hotels across the country and even in Canada are having to play dorm for overflowing university campuses.
But while some hotels are prepared to handle the long-term, extended stay business traveler, it doesn't quite seem they know how to handle a 20-yr-old college kid.
Goucher College in Baltimore has put up many students at the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel. One resident explains that she pays suite rates despite having the dorm furniture rather than the hotel furniture. Although she enjoys the pool, hot tub, and fitness room from time to time, overall living at the hotel causes more bad than good. Like WiFi hell. You'd think having free WiFi would be a bonus for a student, but think again.
Apparently the Baltimore Sheraton's network is anything but secure and their support team is anything but helpful:
"One night I was checking my Goucher email and a porn website popped up! I closed it, and ran a test for spyware on my computer and it found 101 of them." She remembers, "I called the [Sheraton technical support] and they ended up hanging up on me. Then, I couldn't get in touch with anyone from the Goucher HelpDesk.... That kind of problem wouldn't happen if I were living here."
Looks like the students aren't really treated like real guests, unless that is the Sheraton Technical Support would hang up on just anyone. Maybe it had something to do with all-night kegger and raiding the maid's cleaning carts.
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
We have to hand it to the Hampton Inn and Suites in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. This view from room 712 manages to combine a brick wall with some nasty construction. We doubt few can ever top this.
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by juliana
It's old news that hotels across the country and even in Canada are having to play dorm for overflowing university campuses.
