Tag: Courtyard By Marriott Hotels View All Tags
Anti-View
Room With an Anti-View: Plenty of Parking Spaces at Courtyard Denver
May 8, 2008 at 10:27 AM | 0 Comments
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.
To be fair, most hotels can't actually change that much about the environment around them, especially if they're in the middle of a city. This anti-view from a window of the Courtyard by Marriott Denver - Cherry Creek is one of those cases.
Big car parks and flat ugly buildings abound, unless you somehow see over all of that to the more attractive row of trees in the distance. It's not the worst anti-view we've seen but it doesn't make us want to pull up an armchair and sit at the window with a good book or a drink.
Courtyard By Marriott Hotels
Courtyard By Marriott Unveils Happening New Lobby Look in Virginia
April 1, 2008 at 12:44 PM | 0 Comments
We love Courtyard by Marriott hotels because of their free and fast-working WiFi but sometimes the bland decor and furnishings can feel too much like a boring business hotel--an extension of the cubicle perhaps.
But there's some great news. Courtyard is getting a new look in their lobbies, starting with the Courtyard By Marriott Fair Oaks in Virginia. Above is a video tour of the new lobby.
The signature piece of these renovated lobbies is the exclusive Courtyard GoBoardTM:
a 52-inch LCD touch screen packed with local information, maps, weather, and news, business and sports headlines. Guests can navigate using the touch screen to find restaurants, local attractions and directions.
The lobbies also sport more colorful decor, tons of places to sit and do work (using that free WiFi we heart so much) or to just hang out and watch TV. There's even a bar, Centro, that looks like a bar you might actually hang out. We spied some women in this video drinking martinis!
The hotels will also feature The Market, a 24-hour shop for snacks and beverages and even toiletries like toothpaste and a toothbrush. What we like the best? A free printer and separate computer stations dedicated to printing airline boarding passes and checking flight status.
You can find out more about the lobby and its new accessories at GoCourtyard.com which has a schpiel by Brian King, vice president, Global Brand Manager for Courtyard and real guests talking about the new lobby. A minimum of eight more hotels this year will get the new lobby look and as many as 100 will get it in 2009.
Find out which Courtyards will get the upgrade after the jump.
Hotel Technology
Coming to Future Hotel Rooms: Alarm Clocks That Run Away From You
January 4, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments
There's a very special room at the Courtyard Newark - University of Delaware, part of the Marriott brand: it's called "the X-room". That sounds a bit scary, but in fact it's really fun, because this room contains the new hotel technologies and gadgets of the future.
As part of a research project, potential new products for hotel rooms are trialled here for between 6 and 12 months, with real guests. You can book this room specifically or end up there by chance, but in exchange for being able to try out all these new toys, (like the universal battery charger, digital picture frame, touch-screen climate control) you'll need to fill out some survey information to help the research program.
But that extra bit of form filling sounds more than worthwhile to us. We're intrigued by "Clocky", the alarm clock who runs away from you and screeches louder and louder if you don't actually get out of bed (intrigued, we said, but we don't want one ourselves), and the proposed electronic wine chiller sounds interesting too. And if you have 6:50 to spare, check out this video to see the remote-controlled candles which this guy calls "romantic."
So far, guest feedback has inspired other potential gadgets, for example the development of a voice controlled system for operating the gadgets after guests complained that too many remote controls made it confusing to work out how to operate some of the new systems or products. It also became clear that guests need more power outlets in a room, and better located, so they're working on that too.
Related Stories:
· The Hotel Room of the Future is Here at ND [Delaware Online]
· Hotel Technology Coverage [HotelChatter]
Bad Rate
Bad Rate :: Courtyard by Marriott Phantom Parking Special
September 4, 2007 at 10:33 AM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same destination and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on September 4, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
For this week's Good Rate we highlighted a Richmond (Virginia) Airport parking deal at the re-branded Wingate by Wyndham. Leaving your car in the hotel parking lot after checking out, the rate is somewhere between $109 and $123 for a standard double. In theory a nearby Courtyard by Marriott is offering a similar deal with their "Park 'n Embark" package. (Bring your dog and we suppose it's Park, Bark, 'n Embark.)
As advertised it's $89 to $279---a suspicious spread already---but it is apparently just for show. We tried five different dates in September and October and got this same message on the screen:
Once again, Courtyard by Marriott seems to be bucking hard to get the most "Bad Rate" entries for the year. You'll pay at least $154 plus tax here, which does not include the Wingate's included breakfast, phone calls, faxes, photocopies, and local calls--or the parking while you're away.
Related Stories:
· Good Rate:: Park and Fly (for a week!) at the Wingate by Wyndham Richmond Airport [HotelChatter]
Courtyard By Marriott Hotels
Labor Day Hotels: Free Breakfast with Your Free WiFi at Courtyards
August 21, 2007 at 2:35 PM | 0 Comments
The Courtyard by Marriott hotel brand has been running a free breakfast promotion all summer long but that will soon dry up after Labor Day. So if you're looking for a hotel over the long weekend in either the U.S. or Canada, consider a Courtyard which, along with free WiFi, is offering free breakfasts on both Saturdays and Sundays.
The breakfast selection includes healthy, as well as indulgent, menu choices to suit a variety of family tastes.
Summer sizzles with the "Eggs are It" buffet, which features cooked-to-order eggs and omelets, potatoes, bacon and sausage with Belgian waffles and oatmeal. Create-your-own-omelet stations offer a range of options, and various à la carte items are available at some participating locations, including French toast and breakfast burritos.
Extra surprises such as chocolate-chip pancakes, flavored milk and other sweet goodies can be found at select hotels. The Continental Buffet plays it cool with cut fruits and yogurt, an assortment of breads, pastries and cereals.
Wow. Props to the Courtyard PR man for spicing up that breakfast description. More about the promotion can be found here. Remember, the offer is good only for Friday and Saturday night stays through September 2, 2007. Use promotional code YB3 when booking.
Bad Rate
Bad Rate - $159 at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown Chicago
February 13, 2007 at 12:23 PM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature. The rates quoted here were valid on February 13, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
We're not sure what's gotten into the Marriott folks with their Courtyard pricing. Week after week we find rates that are right up there with neighboring Hiltons, Hyatts, and Westins. Maybe the bean counters are smoking something during those pricing meetings. Or maybe business travelers with corporate accounts have the green light to book a 2.5-star or 3-star hotel but don't have permission to book a 4-star, even when the rate is better at the latter. (Or maybe they have to book a place with free wi-fi? That would be an interesting development.)
We can't think of any other plausible explanation for Chicago-area Courtyard by Marriott hotels to be charging $139 to $159 a night, the latter for the Downtown Courtyard Marriott Chicago. This for a routine mid-range business hotel, when you can get a sumptuous night at this week's Good Rate--Hotel Blake--for $30 less.
Not that this is a terrible hotel or anything. Their billing it as "a haven of urban sophistication" is wishful thinking, but it's in a convenient location and you get what you expect, with not too many surprises. When we pulled up Hotwire to check Chicago for a night this week, however, we got rates for this hotel class and area ranging from $81 to $108. Maybe the listed rates are just for suckers and you're supposed to know to go to Hotwire or Priceline to get a Courtyard at a normal price.
[Photo: Ryan J. Bonnell]
Hotel Websites
Marriott Hotels Introduces New Web Site Video Games
December 6, 2006 at 10:45 AM | 0 Comments
Marriott keeps on rolling out their business travel improvements, this time to their web sites. Courtyard by Marriott and SpringHill Suites have introduced two new websites that feature video games which involve playing with the new amenities and attributes of each brand.
At the Courtyard's Redesigned For You website:
visitors can unleash that (road warrior competitive) spirit with beat-the-clock games that include a Suitcase Slalom through the lobby, the Hallway Sneakoff dashing from guest room to fitness center in disguise and the Snack Stack gathering as many items as possible from Courtyard's 24/7 "The Market" before time runs out. The top ten scores for each game are posted on the site much like a video game.
You can choose to play three people--Phil in Sales, Ellen the Account Exec and Don the Trainer, all who boast speed and agility while checking-in and running to airport gates with luggage in tow.
At SpringHill Suites, they are offering 25 percent more space within their guest rooms, which you can learn more about at More Room to Move.
Just pick one of the three contestants, money manager Greg "Shake" Simmons, ad exec Melanie "P-Bop" Perkins or software engineer Howard "The Hustler" Vo and bust a move, doing the ever-popular dances Shower Shake, Watercooler, Iron Man and CEO Shuffle.
The point being that you can do all sorts of crazy dances within your hotel room whether your coworkers are watching or not. And if you just happen to be really good at Shower Shaking, the Airport Hustle, the Dealbreaker and the Commuter Shuffle, your score will be posted on the site for fellow players to see.
We tried both games and the Dance Off is much cooler since you can actually see Melanie B-Pop busting a move that you pick for her. Of course, it's nothing near exciting as Madden or a nostalgic game of Dr. Mario but fun to try nonetheless.
Anti-View
Room with an Anti-View: Office Workers Don't Always Like To Watch
November 30, 2006 at 10:56 AM | 0 Comments
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.
Aaron Gustafson took this anti-view photo from room 417 at the Courtyard by Marriott in SF. But, wait, is the view of an office building really so vile? No, this anti-view story has more to do with what the people from a certain travel company had to endure on a near-daily basis every time they glanced up from their cubicle. Yeah, we have flipped the script, try to follow along. You see, according to our sources, these office folks were presented with an unfettered view of a certain room at the Courtyard by Marriott SF. What did they see that was so appalling? We paraphrase below:
Our office windows looked straight into the Courtyard by Marriott in SF. Everyday, endlessly it seemed, we were unfortunate enough to be treated to a Courtyard guest that preferred to prance around in the nude. The business traveler seemed completely unaware that our entire office could see directly into his hotel room. Finally enough was enough and a co-worker posted a sign on our window that read "We can see you, all of you." That ended the fright.
Granted, we heard this story after a vodka tonic or two, so the details may not be exact, but the lessons remain the same. If you are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott in SF, close the curtains unless you enjoy subjecting yourself to the stares of giggling tech workers. Furthermore, if you get a job at a SOMA company at 303 Second Street, recommend a gray cube away from the windows.
Hotel Ghosts
Haunted Hotels: Ghosts at Last Frontier Courtyard Marriott?
October 11, 2005 at 10:07 AM | 0 Comments
A couple Anchor Town Hotels to add to the haunted hotels list:
Historic Anchorage Hotel
Several guests have reported seeing a young girl walk the second floor hall. Also rooms 215 and 217 the TV's will turn on and off at will also the water in the tub and sink will run by itself. Employees have reported to hear people coming down the stairs when the hotel is empty, and few have seen a man walk past stairs.
Courtyard by Marriott
Room 201 is haunted by a man who died there, and his body was not found for several days according to the staff. Plus there is a ghost by the name of Ken who wanders the parking lot, and courtyard, in and around the gazebo. There is also what appears at times to be a cat walking around the hotel. It's very evident in rooms 103 and 107.
We get girl ghosts walking around Anchorage's oldest hotel, but a Courtyard by Marriott in Anchorage is haunted? Who knew
Related Stories:
· Haunted Places in Alaska [juiceenewsdaily.com via Fark]
· Historic Anchorage Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Courtyard Anchorage Airport Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Haunted Hotels Coverage [HotelChatter]
