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Tags: LEED Hotels / Green Hotels / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Wanna Know How Green Your Hotel Is? Ask to See Its LEED Plaque

Hotels love to talk about green their properties are--from electric car charging stations to non-toxic cleaning products, in-room recycling bins, water saving practices and low energy appliances and lighting. These are all commendable and we hope that more and more hotels introduce green services, practices and amenities in the future.

But still the reigning status symbol of a truly green hotel is the coveted LEED Status. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to rate "environmentally sound building practices" ranging from materials used to construct the building to water efficiency and sustainability. Ratings are point-based and range from certified to silver, gold and platinum.

While many hotels are pursuing LEED certification, only a handful actually are. So how do you know your hotel is telling the truth about its LEED status? By asking to see their LEED plaque like this one hanging at the Courtyard by Marriot Portland City Center hotel in Oregon which just recently received LEED gold status.

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Tags: Chicago Hotels / Pirate Hotels / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags

The Courtyarrrd Chicago Celebrates 'Talk Like A Pirate' Day

Where: 30 E. Hubbard St. [map], Chicago, IL, United States, 60611

We'd feel silly slinging buccaneer slang on international Talk Like A Pirate Day on Sept. 19. And it's not because we don't think piratese is a valid international language. It's because we we just can't get that gravelly "Arrrggg" down. But we can muster an "aye" for the Courtyard Chicago Downtown/River North's pirate package.

Mateys and lasses who sign up for the pirate package will get one night's stay at the Courtyard and two VIP tickets to the Field Museum's "The Real Pirates: The Untold Story of The Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship" exhibit. The VIP status entitles you to skip the line at the museum and get basic admission as well as entry into "The Real Pirates."

Unlike regular tickets to the exhibit, the VIP passes don't have time or date assignments. The museum display showcases 200 artifacts recovered from the Whydah, the first fully authenticated pirate ship to be discovered in U.S. waters. Admission to the special exhibit ordinarily costs $23 on top of the museum's regular $15 entry fee.

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Tags: Hotel Key Cards / Hotel Technology / Marriott Hotels / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Up Next in Room Key Technology: Proximity-Based Keycards?

Most of our talk about hotel key cards lately has concerned whether they're recyclable or not, but the whole "ease of use" factor is a pretty important to us, too. They can be fiddly things when you have to insert them a particular way or swipe them at just the right speed, and we've been frustrated by them more than once.

Thankfully, over at the X Room at the Courtyard Newark University of Delaware, the prototype room where they try out lots of new gadgets on real guests, they are looking carefully at proximity-based keycards. With these, we won't need to worry about inserting them in the right direction or even finding them in our bags: just holding them vaguely near the door should open it, and the X Room people are also considering using this technology to sign restaurant checks and access other hotel services, like gyms or pools.

This is the kind of technology trial that makes experimental rooms like the X Room useful – much better than that distressing running alarm clock that forces you out of bed to turn it off.

[Photo: rick]

Tags: Anti-View / Miami Hotels / Airport Hotels / Courtyard by Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Sometimes You Wish Your Room Had No Windows At All

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.

While it is no secret that we are personally insulted and offended by anti-views so tragic that we can literally see nothing outside our hotel room window (see our Worst Anti-View of 2008 for an example), there are occasions where the visual situation is so upsetting that we sometimes wish we had no windows at all.

Such would be the case if we wound up in a room like the one ZarrSadus had the grave misfortune of staying in at the Marriott Courtyard Miami Airport South. No lie, when we saw this photo in the HC Flickr Pool, we died a little inside: this reminds us of the windows in our grandparents' basements.

Except our grandparents didn't try to create the illusion of a real window by covering up the 80:20 wall-to-window ratio with a giant curtain. Oh! Almost forgot: in our grandparents' basement, we couldn't see any construction workers climbing up and down (ugly) ladders outside the window, either. Oh, and: this is room 4204 — which we assume is on the fourth floor of the hotel, not in the basement.

Yes, this is one of those situations when we'd be happier to have no window at all. At least that way we would have the opportunity to imagine a beautiful ocean view on the other side.

[Photo: ZarrSadus]

Tags: Hotel Deals / Courtyard by Marriott Hotels / Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

A Free Target Gift Card for Staying at Marriott Courtyard

The last few times we've stayed at a Marriott Courtyard or a Courtyard-like property, we've been in sparkling suburbs. We've been near many, many chain restaurants, strip malls and whatnot — and in dangerously close proximity to Target, the glorious suburban superstore that we inevitably stop into whenever we see one (because the mere sight of the red bulls-eye makes us believe we need emergency travel necessities like frizz-control serum, a tube of lipstick or some sunglasses).

And now Courtyard is justifying such emergency (read: unnecessary) shopping sprees by handing us a $20 Target gift card when we check into a Courtyard for a weekend stay. Imagine the possibilities: you can buy full-sized shampoos for your stay! A new curling iron! Some cute flats or a couple new pairs of undies! You can even buy a little basketball hoop to hang over the door of your room to keep you entertained when the TV isn't cutting it.

So, the official deal: if you crash at a Courtyard between February 5 and April 6 of this year for either a Friday or a Saturday night, you score a $20 gift certificate to squander on necessities or not-so-necessary loot from the ol' Targ. To get the gift card, rezzies must be made between February 2 and February 23 — use promo code YB3. And if this doesn't sell you on Courtyard, don't forget about the chain's fly new look.

Tags: Hotel Swag / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Hotel Retail / → All Tags

Fancy Some Courtyard By Marriott in Your Bedroom?

Courtyard By Marriott has just celebrated its 25th anniversary and along with an updated lobby look, the brand has now put forth their own retail swag. Shop Courtyard under the Shop Marriott website, has just been introduced for all those guests eager to get their grubby hands on...pillow protectors, sheets and shower curtains. Hmm...not quite what we were anticipating although the sale of Davies Gates toiletries gave us something to smile about.

The prices are what you would expect from bedding in a department store although the sheets are not sold as a set. You have to buy the fitted and flat sheets and pillowcases separately. Those prices begin at $35.

Word on the Marriott Twitter feed is that Renaissance will get its own swag shortly too.

Tags: Hotel Blog Watch / Courtyard by Marriott Hotels / Bill Marriott / Marriott Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags

Bill Marriott Digs the New Courtyard Lobbies

We simply couldn't bear to send you off into your weekend without an image of Bill Marriott looking happy. We just couldn't. Who can look at this photo and not just feel warm and fuzzy all over? Look how cute he is!

And why is Billy M. looking oh-so-thrilled? Why, he just got to check out the new Courtyard by Marriott post-extreme-makeover.

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Tags: Anti-View / Denver Hotels / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Room With an Anti-View: Plenty of Parking Spaces at Courtyard Denver

Where: 1475 S Colorado Blvd [map], DENVER, CO, United States, 80222

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.

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Tags: Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Hotel Renovations / Hotel Lobbies / Marriott Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags

Courtyard By Marriott Unveils Happening New Lobby Look in Virginia

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.

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Tags: Hotel Technology / Marriott Hotels / Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Coming to Future Hotel Rooms: Alarm Clocks That Run Away From You

Where: 400 Pencader Way [map], Newark, DE, United States, 19716

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]

Tags: Bad Rate / Airport Hotels / Courtyard by Marriott Hotels / → All Tags

Bad Rate :: Courtyard by Marriott Phantom Parking Special

Where: 5400 Williamsburg Road [map], Sandston, VA, United States, 23150

[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]

Tags: Courtyard By Marriott Hotels / Hotel Deals / Labor Day Hotels / Hotel Breakfasts / → All Tags

Labor Day Hotels: Free Breakfast with Your Free WiFi at Courtyards

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.