Fort Myers, Florida - RSW / Homewood Suites by Hilton Fort Myers Airport/FGCU

November 2014, Weekend/Weekday, 1-night, King 1 Bedroom Suite #506

Status perks and check-in

The check-in agent was friendly and accommodating. We received an upgrade to a king bedroom suite, a welcome bag with a few candies, and Pepperidge Farms cookies and bottled water in the guestroom. I also received the 250 bonus points I have chosen on my profile.

Our key did not work when we got to the guestroom, so I returned to the front desk. Both staff members apologized and exchanged my keys. They said they had a bad batch of keys, and the bad ones must not have all been tossed out when they were replaced. The agent who had checked me in offered to return to the guestroom with me to make sure we did not have any further problems. I politely declined this offer since they seemed to know what the trouble was caused from and had given me new keys. The replacement keys worked fine when I returned to the suite. 

Guestroom #506 

This guestroom is located on the top floor with a view of the nature area/pond behind the hotel. It has a connecting room door in the living room, and a separate bedroom. There was a large window in each room, although neither window could be opened. There were two thermostat controls; one in the living area, and one in the bedroom.

Ft. Myers, Florida / Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa

December 2013, Weekend, 2-nights, Sanibel Tower, King guestroom 671

Status perks and check-in

Before our arrival, I filled out the virtual concierge form from the Sanibel Harbour Marriott  requesting 2 p.m. check-in. Other than the automatic reply saying that my request had been received, I did not receive any contact from the hotel. When we arrived after 2:30 p.m., our guestroom was not ready, and a guestroom had not been picked out for us with my profile preferences: refrigerator, high floor, extra pillows.

As the agent at the Platinum check-in counter tried to find a room for us, I asked what kind of room she was assigning us, and if she would be able to give us an upgrade. She said that the hotel was full, so she could not give us a gulf view room. We had reserved a room in Captiva Tower because it was the least expensive rate. I did not realize at the time, that Captiva Tower is located about 1/2 mile away from the main (Sanibel Tower) resort area. The agent said that she might be able to get us a room in Sanibel Tower. When I asked about the difference between the two tower guestrooms, the agent said that the guestrooms in Captiva Tower are larger, newly remodeled, and more private. There is a pool at Captiva Tower; however, there is no whirlpool tub, so we eagerly accepted a guestroom in Sanibel Tower. The agent took my cell phone number, and said that she would call me when our guestroom was ready. I received a call about 30 minutes later, at 3:12 p.m., and we returned to complete the check-in process. Check-in time at this hotel is 4:00 p.m., so we were able to check-in somewhat early. When we checked out of the hotel two days later shortly after noon, we overheard a guest checking in at the Platinum desk, who was able to get into his guestroom at that time.

view from balcony
click to view detail

Guestroom

Guestroom 671 is located on the 6th floor of the 11-floor Sanibel Tower. There is a decent view of the gardens as well as part of the gulf from the balcony. It faces east, so we had a beautiful sunrise from the guestroom. Since the hotel was full at the time of our stay, we were happy to have a guestroom on this side of Sanibel Tower. The guestrooms overlooking the gulf on the other side, also overlook the main pool with all of the noise and activity. If we had been staying in the quieter Captiva Tower, I think a gulf view guestroom in that tower would be a better choice.

balcony

Sanibel Tower is an older building, and I was a bit worried about whether the guestroom was going to have new furnishings before we entered. Guestroom 671 is also located next to the elevators, which I usually try to stay away from because of the noise.

sunrise view from bed

We were very happy with the guestroom. It had been recently remodeled, and it was well soundproofed. We did not hear any noise from the elevators, nor did we hear noise from guests in the hallway or overhead.


The guestroom was spacious, clean, and comfortable. The large bathroom near the entrance contained a long vanity in front of a large mirror, and a tub/shower combination. The floor and tub area were tile. Bath amenities, plush towels, and a hairdryer were provided. A full length mirror was hanging on the entryway wall outside of the bathroom.



The bedroom area contained a king-size bed, nightstands, flatscreen TV on an armoire, large desk with chair, and a soft chair. The lamps on the nightstands had extra outlets. A single-serve coffeemaker with supplies was located on the desk, along with a telephone and lamp.



I was able to get a small fridge delivered to the guestroom for no charge. I believe the charge for this is $10 per night for non-platinum status guests.

A built in safe was located in a large closet along the wall against the bathroom. The guestroom amenities listed on the Marriott website includes two bathrobes; however, there was only one bathrobe in this guestroom.

I wish I had remembered to take a photo of the guestroom closet area to show the amount of space available. The closet had two louvered sliding doors, and there was plenty of room between the nightstand next to the bed and the closet to open our large suitcase. The safe was not very big. I did not try to put my laptop inside, and I do not think it would have fit. The safe was barely large enough to hold the iPad and my small purse (which I had to squish to get in).

The bed comfort was excellent; good quality bedding, pillows, and mattress.



Two chairs and a small table were located on the balcony. The balcony chairs were comfortable. We could see a large Osprey nest and bird on the tower at the end of the parking garage from our balcony.

Food & Beverages

We thought the food and beverage prices were excellent. Especially, since there are not really any dining options nearby. We had beverages in the lounge, we had lunch at the pool, and we had dinner on the Sanibel Harbour Princess Yacht.

pool menu

The beverage choices in the lounge were good quality, and the flatbreads smelled and looked excellent.

We were disappointed with our lunch by the pool. On Saturday, we had seen several fabulous food and beverage options on the pool menu, so we decided to have lunch outside by the pool on Sunday before we left. Unfortunately, the menu we had looked at by the pool was not being served on Sunday, and the food choices were limited. Here are photos of both sides of the pool menu that was available on Saturday.

When we sat down, our server told us that food was being served from The Cove. We did not understand what difference this would make since the pool menu the day before had said The Cove on it. Since it was overcast and cool out, we should have left right then to eat at the restaurant, because the menu he brought us only had a couple of food choices. The Cove menu that I found online after our stay, is similar to the pool menu we had seen the day before. We split a Rueben sandwich, which I could not find on any of the online restaurant menus after our stay. Our service also left something to be desired. Our server was not rude, although he was indifferent and inattentive. We thought staff members at this hotel were fantastic, and this was the poorest service we received during our stay. The sandwich quality and flavor was excellent.

Sunset view of Harbour Princess
the night before our dinner cruise

The dinner cruise on the Sanibel Harbour Princess Yacht was enjoyable. There were a few minor things that were poorly executed, but for the most part, this was a great experience. The $55 per person dinner cruise charge included tax and gratuity. Alcoholic beverages were available for purchase.

We booked our cruise through the hotel concierge, and had the charges added to our hotel folio. The concierge did not provide much information, and I felt like I had to really prod her to find out what was included and how to pay. When we boarded the next day, the captain had difficulty finding our names, because she had spelled our name wrong, even though we had spelled it and also given her our guestroom number.

Sanibel Tower from Harbour Princess

All guests were told to wait in the lounge, and that the captain would come and get us; however, this did not happen. We waited in the lounge along with a few other couples. We observed some anxious guests go down to the boarding area instead. After they were sent back to shore until it was time to board, the captain came up to the lounge to get the paperwork. He did not stop to greet any of us that were waiting. Instead, he proceeded down to the dock, and then starting boarding the anxious/impatient guests. A few minutes later, all of us who had been waiting in the lounge, walked down to board as well.

We had assigned tables, so we sat on the back of the boat behind the inside bar area to enjoy the ride until it was time for dinner. There was an open bar, and cold appetizers were set up in the bar area: vegetables with dip, and cheese and crackers. We had been told that someone would tell us when dinner was ready; however, this did not happen either. There were about 10 or more of us on the outside deck who eventually went inside to seat ourselves after we realized that everyone else was already eating.

Because we were the last ones to eat, we missed out on some things. There was no key lime pie left by the time we got to dessert. No one served coffee to our table, and no one offered us dessert, even though I heard servers asking other guests what they wanted and serving them while we waited in the buffet line to get our salads and entrees. We were very happy with all of the food quality and flavor; however, we would have enjoyed the event more, if we had received the same service as the first diners. I would have loved a cup of coffee (and, key lime pie); however, I could not easily get up from my inside seat to serve myself. I felt somewhat rushed through the meal since servers were more intent upon picking up instead of serving us.

The ride was smooth, and the temperature was comfortable. The sunset that we had seen from the resort the night before was more beautiful; however, that is merely because Mother Nature was more cooperative that evening. Despite the dining disappointments, we enjoyed our cruise, and I would recommend this to others. Service was great at the start when we were seated outside, and since we were not inside when some of the guests started to eat, I do not know what happened. It is possible that the servers became overwhelmed by the anxious guests, and did not handle the situation any better than the captain did when we boarded.

Pool and outside areas
The service around the pool area was excellent. We observed servers pick up and reset guests' belongings that had fallen off chairs from the wind. A staff member was discretely spraying for ants around the landscaping. The area was well maintained and clean.

quiet pool @ Sanibel Tower

There are two pools at the main resort area. It was easy to get a chair at the quiet pool area overlooking the beach sand and water when we arrived in the morning. Later, the area on the sand became full. The restrooms by this pool smelled horrible during our stay. I do not know if this is typical, or if there was a sewage problem that needed attention. This was a problem every day that we were there. The smell was not noticeable until after entering the restroom.

There is one large whirlpool at the resort, which is located by the main pool at Sanibel Tower. There may be more pool and whirlpool facilities at the spa; however, we did not go to the spa.

view from quiet pool @ Sanibel Tower

The large pool and pool area at Captiva Tower looked comfortable with a good view, since it also overlooks the gulf. We only walked through this area, and did not use the pool.

There are plenty of outside walking trails onsite. We would not have minded the walk between the two towers, if there had been a whirlpool at Captiva Tower to use in the evening. The outside sitting area at Captiva Tower looked like an excellent place to watch the sunset. In addition to the seating around the pool, there was an outside patio with seats overlooking the pool area.

raccoon in the tree

There is a walkway from Sanibel Tower to the spa and steakhouse, and then there is a walking trail around the perimeter of the steakhouse and spa location. This trail is also accessible from Captiva Tower.

There is a yacht club between the Sanibel and Captiva towers, which is one reason it was not simple to walk between them. A driver provides shuttle service between all of the buildings with a golf cart, and there is a sidewalk along the road for pedestrians.

You can walk to the Punta Rassa Boat Ramp Park, if you want to walk outside of the property. We walked there, and had thought we might walk part way across the Sanibel Causeway Bridge for a great view; however, there are no sidewalks on the causeway for foot traffic.

Misc. and overall

The entrance to the resort from the main road is before the causeway toll booth. Bicycles are allowed on the causeway, and the Marriott resort has complimentary bicycles for guest use; however, they can only be used on the property.

smoking patio next to lounge

The resort and parking fees listed in the Marriott website are pre-tax. We booked the AAA rate of $251 per night. After the resort fee, self-parking, and taxes were added, our stay cost was $307.98 per night. I expect an extra cost for taxes, although I thought our overnight cost at this resort was quite high. To the best of my knowledge, the resort fee included wifi (which platinum guests receive anyway), local phone calls, and use of the bicycles.

This resort is not 100% non-smoking, like most Marriott properties. There were ashtray urns by the front entrance at both towers, and there was one on Charley's Cabana Bar Patio. None of these were 25' from the entrance. I observed people smoking on the patio outside of the lounge near the ashtray in this area, and when we were seated at an outside table around the corner one of the evenings, we could smell smoke from our table.

We thought this was a nice resort, and we would stay here again for a lower rate or with points. AAA frequently offers Hot Deal rates, which include breakfast, and I wish we had been able to find a rate like that for our stay.

Most of the employees were impressive! Everyone we passed throughout the resort smiled and offered a friendly greeting. There were many times that a manager stopped to inquire about our satisfaction: in the lounge, and in the pool area (not while we were dining by the pool, unfortunately).

Fort Myers Florida / Fairfield Inn

January 2013, Weekday, 1-night, King sofa bed #338

Staus perks

I had reserved a basic guestroom, and received an upgrade to a king sofa bed guestroom at check-in. It did not sound like this was automatic; I asked the agent what kind of room he was assigning me, and he then said something like, "Oh, you're platinum. I'll see if I can give you an upgrade." I also received the  platinum arrival gift bonus of 200 points.

Guestroom #338

 

This is a slightly larger guestroom on the top floor with a small fridge and microwave. It is spacious and contained the following furnishings: king bed, night stands, desk and chair, soft chair, sofa bed, coffee table, and flatscreen TV on a low armoire. The microwave and fridge were located across from the sofa. These furnishings were similar to what I have seen in most Fairfield Inns that I have stayed in.

Coffee was set up on the vanity outside the toilet and shower area. The coffee was decent quality, although the condiments included powder creamer. I was able to get liquid creamer in the breakfast room. The bathroom amenities were good quality (Pantene shampoo and conditioner); however, the wall mounted hairdryer was low quality.

The closet across from the vanity contained a folding luggage rack, and a safe large enough for a laptop. 

Everything in the guestroom was well maintained, and the sleep quality was good. The wireless Internet signal was not very strong. I did not get disconnected, although the pages loaded slowly.

Food & Beverage

Breakfast is included, as it is at all Fairfield Inns. I left early, so I can not comment on the breakfast quality. I observed a waffle maker and Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches (locked in a refrigerated case) in the room the night before. Cookies were available at the front desk in the afternoon.

Business center

One computer and a printer were located in the breakfast area. Apparently, the printer is not used much because I had to turn it on to print my boarding pass.

Fitness center

The fitness center contained a couple of basic cardio machines and a working TV. None of the machines had cardio theater. It was located on the ground floor at the end of the hall.

Pool area

The outside pool and whirlpool tub were located outside the breakfast room. The area was landscaped and secluded fairly well considering this hotel is located is on a busy road. 

Misc.

There are not any restaurants within walking distance of this hotel, although there are several nearby. There is a BP gas station located in the same parking lot as the hotel. The drive to the airport (RSW) is not too far, and it was a fairly easy drive early in the morning.

Ft. Myers, Florida / Hotel Indigo Downtown River District

January 2013, Weekday, 1-night, King sofa guestroom #606

Status perks and check-in

I was excited when I viewed my reservation online a week before my arrival, and saw that I had already been upgraded to a deluxe king guestroom. Then, a couple days later, my reservation had been changed to a 2-room executive suite! I arrived about a half hour to 45 minutes before check-in time, and the agent said that my room was not ready yet. I figured that the hotel probably didn't have many 2-room executive suites (the website does not show this information in the hotel facts, although there were 5 rooms like this available when I conducted a search for a future date), so I happily sat down in the lobby with my laptop to wait. I was not the only guest arriving early that day. One guest was already waiting in the lobby when I sat down, and I observed about 7 to 10 guests arrive to check in while I waited. The front desk agent told every guest that their room would not be ready until after 3 p.m. (check-in time). 

After I observed the front desk agents checking guests in after 3:00 p.m., I decided to go back to the desk to ask about my room. The guest who had been waiting before me had left the lobby shortly before this without her room yet. The front desk agent said that my room was ready, and she provided keys. She did not recognize my status, the key packet she provided did not have my status on it, and she did not tell me what kind of room she was assigning me. Since I had seen that, "2-room executive suite," was still on my reservation when I first sat down in the lobby, I did not ask any questions. I received a house brand beverage coupon in my key packet; however, it said it was a "hotel guest" coupon, so I do not think I received this because of my platinum status. 

Guestroom 606

This room is located directly across from the elevator on the 6th floor, and the entrance door is just around the corner from the elevator. It is an oversized room with a couch and chair, as well as a desk and chair. It was not, however, a 2-room suite.

Other items in the guestroom included a footstool, flatscreen TV on a cabinet with doors, safe big enough to hold a laptop, coffee table, nightstands, suitcase bench, 2 decent quality bathrobes, iron and board, king size bed, and table by the door with a K-cup machine. I was surprised that a hotel would provide a good quality coffee machine and coffee with standard to poor quality condiments. The K-cups were high quality; however, the cream and sugar packets were not.

The room was spacious, and the bed was very comfortable with the exception of the pillows. The pillows were the standard low quality pillows found in most Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. The coffee table in the seating area and the suitcase bench both needed to be cleaned. There were several mug rings on both tables. I included a close-up photo of the coffee table below.



There was a large gap around the guestroom door, and activity in the hall could easily be heard inside the guestroom, even though the bed was somewhat around the corner from the entrance. This guestroom is only one large room, although there is a partial hallway at the entrance.

This guestroom did not have many outlets. There were two at the desk, and the only outlets by the bed were behind the furniture. The wireless Internet was extremely slow, and there was no guestroom directory in the room. I looked for it because I wanted to see a dining menu, and I wanted to see the hotel outlets open hours. I did find a breakfast menu on a card on the desk; however, that is the only information I found.

coffee table that needed washing

The bathroom area was very large with two sinks, and a tile shower. The bathroom amenities included a good quality hairdryer, and there were a sufficient number of outlets in the bathroom. I try not to use bathroom outlets for my electronics though because of the humidity.



The shower was spacious with a deluxe shower head, although the towel and washcloth in the shower were stained. I  would say that some of the towels in the bathroom matched the table cleanliness in the outer guestoom area. At least the bedding looked clean!

stained cloths

Food & Beverage

I did not have anything to eat at this hotel. I had thought I would have breakfast in the morning; however, after I became dissatisfied with some of the experiences during my stay, I decided to dine elsewhere.

The rooftop bar is a smoking bar, and there were several people smoking when I visited, so I decided to use my beverage coupon at the lobby bar instead. Since there was no directory in the guestroom, I looked up the hours online. The hours for the lobby lounge are not posted online, although the information does say that Happy Hour is from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m., so I would expect it to be open by 5:00 p.m.. 

I did not see anyone in the lounge when I entered shortly after 5:00 p.m.. The lounge was not dark, so I figured the bartender was in the back, and I took a seat at the bar. A couple of employees walked be me and said hi (the time clock was on the bar); however, no one said anything else to me. About five minutes later, I decided to go ask the front desk if the bar was open. When I walked out, I saw a sign that I had not noticed earlier that said that the bar was opening at 9 p.m..

I went back to the rooftop bar, and the bartender there let me order an upgraded beverage with the coupon.  I then took my beverage back to my guestroom since there were still several customers smoking.

Business center

I observed a couple computers in a corner by the front desk; however, I did not use anything in the area.

Fitness center

The fitness center was located on the roof with the bar and pool. I liked that it was open 24 hours. The hall from the elevator to the fitness center is covered, so even though the area is open, it shields out the sun and rain. There were several cardio machines in the room and a working TV. None of the machines had cardio theater.

Parking

I called the hotel the morning of my arrival to ask about parking options because this information was not on the hotel website. I had to call the hotel twice, and I had to ask specific questions more than once because the employee who answered the call did not initially provide self-parking options when I asked. First, she transferred me to a valet employee, who could not help me because he was not sure of the self-parking facts. He could not transfer me back to the front desk because he was on a mobile phone. When I called back, the same employee answered, who again, did not want to help me with self-parking information. She initially only told me that the parking garage is 1 1/2 blocks away, and she made it sound like it was not a good idea to park in the garage. I finally got the name of the parking garage from her--City of Palms Garage, the approximate location (which I then looked up online after the call), and the overnight cost. This was after she told me she was going to report the valet employee to his manager for not helping me! I guess she said this because I called back, and then she had to help me. Unbelievable! He was much more professional than she was.

Here are the parking facts: Valet parking is $14 a day, and self-parking is $5 a day. The self-parking garage, City of Palms Garage, is the same garage that is used for valet parking. It is directly across 1st Street from the hotel (where Starbucks is located). The hotel front and valet entrance is on Broadway; however, there is also an entrance from 1st Street, which enters across from the front desk. The hotel entrance on 1st Street, and the parking garage exit, are not on the corner, so you would need to walk less than half a block to the corner, to use a crosswalk and ramp for a roller bag. I had a small roller bag, and there was not any traffic on 1st Street, so I just crossed over in the middle of the block.

Overall

I had originally planned to stay at this hotel for two nights, as did a colleague and friend of mine. Before our stay, another friend decided to join us, so my colleague wanted to change her room to a room with two beds. Hotel Indigo did not have a room with two beds, so they decided to move to the Fairfield Inn a few miles away. Fairfield Inn is not at the top of my list for hotel choices, so before I checked in, I told them I was going to keep my stay at the Hotel Indigo, and meet them for dinner the next evening. Especially, when I had seen online that I had been upgraded to a 2-room executive suite.

After the parking telephone call and check-in experience, I decided to move the second night as well. I stopped at the front desk shortly after I had checked in, and the male employee offered assistance. I asked him what the classification is for the guestroom I was in. Before he had a chance to answer me, the female agent who had checked me in, walked over, [indifferently] asked if there was a problem, and then took over the conversation. I politely told her what I had seen online, and she said that I got the room I had reserved. I said that I realized I had not paid for a suite; however, it is quite disappointing after seeing this on my reservation for a week. She did not say anything more after this, so I told her I was going to check out the next morning instead of staying two nights. She changed the reservation, and then the male employee provided me with the guestroom description I had requested. The male employees I encountered at this property were more professional and friendly than the female employees.

Although it's nice to have extra room, I did not need a 2-room suite, and I would have been happy without one, if the front desk agent had handled the situation and my check-in process better. It would have been nice, if I had at least received a room on the executive floor since those floors are usually quieter, and my profile preference is for an executive room. Even though she told me I had the room type I had reserved, I actually received an upgrade because a king sofa room costs more. I would not have known that my room was an upgrade, if I had not looked this up after the stay.