Delano, California -- Holiday Inn Express

Status perks

I received a goody bag with a bottle of water and a couple snacks at check-in. I did not receive a room upgrade, and I did not ask if one was available. My main concern the day I checked in was to get some rest, and there were only two cars in the parking lot, so I did not think noise would be an issue. Since the agent had acknowledged my status, I thought maybe she had already given me an upgrade and just did not mention it.

Room

I received a regular king bed room, which is what I had reserved. The room was a good size with a small fridge and microwave. There was a couch, suitcase bench, and desk with chair in the sitting area, and a chair and footstool in the sleeping area. There was one older style TV on the dresser, which was also visible from the couch. When I looked at the hotel diagram on the door, I was surprised to see that there were several rooms even larger than the one I had been given. The couch and bed were comfortable. The one thing I did not like about the bed was the pillows. I have never liked the cheap Holiday Inn Express pillows, and this hotel was no exception. The desk chair had not been cleaned, and it was very hard. It was uncomfortable to work on my laptop. The Internet connection speed was lousy. I did not hear any noise from the hallway, which was surprising because room 207 is right next to the elevator. This room is also above the front desk area, which turned out to be a downfall. There was no view because the lobby entrance roofing blocked the window. I was also awaken twice during the night by a loud TV and/or music. At first, I thought it was coming from another guestroom, and was confused about where it could be coming from. I later realized the noise was coming from the breakfast room TV, and the music I heard was playing through the speakers at the front desk/entrance. When the front desk agent asked about my stay at check-out (I had to go to the front desk because I did not receive a bill under the door, like I usually do), I mentioned the lobby music noise, and he offered a sincere apology. He said that he would make sure the music got turned down in the evening.

Food & Beverage

Hot breakfast items included scrambled eggs and sausage patties. Cinnamon rolls, cold cereal, white breads, milk, and juices were also available. I did not think the breakfast choices were as good as I have received at other HIX's. 

Fitness center

The fitness center room was very large. It contained a working TV and only a couple cardio machines. There were not any weights. The door was open when I visited in the morning, and I left the door open. It appeared that the door was propped open so that it would not get stuffy in the room.

Overall

Other than the loud music from the lobby, I did not experience any other disruptions. The bed was comfortable, and I did not hear any noise from the hall.  Fortunately, I did not have a lot of work to do during this stay so the Internet speed and working desk comfort did not hinder my plans too much. This hotel is located next to Highway 99, and if you need to stay in this area--as I did--I did not see a better hotel option. There were many hotel choices in Bakersfield about 1/2 hour south of Delano; however, since I was only staying one night, I opted to stay in Delano. I would stay at this hotel again, if my travel plans brought me to the area again.

Grand Rapids, Michigan / GRR airport -- Hilton

Gold perks and check-in

I stayed at this hotel on the weekend and received two full breakfast coupons at check-in. This hotel does not have a concierge floor or lounge. I had an early flight and would not be able to use the breakfast coupons, so the agent asked if I wanted bonus points instead. After I inquired and learned she did not have an offer for evening perks, I accepted the bonus points.

GRR Hilton - floor 4

Room

We received a room on the top [4th] floor in the middle of the hall. The bed, couch, and desk chair were all comfortable. The carpet and furnishings looked new. The bathroom was extremely small. There was room for only one person at a time, and the door needed to be shut to use the shower. I would have preferred a more soundproof guestroom door from the hall because there were many young kids at the hotel during our stay. I always request a corner room in a quiet area on my reservation, so I was disappointed we had been assigned a guestroom in the middle of the hallway and activity. 

Food & Beverage

The Spinnaker Lounge serves many local brews, and we visited for a beverage and snack. We were happy with the beverages, although the flash-fried calamari was disappointing. The calamari was good quality and fresh; however, it was the greasiest flash-fried calamari I have ever had. It was served with mango cocktail sauce, which had good flavor, although it was quite sweet.

Overall and misc.

I was very comfortable at this hotel. I think if your goal is a good night's sleep at an airport hotel, this property is a good choice—especially during the week. I imagine the guests are usually business travelers on weekdays, and the only noise problem we experienced were young guests running down the hall. The airport shuttle in the morning was on time. It only took about five minutes to get to the airport. There were a couple restaurants across the side street—Smokey Bones and Applebee’s.

Grand Rapids, Michigan / JW Marriott

February 2011, Weekend, King concierge corner guestroom

Status perks

I used a free night certificate and had Gold status during this stay. It was a Saturday night, we received an upgrade to the concierge floor, and the lounge was open on the weekend.

Guestroom

The concierge floors are on floors 19 - 23, and the concierge lounge is on the 23rd floor.

We received a corner river view room on the 20th floor. The room was in the same location as when we stayed at this hotel a couple years ago, except it was on a higher floor. I had Silver status during that stay, and we did not receive a concierge floor room then.

River view when looking straight down

The view from the room was great, and the room was comfortable. It contained a chaise lounge sofa and a soft straight-backed chair, along with the desk and chair. The bed was supremely comfortable, and the room was soundproof. There was even a soundproofing strip on the bottom of the door.

A laptop safe was located in a drawer in the beverage area outside of the bathroom. The beverage center included a single-serve coffeemaker with good quality coffee and a mini fridge. I was surprised that  liquid creamer was not provided. I was sure that had been provided the last time that we stayed in this hotel. Because this was a concierge floor room, there were two bathrobes for use in the closet, and two small bottles of complimentary water were provided.

The bathroom was large, although the counter space was limited. There was a full size bathtub, and I loved the large walk in marble shower. The bedroom floor was carpet, the bathroom floor was marble, and the floor outside the bathroom--between the bedroom area and door, was wood. Everything in the room was high quality and tastefully decorated.

Concierge lounge

We did not have any food or beverages except in the concierge lounge. I saw a sign stating that lounge access could be purchased for $25. I don't know if that was per person or per room. Beer and wine was included in the evening, and mixed drinks were available for purchase. Snacks included cheeses, crackers, sushi, pot stickers, and egg rolls. All of the hot items were not set out at once; items were refilled or replaced as they became empty. The food in the morning included cut fruits, yogurt, granola, cold cereal, salmon, bagels, breads, and pastries. Available beverages were coffee, cappuccino, espresso, orange and cranberry juices, and milk.

Overall & misc.

This is one of my favorite Marriott hotels, and we already have another reservation here in a few months. The downtown skywalk is accessible from the hotel. Self-parking was $16 per night.

Carnival Glory cruise -- 7-night Exotic Western Caribbean from Miami

Carnival Glory;
photo taken from our excursion boat in Belize

Check-in at port of Miami

This was our first experience with kiosk check-in. I had not noticed that our boarding document said "kiosk ready" on it before we arrived. Two Carnival representatives were greeting and directing guests to two different lines. They were also providing zone number cards. We arrived around 11:30 a.m., and received a Zone 7 card. One check-in line was for guests with kiosk ready boarding passes, and the line on the left was for other guests. After checking in and scanning our passports at the kiosk, we received a receipt from the machine with a window number for our cabin key pick up. Our receipt was for window number one. There was no line, and we were immediately greeted and given room keys. We sat down to wait, and our zone was called about 30 - 40 minutes later. We were on board the ship around 12:30 p.m.

When we had first arrived at the port, we noticed guests who rushed right past the Carnival representatives instead of waiting to speak with them. They were in such a hurry to get in line, they paid for it later. While we were waiting for our zone number to be called after check-in, we observed guests being redirected to the other line (they had chosen the incorrect kiosk or non-kiosk line in their haste). And, some guests did not have zone number cards because they had not waited to speak with a representative when arriving (we had to wait briefly behind four or five guests when we arrived). When these guests noticed the zone numbers, they asked what they were for, and what time certain guests had arrived (yes, some of them asked us what time we had arrived). Then, the guests without numbers expected Carnival to give them a low number (or, they expected guests like us who had a low number to include them in our group). They claimed that a representative was not greeting guests when they arrived, which was untrue. I always observed at least one representative greeting guests from the time we arrived until we boarded. There was only one representative when we first arrived, and the second representative returned to a his post a few seconds after we stood in line to wait. We were glad to see that the Carnival representatives were not providing already called zone numbers to the complaining guests.

Cabin 7442, balcony, category 8M

We had an aft cabin extended balcony room. The balcony is much deeper than the aft cabin balcony we had on the Legend; however, the room is smaller. There was no couch, and there was only one chair with the table. There was room for two chairs, so I did not understand why only one was provided.

Carnival Glory cabin 7442

There were two chairs and a lounger on the balcony, which was great! Unfortunately, I do not have any good balcony photos to share.

Carnival Glory cabin 7442

Food & Beverage

The food on this ship included the same offerings that I wrote about in my Freedom post from December 15, 2010.

There were a couple differences, which I will list here. There is a burrito bar on the opposite side of the ship from the deli counter. It was similar to the deli: You waited in line to special order any type of dry burrito desired. My husband had a shrimp burrito, which he said was great. If there was a burrito bar on the Freedom, we missed it. The sushi bar on this ship was open every evening from 5:00 - 8:15 p.m., instead of just a few nights. This was not listed in the Fun Times each day; however, I observed a sign stating the hours.

Miami, Florida / MIA airport -- Marriott

Status perks

I did not receive any recognition or perks at check-in. I had filled out the Virtual Concierge form prior to arrival, requesting a fridge and room on the concierge floor. Near the end of the check-in process, I asked if my room was on the concierge floor, and the agent said yes.

Room

We stayed in the south tower on floor seven, which is where the concierge lounge is located. Floors eight and nine are also concierge floors. The lounge was not open on the weekend, although our key allowed us access to the lounge and business area inside when we first arrived. The guestroom was a basic Marriott room, and the fridge I had requested was in the corner. The room was not very big. The ice bucket was on a small table next to the dresser, and the coffee maker was in the dresser under the TV. It was not plugged in or useable where it was located. We took the coffee maker out, and found just enough room for it on the the dresser next to the TV, where a plug was located. There was one 10 oz bottle of water in the room when we arrived, and housekeeping left another one on stayover.

The north tower looked like an older building, and the bottom floor smelled musty when we walked through that tower, which is next to the pool area. The rooms in the north tower had two window panes of glass, and the rooms in the south tower had three.  The rooms looked like they were the same size; there was just more window area in the south tower rooms. The bed in our guestroom was comfortable, and the room was sound proof. We did not experience much airplane or hallway noise during the 2-night stay. The room was clean at check-in; however, we encountered a few minor housekeeping oversights. We only had one coffee cup, one creamer, and a used bar of soap from a previous guest had not been removed from the shower. All of these things were taken care of when housekeeping attended to our room after the first night. None of the rooms at this hotel have a balcony, and the windows do not open. The heating system was easily adjustable and quiet. I do wish I could have turned it off overnight though, instead of trying to find a comfortable temperature.

Food & Beverage

We had a sandwich and drinks at Cane Fire Grill the night we arrived. The turkey sandwich on sourdough bread was fresh, good quality, and large enough to share. The service we received was not as good as expected. We did not have any real complaints, although usually when we sit at the bar, the bartenders are more social and attentive about offering refills.

We dined at Champions Sports Bar in the adjoining Marriott Courtyard the second evening. The service in Champions was great--and, we were served at a table by the bartender! I would not recommend any of the food that we tried. This was definitely a sports bar atmosphere and food offerings. Since the bartender highly recommended the Mahi Mahi sandwich, and the bar was located in a Marriott, we expected better quality. We did not think either food item was worth $12.95. The Mahi Mahi sandwich consisted of one small overcooked fillet, which did not come close to covering the bun. The Mahi Mahi in the fish tacos was overcooked as well, and the flour shells were stale. The atmosphere and seating were both comfortable, and we would visit Champions again for drinks.

There is a Starbucks located in the Marriott, and a hotel employee had told us it was a "regular" Starbucks, so we expected to get breakfast sandwiches there one morning. When we arrived, we learned that this location only serves muffins and pastries. We had breakfast at the Latino restaurant next door, which was an excellent choice! Most of the menu items included coffee, toast, hash browns [called "The Works"] for $10; however, you could also get just an omelet or scrambled eggs with ham for under $5!

hot tub beyond pool; north tower on left

Pool & outside areas

wicker chairs; Residence Inn beyond

The pool located at the Marriott is also used by guests at the adjoining Marriott Courtyard and Residence Inn across the parking lot. Even though there was not a lot of seating around the pool, the area was never overcrowded. There was a large area with additional lounge chairs and tables outside the pool gate.  The pool area was shaded most of the day since it is on the north side of the building. The expanded seating area outside the pool gate, near the Courtyard hotel, provided shaded and sunny seating and lounge chairs. The furniture was nice looking dark brown wicker furniture that usually is accompanied with chair cushions. Since there were not any cushions on any of the pool chairs, the seating was very uncomfortable. There were several sitting chairs with cushions under a roof overhang outside the Marriott Courtyard, which were comfortable.

pool on left; more lounge chairs straight ahead

Fitness Center

Marriott left, Courtyard right; fitness center under red roof

The fitness center is located in the Courtyard hotel, near the pool. I did not use the center, although I could see it was a large glassed room with more than 10 cardio machines. The location didn't seem like it would be too much of an inconvenience from the Marriott as long as it wasn't raining.

Overall & Misc.
We were very happy with the comfort of our stay, since I had discovered a great rate of $114 (this was a promotion code rate, which also earned points and status). I think we would have been disappointed, if the rate had been more than $125. I was glad this was not my first Marriott experience as a Gold member because I would have been seriously disappointed. I would have wondered what the appeal is. I had experienced more impressive reception, recognition, and perks as a Gold member prior to this stay.

We waited over 20 minutes for the "every 15 minutes" shuttle bus when we arrived at the airport. I ended up sitting on my husband's lap, and there were more guests who had to wait for the next shuttle. The shuttle was picking up guests for the Marriott, Courtyard, and Residence Inn. Lucky for us, it dropped off at the Marriott first!

There is a Winn Dixie, Walgreens, K-Mart, Payless Shoes, McDonald's, Taco Bell, and a few more businesses in a shopping center less than a mile from the hotel. Other than the fast food restaurants, and the Latino restaurant where we ate breakfast, there is not much dining nearby.

Grand Rapids, Michigan / GRR airport -- SpringHill Suites by Marriott

Status perks

I did not receive any extra perks as a Gold member. In fact, the agent did not even mention my status or thank me for being a loyal member at check-in. 

Room

The room was a basic SpringHill Suites room with a sitting area and comfortable bed. It was a bit smaller than some SpringHill Suites I have stayed in. There was a couch, chair, and table with desk chair in the sitting area. There was a small fridge, microwave, and sink in the corner. A partial wall provided minimal separation between the sitting area and bedroom. A large flat screen TV on the dresser was visible from the living area and the bed. There was plenty of room in the bathroom and vanity area, although the toilet was positioned very close to the shower.

Food & Beverage

Breakfast is included with the room rate. This hotel also has a small lobby bar, which is an unusual extra for a SpringHill Suites. We did not visit the bar, although we had breakfast in the morning. There were breads, pastries, cereals, fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas), yogurt, scrambled egg squares, sausage patties, milk, and juices. All of the items were fresh and hot.

Pool

This hotel has an indoor pool and hot tub. There were several comfortable lounge chairs and a few small tables around the pool. The hot tub was hot, and the area was clean.

Fitness center

There were two or three cardio machines in the fitness center. The door was propped open with the trash can when we arrived, and the next day as well. A sign on the door offered an apology for the fitness center being closed; however, it did not appear to be closed. I observed guests using the equipment every time we walked by.   

Shuttle

We signed up for the 8:30 AM shuttle the evening we checked in. Fortunately, we had opted for the early choice rather than 9:00 AM, because the 8:30 shuttle was over 10 minutes late, and then it made a stop on the way to the airport. I usually expect to arrive at the airport 10 - 15 minutes later than the shuttle time we schedule. We arrived at the airport at 8:53 AM. The driver did not acknowledge or apologize for the delay. When we called for pick-up from the airport after returning, the agent told us to take a cab and the hotel would pay for it. This was great--we arrived back at our vehicle in their lot in record time!

March 2012, Weekday, 1-night, King suite #326

I have stayed at this hotel a few times, and every room and experience has been pretty much the same except this guestroom, so I am providing some information about this room--I would avoid it!

Room 326 is located on the top floor next to the elevator. I could hear the elevator, although that noise was minimal. In fact, if that had been the only issue with the room, I would have considered the room acceptable, even though I usually prefer rooms farther down the hall.

This room had a strong smoke smell--after we got settled, and not constant. The elevators are located near the hotel entrance door from the back parking lot. The only thing I could figure this might have been from, is that guests were smoking outside the back door. Fortunately, the smell was only in the sitting area and not the sleeping area of the guestroom.

The second problem with this room is that the window looks out over the lower floor pool and fitness center roof. Not only did this obstruct the view, it also caused a lot of noise when it rained the evening of our stay. I like rain and storms; however, the way the rain ran down the drains around the roof was so loud it kept me up that evening. 

Marco Island, Florida -- Marriott Beach Resort

Status perks

We stayed at this hotel a few years ago when I had Silver status, and other than the fact that I received free Internet this visit, I did not notice anything extra as a Gold member. There is not a concierge floor at this property, and I did not receive any breakfast coupons or other perks.

view from guestroom on floor 5 in Marriott Marco Island

Room

We received a room on the 5th floor with a partial gulf view. This is the same type of room we had last  time except that it was a few rooms closer toward the water, so the view was slightly better. The bed and couch were both comfortable, and the room amenities were good quality--the bathroom soaps and shampoos, as well as the coffee and creamer. The room had a good sized balcony and two chairs (this was standard for all the rooms), a nice safe--which was large enough to hold a laptop, and a small fridge. I liked the separate corner area for the coffee with additional storage. The room was spacious, and there was a very large closet near the bathroom. The only area that was kind of small was the bathroom where the toilet and tub/shower were located. The sink area outside the bathroom by the closet was spacious as well.

sunset from Quinn's

Food & Beverage

We had drinks and seafood tacos at Quinn's on the Beach one evening. The temperature was cool, so the bar was not crowded, and we had a perfect sunset view. Although the beverages were expensive--like most everything else at this resort--the quality was good. A female musician provided guitar music and sang. We had drinks in the lobby bar one evening, which I liked even better. The seating in the lobby bar was comfortable and chic. Free deluxe snacks were served, and food items were available for purchase. We had bagels for breakfast at the cafe one morning. The quality, selection, and pricing was comparable to any bagel/coffee shop.