Inside the award winning SpringHill Suites by Marriott

by Scott Carmichael on

As part of our hotel review coverage, we recently paid a visit to the newest generation SpringHill Suites by Marriott. The property in question was not only one of the newest, it was also voted “opening hotel of the year” in 2008. Marriott is putting a lot of effort (and money) into refreshing its properties. Back in January, we showed you the updates at their Courtyard brand.

The upgrades are evident before you even walk in the front door – the outside of the hotel is modern and very pleasantly designed. Plenty of free parking and a covered entry allows for easy check-in.

The lobby area is nice and bright – one might even call it “hip”. In the lobby is of course the front desk, but it is also home to a nice business “center” with two PC’s and a pair of printers.

These printers are not just for guest using the lobby PC’s – thanks to a set of keypads, you can also print documents from your room, and “release” them using a code you assign. This way, you can print things like your boarding pass, then walk downstairs to pick up the print.

A full service bar offers liquid relief, as well as an assortment of light snacks. TV’s are located throughout the lobby, making it a surprisingly decent place to spend some time, which sure beats hanging out in your room all evening.

And speaking of the room – I really loved the layout. Inside the room, you’ll find a (sleeper) sofa, desk with glass divider, separate toilet / shower area and a coffee/fridge/microwave/ice corner

The desk has everything you need to get some work done – four outlets, a wired network port and a decent lamp. The hotel Wi-Fi was slightly disappointing, as it limited all speeds to 2mbit – but this should also mean mooches won’t be able to suck up all the bandwidth, depriving others of Internet access.

The glass doors slide open, allowing natural light into the desk/sofa corner, or can be closed for a little bit of privacy.

The room has a single 37″ flat panel LCD TV. The screen swivels, making it ideal for watching TV from bed, or from the sofa. Under the TV is a media access panel, with easy access to VGA, HDMI, video and audio. Thankfully, this property didn’t fall for the old trick of offering HDTV’s without any HD programming – the majority of all channels were crystal clear HD, and the lineup was surprisingly decent.

Another really simple, yet helpful touch was ordering iHome alarm clocks WITH the operating instructions printed on them. You’d be amazed how many hotels purchase the consumer version of this clock, assuming everyone in the world can program them without the need for instructions.

The separate toilet/bathroom design was really neat – both offer privacy with large sliding doors. The shower was a real treat with its showerhead and side spray nozzles – a perk normally reserved for more upscale luxury properties.

All in all, a very nice design and one that I hope will spread to all other SpringHill Suites properties.

Everything is where it should be, and while the rooms won’t “feel like home”, the bed is comfortable, the climate control worked, and you can even open the windows. It doesn’t take much to please me in a hotel, but it also doesn’t take much to spoil the experience. Thankfully, this new SpringHill Suites design sets a really good benchmark for how business/leisure hotels should be.

The hotel in this review is located in Waukegan, IL – about 40 minutes north of Chicago, and about 10 minutes from the city of Gurnee. Gurnee is also home to Six Flags Great America – making it the perfect location for a family getaway. Thanks to the sofa bed, the rooms are great for families with kid(s). The hotel has an on-site pool and fitness lounge, as well as free breakfast.

Rates start at $95, and you can find out more about this specific hotel, or other hotels in the SpringHill Suites chain here.

Marriott elite members get free Internet – the rest of us can still pay for it

by Scott Carmichael on

Starting May 7th, all gold and platinum members of the Marriott Rewards frequent guest program will get free Internet access when they stay at a Marriott, JW Marriott or Renaissance hotel.

All other Marriott properties already offer free Internet access for all their guests, so if you are staying at a Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Springhill Suites, Residence Inn or TownePlace Suites, you won’t need to worry about being elite enough to get online for free.

This of course raises the question why Marriott can’t offer Internet for free, for everyone? The three hotels brands within the chain that still charge for Internet access are the “upscale” brands – and you’d expect the more expensive rooms to come with free access.

I’ve written about this before – in my opinion, every hotel should offer Internet for free to all its guests. By offering access for free to elite guests, Marriott gets one step closer to this, but this still leaves plenty of guests that will need to fork over some of their cash just to get online. It never ceases to amaze me how hotels tend to ignore this important perk.

Courtyard by Marriott Celebrates its 100th Hotel with an upgraded lobby

by Scott Carmichael on

Last month, Gadling took you on a quick tour of a recently upgraded Courtyard by Marriott. In that review, I mentioned how impressed I was with the upgrades in the lobby. Marriott is obviously pretty impressed with their own progress, because they are currently celebrating the 100th hotel to be part of this exciting program.

As a reminder – the lobby upgrades include features like the innovative GoBoard® touch screen LCD TV with local information, news and weather as well as a brand new restaurant and bar dubbed The Bistro.

Marriott operates 860 Courtyard properties around the world, and the brand is doing so well, that an additional 200 will be opening within the next three years.

More information about the upgrades. as well as which hotels have been upgraded, can be found at GoCourtyard.com

Renaissance hotels offers the sweetest of suites for Valentine’s day

by Scott Carmichael on

Around Valentine’s day, we tend to get a huge amount of emails promoting the various romantic hotel deals on offer around the country. The vast majority are pretty boring, and involve little more than some Champagne in the room. Thankfully, every now and then someone sends something that is just too awesome to ignore.

Take for example the Renaissance New York Hotel 57 where you can book “the Dylan’s Candy Bar Sweetest Suite”. This spacious room comes with an edible candy wall, white chocolate fountain, cotton candy machine, 300 pounds of candy and chocolate in every drawer. Sweet fun like this is not cheap – a two night stay in this amazing suite is $2500 (available February 13-15). The room can be booked by calling the hotel directly at 212-651-3205.

If you are working with a slightly lower budget, then head on over to the Renaissance Hotels romance site to check out their creative Valentine’s romance package.

Room rates start around $130 (for a standard room), and come with Champagne, breakfast for two (with room service option), late check-out, a Dylan’s Candy Bar gift bag and a $100 savings coupon for a future 2 night stay. The package is available from February 11th through the 15th, and can be booked directly on their site.

Inside the new and improved Courtyards by Marriott

by Scott Carmichael on

Yes – you read the title correctly. This review is going to take a look at a Marriott Courtyard. By now, I’m guessing some of your are wondering what makes a review of a Marriott Courtyard special, any why we even bothered. Well, Marriott asked Gadling to come take a look at one of their recently renovated properties. I don’t have the numbers – but I’m guessing that Courtyards are probably one of the most popular hotel chains in the nation, so I took Marriott up on their invitation, and checked into the Chicago O’Hare Courtyard to see just how the chain has evolved.The lobby, bar and marketplace

Checking in was a breeze – as it should be. I was handed my room key and parking tag within minutes. The hotel clearly caters for all kinds of travelers, as the desk clerk handed my daughter two rubber duckies. We had not traveled too far to visit this property, but after a long flight, small touches like this can be a huge help when traveling with young kids.

The lobby is the best place to see just how the chain has improved their properties. Everything is spacious, bright and well designed. Of course, there is the obligatory collection of random crap art strategically placed throughout the area. Combined with a well laid out collection of sitting areas, the lobby is more welcoming than it used to be. Things have obviously been designed to welcome you, instead of just forcing you to check in and get you to your room.

The lobby area is also home to a cafe/bistro with full bar service and various snacks. Prices were quite reasonable (around $6 for a sandwich). This area certainly beats the old stuffy breakfast buffet desks found at other properties.

One really nice touch in the bar area is the addition or private seating areas with a personal TV. I’ve traveled a lot for business on my own, and I never really felt comfortable drinking on my own in the lobby. This way, travelers can sit on their own, yet still enjoy the lobby atmosphere. Very cool.

At the end of long day – you can purchase items from the marketplace. The selection was surprisingly decent, and a decent selection of alcoholic beverages and snacks were on offer, as well as several non-food items (medication, toiletries).

Towards the corner of the lobby is the boarding pass zone – two PC’s and laser printers are exactly what you need to check in for your flight. Thankfully, more and more hotels are putting these facilities in place.

Next to the boarding pass zone is a large flat panel TV with all flight departure information for O’Hare. Of course, as more and more of us use a smartphone with applications like Tripdeck, these screens are not always necessary, but still a very nice touch.

The local area smart panel is the toy I enjoyed playing with the most – it shows the news, weather, financial markets and local information, all on a massive touch screen. It can point you to the nearest restaurant or other attraction.

The business center is equipped with two (Windows XP powered) terminals. The speed was pretty decent, and the machines wipe themselves clean after use, (hopefully) removing any personal information collected.

Next to the terminals is an Ethernet jack for plugging in your own computer, which is obviously a good idea if you have confidential stuff to do, and no access to a VPN service you can use over the Wi-Fi network.

In this H1N1 world, I was pleasantly surprised to see hand sanitizer in the elevator. A quick squirt of this stuff may not protect you from all the nasty stuff out there, but after a long flight and cab ride, you never know.

The rooms

My room was quite spacious (rooms provided for reviews usually are). It consisted of a living room and a separate bedroom. Oddly enough, the configuration was setup for two queen beds. A fold-out sofa is present in the living room. Despite all the major upgrades in the lobby area, the rooms had not been upgraded as much. TV’s were still the old tube models. Carpets, beds and furniture did look recently renewed and were all in very good condition.

The desk offered everything you need to work – an Ethernet jack (speeds around 2100kb/s), 2 outlets in the lamp base and a decent bright light. As for the technology in the room – I could not locate any input jacks on the TV’s, which means you’ll need to watch stuff on your laptop, or pick something from the hotel channel lineup.

The bathroom was about as bland as they get – same bathroom style found in 1000’s of hotel rooms around the nation. I was quite impressed by the artwork on the towels and toilet paper:

Last time I saw art like that was on a cruise ship – someone put a lot of effort into those.

One final thing I’d like to point out was how well the water glasses were wrapped – as we read more and more about bad hygiene in hotels, I was happy to see someone put real effort into sealing the glasses. Of course, I have no way of knowing how clean they were when they were wrapped. Water bottles are $4 each, so the same kind of high prices found everywhere else.

Final thoughts

Rooms at this hotel are in line with most other Marriott Courtyard properties – around $90/night. This is a very good rate, especially for a hotel so close to the airport (with shuttle service).

I really liked the upgrades Marriott put in place. The lobby layout makes the hotel perfect for business travelers and leisure travelers alike. In-room Ethernet and speedy Wi-Fi (both free) are of course essential in any business hotel, and the Courtyard did not disappoint. The boarding area zone and interactive screen in the lobby are great tools for the frequent traveler.

The room was not as “upgraded” as I had hoped for, and could do with switching to better TV’s, but the room was clean, comfortable and the climate control and high speed Internet worked – things I really count on at any hotel.

Disclaimer: Marriott invited me to review this property, and paid for a one night stay. All opinions in this review are my own.