QuietLion
May 24, 00, 8:22 am
Austin is my middle name
Starwood Hotels and Resorts needed me to fly down to Austin to tell them how to run their business so they booked me, along with four other frequent travelers, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and loyalty-program guru Randy Peterson, on an all-expenses-paid junket to the Texas Capital. At my request they booked me on United—I figured they couldn’t really argue with my request to fly my preferred airline—and when I got the itinerary I only needed to adjust it a little bit to find the planes with upgrade seats available.
Hunnybear drove me to LAX in her new black Volkswagen Cabrio. The morning clouds by the shore had been thick for the last few days, which is apparently common for May and June, but the temperature was already climbing into the 60s by 7 a.m. Despite some pretty heavy airport traffic I was at the First Class/1K line about 15 minutes from the time we left home. I had brought a box of books to give away to the Starwood people to thank them for inviting me so I checked the box and carried on my clothes and laptop.
I popped into the 1K room to schmooze with the angels then went right on board the 777 to Denver. It was an updated model with First Suites in employee class. The employees, along with a couple sleepy Asian businessmen, seemed to enjoy them. I had seat 8D, a middle aisle in the front row of Business Class, with an empty seat next to me. We had a nice preflight drink service and a well-dressed, attractive crew. We pushed back on time and listened to a particularly scolding safety announcement in which the steward stressed a number of times that we were prohibited from moving about the cabin when the seat-belt sign was lit. I would rather hear a reminder that it’s dangerous than be told over and over again what risks United Airlines and the U.S. Government deem appropriate for me to take with my life and limb.
There was no choice of breakfast in Business Class but we all got a nice sampler plate consisting of two small cranberry pancakes, a quiche-like thing, a sausage, and a small disk of hash-brown potatoes. This was accompanied by some very fresh fruit and a croissant. I read a book and watched the airshow the whole flight rather than the four channels of video programming and before I knew it we were at Denver 15 minutes early. I met Steve’s flight from Seattle a few minutes later and we headed to the Red Carpet Club to make phone calls and check email.
Our connection to Austin was on a 727 in seats 1A and B. Our flight attendant, Leonard, smashed the ice quietly but there was no preflight drink service. We had an unexplained 15-minute ground delay and finally took off a half-hour after scheduled departure. Lunch was a choice of Tuscan Wrap or Chicken Caesar and as always I got the salad. The Santa Barbara Chardonnay served with it was oaky without being presumptuous. We landed in Austin 15 minutes late and were met by a driver at the gate. We waited for Randy to make his way off the plane (he was in coach, astonishingly, being “only” Premier Executive) and headed down to baggage claim to wait for my box of books. Randy insisted on carrying my box all over Texas for me. Thanks Randy.
We piled into the black Town Car and were whisked to the Barton Creek Country Club, a non-Starwood property where Starwood was putting us up. Apparently the Sheraton was full and they didn’t want to put us at the Four Points. Well. I walked into my room and discovered it to be an enormous two-room suite overlooking a construction site. Laid out on the bed for me were a whole bunch of thoughtful prizes including Red Sox paraphernalia and my favorite snack foods. They had called me a week earlier and asked me a bunch of questions about my favorite things—here was the reason why.
Around 7:15 we went down to the lobby and met the other folks and the Starwood people, who were all very nice and sharp. Two stretch limos took us to a private residence—the home of one of the Starwood VPs—where we had cocktails and a fabulous dinner as we got to meet each other and swap stories. The general consensus was that Starwood was doing everything right, but I promised to find a couple things to tear into them about tomorrow so they would get their money’s worth. After dinner they gave us still more very generous gifts before whisking us back to Barton Creek.
I learned a couple things, although they were pretty tight-lipped about their plans. One, they do have a plan for Las Vegas now that they’ve lost the Desert Inn—they just wouldn’t tell me what the plan was. Two, we can look for a for-real “Starwood” co-branded card, probably from AmEx, in the near future to replace the embarrassing “ITT Sheraton ClubMiles” still imprinted on the Optima. They are committed to anything with the Starwood name on it being the best in the business. And three, the Heavenly Bed is just the beginning! Look for the rollout of more Heavenly room appliances soon…
Next: Inside the war room!
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Starwood Hotels and Resorts needed me to fly down to Austin to tell them how to run their business so they booked me, along with four other frequent travelers, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and loyalty-program guru Randy Peterson, on an all-expenses-paid junket to the Texas Capital. At my request they booked me on United—I figured they couldn’t really argue with my request to fly my preferred airline—and when I got the itinerary I only needed to adjust it a little bit to find the planes with upgrade seats available.
Hunnybear drove me to LAX in her new black Volkswagen Cabrio. The morning clouds by the shore had been thick for the last few days, which is apparently common for May and June, but the temperature was already climbing into the 60s by 7 a.m. Despite some pretty heavy airport traffic I was at the First Class/1K line about 15 minutes from the time we left home. I had brought a box of books to give away to the Starwood people to thank them for inviting me so I checked the box and carried on my clothes and laptop.
I popped into the 1K room to schmooze with the angels then went right on board the 777 to Denver. It was an updated model with First Suites in employee class. The employees, along with a couple sleepy Asian businessmen, seemed to enjoy them. I had seat 8D, a middle aisle in the front row of Business Class, with an empty seat next to me. We had a nice preflight drink service and a well-dressed, attractive crew. We pushed back on time and listened to a particularly scolding safety announcement in which the steward stressed a number of times that we were prohibited from moving about the cabin when the seat-belt sign was lit. I would rather hear a reminder that it’s dangerous than be told over and over again what risks United Airlines and the U.S. Government deem appropriate for me to take with my life and limb.
There was no choice of breakfast in Business Class but we all got a nice sampler plate consisting of two small cranberry pancakes, a quiche-like thing, a sausage, and a small disk of hash-brown potatoes. This was accompanied by some very fresh fruit and a croissant. I read a book and watched the airshow the whole flight rather than the four channels of video programming and before I knew it we were at Denver 15 minutes early. I met Steve’s flight from Seattle a few minutes later and we headed to the Red Carpet Club to make phone calls and check email.
Our connection to Austin was on a 727 in seats 1A and B. Our flight attendant, Leonard, smashed the ice quietly but there was no preflight drink service. We had an unexplained 15-minute ground delay and finally took off a half-hour after scheduled departure. Lunch was a choice of Tuscan Wrap or Chicken Caesar and as always I got the salad. The Santa Barbara Chardonnay served with it was oaky without being presumptuous. We landed in Austin 15 minutes late and were met by a driver at the gate. We waited for Randy to make his way off the plane (he was in coach, astonishingly, being “only” Premier Executive) and headed down to baggage claim to wait for my box of books. Randy insisted on carrying my box all over Texas for me. Thanks Randy.
We piled into the black Town Car and were whisked to the Barton Creek Country Club, a non-Starwood property where Starwood was putting us up. Apparently the Sheraton was full and they didn’t want to put us at the Four Points. Well. I walked into my room and discovered it to be an enormous two-room suite overlooking a construction site. Laid out on the bed for me were a whole bunch of thoughtful prizes including Red Sox paraphernalia and my favorite snack foods. They had called me a week earlier and asked me a bunch of questions about my favorite things—here was the reason why.
Around 7:15 we went down to the lobby and met the other folks and the Starwood people, who were all very nice and sharp. Two stretch limos took us to a private residence—the home of one of the Starwood VPs—where we had cocktails and a fabulous dinner as we got to meet each other and swap stories. The general consensus was that Starwood was doing everything right, but I promised to find a couple things to tear into them about tomorrow so they would get their money’s worth. After dinner they gave us still more very generous gifts before whisking us back to Barton Creek.
I learned a couple things, although they were pretty tight-lipped about their plans. One, they do have a plan for Las Vegas now that they’ve lost the Desert Inn—they just wouldn’t tell me what the plan was. Two, we can look for a for-real “Starwood” co-branded card, probably from AmEx, in the near future to replace the embarrassing “ITT Sheraton ClubMiles” still imprinted on the Optima. They are committed to anything with the Starwood name on it being the best in the business. And three, the Heavenly Bed is just the beginning! Look for the rollout of more Heavenly room appliances soon…
Next: Inside the war room!
------------------
Get my trip reports mailed to you! http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/liontales