NJUPINTHEAIR

Fine with me as I have run off most of my HHonors points and am now much more directed towards Marriott.

flyerfmaz

I'd really like to thank everyone for the great responses. To be fair about it, here are some things that I like about Courtyards:

- I can often get a free upgrade to a suite (especially in the newer Courtyards) that feels a bit more like home. The CY in Glassboro, NJ last week gave me a suite with a conference table big enough to sit 8 people.
- As a general rule, Courtyards aren't overrun with soccer teams, kids, and pets.
- The Bistro (although overpriced) is convenient in that I can grab something reasonably nutritious without leaving the hotel, so I can keep working without the long interruption of driving out somewhere to a restaurant. Although I will sometimes just stop at a grocery store and stock up on a few basics, and pick up a couple bottles of wine to defeat the robbery at the Bistro. Same thing with coffee -- I travel with a portable K-cup machine and can be self-contained.
- The higher tiered internet is free for me, which is helpful. But it's hardly what I'd call "high speed", as it's nothing more than a couple of clicks above the lower tier. I occasionally lose the connection to the company VPN.

VickiSoCal

I just found out my daughter's 30 member Science Olympiad team is staying at a Courtyard next month, so being overrun with youth teams can happen. You have been warned.

To be fair the SO team tends to spend the night before the event frantically quizzing each other rather than running wild through the lobby and pool.

We like certain Courtyards, especially when like above, the price is so far below the FS Marriotts in the area that breakfast is a wash. For example- we like to stay at the Gas Lamp in San Diego but if Liberty Station is 100 dollars cheaper, we go there.

N965VJ

So far this year I've managed to avoid Curtyards. I'm going to see how long I can go without earning the brand badge on the MR site.

But here's an example of when CY works-

I was meeting a customer at one of their remote sites is a smaller market that didn't have any FS properties, so I suggested a CY. We met for the first time for breakfast in the Bistro and had a chance to review what we were going to do in a large quiet booth. I didn't realize until we met, but he brought along his SO, who spent the afternoon out by the pool.

I wrapped up my part of the project later that day, and bed hopped over to a TPS because I wanted to throw a steak on the grill that evening. Any property that offers free breakfast gets overrun with families, but this place was a zoo.

There were always people hanging out by the front door smoking, kids hollering in the pool, and the person stocking the breakfast items the next morning had to constantly remind kids and teenagers that they couldn't be there in bare feet.

I can roll with stuff like this, but it would have been embarrassing to subject my customer to this, especially with his SO along for the trip.

ohmark

A minority view: Bistro breakfasts, while too expensive, are significantly better than all other Marriott limited service brands, better than most full service lounges, and better than many full service buffets. There was no comparison during recent stays at a CY and an fs Marriott: The individually prepared breakfast of cheddar scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, sourdough toast, and Starbucks coffee at the CY (Dulles Chantilly) was night and day superior to both the concierge lounge breakfast and the restaurant buffet at the fs Marriott (Niagara Falls Fallsview).

IMO, the newly built and the remodeled CY's are modern, functional, and pleasing to the eye. All things equal, I still generally prefer any of the full-service Marriott brands. But, I don't feel as negatively towards CY as some folks here do. Be nice if the CY amenity choice included a breakfast coupon or, say, $10 off on a Bistro purchase.

craz

I prefer a CY, the beds are better then what I find at the other non FS places. I like the RIs but at 5 pts per $1 Id take a CY. Most SHSs are no different then a suite in a FI and frankly they arent suites at all,IMO

What I dont get about the CYs is why MR said they are hotels for the business traveler designed by the business traveler. Ive yet to find a single biz person who doesnt mind not getting a free breakfast but prefers to pay for it, doesnt want free coffee being available all day long, and simply isnt interested in earning pts for an extra spend they have besides the room rate @ a CY

As others have said I found CYs to have lower rates then the other types on the weekends and with the savings can get a better breakfast elsewhere then the rubber things the other props offer up, thats with the exception of the waffles, but Ive found a # of places have done away with them as well

joshua362

Repeat over and over enough anything and a large percentage people will eventually believe it as the truth. TV brainwashing is effective!

VickiSoCal

I find it hard to believe you've never met a business traveler who doesn't drink coffee.

keeton

One thing that I've noticed when Marriott converts a "historic" property to a hotel, it ends up being a Courtyard. I have stayed at ones in Pittsburgh, Omaha, San Diego, New Orleans, Seattle and Boston, just to name a few.

Still hate the brand, though.

SkiAdcock

Raises hand. I don't drink coffee.

Cheers.

craz

Never said I met and spoke to "All business travelers"

Besides the reason they pulled the free coffee/tea was since they put the very over priced Starbucks into the Bristo, and simply felt if they kept the free stuff then they wouldnt sell the Starbucks stuff

At least MR could let Bristo purchases earn pts

BrightlyBob

Courtyard is a brand, brands are aimed at consumers. If you don't get it, it's not aimed at you.

I like Marriott's, RENs, Autographs and JWs. I'm sure I'd like RC too, but it's too rich for my tastes. It's not really aimed at me, I can't understand (or afford!) spending $500/night on a hotel room!

I'm not enthralled by FFI/CY/SHS/RI/TPS, though during a forthcoming month visit to Canada and USA FFI, CY and TPS all make an appearance. I've no doubt I'll try AC and Moxy, mainly because the first is very common in Spain, and Marriott is planning many Eurpoean Moxys. But if I don't like them I won't stay again.

DenverBrian

You have to go back to the 70s to understand all of Courtyard's DNA. There was none of this branding variegation that we see today; Marriott had perhaps 30 hotels in the portfolio nationwide.

The prototype Marriott was huge - lots of F&B, meeting rooms, and so on. Bill Sr. and Jr. were looking for a way to get a compact Marriott footprint into close-in parcels of land in all the major metropolitan areas. By eliminating most of the F&B, conference and catering, they could produce a compact hotel that focused on room revenue (80% house profit) instead of the ancillaries (20% or less house profit). They also thought there was a niche for a business-oriented small hotel chain at the time, since compact hotels of the day were dominated by Holiday Inn, Ramada, Best Western and the like - with a market skewed more towards leisure travelers.

First Courtyard prototype was Windy Hill, GA, 1983. "Designed by business travelers for business travelers." Features included a working desk, a speakerphone, and two ways out of every room (a legacy of the MGM fire in Las Vegas). Very restricted F&B, with a small restaurant serving three or even two meals (some Courtyards didn't serve lunch).

The concept of "free" breakfast hardly existed in the 80s, and Marriott has always been loathe to offer it. Fairfield Inn didn't even offer it as a brand - it was shoehorned into that prototype sometime around 1996 IIRC. Meanwhile, many Courtyards even eliminated dinner service in the 90s and provided only a (paid) breakfast.

So, for decades the Courtyard DNA has included an aversion to food service of any kind, and a HUGE aversion to giving breakfast away for free. But because it was the first branch of the multi-brand explosions of the 90s and 2000s (Marriott has something like 18 hotel brands today; Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Starwood all followed Marriott down the path), Courtyard got the best locations, closest to city cores and metro centers - the most convenient of the limited service hotel locations.

So now you have hundreds of Courtyards out there in the US, many of them built from 1983-1998, all of them extremely consistent in build, with a bigger swath of inertia and brand loyalty from business travelers than any of the other, later brands. They've remodeled and renovated over the years, but the F&B footprint remains small and Marriott keeps trying ways to make some semblance of profit out of that portion of the business.

jtwiz

Yup, me neither! But even worse is that I have a morning Diet Coke, which of course, you cannot find in Marriotts of any kind (except for a few FS gift shops...) I always stock up the night before.

My company does negotiate corporate rates at CYs that happen to be near our major US offices to include breakfast. That really makes a CY much more attractve because I am the kind of business traveler that wants a bit of breakfast before heading off for the day.

C17PSGR

I recently stayed in a NewGen CY. It was very much configured for the business traveler. Tons of outlets recessed into the furniture. Good lighting in the room. Nice workspace in the room. The lobby has the big work tables in the Bistro area with plugs. I think they are definitely after the business crowd.

But ... they always highlight I can get a "free drip Starbucks" for being a Plat. How about just a Starbucks!