Oh the indignities that are heaped upon us! The bottled stuff stands up well to the machine generated Minute Maid at the Fairfields. But, hey, it can't be that bad 'cause so many folks seem to like the Fairfield offerings better than those available to most full service Marriott properties.

I, personally, am satisfied with what the lounges offer. Remember, the only "promise" is for a continental breakfast on weekdays. Rather than juice, I look for a diet cola. While I'm overjoyed when a particular property has diet coke (far and away my preferred drink) I don't get upset when its a Pepsi product.

But I am intrigued, since it came from someone other than myself, with the suggestion that the lounges be closed in favor of breakfast vouchers. Even in the best of times, the lounges couldn't come close to a cooked to order breakfast in the restaurant. At my last stay at the Stanford Court in San Francisco, I used a weekend voucher ($30 credit) to get a lemon souffle pancake and a crab omlette (for sharing, of course.)

I know, I know. Most of the posters value the lounge as a "port in the storm" where they can seek a moment of quiet reflection away from the masses. But doesn't there reach a point where - if we're really to believe the bleak picture painted by posters - that with the meager offerings and the crowds packing them, that lounges shouldn't be abandoned in favor of a breakfast voucher?

On the whole, I don't believe that the picture is all that bleak. I believe whatever cutbacks have been made have been part of general belt tightening necessitated by the poor business climate.

But, really, wouldn't more people here just rather get a breakfast voucher rather than continue to be insulted by the likes of (horrors) bottled juice? (Not to mention, off the top of my head from other complaints, no oatmeal (at least not the good stuff), no eggs, no sausages, no bacon, no salmon - well, from what we've been reading, the list could go on and on.

So - how about it? Vouchers anyone? Or is the port in the storm with meager offerings worth more to you than a cooked to order breakfast. Or, just maybe, on reflection the offerings aren't meager after all. As promised, at the least, we continue to get a pretty good continental breakfast.