Day Two
Thursday, October 18, 2001

Mrs. Starwood Lurker was her usual early-rising self, despite the fairly late arrival the night before. She sometimes gets up at dawn or shortly thereafter, but I have never been much of a morning person. Early in our marriage we established a routine that continues to serve us well: she brings me coffee in bed and I allow her to speak to me as long as I don't have to respond. Asking me a question before I've had my coffee does not elicit an intelligible human response. I return the favor (sans coffee) after 10:30 at night when her cognitive functions begin to shut down.

This particular morning I was at a real disadvantage since I would not be having my usual Ethiopian Yirgachaffe. We'd brought the coffee but had forgotten the coffee filters. All the in-room coffee-maker provided was those round packets with coffee already enclosed. For any normal person I'm sure the coffee provided by the hotel would be fine, but for me, with my Ethiopianized taste buds, it was just short of being swill. I pondered whether calling Whatever/Whenever would result in a package of coffee filters being delivered to the room or if I should stumble into a cab and find my way to Café Du Mond, but I have to admit to being my own worst enemy at this hour of the day. As it turned out the hotel coffee went down easily enough and by the time the wife was ready to leave for her conference my eyes were actually open. What follows is a brief explanation of why we made the trip to New Orleans, in Mrs. Lurker's own words:

Hello, everyone! Thanks for letting me peek into your world for a moment!

Now, lest anyone think I get the short end of the stick on the morning coffee issue, let me hasten to explain that Mr. Lurker is an excellent chef and frequently serves me up wonderful dinners! Personally I think I've got the best end of the stick!

Onward to the conference: In my role as a Board member for the Austin Polycystic Ovary Syndrome support group (www.austinpcos.org) I had a chance to attend Tulane University's Center for Bioenvironmental Research "e.hormone2001" conference there in New Orleans, and was thrilled to have the company of my husband on the trip. I've had an interest for several years in "endocrine disruptors", a broad category of pesticides, petrochemicals, plasticizers, and even naturally occurring compounds that disrupt the body's hormone message system (see www.ourstolenfuture.com for more info). They often cause growth, reproductive, and other health problems in both humans and animals, and, as we learned at the conference, perhaps even in plants.

Well, here I was, all excited to get to the conference Thursday morning, and grabbed a cab - to the wrong place! I had headed to the International House Hotel, where I thought events would take place. Turns out that was just where registration was the night before. Personally I was glad not to have to be there all day as the hotel seemed to be in disarray. A room off the front lobby had what looked like remodeling debris piled in the middle of it, with not even a curtain to block it from the lobby; and when I followed the signs to what I thought was the conference location, I found an empty room with dirty tables and empty wine bottles. I went back down to the lobby and checked the signs again and that's when I realized the dirty tables were from the welcome reception the previous night! I was shocked as I've never seen a hotel leave facilities dirty into the next day. I was even more shocked later to look at some of the tourist information provided in our W Hotel room and discover that the International House was highly praised as being a premier hotel! I can only think that I caught them on a really bad day and on that basis I'm willing to give them a chance to make a better impression next time I visit New Orleans. Meanwhile, I was glad we were staying at the W, where my husband was about to share lunch with some gracious people.

While she was trying to find her conference, I began to move about, getting ready for the day. I called Nicole Burgin, my main contact for the hotel, around 9am to see how her day was progressing. We agreed to meet for lunch at 12:30pm in the hotel's restaurant, Zoe Bistrot and Bar. Carlton Hudson, the General Manager of the W New Orleans on Poydras, and Edmund Sulzman, the General Manager of the W New Orleans French Quarter were going to join us. I was very honored to be able to spend some time with these gentlemen as they are usually quite busy with their managerial duties, although I was disappointed that an old acquaintance of mine who is now the Area Managing Director and General Manager of the Sheraton New Orleans could not join us. As my luck would have it, he was in White Plains at the corporate office. I really appreciated Nicole arranging the luncheon.

At 11:45am I ventured out of the room, being sure to take in the "Leave Me Alone" hang-tag so housekeeping could work their magic. I went down to the first floor to check out the activity and surroundings in the light of day, but especially to retrieve my cell phone from the mini-van. I stood by to see if anyone at the front desk would become available to field a question or two, but they were busy with other guests. Then I noticed a man who could only be another employee of the hotel. I mean it becomes rather easy to recognize the "cast members" even for a rookie like myself. He was very friendly and outgoing and seemingly everywhere for everyone at once. I asked him if it would be possible to get a valet to retrieve something from our van, explaining that I just wanted the item and not the car. "No problem, sir. Just step this way." As he moved his arm in a display motion toward the valet parking door, the two curtains suddenly rose and split apart to allow us through. I was a little surprised, maybe even startled, as I had not noticed this when we first arrived, but then again it was awfully dark at that hour. He escorted me to the valet stand and I told them what I wanted. This crew was a little more lively and after getting my parking receipt number, one of them sprinted off toward the garage. He was back in 10 minutes with my cell phone. While I waited I discussed with the other two how things were going for them since the events of September 11th. Clearly they didn't want to discuss details, but they did say that things were getting back to normal. I tipped the valet $5 and headed back toward what they call the Living Room.

The bed was still in the foyer and the curtains did their thing again. I passed through the Library and past Whiskey Blue to the hotel's western entrance. There was a "Mother's Ham Sandwich" place across the street and a Subway on the same side but more toward Canal Street. As I took a visual tour of the Library, I noticed that most, but not all, the books were covered with plain brown wrappers that made it impossible to know what the titles were. "Strange," I thought. "Why would they do that?" I decided it was probably to create an actual touch experience with the contents rather than a curious visual encounter. Too weird for me though. I didn't fall into that trap. I did spy a couple of really huge chairs that could only be described as thrones. I tried not to let it show that I was contemplating how to get them from the Library, into our van, and back to Austin without being suspected. Just kidding. Finally, I spied a magazine and sat down on a couch to read and people-watch simultaneously as I still had about twenty minutes to kill. Several patrons attempted to enter Whiskey Blue, but the doors were locked. Pedestrians outside were curious about what the hotel looked like inside and peered in as they made their way toward Mother's. After about 15 minutes I decided it was time to head to my luncheon appointment with the W Hotel folks.

I arrived just after 12:30pm and Nicole was already waiting for me. Mr. Hudson and Mr. Sulzman showed up a few minutes later. The restaurant staff seated us as we waited for Ramon Reyes, the front office manager, to join us. Word quickly came that he was going to be too tied up to have lunch with us, but that he would join us for dessert. We spent the next hour or so getting acquainted over lunch. I ordered the turkey pannini with pomme frittes and iced tea. Highly recommended and respectably spicy. I made a mental note to warn the wife about this. While she is a real turkey fan, she can't tolerate spicy foods. Unusual for a Cajun woman, I know. Anyway, the pomme frittes come served in a deep white coffee cup and wrapped in tissue paper. It kind of gives you the impression of a Chef's hat in appearance. Very clever, I thought.

I won't bore you with the details of our conversation but we discussed a lot of things such as the impact of the events of September 11th on the local economy, the Starwood Preferred Guest program, how I got involved with Starwood and then with monitoring FlyerTalk, and a myriad of other hotel-related items, including revenue management. As we finished our lunch and meeting Ramon arrived, just in time for dessert. I ordered the vanilla-flavored crème brulee' and it was very tasty, although afterward I regretted not ordering what Nicole had recommended. Unfortunately now I can't remember what that was!

Ramon is a young man whom everyone at the table obviously admired and respected. Mr. Hudson was practically beaming just looking at him. Later, I would get a glimpse of why that is. As we left to go our separate ways, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Sulzman, and Nicole left me and Ramon to what I was most anticipating - a view from behind the scenes. Ramon and I made our way downstairs to his office behind the front desk. We discussed the procedures they have in place to track Platinum and Gold elite members, how they track customer complaints, and other facets that have a direct relationship to how I try to get your voice heard at the property level whenever an issue arises. I guess if there was an impression made on me personally, it was how much more these people's jobs entail than chasing after my inquiries. But instead of looking at them as extra work, they have really embraced the idea of exceptional customer service and have taken measures to see that every detail is given its proper attention. Ramon, for example, devised a form that they use to track past guest complaints. Each one is given a specific code and entered into the guest's history. For instance, say a Platinum member did not receive the requested amenity upon check-in, despite the efforts in place to assure receipt. This member would have the code for that issue entered next to his or her name. When the guest returns, the front desk staff sees this code and knows that they need to confirm this for the member before it becomes an issue. This is only one of a hundred possible scenarios, and Ramon says the new Platinum amenity choice program and the new ARRIVAL procedures that have been put into effect for all North American properties will probably make this a non-issue for their hotel. Still, the corporate office liked his idea so well that they are making space for it on the company intranet as a "best practice" to be shared with other hotels.

Afterward, Ramon escorted me to the executive offices where Nicole had promised I could surf the FlyerTalk.com site to check up on you guys and gals. I mused over the suspected closing of the Austin Customer Contact Center that I call "home away from home" and some other questions that were posted. While I contemplated making a posting, I decided not to since there was nothing earth-shattering on the horizon. I thanked Nicole and the office help for their hospitality and went back to our suite.

The wife arrived minutes before I did. Nicole had secured reservations for us at Emeril's at 9:30pm, so we rested and ate a light meal from room service around 5:30pm. I had marinated olives served with bruchetta and goat cheese. The wife had a cheeseburger and fries as she hadn't eaten since about 11:30 that morning. The burger was huge, and the wife afterward regretted eating the fries as the burger alone would have been enough. My marinated olives were good, but some had pits and others didn't. Considering the idea would be to spread the goat cheese on the bruchetta and top with olives before eating, I found having to deal with the pits, well, the pits. It could have also been a little more generous in the goat cheese department, still, it was a nice dish. The wife raved about the cheesburger so much that I decided I needed to try it before we left New Orleans.

We settled in to rest until about 8:30pm, then got up and dressed for dinner. Turned out Emeril's is only a few blocks away from the W on Poydras so the cab ride was much shorter than we'd expected. We arrived around 9:10 or so to discover a full house and standing room only in the waiting area. I checked us in and requested seating at the food bar. We were told it would be a 15 minute wait. "Fine," I said. "That's still earlier than our reservation." The maitre d' pondered that for a moment before nodding in agreement. We found an unoccupied chair in the bar area for each of us and settled in for our wait. It was not long in coming. Five minutes later a young lady approached us and said we were to be seated - at the corner table next to where we already were. I pondered for a moment asking for the food bar again and decided not to make an issue of it. Next time I will take Mr. Hudson up on his offer to call on our behalf, but I am wondering…being faced with a similar situation, what I should have done otherwise? Grace the palm of the maitre d' perhaps? How much would have been enough? Oh well, the occasion was special enough just having a nice dinner with the wife. I wasn't going to let the seating arrangements spoil that.

We were attended by two waiters who asked what our drink preferences were at the moment. We both ordered iced tea. Menus were unfolded as they recited the catch of the day and various specials. I glanced over the menu and it was a nice array of various seafood, steak, and poultry dishes, not to mention the pork. I pondered the grilled double-cut pork chop and the wife made several comments about one dish or another, but I was set to try the Degustation menu almost from before we left Austin. We decided that's what it would be after several assurances from our waiters that we would be able to leave without the aid of a wheelbarrow after finishing the seven courses. We did forego the accompanying wine selections, however. The wife does not drink more than a half glass of wine on any occasion and my indulgence for it is few and far between, so it would have been a wasted effort on their part to have us savor the nuances of this glass of wine as opposed to another. I'm sure they're there, but for my palate definitely not like what you'd find between different distilleries in a good single malt scotch comparison.

The waiters began their preparations while the wife and I discussed the day. Suddenly the throng of people gathered at the bar swept into a side room set up for a wedding rehearsal dinner. Along with them much of the noise disappeared and we could finally hear ourselves think. During our stay in New Orleans there seemed to be a constant assault of the ears. I remember asking Mr. Hudson how long it took him to get used to the music in the lobby of the W Hotel. He chuckled and admitted it took some getting used to at the beginning, but said now, whenever he goes to a hotel that doesn't have it, it seems strange to him.

The waiters brought the first of the seven Degustation courses, a salad listed as "House Cured Atlantic Salmon with Micro Greens, Orange Segments, Pinenuts, and Lemon-Tarragon Crème Fraiche." I like salmon so I thought to myself, "Man this is going to be good." Although I should have been tipped off at the words "cured". I mean it was as much a slab of bait as sushi is. It got better the more you swirled it in the sauce and orange segments, but it wasn't our favorite.

Second course: "Roasted Fresh Water Prawns with Green Onion-Coconut Rice Pilaf, Tomato Salsa, Toasted Almonds, and mango Coulis." This was much better. The combination of the coulis, the almonds, and the rice along with the shrimp was terrific. I would have to say that the green onion-coconut rice pilaf was the most memorable side dish of the evening. That is, unless you took into account the added dimension of my wife's portion. Unfortunately, Mrs. SL had found a couple of hairs mixed in with her prawns. She set them at the top of the plate so the waiter could not miss them. As he retrieved her plate, he gazed at them with a wide-eyed look of mortification. "Did we add a little something extra to your plate?" She nodded slightly. I almost expected him to say, "Well, don't tell anyone else or they'll all ask for it as well", but I truly think he was embarrassed. I marveled at how the wife handled the situation though. Very classy, I thought.

Third course: "Sauteed Jumbo Sea Scallop with Fresh English Peas, Porcini Mushrooms, and Truffled Sweet Onion Butter Sauce." The ocean scallops were very fresh and lightly seasoned which really allowed their natural sweetness to come through.

Fourth course: "Pomegranate Glazed Mississippi Farm-Raised Quail with Sweet Potatoes, Yellowfoot Chanterelle Mushrooms, Spiced Chestnuts, and Lentil Ragout." Neither Mrs. SL or myself have ever even seen chestnuts so they were a big surprise. The quail was just right - not burnt to a crisp - and the pomegranate glaze, mushrooms, and lentils rounded out the flavors. The sweet potatoes kind of held it all together.

Fifth course: "Carved Filet Mignon with Stilton Blue Cheese, Toasted Walnuts, Rosemary Roasted New Potatoes, Haricot Vert, and Blackberry Demi Glace." The Stilton blue cheese was marvelous, but it really killed the flavor of everything else. All you could taste was blue cheese. Not a bad thing for a blue cheese fan like myself, but way too much for the wife.

Sixth course: "Stilton, Cows Milk from England with Toasted Walnuts and French Bread." A very nice break from all the conflicting flavors of the previous course.

Seventh course: "Fresh Lemon Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Warm Figs in a Brandy Syrup." I opted for another dessert since I don't care for lemon-flavored stuff much. The wife said the cake was dry and would not go down well without the ice cream. Funny, I can't remember what my dessert was, but I know it was great. The guys at the table next to us both had chocolate soufflés with a generous portion of melted chocolate poured into and around them. Talk about death by chocolate. This was it.

All in all, dining at Emeril's was a pleasant experience despite the one gaffe. The waiters were very attentive and paced the meal so we were not overly full. The wife agreed next time we came we should order off the regular menu, but the Degustation experience was a good one for both of us. Including the tip for the waiters, it was a little over $200 without the wine options, so it's not cheap by any standard.

As we left, the maitre d' and the woman who seated us both asked how everything was and smiled us out the door. Nice touch, I thought. The valet guys hailed us a cab and we were back at the hotel in minutes. It had truly been a long day so we were anxious to get to the room and relax a little before turning in around 1am. The W signature bed was inviting, but I was still trying to work the pillows into a comfortable position before I was able to get to sleep. Not a problem for Mrs. Lurker though. She was out like a light.

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 10-31-2001).]