Originally Posted by
ntamayo
Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway
Stayed here recently with family on the last day of our vacation before the return flight home.
- Reserved a King, but got upgraded to a nice 1BR King Suite.
- Half bath near the entry way, but a huge main bathroom, with separate shower, jacuzzi tub, and toilet room.
- Our room faced the Skytrain and takeoffs from ATL, but had great sound insulation, so we couldn’t hear a thing!
- Ordered takeout from the onsite restaurant, a nice ribeye and salmon.
- Staff was friendly, from check-in to the lounge to housekeeping requests.
- A few gotchas:
- Club lounge on the 7th floor was minimal at best, only open 6:30am - 10am for grab-and-go breakfast, then key access for water/soda until 12noon. Coffee machine remained shut off since they re-opened the lounge, so no espresso or hot cocoa.
- There was a long line in the morning at their onsite coffee shop downstairs, so I settled for drip coffee from the lounge.
- Although the bathroom was huge, I’d say it was almost too big, with a lot of wasted space, and a soft bench at the opposite end from the vanity.
- No valet available, just self parking. I would have returned the car early and taken the Skytrain, but my family didn’t want to slog through the heat and humidity with bags in tow.
- However, all in all a decent stay for convenience to the airport and great service.
Since this is an area onmi-thread, shall we compare-and-contrast with my stay at the
Ren Concourse this week?
- IIRC, the FS Gateway was $20/night cheaper for like rooms. (The other FS and the Ren Gateway were all in the cheaper neighborhood, too.)
- No upgrade at the Ren (I didn't ask. It was just me, so I don't care. But it didn't look *that* busy.)
- I knew I was going to arrive late, so I did a mobile check-in early afternoon. On the plus side, they did deliver a mobile key before I was even on the ground.
- Upon arriving, I stopped by the front desk to get physical keys and ask if the room faced the runway, and if it did not, could it? The FDC did some pecking around on their keyboard, asked if I would mind a Q/Q (instead of my reserved King) on that side, and I replied that was fine. I ended up on the north/road/away side of the hotel. I'm not sure if that was ignorance or malfeasance. It didn't really matter, but just tell me 'no' and let me keep that 5 minutes.
- Lounge was open for breakfast. Only. No access at all the rest of the day, contrary to their paper-printed info sheet by the door. A different FDC confirmed that what I was encountered was correct, but didn't seem to understand why it mattered. Evidently, they couldn't be bothered to printout a new sheet.
- Breakfast was decent. Real scrambled eggs and the usual paper-thin bacon. Mass jugs of drip coffee, and I couldn't tell that there had ever been a machine there. Coffee was at least serviceable, maybe even good for what it was. Fresh juice was also on hand.
- Refrigerator was only stocked with water. No sodas or anything else. Not really a big deal given the access hours, but I have seen some people drink a soda at breakfast, and I have been known to carry one out with me for later in the day.
- Room was fine. It has been refreshed, but the whole place could use a full remodel.
- AC was good, bed was good, bathroom worked. Nothing skeeved me out, so I was happy.
- Had dinner in the bar one night. It was both a little more fancy and -IIRC- more expensive than what was posted above. My shrimp tacos were good, though. No complaints.
- Bartender was weak, but it was my fault. I should have caught on quicker.
- Valet was available, but I self-parked.
- Self parking was $23/nt. Walk was not long.
- I didn't inquire how much the valet was.
We all have different pinch points, but the Ren was fine, if just middling. By the end, I was a little astonished at how they could let so many little things slide. (Yeah, I know, it's the times we're in.) I wanted to stand in the middle of the atrium and scream "does anybody here care???" There appeared to be a good number of Delta corporate or affiliated people there, so maybe they think they can just coast and folks will keep staying there and just walk next door. For me, breakfast is the trump card. I'm sure I could do better somewhere else, but a simple eggs, bacon, and coffee breakfast is all I need and I don't have to drive somewhere, nor suffer with a grab bag. Another factor for me personally is the Concourse is 5-10 minutes closer to my project than the west-side choices. If breakfast returns to normal across the various nearby hotels, I may have to explore the other choices.
One humorous note: I was going down the elevator once and got this feeling of deja vu. It took a minute, then it dawned on me. It is the same basic design as the Ren Denver Stapleton. But not an exact carbon copy, as there are a few notable differences. I knew the Denver Ren was a former Stouffer, I guess this one was, too. (Google just confirmed. I didn't realize that the 'Concourse' in the name was a Stouffer thing.)