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The Idiots who Design Marriott Rooms

The Idiots who Design Marriott Rooms

Old Jul 22, 2015, 8:07 am
  #226  
 
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
Maybe we should start a thread that says Hotels with No Desks so people can post & others will know to avoid those properties if they want/need a desk.
Yes please! I will not stay at these!
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 11:12 am
  #227  
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Originally Posted by lucycan
+1, this is the most important feature to me in a room, other than the toilet.
I think a bed is more important than a desk.

(Yes, a hotel tried to give me a room with no bed once.)
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 11:15 am
  #228  
 
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Originally Posted by sethb
I think a bed is more important than a desk.

(Yes, a hotel tried to give me a room with no bed once.)
If they are willing to give me the 10 elite night credit like a conference room I will sleep on the desk.
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 11:52 am
  #229  
 
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Originally Posted by sethb
That doesn't sound like breakfast is affected, more like their cocktail/dinner hour.
This is just killing me. Who is going to a lobby in a RI to "socialize standing up" with a bunch of traveling strangers? Its not a bar at a FS where business people are winding down and killing time. Especially in this day and age where everyone's head is down looking at their cell phone every other minute?

But if you pay a consultant for a report, you tend to believe the jibberish contained within, right?
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 1:41 pm
  #230  
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Originally Posted by joshua362
This is just killing me. Who is going to a lobby in a RI to "socialize standing up" with a bunch of traveling strangers?
Unless I'm in the RI with a group or really desperate for free food and beverages, I'm unlikely to be in the lobby at happy hour anyway.
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 1:48 pm
  #231  
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I've created a thread where FTers can list the properties that do NOT have desks, so that other FTers will know & can plan their stays accordingly.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...out-desks.html

Cheers.
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Old Jul 22, 2015, 2:18 pm
  #232  
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Originally Posted by jmanrunner
If they are willing to give me the 10 elite night credit like a conference room I will sleep on the desk.
No such luck.

And I'm still looking for cheap conference rooms. Almost had one the other week; they wanted $200 for the day but wouldn't split it up (I offered $400 for the day if they'd do it as 8 contracts for several different people).

Anybody know a good place?
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Old Sep 19, 2015, 2:00 pm
  #233  
 
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Thumbs down IAH Airport Hotel

Originally Posted by DL-Don
Do the people who are redesigning the Marriott rooms ever try to work in them?

I have been staying at the SFO Airport Marriott for nearly 20 years. I arrive today to discover that
  • There is no desk in the room
  • No desk means only the phone by the bed
  • No closets
  • No luggage stands
  • Door to the bathroom is glass and not well frosted
Reporting from two recent stays at the IAH Houston Airport Marriott...
1) No desk, although they do have a height-adjustable table (oblong shape -- looks a bit like what you see in hospitals) which I was able to turn into a platform for my laptop, but of course the nearest outlet was in a lamp on one of the nighttables so had to sit sort of catty-corner.
2) Same re: phone, but probably not high-volume usage these days.
3) The IAH rooms do have a closet by the entry-way.
4) Luggage platform is built into the furniture unit, obviously not movable but does work okay for a rollaboard, and frees up floor space.
5) Doors at this property are solid.

BUT -- they mounted their 47" LG flatscreens on a fixed mount centered opposite the bed -- yes, no swivel at all -- and the seating area is at the other end of the room, so the viewing angle if you're not laying in bed is about 45 degrees at best, and 60 or more at worst (depending on furniture and where you are seated). So, eating and watching TV is pretty much out the window. This IMHO is sheer idiocy, as opposed to the desk bit, which is a milder form.

Also, minor ding for not putting any bars or rings to hang towels other than a single rod in the shower. There's plenty of room on the walls perpendicular to the vanity, and because of the high sliding glass doors to the shower you can't use a curtain rod as a substitute. So, how many people are going to hang their towels for reuse to justify the money Marriott has spent on those signs?

I did notice that they're also trying to reduce the demand for housekeeping by bribing guests with 500 pts/nt if they put a hang-tag on the door declining service. They've also cut the bath amenities a bit, and reduced the towels from 3 sets to 2.

Bottom line, have stayed at this property quite a bit, but am going to consider other options when I need an overnight at IAH.
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Old Sep 19, 2015, 4:12 pm
  #234  
 
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Same exact thing with new rooms at Chicago Mag Mile. I much fear this is becoming the new Marriott standard when its time to renovate, whether we like it or not... Less things for them to buy, maintain and replace I suspect.
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Old Sep 20, 2015, 9:28 am
  #235  
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[QUOTE=joshua362;25450427I much fear this is becoming the new Marriott standard when its time to renovate, whether we like it or not... [/QUOTE]

I read a quote in an article the other day that leads me to believe the same.
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Old Sep 21, 2015, 8:10 am
  #236  
 
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Originally Posted by joshua362
Same exact thing with new rooms at Chicago Mag Mile. I much fear this is becoming the new Marriott standard when its time to renovate, whether we like it or not... Less things for them to buy, maintain and replace I suspect.
The lack of a desk is stupid. I've not run across this ...yet... but if and when it becomes an issue I will a)politely complain and ask to be moved to a room with a desk; and b) if there is no such room, ask for points as a compensation for having nowhere private to work.

A place to work in my room is just as important as a place to sleep. So, what's next Marriott? Remove all chairs so we have to sit cross-legged on the floor? Remove the TV and suggest we fight over the remote control in the lobby? Why don't you just remove the bed and put in military-style bunkbeds and we'll have to share our room (and a common bathroom with glass doors) with strangers? We can draw straws to see who gets the upper bunk. Then you can double the rate and call it a "cave man experience".
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Old Sep 21, 2015, 8:42 am
  #237  
 
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Originally Posted by flyerfmaz
The lack of a desk is stupid. I've not run across this ...yet... but if and when it becomes an issue I will a)politely complain and ask to be moved to a room with a desk; and b) if there is no such room, ask for points as a compensation for having nowhere private to work.
Oh, they'll call it a desk I'm sure, it's just portable and a cross between an ironing board and grade school chair/table...
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Old Sep 23, 2015, 11:46 am
  #238  
 
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Add Charlotte City Center Marriott to the list of idiotic remodels. One oval table too high to work on or eat off of while sitting on the couch. Plus they removed the carpet and replaced it with faux wood (vinyl) flooring.
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Old Sep 24, 2015, 7:41 am
  #239  
 
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Every news article I've read about this issue points to a new focus by some hotel chains on millenials as the cause for this. Marriott isn't the only one.

Since those of us who are (apparently) curmudgeons prefer desks and don't like to work in the lobby, let's hope that these hotel chains have at least some desks available for us. They could call it the "digitally and socially handicapped" rooms.

As a bit of social commentary, many "millenials" aren't nearly as productive as they think they are. With an almost insane focus on being so constantly digitally connected, they often don't know where their arm ends and their tablet begins. Marriott and some other hotel chains are attempting to take advantage of, and tap into, the "needs" of these people, but in the long run they're just feeding the dragon of reduced productivity and 24-hour Twitteritis. There -- I'm being grumpy. :-)
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Old Oct 1, 2015, 10:49 am
  #240  
 
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New article in the WSJ today... "Secrets of a hotel test lab" (Google it, if you enter from Google News, usually you won't hit the paywall). It's specifically about Marriott.

Originally Posted by WSJ/Reporter Andrea Petersen
In the new modern hotel room, the desk is shrinking, the carpet is disappearing, and the bathroom is "deconstructed".
Off to a great start. Next few paragraphs, hotels are changing, millennials, etc... But I'll summarize the points.
  • They found a bunch of "luggage toting design bloggers" to go into test rooms and apparently they just throw their bags on the chair or the desk (nobody got the luggage rack from the closet). So in some hotels (e.g. Renaissance Times Square) they put a bench by the door for that.
  • Shrinking closets with fewer hangars, particularly in hotels with many business travelers staying only a night or two. In Renaissance Times Square, the closet is a mere 18 inches wide with four to six hangers.
  • Desks are shrinking, armoires are leaving, and carpet... is disappearing (apparently because people don't trust it to really get cleaned) in favor of vinyl that resembles wood. The substitution of carpet is problematic during renovations so it's more challenging when it's not new construction (because of the need to use other material to soundproof).
  • They are going for "deconstructed" bathrooms where the toilet/shower are in one room and the sink is open to the rest of the room, separate, with a barrier of "Frosted glass" (in the article, someone comments it does not block enough light for someone else in the room to continue sleeping as someone uses the sink).
  • They toyed with upgrading the in-room coffee to Nespresso at AC hotels, but substituting the fridge. Out of a sample of about 1,000 people, they were shocked to find out 69% preferred the fridge. So it seems this will not change.

Carpet doesn't really bother me, but the smaller closet, lack of a luggage rack in the closet, and smaller desks are all for me.
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