flyerfmaz

It's utterly non-sensical. I can't think of one reason for stripping a hotel room of useful furniture except for the hotel owner saving money. After thinking further about it, I believe the whole "we're doing it for the millenials" excuse is a red herring. IMO, Marriott (and the other hotel chains participating in the hotel room strip-down game) gave their designers orders to modernize and redecorate but cut costs. Most hotel rooms are already rather sparse, so the obvious targets are things like the desk and storage space for clothes. Also, the "surveys" that allegedly revealed that the desks were unused and unwanted are likely manipulated. To save their contracts with Marriott and other hotel operators, these designers had to actually come up with ways to cut costs, so the end result is this madness. It's a decision that Marriott may regret as most of us are going to push back when we are given a room that's missing some important basics.

Marriott has about 892,000 rooms in its entire network of hotels. If we assume they get a pretty good discount on furniture, a simple dresser might cost $300 and a desk $200. So, that saves $500 per room OR $446 MILLION in costs. Follow the money....

lucycan

I'm currently at the Courtyard DFW North Irving property. This has the "new" Courtyard redo which DOES include a SMALL desk. The rest of the room is rather stark. A bed, and a small chair in the corner. Makes it look like a BIG room, but unappealing.

Boraxo

As a similarly seasoned traveler I share your pain (and concur). All full service Marriotts should have desks - no exceptions. Even at resorts I like to have a desk for various items. Luggage stands are a no brainer. As for the phone, I don't really care much about the location, but I do like the key buttons (i.e. at your service) to be clearly marked, and they damn well better pick up the phone by the fourth ring

sethb

I want a desk, and I want a dresser. Luggage stands are much less important.

SkiAdcock

+1. I'll take the desk & dresser over a luggage stand (although all 3 preferred).

Just curious - do all the millennials dress casual for work? Not having a place to hang suits, etc, makes no sense. Who wants to go to work in wrinkled clothes?

Cheers.

UnderEst

This year, I've started bringing my own set of hangers. Many of the properties I stay in have 4 hangers or less in the wardrobe closet. When requesting more, they're either not delivered or take way too long to be delivered.

SkiAdcock

Maybe we should start a list of properties that provide enough hangers It might be a gal thing, but I use a lot of hangers/hang up my clothes when traveling, whether for bizness or personal.

Cheers.

UnderEst

Haha, I don't think it's just a gal thing. Most of my stays are at least a week and one of my first night rituals is to iron my shirts/pants/tie/etc. and hang them up for the week.

On personal travel, my wife and I try to just hang things up to get them out of the suitcase and easier to find when getting dressed.

sethb

I've had a lot more rooms without dressers than without closets (plus a few with closets so small they're effectively unusable).

Zeeb

Nothing like waiting around the room for an hour and then having someone show up with 1 or 2 hangers. If I was just 1 short I probably wouldn't have called...

Zeeb

In my early 30s I'm technically a millennial but I don't understand this mindset at all. After a long day of work the last thing I want to do is be surrounded by more random people. And I most certainly don't want any type of buzz unless it comes from an adult beverage. If I have to work through the evening I look forward to the piece and quiet of a solitary hotel room.

C17PSGR

I stayed recently at the AC Hotel in Chicago, to see how the Euro design felt. As I read, it is designed for millennials.

Got to say, the absence of kleenex, a small slab and a hipster fiberglass chair, and very dim lights didn't excite me. Plus, the desk agents didn't seem to get much about the PP upgrade, and seemed to think they were doing me a favor even though the place was fairly empty. Then, the AC lounge was supposed to have free snacks according to signs all over the place ... and not a snack in sight during the posted hours.

darthbimmer

YES! I was thinking the same thing recently. These "customer studies" seem to be a fairly transparent ploy to justify stripping out furniture during the next round of renovations and thus lower costs. Moreover, as the room design standardizes around no desk, no dresser, no closet, etc. new properties can be built with smaller rooms, thus further lowering costs.

I want my MTVdesk!

DenverBrian

To be rated by AAA, the room needs three enclosed drawers. That can be built in or via a free-standing dresser.

darthbimmer

That would explain why the SHS I'm presently staying in has one drawer in the TV stand and two drawers inside the wardrobe. All of these drawers are useless, of course. The one in the TV stand is at floor level, and the two in the wardrobe are actually counterproductive because they render half of the hangar bar unusable for hanging a shirt, jacket, or pants without crumpling.