Steve M

Just recently I've had my first two stays at Element by Westin hotels: one in Las Vegas and the other in Reno. Both have a curious situation with ice: they don't seem to be set up for guests to have ice in their rooms. At the Las Vegas location, there are no public ice machines. The front desk was able to set me up by going into the kitchen and filling a small trash bag with ice for me to use. In Reno, they have an ice machine on each guest floor, but no ice buckets or other means in the guest rooms to retrieve the ice. Once again, the front desk's solution was to cut up a trash bag for me to use. The front desk there said it has been this way since the hotel opened, and implied that it was a brand standard for Element. I can't figure it out. More or less every other hotel in the US has ice machines and ice buckets - even Motel 6. It especially doesn't make sense in the Reno case where they put in ice machines but have no buckets or other means to retrieve it. I get the sense with the overall design and aesthetics of Element that they were trying to do something different, rethinking a lot of things about how the hotel is designed and not just doing things the way they've always been done at other brands. But I just don't see how they were thinking that eliminating ice is an improvement. What am I missing?

Schnit

For some reason ice machines seem to be on the way out. I have seen the same situation as you at a recent Hyatt House stay too. They kept gallon ziploc bags next to the ice machine in the kitchen and would fill up for you.

DallasEsq

I'm not surprised. I think they must be expensive/difficult to maintain since they are often a source of health code violations at restaurants. A news reporter in Houston named Marvin Zindler (who closed down the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) was well known for his catchphrase "slime in the ice machine" when reporting on restaurants with violations.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I joke with my parents that they could never travel internationally due to the lack of ice machines. I don’t think I have ever seen one out of the US - not that I ever use them anyway.

KRSW

I've actually found the ice machines at Marriotts to be well-maintained, far better than most fast food restaurants. That said, I won't stay in a Marriott with less than a 4* rating on the usual review sites. I travel with two of these everywhere I go: After 3 years they're still going strong. Holds plenty of ice, and the nozzle means plenty of ice water during my stay. I switched to using these since the hotels went to refrigerator-only fridges, so my reusable ice blocks were rendered useless.

As far as ice machine maintenance, yes, it's a pain. I worked at an entertainment venue and there was only ONE ice machine in the entire building I'd get ice from -- the one I personally maintained.