OK, here's one I haven't seen addressed in any detail on the board: Which concierge lounge, in your opinion, is the best?

I'll lead off with my favorite, the lounge in the Stamford, CT Marriott. Nice atmosphere, but it is the food that surpasses any that I have been in. Peeled jumbo shrimp 2-3 nights per week, hand-carved beef tenderloin at least once per week, free beer and, I think, wine. And they serve plenty, not just one platter and when it's gone, it's gone.

#2 spot, a tie between the Princeton, NJ Marriott Forrestal Village and the Waterfront Marriott in Baltimore. Princeton has food you can make a meal of: baked ziti, shrimp fried rice, and other goodies including an occasional sushi/everything else you can think of blowout for their elite members. Baltimore Waterfront has Maryland crab 1-2 nights per week: crab cakes, crab claws, or crab-stuffed broiled shrimp.

I guess the above is focused on food, which was not my intent, that just seems to be where I live! But judge by anything, please: Ambiance, view, staff, food, whatever. I'd really like to know what your favorite lounges are out there.

-Harry

(edited for spelling/grammar)

[This message has been edited by hnechets (edited 05-28-2001).]

We really liked the conceriege lounge at the Marriott Long Wharf in Boston. A great view of the haba. Excellent food and friendly service. I remember the best coconut shrimp I've ever had. More of an elegant atmosphere than most of the lounges we've visited.

Of the 150 or so full service marriotts I have stayed at, my Top 5 ranking would be:

(1) DFW Airport South
(2) Hunt Valley, MD
(3) Budapest
(4) San Francisco
(5) County Hall London

No doubt in my mind - the newly renovated Concierge lounge at the San Mateo Marriott.

SimonC

Denver Southeast makes the best ice cream sundaes and the staff is fantastic.

The renovated JW lounge in Hong Kong is high on service, the view is wonderful, and the food choices are quite good.

I'm pretty fond of the chocolate covered strawberries at the JW in Atlanta, too!

The Nashville airport staff is always wonderful and very intuned to your needs.

I like the food choices at the Marriott Marquis in NY.

The Renaissance in Sydney has a fantastic staff and the ambiance isn't too bad either!

There was a time when we had stayed in quite a lot of the Marriott Concierge Lounges as a % of the total, but with so many new hotels, others dropped, and our cutback in travel, there's a lot we don't know, and many of our impressions may be somewhat out of date, so I couldn't begin to guess the "best". Some I've especially liked:

San Antonio Rivercenter (large, nice staff, view, pretty good food); but it's no longer open on weekends - dmmn

Toronto Airport Marriott - Audrey is the best concierge in the company (hope she's still there!), and the rest of the staff was good too;

Sydney Marriott - good food and drink, nice staff

Oak Brook IL - large lounge, friendly staff, good spread

Romulus (nr DTW) - the concierge on Sunday nights was a gem (but I can't remember her name - she sure knew us). It was a real haven after a hard convention weekend. The food was great; I remember once asking in the dining room if I could get the same thing for dinner that they'd had in the Lounge (mushrooms with beef). I got it too. It was remarkably good. This of course was before the blasted standardized menu got shoved down everyone's throat (no pun intended).

I still think one of the best is the lounge at Griffin Gate, here in Lexington. The staff is good, the spread is respectable, good looks & design, 2 story - and large enough to not have the bloody TV dominate everything! - and it's STILL OPEN ON WEEKENDS!

Funny how the staff really makes the difference so often...


[This message has been edited by GG (edited 05-29-2001).]

My vote would have to go to the Marriott County Hall in London.

Our visit in February was enhanced tremendously by the concierge, Sandra in the lounge-she befriended my daughter, and they chatted every morning during our visit. This was definitely a high point for an 11 yr old!

Honorable mention, believe it or not, goes to the Marriott Rochester Airport. It's an older facility, nothing fancy, but the concierge is wonderful-she remembers me every time I am there (about once a month or more).



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Regards,

Art from ISP

I'm with baglady forn Denver Seast also San Antonio riverwalk and Long Beach airport Marriott

I'm with baglady forn Denver Seast also San Antonio riverwalk and Long Beach airport Marriott

milesrus, are you sure you don't mean the Rivercenter in San Antonio? The Riverwalk folks do what they can with what they have, but the lounge in that hotel was pretty pokey the last time I looked in. Unless they've done something drastic lately, there's no way it compares to the Rivercenter lounge.

I travel alot and the best concierge lounge I have ever stayed at was the MSP Airport Hilton Hands Down.

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TWA Elite I
Marriott Gold
Hilton Gold

GG-

Your perfect comments on Audrey brought back some very pleasant memories when she would "save" some of those wonderfully delicious bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp normally served on Sunday nights especially for me. I usually dragged in at 900 PM so to get an early Monday start. They really tasted great with some nice bubbly in the lounge. Beats the smoky noisy restaurants anytime.

The finest lounge is in Salt Lake. I was told it is the only Marriott where Plats are NOT upgraded to the lounge level. I was upgraded once in about 30 stays as a Plat.

MisterNice

Nobody mentioned the view from the SF Marriott.

I nominate the New Orleans Marriott for its food.

Re: SLC, I don't remember(4 or 5 stays 2 years ago) it as any thing special, and there are several Marriotts where plats don't get the lounge floor - Somerset NJ is totally impossible (0 for 75 stays) unless its Christmas week or a weekend, Fall Church Va. is almost as bad.

I liked the view from the top floor bar at the SF Marriott even better than the 18th floor Concierge Lounge. My only negative comment about that lounge is that it was pretty crowded most of the time.

MrNice, we were just at the end of our sales weekend, and usually went to dinner about 8pm on a Sunday night in TOR. We may have passed you in the doorway!

Come to think of it, the one and only night we were ever at the SLC Marriott, we did not get upgraded. But they said the lounge was closed (it was Sunday). We were on Day 3 of a hard drive to San Fransisco, and too tired to care.

dant, come to think of it, I don't remember much about the food in the NOLA lounge. It's undoubtedly because we're usually saving room for another AMAZING restaurant meal, I guess, and often only hit the lounge for a non-fat breakfast (necessary for surviving all those other meals!).

Oops I forgot to nominate that really nice lounge at the San Diego Harbor Marriott. Great food and one of the best views in the world, especially when the USN is sailing down the channel. You have a telescope and a Janes Fighting Ships for view and reference (and the swimming pool is nicely watchable via the telescope). Wow!

MisterNice