mjcewl1284

I guess I have yet to stay in a FS with no desk yet this year.

My common gripe was a lot of the desks placed in rooms are right next to the TV, so sometimes, I would have to twist my neck to see the TV if the TV could not swivel (worse when it's one of those ancient non-flat panel TVs), and there are some that do not swivel!
This complaint pales in comparison with hotel rooms not having desks altogether!

Count me as one who will not stay at any Marriott property without a desk.

nacho

I like the desk too - so what I did was that I made sure that I mentioned how much I appreciated the desk at the survey after my stay.

DawgmanOH

No desk = deal breaker.

I would check out rather than be in a room with no desk. I am writing this from a desk right now in a Marriott. That's great that other people like to work in their bed, but I do not. Nor do I want to concentrate on a presentation in the lobby. I want to work in my room, with the tv channel I want on, at my desk.

There's only so much you can actually do on a tablet, and the ability to create a really good presentation is not one of them. Now, get off my lawn! :-)

BrightlyBob

Firstly, the easy one, Bathrooms. I enjoy a good soak in a bath and I'm pleased to say that the vast majority of EU Marriotts have good deep baths, excellent for a nice soak. But I just can't understand the reasoning behind those pathetic tubs found in North America. Too shallow and too short for a bath, they're only suitable for showers, and as they're tubs, not ideal for that use either. The only reason I see for their use is parents travelling with small children as they're a fine size for kids.

Workdesks. Marriott is a business hotel brand. I work as a trial lawyer and end up in courts up and down the country. I need to prep up for the next day's trial on arrival at my hotel. I simply can't spread my clients trial bundle around the Exec lounge, and nor can I properly prep on a bed. When on business I have my clerk book me only into Marriotts, Courtyard, Renaissance, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express as all these mandate an in-room desk and chair. If the desk and chair goes so does my business with the group. It's a no-brainer. The desk is essential. However on vacation the desks are mostly a waste of space, but I do sometimes have need of them, especially if a case goes pear-shaped and I have to pick it up and deal with it during vacation. In reality that always happens during any vacation longer than a week, so even on cacation I find myself needing a desk. Long story short... No desk, no stay!

Jon Maiman

I also tend to do a few hours work from my hotel room daily during most stays. For many reasons working in the lobby or CL isn't feasible including:

1) I prefer to be dressed very comfortably in attire (though not au natural) that is inappropriate outside of the privacy of my room while I work.

2) I prefer to have a quiet background (no music nor TV) in the background.

3) I need to keep my customers information private.

4) I need to participate in customer calls and don't need anyone else listening in (see item 3) nor inconveniences others having to listen to me. Even with a headset (which I typically use) it is an inconvenience for others to have to listen to me talk on the call. In nosier environments I tend to speak louder so as a side effect everyone nearby can definitely hear me. It also makes it difficult for the other participants in the conference to hear me properly because of the increased background noise.

So I need a desk and a proper office chair in my room. So far I have only run into this no desk (tiny desk) and/or lack of an office chair issue a few times at Marriott properties. If it becomes a trend, I'll have to switch brands to one that still provides them. Like most of the others on this thread, %90 of my travel is for business. Furthermore my leisure travel tends to be in resort areas, so I could live without a desk at those properties though I still like having one to use while organizing the family activities for the day. Bottom line if Marriott felt compelled to remove the desks from locations that are primarily for leisure, I could live with that. For the overwhelming majority of properties which are primarily business locations, no desk is a deal breaker.

--Jon

AATrout

I just came back to DC from a trip that ended at the FS DEN Marriott. I’ll take some time and post pics later, but this property seems to have balanced out a lot of issues with their refurb.

The carpeting in public areas and rooms looks like some of that in German properties. A charcoal, white and light purple mix. Really cool but relaxing. Wall sconces in hallways are clean and emit a nice relaxing light. Probably halogen -vs- LED.

Staff in the CL says renovations started in Nov 2014 and finished up in April.

Room:
- lost the armoire for a low euro style dresser for the TV
- nestled next to it is a 24x48 desk with a half-circle return with glass shelves and a nice chair. Multi outlets on the panel
- 1 low profile phone each on the desk and end table (there are 2 end tables for the bed)
- headboard has dual halogen reading lamps
- wallpaper behind the headboard has a sort of canvas finish and emulates an ivory -white grey marble slab
- all desk & headboard lights have rocker switches
- one column or floor lamp with a cool steel lattice tower and a foot switch
- split-back couch - against the window. nice design, as it is about 60” wide, but the middle 24”is open to the cushion level. lets in a lot of light and has a 12x24”marble slide table that nests underneath
- closet is still in the rooms as is the luggage rack
- bath has a clean granite top and rectangular sinks and open shelves. they kept the tub but lowered the height with a tub that’s shallower but shaped to support your lower body if you want to take a bath
- the only bath lighting is perimeter halogen around a 30x36” mirror. soft and relaxing, not too bright. just right.
- the edit: but, if you are at this desk, it doesn’t move so no way to see the flatscreen - which I like to do at home. Would be nice if that desk could be wheeled out but since the coffee make sits on one corner and occupies one wall plug probably not gonna happen.
//

-- AAT

darthbimmer

Misunderstanding. Please delete.

AATrout

Oops! I was at Denver Int’l (DEN) not Dulles!

I too liked IAD before I moved here for its loc. The DEN Marriott is newer but long overdue for a remake -as close as the Dulles FS Marriott is - it can’t be too far behind for a refresh too

Sousaphil

I'll chime in as a Millennial (one of the oldest) and a Platinum (with 50 b.i.b. nights YTD).

I want a clean, functional room. Modern/post-modern design for the sake of appearing hip is ridiculous.

Road warriors of my generation want most of the same things that road warriors of other generations wanted. I can't imagine what research said they didn't need desks, or bathroom privacy. Not all hotels need to be like The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.

I've been staying at a few SHS and FS locations. I've always had (and used) a desk.

The one change that I'd suggest to the rooms is with respect to the TV/entertainment options. The true "killer app" would be the ability to tie my Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus accounts to my MR profile.

• Store your login info on the MR website
• Check in to hotel using your MR profile
• Automatically have access to your streaming accounts on the in-room smart TV

That would be much nicer than using a laptop or iPad, or HDMI cable from a laptop. I imagine a lot of hotel WiFi bandwidth is used by this type of streaming. They could hard-wire the TVs to a separate network so people could use the WiFi for work and web browsing.

RABinMS

I just stayed at the SFO Marriott last week. While I don't recall specifically if there was a desk in the room, I don't believe there was. I recall putting my laptop on either the ironing board or a round glass table close to some sort of chaise lounge for limited use.

I suppose I was probably in a mild state of shock anyway from the furnishings (or lack of) in the room. VERY austere, and not what I'm accustomed to at all in a FS Marriott (lifetime Plat). Didn't get any pictures of the room overall, but did think the bed (king size with its two, count 'em two, postage stamp sized pillows), the closet (Is that what that is?) with its two drawers, and the sliding (not swinging open as I'm accustomed to) glass bathroom door were worth documenting.

To top it off the water ran in the toilet constantly and there was no sort of TV channel listing available anywhere in the room. I'm used to seeing at least a guest services directory that includes a TV listing, but not one of those in the room either. A quick press of the AYS button on the phone and I had a couple more pillows, a card listing the TV channels and a visit from maintenance to stop the toilet (which later started right back up again).

When I checked in the pleasant front desk person asked if I had any questions about the hotel. If I'd only known THEN that I did, I would have asked. Finally figured out the M Lounge thing, but first time for me finding a concierge lounge type arrangement in the lobby.

In the end it did meet my needs of a bed and a shower close to the airport, but it was quite a bit different that I expected.

jmanrunner

Hotels are beginning to use in-room WiFi access points that are wired backhaul just like you are asking for. The only WiFi bandwidth you are using is dedicated to you anyway in this scenario. You see it in some high-end hotels now. They come in two flavors either a power outlet+access point or a dedicated access point. Retail they run about $250-$350 for the power outlet versions. Pricey but resolves WiFi range, interference, and bandwidth issues.

RogerD408

Well...

Having more APs does not solve the bandwidth issue. All those connections (WiFi & wired) being funneled through the same internet connection will slow everyone down. The suggestion of providing a separate network for in-house streaming devices is a good one. Although I doubt any property will go that route.

Trying to guess what capacity will be needed at any given time is near impossible. It's like with the phone systems, it is way to costly to allow everyone in the property to place outside phone calls. There is historical data to suggest different service levels to keep busy signals to a minimum. Even home phones run under the same scheme. Not everyone in a neighborhood can pick up their phone and get dialtone (personal experience with this).

sethb

I remember back in the old days, when long distance rates dropped for the evening, it sometimes taking half an hour to get a dialtone. (Mothers Day, forget it.)

RogerD408

There was one hotel in the NE that actually put a letter in their Services binder stating that with all the people using computer dial-up services once they return to the property that you might not be able to get an outside line between 7-9pm, and this included emergency calls! And I don't recall any suggested workarounds for emergencies (i.e. call FD). This was before cell phones were all the rage and HSIA was a pipedream.

SkiAdcock

This.