How would you differentiate between these two Marriott brands? Assuming similar prices and location, what factors affect which you would choose? How do these compare to Residence Inns?

Towneplace - full kitchen(ette), appliances not as nice as Residence Inn. Room smaller than Residence Inn, but larger than normal hotel room. For longer stays, you don't get full time housekeeping.

Springhill - Wetbar with microwave and mini-fridge. Next to wetbar will be a desk, next a couch & TV, next the bed. Vanity outside of bathroom. Room smaller than Residence Inn, long and narrow. Full time housekeeping.

Residence Inn - Largest suites of the bunch. Optional separate bedroom, which I haven't seen in the others. Full kitchen(ette). Full housekeeping.

The Springhills I have been in have actually had nicer furnishings than the Towneplaces. I don't know if that is an anomaly or not.

I've stayed at all three brands - it really depends on where you're staying, I think. If it's an older Towneplace, I would personally go with a Residence over the Towneplace - however, the newer Towneplaces are nice as well.

Springhill's are good hotels & they do have the microwave & mini-fridge - I think if you're looking for a studio suite & it's less than a 5 day stay, the Springhills are a good options -they have a comfortable layout & the divider that seperates the sitting area & the sleeping area is key.

If its more than 5 days or so, I would personally go with a Towneplace or Residence Inn because of the kitchen factor. The housekeeping doesn't mean much too me because I generally like my privacy - however the TP & RI will both come collect your trash & take care of your towels & toiletries when needed. I like RI's better because they have the full-hot breakfast in the morning & it's definitely worthwhile to get that. I was at a TP once though & apparently they had weekly BBQs for their guests in the summertime which I thought was pretty cool.

If you tell the people here where you're going & how long your stay is, they may be able to offer up suggestions.


Room layouts:
SpringHill Suites

Residence Inn

TownePlace Suites

Simple for me:
Earn 10 Marriott Rewards points per dollar spent at these participating hotels:

SpringHill Suites by Marriott*

Earn 5 Marriott Rewards points per dollar spent at these participating hotels:

Residence Inn by Marriott*
TownePlace Suites by Marriott*

This is an important consideration. The vast majority of my 300,000 Marriott points have been earned at Residence Inns on 30+ day stays (just the nature of my busines). I'd be well over 500,000 if I spent more time at the "10 point properites". For me, especially on long stays, the extra benefits of Residence (bigger rooms, full kitchen, availability of separate bedroom rather than just studio, decent b'fast and afterwork munchies, USA Today, etc.) make it worth the points sacrifice. It also has worked out that RI's tend to be better located from my specific destinations. When you're just looking at week-to-week posting, 3,500 points doesn't seem like a lot. But I can attest to the fact that those "lost points" do seem painful once in awhile.

Does anyone know the precise reason for the difference in points? It's not like the room rates are that different. And we can, of course, speculate that it has to do with longer term stays. But Marriott should really start offering 10 points per $$ for RI - and they really ought to do it on a retroactive basis!

Well, there have benn some good guesses. Take a look at this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139127

Please note that I am in no way suggesting you could of/would of found it in a search. There're too many "fuzzy" terms for you to get a hit. Only reason I remembered the thread was I had posted this question last year.

...Interesting to note that soc***** (our Marriott guru here) edited his post last month to delete his input...I wonder why that? There was nothing there but an affirming comment...curious. But hey, we love soc*****!

Oh, BTW, don't forget that in most locales, Residence Inn will buy your groceries for you. At times,t his has been a real lifesaver for me.

(* just a note to say that the asterisks are because I no longer post FT'ers names in posts)

WOW! I didn't know anyone actually used this service! I guess I've just got a "thing" about buying my own food (I'm also a once- or twice-a-week housekeeping kinda guy, you know, "don't be a touchin' my stuff a"). Do you:

1. Just have them buy "easy" stuff: Cheerios, Quaker Oatmeal, Tombstone Original Pepperoni Pizza
2. Give them a more "generic" list and just take whatever you get (Cereal, Pizza, Rolled Oats)
3. Give a *very* specific list and let them buy almost everything (La Creme strawberry yogurt in the 4 pack of 4 oz. containers, 1/2 gallon of 2% milk with an expiration date at least 10 days from today, etc)

I never really considered using this because I always figured I wouldn't get what I wanted. Do they usually do a pretty decent job (I'd imagine it may vary from property to property) or do you just have to kind of understand that you are necessarily going to get the same products / brands / quality that you would've gotten if you did it yourself?

Also, do you give the shopper a tip?

Fun historic trivia on TPS and SHS:

TownePlace Suites was developed in the early '90s when Residence Inn's rate structure began to get so high as to exclude some core long-term stay business - most particularly, government business. Marriott decided to develop a "Residence Inn Light" concept that would have a lesser finish level, occupy a smaller real estate footprint, have lesser amenities (small pool, no Sport Court), and re-attract government and other long-term stay business that had been priced out of the Residence Inn market. TownePlace Suites #1 was built in Newport News, VA, in 1997.

Another way TPS reduced costs was in the labor area. The original concept had only 7 FTEs (full-time equivalent) on staff - 1 GM, 1 sales, 2 front desk, 2 housekeepers, 1 engineer.

SpringHill Suites is the death and re-birth of Fairfield Suites. With Fairfield Inn's success in the '80s, and the all-suite hotel push around 1990, the thought was to create a brand "extension" of Fairfield Inn and call it Fairfield Suites - an all suite, economy product. It didn't work - Marriott found that the all-suite product was horribly underpriced for the value it gave travelers. Marriott killed the Marriott Suites product, reworked the floor plan and room plan, and launched SpringHill Suites in December 1998. (Today Fairfield Inn & Suites exists essentially as a separate model or floorplan of Fairfield Inn, but that's another story.)

SpringHill Suites today is much more like what Courtyard would have been created as in the late '90s (instead of 1982, when the first Courtyard was built in Atlanta). It is an all-suite product with pool and exercise area, continental breakfast buffet in the morning (included), but no other F&B. However, there are still echoes of Fairfield Inn at SpringHill Suites - when you check in, you are presented with a registration card that, save for the purple ink and the SHS logo, looks exactly like a Fairfield Inn registration card.

So, TownePlace Suites is essentially Residence Inn on a diet... and SpringHill Suites is Fairfield Inn on steroids.

I have personally had very good luck and service with it. From your list, I'd say #1 with a very occasional, specific exception. That is, 1 lb. hamburger, hamburger buns, can of HEINZ sloppy joe sauce...Manwich if Heinz not avail, PEPSI, Coke if not available.

And yes, I tip. I usually put $5 in an envelope and leave it at the front desk. This is because I don't know how many hands the shopping ist passes thru before the shopper gets it, and of course, the groceries are delivered before I get in from the work site, so I've never actually seen the person who does the shopping.

DB: Thank you for a very interesting bit of history. I really enjoyed reading it!

Anybody know the location of the first Courtyard in Atlanta?

I recently stayed at the TPS in Minneapolis. If your travels call for a two-bedroom suite, the floorplan is very similar to RI with one key exception: you only get one bathroom.

The studio suites at TPS were a bit smaller than the typical RI studio, but not bad.

I find TPS to be a wonderful place to use Marriott Rewards points: the hotels are usually in a low category (1 or 2). If you place enough value on a kitchen to shun Priceline for your leisure stays, your return on your points is very good for a small award.

I want to say Windy Hill but am not 100% sure. Augusta was the 4th Courtyard in the system.

We recently stayed at the Residence Inn on Hilton Head - we got a loft unit which was very spacious - full size fridge,stove, microwave, dishwasher; table with 4 chairs, pull out sofa downstairs and a queen (or double) plus another bathroom upstairs in the loft. Stayed at Town Place in Springfield, VA - much smaller - cramped actually - kitchen had the same things but I want to say there were only 2 chairs at the table (might have been 4) when you pulled out the sofa bed it just about hit the end of the Queen (or it might have been King bed). Price was not much different between the two which was surprising considering the large difference in size (maybe location- Springfield is next to Alexandria, just outside DC). Decent breakfast (continental but included make your own waffles) at Town Place. Res Inn had a happy hour thing each day - we did not go and I think they had some breakfast stuff - not sure, we did not go.

OK. I admit I don't do a great job of cleaning out my files. From the Courtyard Clubnotes, Summer 1993, "Courtyard Turns 10":

"In 1983, after spending three years studying the needs of business travelers, Marriott Corporation opened the first Courtyard Hotels in Atlanta at Windy Hill and Peachtree Dunwoody . . ." (Most of the rest of the article talks about employees with Courtyard since the beginning, 2 currently working at Windy Hill and one exec.)

If you really need to know which one, see if county tax or permit records are online.

...or call the hotel and ask what its internal two-digit code is. A1 will be the first Courtyard in the system.