TrojanHorse

There is a Marriott Suites in Herndon VA, they call themselves an airport MS even though they are close six miles from IAD

DoubleD

The Residence Inn at the Plaza has an excellent location and the food is by far the best I have seen at Residence Inn anywhere.

Dennis

rmyadsk

I second the vote for the KC Airport Marriott, as a lowly Gold I was upgraded from the cheapest room to a very nice suite for an evening. I remember all the folks there were very friendly. Nice property!

pinniped

That is just straight-up funny. It would be like seeing a "Red Roof Marriott" or a "Howard Johnson's Hilton".

No...wait sec...that label wouldn't surprise me on the KC Airport Hilton.

keeton

The Airport Marriott is located at the MCI (or "KCI" as the locals like to call it) complex and is a fair haul to the city itself. Plus there is *nothing* in the immediate area in terms of food, nightlife or entertainment.

I have used the airport property when I had business in the northern KC area, but if I were working downtown, I would not choose that hotel.

pinniped

Actually...there is now. In the past two years, they have created a huge new development called Zona Rosa near KCI. While it will never be as "Plaza-like" as the developers would like it to be - it reminds me of Johnson County's Town Center Plaza more than anything - it has probably a dozen restaurants, a handful of bars, and a couple of late-night spots with live music or comedy. All of this is about 5 minutes from the airport hotels. Or you can go another 10 minutes or so to reach Parkville, which has a few good restaurants, a great little wine shop with a tasting room, and a little bit more charm than Zona Rosa.

None of this would make me pick an airport hotel over a Plaza hotel, but Platte County is no longer the culinary wasteland that it was 15-20 years ago.

AceAirspeed

Two great places there at Zona Rosa - an Indian restaurant called Swagat's - one of the best indian rest I have been to. Also Chinese place called Bo Lings. Not too far away if staying at the Airport Marriott.

KimmyAA

I was very impressed with this staff! I forgot my flat iron (hair straightener) at this hotel a few months back. They CALLED ME when they found it to confirm what address they should send it to! I offered my credit card for the shipping fee and they said they were happy to ship it for me for free. Very appreciated! As a contrast, I forgot my watch at the Seatac Marriott in December on my 11th stay of 2005 at that specific hotel. It took me three calls to have them find the watch - each time they were supposed to call me back, but did not. Finally got them to find it and asked if they could hold it for 8 days until my next stay at their hotel. I was in Canada at another Marriott and would be overnighting in Seattle on my way home. They could not guarantee they could hold it for those eight days so I had no choice but to have them ship it - cost me $40 in shipping and handling!

Compared to that, I was even MORE impressed with the Kansas City Airport property!

socrates

Susan Madsen (GM) is a terrific coach for a terrific team

pinniped

Somebody should send a link to this thread to Susan. It's a completely spontaneous love-fest for her hotel!

ontheroadps

Yeah, I'm not surprised that you were a little underwhelmed by the Downtown Marriott. The Plaza Marriott is a much better choice. Better rooms, more attentive service, more food options. The Plaza is a great place to just walk around and people watch. Felt safe the whole time. Some nice upscale clubs and restaurants too.

One of my former clients was in City Hall in downtown KC and I decided to stay downtown because of the close proximity (walking distance). Big mistake. Downtown KC is not a safe place to be walking after dark, especially dressed up and carrying a laptop. Hookers, vagrants, assorted street bums....you name it. It wasn't long until I started taking taxis back and forth

Another really nice place is the Westin. Our group got the same rate at either place so I tried both of them. There is a great japanese restaurant in the hotel...don't remember the name but it's the only sushi house there. Definately worth a visit if you like japanese food. The only criticism of the Westin was that they seemed to nickel and dime you for everything....no concierge lounge, phone line charges, etc. But having said that, they did have the heavenly beds and it was decidedly more upscale than anything else in town.

Airport Marriott...only stayed there once. Seemed ok, nothing to write home about but it was clean and comfortable.

pinniped

I'm not sure it's worth my time to respond to this, but I go out down there almost every weekend, walk all over the place after dark, and I don't think I've seen a hooker there in 15 years. Not that they aren't hard to find about a mile due east of downtown (along with vagrants), but they aren't hanging out in front of the Marriott.

What's by the Marriott, you ask? Well, off the top of my head, the Lyric Opera, the Music Hall (symphony, concerts), about four other hotels, about a dozen restaurants, Bartle Hall (convention center), a couple of jazz clubs, and a few bars. Dangerous?!? Well, the opera-goers are kind of a rough crowd. Just make sure you stay out of their way and you won't get your a** kicked.

This sounds a lot like the current scare-tactics being used by the people who want Jackson County to spend a billion-plus dollars renovating suburban sports stadiums. Downtown is scary. There are creepy people down there. We need to spend our money out in the suburbs insteading of building new things downtown.

But back to the Marriotts...both the downtown one and the Plaza one are fine, it just depends on where you need to be. If you want a real Plaza location, you might even consider the Residence Inn - like the Marriott it's a block north of the Plaza itself, but it's more central to the restaurants/bars.

ALARISstl

Downtown KC is a ghostown at night compared with the Plaza and I probably wouldn't walk around at night but that is the case with most downtown areas of any major US city.

The downtown Marriott is very tired and in need of a major refurbishment asap. I must say though, I stayed there last week and was given the master suite (2122) which was the size of six regular rooms. Two and 1/2 bathrooms, full kitchen, conference table with seating for eight, seperate bedroom suite, walk-in shower, HUGE jacuzzi tub ect.......... Nice upgrade !!

pinniped

If you like a fresher look & feel, ask for a room in the Muehlbach Tower. It was renovated and re-opened a few years ago. We were given the Harry S Truman suite there in 2002 - a spectacular suite about like you describe, with enough room to entertain about 40 people.

Everything about that tower has the newer Marriott styling - the color schemes, the front desk, etc. all have the appearance of a brand-new FS Marriott. The exception is the "old lobby", which they renovated to its original 1920's styling. Brass, dark wood, etc. They use that area for private parties.

The "main" Marriott tower where you check in and park has the appearance of a late 70's hotel. Kind of dark & depressing. Not sure what they can really do to change that. Come to think of it, none of the three KC-area FS Marriotts are architectural genius.

ontheroadps

No, not 1964. 2004 actually. I didn't say that the vagrants were hanging out "in front of the Marriott". Perhaps I should have been a bit more specific. They were spotted midway between the hotel and city hall, about a half mile from the Marriott. And it was on a daily basis, not just a one time occurance. There were women on my project team that would not walk unescorted around city hall in the evening. I'm only mentioning this as a service to others that might be visiting that area. I have nothing against Kansas City - I enjoyed my time there. As someone else mentioned, this is hardly atypical of large urban areas.