In my travels, I’ve stayed at good hotels and bad hotels. I have fond memories of the good ones, such as the Westward Look in Tucson, the McLean Hilton in Mclean VA, and even last year’s University Park Marriott in Tucson. I remember the Claremont in Oakland, the Victorian Inn in Monterey, the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, and the Aladdin in Las Vegas NV. All business travel.
Then there were the bad ones: The Guest Quarters in Linthicum (since changed ownership), where there was glass on the floor. The Best Western somewhere near DC that had fire drills at 2am. The Alexis Park, where the plumbing didn’t work.
This week, I’m in the Holiday Inn Select in Bethesda MD. My opinion: Feh! Yes, it is clean. So what’s bothering me? Glad you asked:
- They are repainting or revarnishing the stairwells. This is filling the hotel with such wonderful fumes. I let the manager know; he didn’t seem bothered by it.
- The hotel provides free wireless. However, even though the connection is strong, it isn’t stable. I’ll be in the middle of something, and then lose my network connection. This is a royal pain.
- The hotel restaurant is overpriced… I mean their breakfast buffet was over $12, and it was nothing to write home about. But then again, rooms are over $189/night, govt. rate.
- Their parking garage is cramped and difficult to navigate.
- (and adding insult to injury) Their toilets are low to the floor and have a high water level, meaning body parts that shouldn’t touch water….
Luckily, this is my last night. I head home tomorrow. As for the hotel, it is evidently going to get a major makeover. I found this out from a sign on the door of the (former) Yacht Club of Bethesda, which was housed in this hotel until last weekend. According to their sign, there has been a change of ownership, resulting in enormous re-modeling plans ($14 -15 million), and re-branding of the hotel from a Holiday Inn to a Doubletree. Their location within the hotel will become part of the expanded garage parking and much wider new exit to the street.
All in all, I would have rather been at the Marriott. I guess they couldn’t get government rate. Hopefully next weeks hotel (I’ll be in Santa Maria, CA at the end of the week) will be better.
