Hotels and Advertising

All the places we stayed were well advertised and we researched them as well as we could. However, they were vastly different.

Hotel 1 (the names are withheld to protect the guilty) was in a questionable part of town. We knew this because they kept everything locked up and the single on-duty clerk at 5pm had no authority and no keys to access extra towels, blankets, pillows, cups or spoons. She was able to get one fork, but that didn’t hold much cough medicine and wasn’t that helpful. They were in the middle of a remodeling job and had equipment everywhere. It is a good thing because the bathtub had cracked enamel and Darren feared for his toes’ safety, but braved the elements for hygiene sake.

Hotel 2

This motel had exterior entrances to the rooms. Yuck! It also had the cracked enamel bathtub. We feared this might be a theme for the trip. The funniest part was the free breakfast. It consisted of a small pitcher of OJ, a pot of coffee and a package of mini bagels. There were 4 chairs and we weren’t the first ones there, so we opted for breakfast bars in the car.

Hotel 3

The breakfast area had 20 chairs, so we were hopeful and not disappointed. The clerk was amazingly helpful. We later found out he was too helpful. He gladly promised us extra towels, blankets, pillows, even a rollaway and baby bed, if we wanted. We took him up on it all. Several hours later, we reminded him of his promises and he assured us that it would happen soon. The next day, he apologized and was “going to do it himself”. On day 3, he informed me that there would be extra charges for the rollaway and baby bed. I reminded him that we had never received them, but he assured me they were “on their way”. Later, that evening (10pm), I told him we didn’t want them and hoped there wouldn’t be a charge for the items we didn’t receive.

Other than that, it was a pretty nice place to stay. We got adjoining rooms so that was wonderful, too.

Hotel 4 was actually my Aunt and Uncle’s house. It was so nice to have an entire house to roam, complete with two huge doll houses made by my uncle filled with furniture, dolls, trees and more. There was a backyard with a jungle gym, trampoline, little fishing pond and more. Zoe hosted many tea parties with the china teaset and Nellie adopted a sweet little baby doll and took it everywhere until we left it in Aunt Sally’s capable hands upon our departure. The older girls and Brenda read, chatted with Aunt Sally, and relaxed in the sun room. Darren kept Uncle Dick company while watching the Big 12 tournament games. They fed us very well and gave us a wonderful break in the middle of our busy vacation.

Hotel 5 was another step up for hotels. The rooms were big, clean and they had 4 pillows on each bed. The staff was helpful. The maids were very sweet and the exercise room was nice, too.

Hotel 6 was pretty amazing. Every time we called the desk (and it was often), they answered “how can we help you Ms. Cacy”. They had cookies and fruit at the check in desk. Nellie visited 3 times on the first day! They had down comforters, fluffy pillows, floral-smelling sheets, glass drinkware, gourmet coffee and teas, a library, exercise room with personal tv’s on every piece of equipment. I think we are getting spoiled now. They even gave me good directions to the local grocery store. The only problem was the street home (they are all one-way) was flooded, so I had to turn around and make my own way home. The ride to the grocer was 5 minutes. The ride home was 25. I’m not great at making my own way in one-way Newark/New York City streets!

I can’t wait to see what the next hotels bring. The next one is promising…..it is the King of Prussia Inn in Philadelphia area. If it’s named after a King, it must be good….right?