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Alternatives to boring hotel roomsBetty Stark
This is a sure sign that it's time to explore alternatives to the standard hotel room. Fortunately, there are several, many of them surprisingly affordable and all offering homey touches that encourage kick-off-your-shoes repose at the end of a grueling day. Though many travelers might dismiss a bed-and-breakfast as too frou-frou and lacking in business-type amenities to warrant serious consideration, innkeepers across the country are recognizing the benefits of catering to business travelers. Andrea Friedheim built Bailey's Uptown Inn (www.baileys uptowninn.com) from the ground up in the heart of Dallas, making certain her rooms had adequate work space, good lighting and high-speed computer hook-ups. "When I was traveling for business, I enjoyed the more personal homey atmosphere of B&Bs. As I planned and built Bailey's, I had the business traveler in mind," she says. Her rooms are beautifully decorated and welcoming, and she goes out of her way to personalize services for repeat guests. Matt Gill, a consultant for a global high-tech firm and a frequent guest at Bailey's, thinks Friedheim has scored a bull's-eye. When he's involved in an ongoing project in Dallas, Gill stays the week, then leaves his luggage with Friedheim, drops off his suits at the dry cleaners around the corner, and heads home for the weekend, avoiding the hassle of lugging everything with him. Innkeeper Caitlyn Pearson agrees wholeheartedly with Friedheim's emphasis on business travelers. Pearson owns and operates Stanton House Inn (www.shinngreenwich.com), a beautifully restored historic mansion with bright, cheery rooms (including "business singles" that start at $129 a night) in a residential neighborhood in Greenwich, Connecticut. The location is only 40 minutes by train from Grand Central Station in New York City. "We get a lot of business clientele, as they prefer us to the big chain hotels," Pearson explains. "We have used the parlor rooms for business meetings, and for a more unconventional meeting space we use our 'secret garden,' which houses the foundation of the old carriage house to the mansion." Business travelers suffering from hotel fatigue can take credit for the emergence of a relatively new housing sector that combines the flexibility of a hotel room with the expanded amenities of an apartment. The concept of "serviced" (fully furnished) apartments is well-established in the Asia Pacific region, and gaining a strong foothold in the United States and Europe as well. Oakwood Worldwide (www.oakwood.com) is the largest serviced apartment provider in the world, claiming $500 million of the now $3 billion industry in the United States alone. Oakwood properties are best suited for business travelers on extended assignments because a minimum 30-day stay is generally required, though shorter stays are possible at some locations and during certain times of the year. Hotel giant Marriott Inter-national, also recognizes the appeal of the extended-stay apartment. ExecuStay (www.execustay.com), Marriott's temporary-housing brand, invites business travelers to "Live Like a Local" in fully furnished studio, one-, two- or three-bedroom apartments in established housing complexes in more than 40 markets in the U.S. Carl Blandford, a 15-year veteran of the corporate accommodation industry, owns a Marriott's ExecuStay franchise for Wisconsin and St. Louis. His offerings include fully furnished apartments in Madison complexes Yorktown, Barrington Place, and Cortland Pond, among others. Noting that several Madison companies maintain ongoing contracts with him, Blandford said that the apartments become a short-term "home" to new hires, transferees and out-of-town staff and consultants on extended assignments in Madison who come and go as needed. Blandford pointed out that Marriott frequent-stay benefits accrue to the companies that contract with him. "The Marriott Rewards" program extends to ExecuStay clients," he said, "and we now offer Marriott's luxury bedding too. Our high-end corporate apartments have 300-thread-count sheets and down pillows and comforters. Kitchens are fully equipped, we have washers and dryers, and parking is included, too." An emerging player in the business travel alternative-to-a-hotel-room scene is the "condotel." Condominium hotels have long been available in resort areas, but now the concept is gaining traction in major cities such as New York and Chicago, where several hotels are undergoing conversions and selling off full ownership in rooms, suites and apartments. Condotel developers hope the concept will appeal to corporations because the room is available when needed, and when it's not occupied, the owner can opt to add it to the hotel's rental program for use as just another hotel room. Owners and guests enjoy all the amenities of a full-service hotel, promoters say. One condotel project in downtown Chicago (and one of several such projects on the drawing board), The Solis Chicago Hotel Condominiums at 71 Wacker Drive, is involved in first-phase sales now (www.condohotelcenter.com). Originally built in 1956, the 39-story Solis Chicago is undergoing a $125 million renovation and when completed, will have 421 condo-hotel units (studios, one- and two-bedrooms) in the heart of the city overlooking the Chicago River less than a block from Michigan Avenue. If you're a frequent hotel guest suffering from the sameness of nondescript rooms and impersonal service, take heart! Next trip, try out a cozy room at a B&B, or for longer stays a fully furnished apartment with (almost) all the comforts of home. travelingwriter1@aol.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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