So for my trip to New Orleans, I decided to add another hotel night, since it is an hour drive from where I live to the airport, and I did not look forward to leaving the house at 4am on a Saturday morning, especially since I did not know how long I was going to be staying up that night. I was able to get a good rate, and stack the bonuses so this one night stay on a sub $100 rate netted me 5000 Priority Club points.
Check-In
The hotel provides complimentary shuttle service that runs twice an hour to the airport. Unfortunately the airport is very picky about where the hotel vans can pick up passengers, so I actually had to wait 5 minutes from when the shuttle arrived to actually be able to board because all the spaces for its assigned zone were full with shuttles for other properties. Once getting to the hotel, I found a very nice lobby, and the people were friendly and got me checked in quickly.
The Room
The room was a fairly standard Crowne plaza room. I was upgraded to the executive floor which is not the top floor, but the one below. This actually makes since because it gets the high floor benefits, without having the roof and airplanes directly overhead (You can easily see the airport terminal and runways from the hotel). Thus I got into my room, and this is what I saw.
And, yes that is the standard sleep ammenity kit that crowne plaza gives out to all guests (though they have stopped offering the sleep CD). The bed was comfortable, but nothing real special.
One thing I appreciate in hotels is just a little bit of art to liven up the room and not make it feel so standard. It does not have to be much, but just something to make the room a little different than just a place to sleep. This property does that very well with art in the bathroom and room.
The Lounge
Unfortunately, the lounge was not officially open for my stay (Rarely are lounges at this level of property open on Friday nights, the only one I've encountered at a 3 star hotel that does this is the Doubletree Denver North). However, my room key did allow me to enter the lounge to look around.
The refrigerator was unlocked and It had the standard assortment of soft drinks and water, but what was interesting was how the soft drinks were packaged. Only one other hotel I've stayed at has offered this, and only then it was when I was staying in the Governor's Suite at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta (which is an interesting story in of itself, but years before I even got into the elite status game).
Yes, that is a glass bottle, but not the traditional coke bottle. These have really been going out of favor, but it is nice, though a pain to open.
Noise
One of the key factors that distinguishes airport hotels from each other is the noise when this close to the airport. Despite being near 2 runways for the busiest airport in the world (Yes I know there are different measurements), I did not hear a single plane take off. This is wonderful and makes the night that much better.
Summary
Overall, a nice airport hotel. While I have stayed at nicer properties, it is solid and better than some of the other Crowne Plazas that I have stayed at.
Comments
Leave a Comment