Should I expense it?

There's a reason why the "economy chains" run by the big hotel companies like Marriott, the Hilton and Holiday Inn took off. Business travelers don't need all the crap you get at full-service hotels. Whenever I travel, I look for a courtyard and get my Marriott Visa out. If I'm there for three-four days, I'm looking Residence Inn.

My town is in an awkward situation right now. All of the city's old full-service hotels were taken up by casinos. So now there no full-service hotels besides casinos, which seriously limits the city's ability to get events that need convention center hotels with restaurants, ballrooms, etc. The Marriotts, Hiltons, Holiday Inns simply quit building them and instead there was a Fairfield, Courtyard, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express going up at every freeway exit, it seemed.

Finally, Holiday Inn decided to build a new full-service hotel and I believe there is going to be a new convention center hotel going up soon. The Holiday Inn will stay booked. There are so many events that need a full-service hotel.

What's weird to me is it's a no-brainer that the town needed a full-service hotel, so it was a money-making opportunity for whatever chain was willing to step in. But the corporates were so caught up in their bigger corporate picture, they failed to see the individual opportunity.

I think with the growing corporate-ization (made up a term) of the newspaper business, we can all relate to that kind of flawed decision making.

 

Sorry about the little threadjack, by the way

 

I certainly don't mind a Courtyard or a Residence, but I gotta say it's nice to have the concierge lounge that the full services offer. A bar on site is always a plus too.

Neither of those are deal-breakers, obviously.

What can be a deal-breaker is location: I tend to need to stay near arenas -- preferably walking distance, but at worst a short cab ride -- and most of these arenas are in downtown areas. You are much more likely to find a full-service Marriott in such a place as opposed to a Courtyard or some such.

Location tends to me my top priority when hotel shopping on the road. You've got to balance that with price, obviously, but if I can get something within walking distance of an arena for less than $200, I'll take it.

 

I'm taking it you're on a pro beat where the tendency has been to build downtown arenas or arenas in major touristy/business areas. I'm on a college beat and in most college towns the campuses aren't in the city center. There are three major metro areas in the league I cover and in none of the cases are the arenas of the college in the city center/main business district areas. If I was in a situation where a full-service hotel made covering a game more convenient, yes, I'd be right there with you. But I haven't found that to be the case often.

I can think of some schools that are downtown: Georgia Tech/Georgia State jump out as a couple. Rice is right by the medical center hotels. But for the most part, covering colleges, you aren't going to have many cases where there's an advantage staying in the full-service.

Of course, the BCS game's media headquarter was the Marriott Convention Center (instead of the still out-of-commission Hyatt). But I think the CWS uses a Courtyard as media headquarters. At least it did last time I was there (I won't be there this year).

 

Yeah, that makes sense. I'd never go out of my way just to stay at a full-service Marriott ... unless, you know, it was a real nice one

 

Do you turn in your massage at the hotel's spa as a business expense???

I knew of someone who would go to the hotel restaurant and ask the waiter to bring him the $10 burger (hotel restaurant prices...) but ring it up as the $50 steak. Then he'd proceed to order $40 in beer to make up the difference and get it by accounting.

I'm sure there has to be something wrong with that...but there's also so much right about it, too ha.

And to be clear, that someone was NOT me...

 

No, I don't. Even though I probably could. We don't have to turn in receipts for any expense under $50, so there's the potential there to fudge the numbers. I do my best to keep it on the up and up, though.