By Mark - Tech Trebuchet
Recently I've had the "luck" of spending a stretch of weeks at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in my hometown while crews work on my house, which suffered a sewage flood last month. (That's every bit as much fun as it sounds.)
My options are limited, because I needed a pet-friendly hotel my dogs and I could stay in, and the Courtyard seemed like the best bet in town.
Since my parents last stayed at this property, the hotel has enjoyed the big lobby rebuild that Marriott began across the chain several years ago. It has a gas fireplace, conversation nooks, and several seating types ranging from comfy couches to stools.
The hotel also now has a Bistro, a combination Starbucks coffee stand and eatery with a limited menu of breakfast dishes, sandwiches, flatbreads, and (this being a Marriott chain) a burger.
One drawback to this upgrade, of course, is that the hotel no longer offers complimentary coffee, tea, and hot cocoa in the lobby, as they once did, along with bowls of fruit and trays of cookies. (Yes, there are still coffee machines in the room to make a single cup at a time.)
The food's not bad, though everything served hot is heated in a turbochef oven (basically an oversized toaster oven) next to the counter. This is no full-service restaurant, but they have tasty-looking flatbreads, decent if uninspired roast beef sandwiches and turkey reubens, and passable burgers (keeping in mind they're heating up a pre-cooked patty, not grilling a fresh burger). There's a nice selection of sides like fruit salad, quinoa salad, and fries -- again, keep in mind they're heating up pre-cooked fries, not frying anything.
It's even mostly reasonably priced. The sandwiches and burger are all in the $8-9 range, though wine by the glass is inexplicably overpriced by comparison -- $11-14 a glass next to an $8 sandwich feels weird.
Where the system really falls apart, though, is when a crowd descends. One or two staff members can handle a few customers coming in at a time, but add a winter storm to the mix, and suddenly everyone staying in the hotel is, well, staying in the hotel, rather than doing what most Courtyard travelers do, which is wander off to find more interesting food somewhere nearby.
Even three staff members selling and preparing food (and cleaning up) just couldn't keep up, quite understandably. I wish when I'd ordered my food they'd told me it would be a long wait, so at least I could go back to my room and relax rather than hovering nearby, figuring my food would surely just be another minute or two. Given the weather conditions, I probably wouldn't have decided to drive anywhere, or make someone else drive to bring me food. But, 40 minutes after I placed my order, those options were both sounding more and more reasonable.
I'm not planning on availing myself of the Bistro at the Courtyard very often in the future, though it's nice to have the option of having a simple meal at the hotel when necessary. Now, if only they had the creative-looking cocktails they promote on a digital screen at this very location! Nope, just beer and wine.
Meantime, I'm looking at the bright side of my extended stay at the Courtyard -- lots of Marriott Rewards points!
