hotels annoy me

[retto76]

Thanks for all of those details, Sue!! We've been frustrated in the past with the whole hotel/accesibility/lack of 2 beds thing before. I might try out the Marriott chain in the future based on your post

[ancientgimp]

Thanks for the info, we will try Marriot. Had a bad experience w Microtel on last trip to Fl. Stopped in a brand new Ga Microtel and bed was too high. Ask front desk for adjustment and she said she would call maintenance man. She kept putting us off all evening until finally saying the maintenance guy was having car problems and would not show up. We managed to get in bed but w effort and risk. I had not bothered to double check in advace w Microtel re height of bed because I was lulled into complacency by their website which goes on and on about how astute they are on the needs of disabled.

[Curt Leatherbee]

I've had pretty good luck with the Hilton brand hotels (hampton, homewood suites, hilton) they have changed their website to make it more easy and less likely A/B's get HP rooms which use to be a problem. The rooms are generally really clean and well equiped with roll in showers etc. Some of the older hotels are not as good but most of the newer ones are great other than those new elongated toilets which tend to make it not easy to put my raised toilet seat on.

[Sue Pendleton]

Originally Posted by Curt Leatherbee

I've had pretty good luck with the Hilton brand hotels (hampton, homewood suites, hilton) they have changed their website to make it more easy and less likely A/B's get HP rooms which use to be a problem. The rooms are generally really clean and well equiped with roll in showers etc. Some of the older hotels are not as good but most of the newer ones are great other than those new elongated toilets which tend to make it not easy to put my raised toilet seat on.

We've used Hampton's and a few Hilton's but not enough to really give an overall rating. Definitely with the Hilton's look for new because they tend to renovate instead of build new. Hampton had a resort off of Pensacola on Gulf Breeze Island that we really liked. No pool lifts back in 2001 but I could easily get through the kiddy safety gate but littles ones couldn't. Had a tiki bar outside and boardwalks out past the dunes so I got great views but ramp wouldn't have helped in the soft sand way up there. Very helpful staff too who would bring you the free morning coffee and a couple muffins/rolls if alone. We were there for a military conference and Jay had to be at NAS by 7am. Breakfast for the participants was part of the morning brief. That place was really well thought out. Even going out to area restaurants was acoss or down very smooth, very wide and plenty of new curb cuts sidewalks. Not sure how it faired when a hurricane hit Pensacola head on a few years later but we'd definitely stay there again.

For those who transfer directly to the hotel's toilet, be warned, Fairfield Inns and Hamptons both seem to have elongated toilets with sharp edges on the toilet seat inner rim. Big ouch.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Fortunately I'm able to bend the legs a little bit on my raised toilet seat to fit on the elongated toilets, still not as stable as I'd like it to be that way though. Unfortunately just about all of the new hotels do use those elongated toilets, that is the trend. I've gotta come up with a better idea at some point, maybe they make a special raised toilet seat for those type of toilets?

Best thing I ever did though was become a Hilton Honors member, did that around 15 years ago. It's great because I can accumulate points on my credit card and from paid hotel night stays and get free stays. I generally get quite a number of free stays a year as I travel quite a bit. Plus you get extra perks like free bottles of water, easy check in and generally free breakfast for those hotels that do charge for breakfast.

[Sue Pendleton]

Originally Posted by Curt Leatherbee

Best thing I ever did though was become a Hilton Honors member, did that around 15 years ago. It's great because I can accumulate points on my credit card and from paid hotel night stays and get free stays. I generally get quite a number of free stays a year as I travel quite a bit. Plus you get extra perks like free bottles of water, easy check in and generally free breakfast for those hotels that do charge for breakfast.

Sounds like both have similiar loyalty and credit card perks, Curt. We also tend to save our free nights for right before and after cruises in the US. This year will drop us a bit because we're working on health issues and the new home here. Once you hit Marriott's platinum you can even bounce none ADA rooms when they are fully booked.

Have you done any stays overseas in Hiltons, Curt? We have used their Rome Airport and it was very accessible all the way through that I remember. I think it ran $400 a night but was semi-attached to the actual airport. Our last trip we stayed at a new Courtyard in Civitavechia, the port town for Rome, and it was about $325. Of all the stupid things they had 4 steps up to the elevators across from the desk. It had a curved lift off to one side that seemed permanently to die whenever approached by the key. That meant go outside and enter just to the right of the main doors where the luggage racks and porters enter. There also was no, that I could figure out where it would be, elevator up to the main second floor business areas. The restaurant was way out of line cost wise with downtown Rome but the casual area in the bar was rather expensive for an international cheeseburger and fries in a tres chic brown paper bag. The room was very accessible though. Neither owned an accessible shuttle although the Courtyard, if you could get way up there to the front seat, wife throwing anyone?, did trips very cheaply to the historic area twice a day. We'd love to do the Round the Horn cruise in South America one day.

[Curt Leatherbee]

Nope never been overseas, just about every place in the good ole USA though. I had been thinking about doing some overseas travel but with my health issues I'm best off staying near american hospitals, plus like you said the crazy access problems and frusteration because things are not as they should be. Heck I even get that frusteration a lot around where I live here near Newport. They will put up a brand new business with steps, it's just crazy.

Ya, I've got a Marriott rewards card too, but for some reason I always just find myself at Hiltons as nice as the Marriot chain can be.

[Wheelieboy]

I spent two days at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi this past weekend in a two bed "accessible room." What did I learn on this solo trip? Designers apparently have a VERY different definition of what an accessible room is. Just because a room has a large shower stall and bathroom does not mean it is accessible. I couldn't even get to the light switches or air conditioning because they were jammed on the side of the bed nearest the window which had a space as narrow as a newborn's behind. I had to call someone just to turn on the air. Good thing I brought my dressing stick otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to turn on the lights by the beds. The desk was cool--too bad it was about four feet tall with BAR STOOLS. I couldn't even use the mirrors in the bathroom because they sat too high above the sink for me to see and I'm not that short in this chair.

Handicap parking? Umm, try in the main garage where all the fat people have taken them. To unload your car, you had better be in shape because employees aren't allowed to assist you carry things except within the confines of the lobbby. FYI, the lobby is about 150 yards from the elevators so yeah, be in good shape as you are making multiple trips from your car to the lobby area--past the Starbucks, the yogurt shop, clothing stores, etc. I brought my portable active aid shower chair with me in the carry bag. Imagine rolling from the parking garage to the lobby with that thing on your lap. Oh, and you better bring a shower chair because the metal on the flip down chair in the shower will likely have you slicing an artery if you try and transfer. It's pretty sharp on the edges and corners.

Once I got situated I was good to go. If you feel like a Hard Rock stay but aren't in the best of physical shape, I recommend you have some help with you.

[Sue Pendleton]

Thanks Willie, I was actually looking at one of theirs once because I thought it would be cool and accessible. Sounds like a disaster for us.

Curt, I also have a Holiday Inn loyalty card because that was about it when visiting my folks until we just decided to stay in Madison which is only 30 minutes up the interstate from the Marriott here. And yes, Europe can be frustrating but it is getting better in many places. Cruises are great on that score because they take care of making sure you get to the ship at both ends and while I always take any med I possibly think I might need there is a doctor on board who understands when he needs to call in a rescue helicopter. And Canada is really nice in Fall especially P.E.I. at Charlottetown. Sydney in NS not so much.

[Wheelieboy]

Originally Posted by Sue Pendleton

Thanks Willie, I was actually looking at one of theirs once because I thought it would be cool and accessible. Sounds like a disaster for us.

For a para, a challenge, for a quad utter disaster. Also, for $118 a night you would think the rooms would have refrigerators--nope that's $15 extra but you find that out when you check in. They also, at this Hard Rock hotel, don't believe in using thrash bags in the rooms' waste baskets. I had to get my own. Imagine how nasty that would be over a period of days in the bathroom!