Yes, former President Reagan and I actually share a birthday, February 6th. I’m not quite ready to tell you how I spent my actual birthday, but Mrs MJ on Travel and I celebrated my 42nd year with a night at the beautiful W Hotel Washington DC on Saturday night. Yes, I promise a full review of my stay is coming. But today was my actual birthday. There were no big plans to celebrate and I was up at 6:45am almost ready to walk out the door for work this morning when my day took a turn for the worse. Nothing terrible, just worse. I’ll tell you later.

Marriott Rewards actually sent me a “Happy Birthday” email though, which always makes my day better. My gift for having lived this long? An extra elite night credit. I won’t scoff or complain, I’ll take it with thanks! That’s one more night towards Gold status.  Have any readers received a similar birthday wish from Marriott Rewards? What was your gift?

Yes, you read that headline correctly. I went to Atlanta and did not stay at one of their 3 terrific W Hotels! No, I’m not defecting. It’s just that the needs of my one-night business trip outweighed my W love this time. That said, I was quite pleased with my first experience at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and thought I would share a few details of my stay with you.

Getting There

The Marquis is located at the Peachtree MARTA stop and is connected to the station via covered walkway through the Peachtree Center “mall.” Atlanta’s MARTA rail charges a flat $2.50 per trip throughout the system, and is a very convenient way to get to downtown Atlanta from the airport. Taxis are a $34 dollar flat rate fare from the airport.

Checking In

Frankly, the lobby area of this 50-story hotel is massive and striking. It’s open to the very highest floors of the hotel and is very impressive. Approaching the front desk, I was immediately greeted by a very friendly representative who cheerfully checked me in. I was even thanked for my lowly Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status! Better yet, the hotel was offering a little promo deal. I was handed a scratch-off card that contained a prize. In my case, 1,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points. Sweet!! With that, I was off to my 35th floor room.

The Room

Room 3505 was nothing extra-special, a standard King guest room with everything a business traveler expects and needs for a short stay. A great desk with wonderful lighting and extra power outlets, nice LCD television, and a terrific bed. Wired and wireless internet were available for a fee, but I did not partake as I now carry a Verizon 4G Mi-fi device on all my travels…which I love, by the way. Here are a few shots of the room.

I didn’t bother with a pic of the bathroom because it was too small to get a good shot. There was nothing wrong with it, per se, it was just smallish. Heck, how much room does one man need in a bath anyway?! All in all, I was very pleased with my room. Marriott is just so darn consistent.

Around the Hotel

I hate to admit this, but I never left the hotel. One night just wasn’t enough to explore, plus I was meeting with business associates in the evening. I did enjoy cocktails in the Pulse lobby lounge as well as dinner (a wedge salad with shrimp…yes, I’m feeling healthy) in the High Velocity Sports Bar. Service was very good in both locations.  The downtown Morton’s is an easy walk from the hotel and several other restaurants are a few more blocks away. Unfortunately, I did not make it to the fitness center, but did pass by and found it to be very well equipped.

The Bottom Line

I really liked the hotel. But be advised, it is HUGE, and frankly, busy. My room was standard Marriott, and not disappointing. Best thing about the hotel was the friendly staff, and easy access to MARTA. If business takes you to downtown Atlanta, don’t hesitate to stay at the Marriott Marquis.

OK…I’m really flying south until next Sunday, but still. I’m comfortably ensconced in seat 4B on an American Airlines flight from DCA to MIA right now. MrsMJonTravel is with me, and we are heading south to warm up for a few days. Today, we booked ExecuCar from our home in northwest DC to DCA, and I could not have been happier. Our driver arrived early and we were 1/4 of the way to the airport by the time our 2:30pm pickup time actually came. ExecuCar is reasonably priced and great for airport transportation.

Right now, I’m enjoying the GoGo inflight wi-fi on our flight to Miami thanks to the great folks at Cranky Concierge. I’ve reviewed Cranky’s service before, and I want to reiterate my thoughts now. I can’t think of a better service for watching your back when you travel. I usually book Cranky’s flight following service for vacation trips and this trip is no different. You should do the same! Cranky Concierge rocks!!!

Tonight, MrsMJonTravel and I are spending the night in Miami at the JW Marriott and enjoying dinner at the fabulous Truluck’s restaurant. Tomorrow…well, tomorrow….. we go off the grid for a bit, but I might be blogging here and there. So stay tuned.

One of my MJ on Travel resolutions for 2012 is to put myself on a “get well” plan for paying better attention to hotel bonus promotions and sharing my experiences with those here on the blog. All of this has already been widely blogged about, but just in case you missed it, here’s a summary of the latest promos from the 3 programs I frequent most. Not to mention… practice in posting makes better posts.

Starwood – Double SPG points on 2-night stays and triple SPG points on 3-night stays. Registration opens tomorrow (1/9). According to this FT thread, the link to register is here. Should work tomorrow.

Marriott – Q1 Megabonus. Varies by account. Go here to see what your offer is. Mine was 1 free night after every second paid stay with a max of 2 free nights.

Hilton – More Points promotion. 1,000 bonus points per night, and a 2-night weekend stay earns 5,000 bonus points. Click here for the terms and registration.

These are the 3 programs I’m likely to use. Feel free to comment to the blog if you are aware of other great promos at these chains and especially others.

Hat tips to Points, Miles & Martinis as well as Loyalty Traveler.

I’m off to Atlanta and Boston this week.  Flying Delta Air Lines DCA-ATL-BOS-DCA.  I’ll be sure to post about the experience as my flights run the gamut from the MD-88 to the B-757 to a CRJ-700 (2-class).  I’m # 1 of 6 on the UPG list with 2 available tomorrow from DCA.  And my upgrade from ATL to BOS cleared this afternoon.  Sweet!  Should be an interesting comparison of services.  Not to mention, I finally settled on a hotel for my 3 nights in Atlanta.  After strongly considering the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown, I’ve elected to take the MARTA a few stops further north to Buckhead, and will be staying at the W Atlanta – Buckhead.  The last time I stayed at the Buckhead location, it had just opened, and was only partially complete, so this should be a worthwhile review.

I strongly considered the Renaissance, and truth be told, if Marriott had matched my SPG Platinum status, I probably would be staying at the Renaissance.  However, as only a Marriott Rewards Silver, I was looking at paying a ton for internet, no chance of an upgrade, and well….the rest is history.  The W Atlanta – Buckhead it is.  I’ll check out the Ren Midtown at a future time.  For my one night in Boston, I’ll be staying at the Hilton Boston Back Bay.  Can’t wait to get to Boston, just wish I could stay longer than one night!

OK, I don’t normally just toss up a post that says hey….look at this other blog.  But this one is just too important to ignore.  Take a look at Gary’s post on the program, which happens to link to a post by Lucky.  Both are worth your time.  I’ll have more to say after next week as I’ll be experiencing my first non-Starwood stay in Atlanta in a loooong time.  My choice?  A Marriott property, the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown.  And I thought I should add, I’m not trying a new hotel because I don’t love my old standby, the W Atlanta Midtown anymore, it’s just time to try something else.  Plus a little new review material for the blog wouldn’t hurt either. 

Edited to add:  Gary posted some further thoughts on Starwood that are just as important as the first post.  Read both!

I’ve seen this offer (or a similar one) blogged about from time to time….and specifically from Gary a few months ago.  However, I hadn’t received the offer myself until today when I got an email from Marriott Rewards offering a 50,000 point bonus for the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, so I thought I should mention it on the blog.  This isn’t a bad card at all.  In addition to the bonus points, you receive 5 points per dollar charged at Marriott family hotels, 2 points per dollar on airline, rental car, and dining charges, and 1 point per dollar on all other charges.  You also get 15 nights credit towards elite status every year you keep the card, a free one night stay in a Cat 4 hotel at sign up, and a free one nighter at a Cat 5 hotel each year you renew.  The annual fee is $65 dollars, but the free night cert should cover that easily.  Better yet, this card charges no foreign transaction fees.  Here’s a link to the offer.

I recently checked in for my first stay at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead.  I’m always a little apprehensive staying at a property where I hold no elite status, but I need not have worried because my stay could not have been better.  I arrived at the hotel via taxi.  Shocking as it may seem, I’m not high maintenance, and I don’t need the bell staff to retrieve my 21″ Samsonite carry on from the trunk.  That said, I do appreciate a warm greeting and the offer of assistance as soon as I arrive at any hotel via vehicle.  No luck on this visit as the bell staff was a little too busy chatting with themselves and ignoring my arrival.  Oh well, life goes on…..time to head to check in.  That would be the only negative observation of the stay….and even so, it wasn’t a big deal.  Just an observation.

I was the second customer in line, and greeted soon enough by the very polite front desk rep.  He was very professional, and even thanked me for being a Marriott Rewards member, surprising since I hold no status in the program.  We went through the usual formalities in a minute or two.  The desk rep apologized profusely for being unable to provide the high floor king room that is listed in my Marriott Rewards profile.  In fact, the only room available was a double bed room on the first floor of the hotel.  I didn’t mind, and was even provided lounge access for my one night stay for accepting the room.  He explained that the hotel was very full, and he appreciated my being flexible.  I appreciated the lounge access….more on that later.

The room itself was pretty standard cookie-cutter Marriott, although I admit, I’m not accustomed to staying in a large city hotel on the ground floor!  Nice beds, good bath, adequate closet, nice TV, and most importantly, a great and well-lit desk with plenty of power outlets, a pet-peeve of mine.  In a side note, I overslept Tuesday morning and ran out of the house without my new camera, so I was unable to snap any crip pictures of the room.  I did take a short video with my iPhone though.

This was just a one-night stay, and I arrived at the hotel around 7pm.  I basically had time for dinner, some emails, and bed.  I’d been jonesing for a good steak for several days, and as luck would have it, there’s a Shula’s 347 Grill right on the property.  I dined at the bar, enjoyed the free wi-fi in the lobby of the hotel, and really loved the 16 oz Cowboy Steak….that’s a bone-in ribeye to the rest of us.  The steak was cooked perfectly, and accompanied by grilled asparagus and a baked potato, loaded of course.    I’ll restart my diet this weekend.  The Lenox Mall is directly across the street from the hotel, and Houston’s Restaurant is just down the street, so there are plenty of dining options within walking distance.

After dinner, I decided to take advantage of the comped access to the Concierge Lounge.  Made me long for my days as a Marriott Rewards Gold member.    The lounge is on the 8th floor, just off the elevators.  The Concierge, Joyce, could not have been more personable.  It was obvious that a lot of guests were regulars, because Joyce greeted them like extended family….and she was just as nice to me.  Made a point to stop by my table and see how I was doing.  The lounge itself was equipped with the typical comfy chairs, tables, and sofas.  There was a decent dessert spread and honor bar setup.  I decided to pay Marriott back for my access by imbibing for a nightcap, and actually started this blog post while I was there.  Unfortunately, I did not get to check out the dinner spread and did not make it back up for breakfast the next morning.  Just didn’t have time.

The hotel is an easy walk from the Lenox Marta station (Gold Line), so public transit is a good option to get to the hotel.  I liked the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead a lot, and especially the staff I came into contact with.  All in all, a great option for Atlanta bound travelers.  Check it out on your next visit to Buckhead and Atlanta.

I don’t travel last-minute all that often, but tomorrow is an exception.  I walked into the office this morning, much like any other Monday morning expecting to spend a full week in town.  By 9:30am, I was searching for flights and hotels in Atlanta.  Flights were easy, Delta it is.  Hotels on the other hand, not so much.  I spent most of the day thinking I would spend tomorrow night at an Atlanta airport hotel, and then move downtown for Wednesday night (this is a 3 day, 2 night trip).  Don’t get me wrong, there are hotels available in downtown and Midtown Atlanta tomorrow, just none at a rate my employer will pay.  So I had to suck it up and think outside the box….maybe even part with my brand loyalty.

Tomorrow, I will be spending the night at the Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center.  Then I will move to my favorite Atlanta area hotel, the W Atlanta – Midtown for the last night of my stay.  The W Midtown has some availability on the first night of my stay, only problem is that it costs about 3 times what my employer will reimburse!  Ugh.  So….for the first time in recent memory, I will split my 2-night stay amongst 2 different hotels.  I suppose an honest to goodness status ho would do this all the time, but I just haven’t felt the need so far.  In any event, tomorrow, Atlanta…….and a new hotel to review.  I really like the Marriott brand, it’s just that circumstances now require me to favor Hilton when I’m not in a Starwood property.  It’ll be like going home.  More to say when I get to the ATL.

I recently completed a 2-night stay at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown.  This was a routine business trip, and this neat little downtown Atlanta business hotel fit my needs perfectly.

Getting There

I am a prolific MARTA user when traveling to Atlanta, and this stay was no exception.  The Peachtree MARTA station is the closest rail station to the hotel, however, my work project location is near the Five Points station, and I just walked to and from the Marriott from the office.  Cabs average around $35 dollars from Hartsfield-Jackson, while MARTA is $2 dollars.

Checking In

I normally do not check into a hotel until well after the usual 3PM check in time, but on this visit, I had some after work activities planned.  I had no desire to drag my bag around all evening, so I walked it over to the hotel during lunch hour.  The very polite clerk, greeted me as soon as I walked in, and processed me into room 722.  She was very pleasant, addressed me by name during the entire conversation, and mentioned my Marriott Rewards membership with thanks for my loyalty.  With that, I was off to the room.

The Room

Room 722, was a standard King room at the very end of the hall, far from the elevator, the way I like it.  It was also close to the stairwell, which made access to the 8th floor concierge lounge very easy.  The room itself was comfortable, had a very nice and well-lit work area, large LCD television, wireless and wired internet, and comfortable Marriott bed.  The in room coffee was even pretty good.  :)  Only noticeable issue (not one for me, but still worth mentioning) is that the bathroom was on the smallish side.  Not a big deal for a business person traveling alone, but something to keep in mind if you’re the type that carries a lot of grooming tools with you.

Here’s a short video tour of the room.

Around the Hotel

Downtown Atlanta isn’t home to a long list of restaurants and night life, but there are things to do and places to go.  Just up the street from the hotel is Ted’s Montana Grill, the restaurant that carries the name of CNN founder Ted Turner.  Ted’s is always a good bet, and hear you may even get lucky and see Ted himself in the restaurant from time to time.  Just across the Olympic Centennial Park, you’ll find one of my favorite restaurants, Peasant Bistro.  There’s also a Legal Seafoods, and Ruth’s Chris nearby.  Another favorite restaurant, Dantanna’s is located within the CNN Center.  All of these are good places to eat after a busy day at work.

The hotel itself is home to a restaurant, Aura.  Here’s a link to the hotel’s page on restaurants and lounges nearby, which include some of my choices, and others that I haven’t had the opportunity to check out yet.  I’d also be a little remiss if I didn’t mention the hotel’s concierge lounge.  Friendly staff, light snacks, and an honor bar.  It was a great little spot to grab a nightcap, and check emails via the hotel’s wireless internet.

The Bottom Line

The Atlanta Marriott Downtown was a good choice for me.  It’s a terrific alternative to the beautiful, but excessively busy Marriott Marquis Atlanta.  If you’re a Marriott loyalist, and looking for a convenient hotel in downtown Atlanta, give the Marriott Atlanta Downtown a try.  It’s a great little hotel, with friendly staff.

Once upon a time, I was a Marriott guy.  Marriott Rewards Gold member, loyalist, credit card holder, etc.  Marriott didn’t chase me off, I had to leave because of business reasons.  Long story short, my new job assignment surrounded me with Hilton loyalists, and it was just easier to stay with Hilton.  Nothing wrong with Hilton, mind you, I just always preferred Marriott brand hotels.  I’ve had some great Hilton family stays, and as an HHonors Diamond VIP member, I’ll surely continue to stay with them.  But this week, I’m at a Marriott hotel, the Marriott Atlanta Downtown to be exact.  It’s a small hotel compared to the gynormous Marriott Marquis Atlanta, and frankly, I like it that way.  Good location for my work, great little concierge lounge, friendly staff.  I like it here.  It won’t replace my Atlanta favorite, the W Atlanta Midtown, but I will most certainly be back here again.  I’ll post a full review once my stay is complete.  It’s good to be back at Marriott.