My client had booked this hotel for myself and some 18 other people. The benefits of this (to the client) were that they got a very cheap rate ($69). The benefits to me seemed limited.
I had flown in to Miami the night before, having taken full advantage of the Air France business class product. I had an overnight stay at the Hilton Miami Airport so it was around noon when I arrived at the Sheraton Suites in Plantation.
I had arrived in Phoenix on the first of four countries I was visiting for a project. My day had started at 03:35 UK time and I had flown via CDG and ATL; I was beginning to get tired. The local time was almost 23:00 when my plane landed at Phoenix International Airport.
I had already cleared customs at Atlanta and my bag was out pretty quickly; all I had to do was find the shuttle bus. There was a large section of one wall that had details of all the airport hotels along with the short code to use to call them from the courtesy phone. All the airport hotels except the Hyatt Place Tempe. Having spent far too long trying to get my iPhone to work (user error…) to call them direct I eventually went into the Delta luggage office. I was lucky enough to find a soul who took pity on me and she allowed me to use her phone to call the hotel. I was told to leave at exit 4 and cross the street and that the shuttle bus would be with me shortly.
As we pulled up in our rental car I wasn’t sure that we had the right place. I knew there was another Edgewater Hotel in Naples and I was considering the likelihood of having navigated to the wrong one on the Sat Nav.
The building was situated in a nice street full of members clubs and other hotels but there was a distinct lack of branding. I left Mrs Travel Freak and the Junior Freaks in the car and went to investigate.
Once I entered the hotel I found the familiar “Hilton HHonors Worldwide” sign at reception and realised this was indeed the correct hotel. The lobby was small, however I could see into the bar / restaurant and the pool and beach beyond, noting that the lobby and pool were just as the pictures online showed! Continue Reading…
I imagine that most people who stay in an airport hotel have probably used a plane recently… we were no exception.
We had been awake for almost 21 hours and we were really tired. The Junior Freaks had done really well, but were now desperate for some sleep. We enquired at the information desk as to where we could catch the hotel bus from and were told to flag it down outside (the whole US-anything-goes has much less structure than us British).
We hauled our 13 bags and 3 Junior Freaks to a spot on the curb and waited. We then waited some more. And waited some more still. The bus eventually arrived (after a 45 minute wait) and stopped… about 50ft along the kerb. A sudden rush of people appeared and it became apparent very quickly that all these people (and all the bags) were not going to fit. Continue Reading…
