Thursday, October 11, 2007
New choice for guests
A Marriott Residence Inn opens near the Roanoke airport.
The latest from The Ticker blog
Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Michelle White laughs as she enters the information for the Marriott Residence Inn's merchandise into a computer.
The new Marriott Residence Inn is located next to the Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Ordway Drive. The two will share amenities such as swimming pools.
The Marriott Residence Inn is designed for extended-stay customers with microwaves and kitchens in its 79 suites.
The automatic sliding doors at the new Marriott Residence Inn needed tweaking. A dishwasher in one of the 79 rooms, all suites, needed replacing. Someone forgot to put a hamper in the gym for sweaty towels. And the billiard room wasn't quite finished.
But the hotel's first guest, Shauna Carlson, declared its initial night of operation a big success. "I didn't notice any problems. I have stayed in many Residence Inns, but this is the nicest: the granite countertops in the kitchen area, the stainless steel appliances. Drop-dead gorgeous."
As critical reviews go, John Dudley, manager of the new lodging on Ordway Drive Northwest near Roanoke Regional Airport, will take that. "No major glitches on the first night -- great."
After all, so many things went right, including a vendor's last-minute stocking of the hotel's lobby-area snack room with such goodies as Healthy Choice manicotti (for the in-room microwaves) and Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream.
The Gideons had also stopped by to put a Bible in every room. They left three extras in a storage area.
At $169 a night for the smallest suite, about 750 square feet, the Residence Inn underscores rising competition among Roanoke area hotels.
The chain ranks No. 5 in room pricing among Marriott's 18 flags, just above the Courtyard brand but well behind No. 1 J.W. Marriotts, where the most basic room is more than $300 per night in some cities.
And the arrival of Residence Inn ups the ante in long-term stay accommodations near the airport. By comparison, nearby Affordable Corporate Suites offers small apartments for $209 a week.
Rates at Residence Inns drop in nightly price by about $10 at certain lengths of stay. For example, at the Roanoke location, the rate on a studio suite falls to $159 on a guest's fifth night.
Marriott International, based in Bethesda, Md., opened the new hotel through a franchisee, Inland American Winston Hotels, of Raleigh, N.C.
But all 20 employees, including Dudley, were hired from the ranks of local applicants, he said. He's a hotel industry veteran whose career includes a seven-year stint at the Hotel Roanoke and, most recently, three years as director of sales and marketing at the Marriott Courtyard next door to the new Residence Inn.
The Residence Inn and Courtyard cooperate on amenities, with guests at both lodgings allowed to use the new hotel's outdoor pool, when weather allows, or the Courtyard's indoor tank.
The Residence Inn's billiard room results from a change of plans made well along in construction, Dudley said. "That area was originally designed as a conference room. But we wanted to add another feature for guests." The reasoning for the switch, in part: Although the hotel specializes in business travelers, they often have meeting rooms available at the offices of Roanoke area clients.
Indeed, the Residence Inn makes an attempt to feel cozy, as well as efficient. A sign in the lobby points to the nearby "Hearth Room," which has a fireplace.
Carlson, accompanying her husband who's here on a business trip, was impressed. The couple is from St. George, Utah, where she says, "The Residence Inn where we live was just redone, and it doesn't compare with this."
Still, just in case, Dudley says the construction company that built the hotel will provide an employee to touch up for 30 days beyond the opening. He said, "A caulk here, some paint there, whatever it might take."
