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| - Yay! I'm a fan.
Here's the setup: just moved to Las Vegas way ahead of schedule, and I had nowhere to live yet. In fact, I haven't even had a chance to research where to live yet, so I needed to hunker down somewhere I could venture from. Why here? Well, I just happened to arrive during the perfect storm. Where I would have temporarily stayed just lost part of the roof to one of their buildings. It also turned out to be NASCAR weekend. The last part that really did me in, I won't get to. Needless to say, availability was scarce, and those that did have any knew it as well with their jacked up prices. After more hours than I care to admit, it came down to two Marriotts somehow still in my price range, and I picked one at random. Turns out it was meant to be.
For those unfamiliar (like myself at first), Residence Inns are supposed to be set up like little homes away from home. Instead of taking an elevator to the umpteenth floor, one has to actually drive into the gated community to their particular... quad-plex I guess I'll call it. This was perfect as this allowed me to unload the hundreds of pounds of stuff weighing down my vehicle which was parked only a few yards away. Inside, aside from the standard, had the additional amenities of a full flippin' kitchen -- to include dishwasher. I kid you not, on one night, I even baked a turkey breast. I had to ask for a baking dish, and they delivered one to me personally. Wi-fi was on the slow side, but free. Though the network would boot you on a daily basis to re-agree again & again to the terms of service. Decent sized television and channel selection. Plenty of drawers and closet space. The bed and bathroom were totally good enough. It was the most non-hotel-like living I've experienced in a hotel.
Extras included a basketball court, swimming pool, and meals. I can only talk about the latter though. Free hot meals ever morning, even if they're nothing spectacular, greatly can improve one's outlook. I definitely participated in the self-serve waffle station. A little hint: put chocolate chips in with the batter before you close & flip. Occasionally (like 2 or 3 out of the weekdays), they put down a "social hour." This consisted usually of some sub-par, yet still free, food based on some sort of theme like cheese & crackers, chili-dogs, etc. What gets people there though is the free wine and/or beer. For the low-low price of tipping the tender (technique only), you can have as much crappy wine and/or beer as you want. Yup, I went to every single meal, morning or evening, I could.
Location was far enough from the Strip to avoid most of that kind of traffic. Now the entrance had something to be desired, but I'm not sure I can really pegged them at fault. Still I'll describe for warning's sake. If you're heading southbound, you'll have no problems getting in or going out. Now if you're coming or going northbound, there is a median right in the way. To get in, you'll have to go up a block and flip a U-turn. To get out, you have to compete with on-coming traffic to a stop-light only a dozen or so yards away and across four 35+mph lanes to flip a U-turn. Otherwise you have to travel south for a few blocks for another opportunity.
The lobby staff were absolutely top-notch. Consistently friendly, welcoming, and willing to help make your stay that much better. I was there long enough to strike a couple conversations, and one of them suggested I become a rewards member. It never occurred to me, but I was staying there long enough to automatically bump me into the Silver status. I'm convinced if they didn't care enough, no one would have noticed me missing the opportunity. The cleaning staff, though, was strangely either great or not so much. I usually spent the majority of my day away either at my job or looking for a place to live -- usually both. This is plenty of time for them to straighten-up my room. About half the time, I would come back to a perfect room: none of my belongings disturbed, bathroom restocked, bed made, and even dishes cleaned & put away. The other half of the time, my room got completely skipped over. Wouldn't be such a bad thing if those days weren't 3 to 4 days in a row.
Now, I would call myself more of a Motel 6 type of person. I usually only stay somewhere cheap and safe enough to get me to the next day. This was decidedly different as I ended up here for about two weeks. Don't get me wrong, that's quite an expensive decision despite being at a government rate, but it couldn't have fit my particular situation more perfectly.
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