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| - Champagne and campaign (cf. Jalen Rose), flash and cash, swank and style! Doubletree is an example in business school case studies of brand metonymy: an immediate set of emotional reactions released when one hears a word. But I didn't get that from this Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Madison (not sure if a chain of mergers and acquisitions involving Hilton diluted reality of brand vs. image of brand.)
LOOK, it's not a bad hotel by any means. The sheets got cleaned, and the service staff was super nice. But the physical plant is more like a building with a Doubletree sticker than the ostentatiousness one expects from Doubletree. It looked more like a Best Western conversion. Here are just a few more things where it fell short of the vaunted doubletree standard. Also, disclaimer: I'm not some hotel snob. I'm a cheap function over form-type guy. But when I enter a Doubletree vs. a Courtyard by Marriot, I expect some key differences. Here are some examples where expectations fell short.
Number one: it was raining on the day I arrived, and I had a place to go. You'd expect a 4-star place to have free umbrellas, but nope, I was directed to the gift shop and asked to pay $7. What?!
Number two: the toothbrush was one of those atrocious freebies where the plastic bristles come off with each thrust and get stuck between your teeth. It was a hazard to my gums, and I really had to work to get things clean.
Number three: this is a generalizable complaint. What's with hotels handing out horrible two-blade and one-blade razors that guarantee at least 1-2 bloody cuts a day? I expect DOUBLETREE to at least go with the three-blade, but nope. I cut myself each day, and one really bad cut at the edge of my mouth made it look like I got into a streetfight. "Hey, yo, no, I didn't get into a streetfight. I just stayed at the Doubletree and used the cheap 2-blade razor." The only thing I can say is at least they didn't give the yellow 1-blade Bic razor, which seems designed to leave permanent bloody scars all over one's face. I can't believe hotels still give those away with a straight face. Ever been scammed by a salesperson (at, say, a used car dealership)? I feel this is the same sort of micro-sociological interaction. Keeping that smiley face while knowingly giving people a dermatologically hazardous product!
There are some pluses: they gave me a free banana and extra cookies when I wanted them, and the staff is extremely friendly. But it doesn't add up to that ooh-ahh experience that I associate with the name Doubletree, and I keep my reviews "100" here, as the kids say.
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