Room 1515 on club floor at the IHG Intercontinental in Addison Texas in photos.
One bedroom 1 1\2 bath two level suite. Very nice.
hotels
Hilton President Hotel Kansas City Diamond Review
The Hilton President Kansas City is a classic hotel that was built in 1926 during a boom in Kansas City downtown roaring 20’s construction. It was a popular hotel in Kansas City during the Kansas City Mob days, Blues icons played at the famous Drum Room lounge while celebrities watched. As downtown KC struggled through the 1970’s so did the hotel. It finally closed in 1980 and sat vacant until a local business investor group spent over $45 million to restore it and open it as the current Hilton President in 2005. It saw success as downtown KC has gone through a revival. It now sits between the theaters, convention center, Sprint center and KC Power and Light entertainment district. After being open since 2005 it was due for a refresh so they recently spent millions more to update the rooms, add more marble, etc. A lot of historic hotels are cool but this one doesn’t suffer from being outdated. The rooms are fresh and updated. 
The Drum Room Lounge is mostly original. The restaurant is good and a great place for a pre-concert or pre-theater dinner. 
As a Hilton Diamond I was upgraded on arrival to a corner room overlooking the Power and Light District. The hotel was fairly slow which I’m sure helped. 
The only negative thing I can say about this hotel is the motion sensing Verdant thermostat. There is a hack to override it but it’s not an easy hack. The hotel is guilty of not having this set properly for the overnight hours. This is something can be set by the main system. It did go off in the middle of the night and made the room too warm on a hot Summer evening. 
View of Power and Light District and Sprint Center.
View to the South of the Kauffman Center
Overall it was a nice stay. As a Hilton Diamond they do offer free breakfast in the restaurant. There is also a Starbucks coffee stand in the lobby. Great service from the front desk, restaurant and valet parking staff. I will return here even as a local the next time I need to stay downtown. This AAA four diamond hotel is well worth the visit.
Staybridge West Valley City (SLC)
A quick 2 night stay at the Staybridge West Valley City location in Salt Lake City Metro area. I might stay here again on business, haven’t made up my mind but I am very picky. I’m still searching for just the right hotel in the SLC area.
Pros:
- Attached to the Holiday Inn Express that features an indoor water park.
- Great fitness room.
- Typical Staybridge evening reception and free breakfast.
- New feeling hotel although I suspect this property is older than it looks.
- Very clean and comfortable.
- Great service.
- Not far from the airport.
Cons:
- 6:30am breakfast. This is a big deal since I often have to leave early in the morning.
- Fairly noisy hallways (it seems that the housekeeping staff is talking loud and working hard from 8am to 5pm). Kids running down the hall. I suspect due to the water park feature.
- Not many restaurants or shopping close by. There is shopping and restaurant near here but you have to drive a bit.
Trip review Houston / Kemah Texas
I had a recent quick trip to Houston for business. I stayed at the Kemah Texas Holiday Inn Express. Not a bad hotel located near the Ocean front boardwalk area in Kemah. This is on the South side of Houston.
The room was decent although I’m not sure it was much of an upgrade based on my IHG Spire and Ambassador status. The room was comfortable, clean and quiet. The only negative was the HVAC system. It seemed to be set way too sensitive. It has the dumb Inncom electronic thermostat which can be set to VIP mode but it would switch between cold and hot. For example I came in the room and it was slightly too cold like at 68 degrees so I turned it up to say 69 and the AC would go off and then switch to heat to try and moderate 1 degree.
The view from my room was nice. It was a bit cloudy and rainy but you could see the boardwalk area and ocean. 
The wild colored bathroom sink. Interesting. This room had a walk in good shower. Not sure if all the rooms have walk-in showers. 
Another view of the room. Microwave and mini frig. Desk was fairly good set up for work. 
A morning run view of the boardwalk amusement area. 
Part of my morning run in the area. View of the rough sea on a cloudy morning. 
I flew into Houston Hobby on AA but had to get over to El Paso for other business so I elected to fly the United non-stop out of IAH. I was surprised that I didn’t have to pay a big surcharge to drop the rental car from National at a different airport so that was impressive.
The regional UA jets are lumped into one terminal cattle holding area where they call you down the hallway method to walk outside to board. I always love it for some odd reason. My wife things I’m an idiot for getting so excited about walking out on the tarmac. 
Always a good photo-op situation. I love it. 
Is it Tripe or Tryp? Marketing Fail
I often see marketing errors. Maybe it’s just me or maybe I have a warped sense of humor but I say to my wife all the time “why didn’t they just ask me?” I could have set them straight before they launched a new product, marketing campaign or brand. This one comes under that topic.
I was browsing through my company travel discount Lifemart site. It’s fun because usually the deals aren’t that great but I’ll save that topic for another day. I saw an add for a new brand of hotel by Wyndham called TRYP. The first thing, like the very first thing, that entered my mind was the street side signs for Tripe. So how is that bad. Well if you’re not familiar with Tripe it’s not fish or some random sandwich it’s usually beef and is usually made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of the first three chambers of a cow’s stomach. It’s fairly gross unless you are one of the few that think it’s great (I guess). Click on the photo below to go find “awesome” recipe ideas.
So Wyndham likely has focus group research and whatever but I call this one a fail. If I was the CEO and someone brought this idea and name to me I would fire them on the spot.
In Wyndham’s defense it does look like a nice chain of hotels and way above the Knights Inn’s and Travel Lodge locations they have in many places. I just think that, well…they should have asked me…..OH you mean it’s like “TRIP” not “TRIPE” I get it now. You too can “Own the City”
Oh and Wyndham if you really want to turn around your company just come ask me about such ideas. I’d be glad to give you my opinion such stuff…really.
Enter to win 5 nights at Marriott
Click Here to enter to win a Marriott bed or 5 night vacation at Marriott.
Not a bad contest by Shop Marriott which is a company associated with Marriott Hotels that offers various products like the Marriott bedding.
Good luck.
Earn Airline Miles for Booking Hotel Rooms for Others !
I’ve know about Rocketmiles for a long time and have been a user since May of 2013. It’s a fairly simple way to earn extra airline miles on hotel stays and you get at least a 1,000 miles for your first stay if you signup though this link.
Rocketmiles can be earned in various programs including:
What I didn’t know until today is that you can earn miles for booking hotel rooms for others. Just log into your account or join, book the room, and enter the actual guest’s name who will be checking in as “primary guest”. If you are booking for a company, you can contact Rocketmiles and ask to be put in touch with a “Corporate Account Manager” who can explain how to fully take advantage of Rocketmiles for your business (or your own personal account if your a person that books hotels for others, are you listing personal assistants of the world?).
Not bad. Oh and if you don’t belong to Rocketmiles already I would appreciate you signing up through one of my links as I do get some referral miles after your first stay booked through them. Thanks.
CliQbait 