Even the location site is a master stroke as it has also expanded Indianapolis‘ city skyline and extended the ‘downtown’ area further west.  By bridging the gap into the city’s White River State Park (the largest urban city park in the country with over 250 acres) Marriott Place integrates the various attributes and assets that currently make up downtown Indianapolis all while adding to the existing fabric, essence and character of the city.

Marriott Place is a convention center facility at its core that is made up of several components beginning with its meeting space of over 104,000 square feet (sq. ft).  The breakdown of this vast space includes a 40,000 sq. ft. ballroom which is the largest in the Midwest, a junior ballroom of 20,000 sq. ft. in addition to another 20,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space along with 23,000 sq. ft. of auxiliary breakout space.

In addition to this meeting space, Marriott Place is also connected by an elaborate skywalk system to the existing 622-room Indianapolis Marriott Downtown with its additional 40,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.  Also connected via the skywalk system is the newly-expanded  Indianapolis Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, which provides nearly 1 million sq. ft. of additional meeting and exhibit space, which makes it the 16^th largest convention center in the country.

The other major components of Marriott Place consist of four of the Marriott-brand hotels, each with its own style and feel that one has come to expect with each of the respective brands.  Their identities are unique and individual just as one would find if you entered them in any other location.

There is the 297-room Courtyard by Marriott, a 156-room SpringHill Suites, and a 168-room Fairfield Inn, which features a TGI Fridays restaurant that also provides ‘room service’ for each of these hotels.  There is valet parking for all four hotels and a connected underground parking garage with nearly 1,000 parking spots which joins each of the hotels and the conference center.

The final hotel, of course is the anchor and focal point of Marriott Place, the 33-story, 1,005-room JW Marriott, the largest JW Marriott in the world.  Even though this is a ‘convention and business hotel’, Marriott has achieved yet another design coup by creating an unassuming and casual, yet elegant lobby and public space, which provokes a non-imposing atmosphere that many business-oriented hotels often present.

The JW Marriott offers two full-service restaurants, High Velocity and Osteria Pronto.  High Velocity is a high-tech sports bar restaurant with two full-service bars, a private dining room, private lounge area and over 50 televisions that is accessible from the hotel lobby, as well as a separate street-level entrance.  Osteria Pronto is a wonderful Italian bistro-style restaurant that includes an open kitchen, a large banquet room that can be segmented into three individual rooms, and an incredible and intimate wine cellar room for private dinners.  Just beyond Osteria Pronto in the lobby area, there is an impressive full-service bar that offers a comprehensive coffee menu along with an extensive wine list.  At the other end of Osteria Pronto is ‘Tavern on the Plaza’, an outdoor garden area, which creates a tranquil setting, complete with full-service bar, fire-pit and a beautiful fountain.  The area is serviced by Osteria Pronto with a hand-selected menu.

When the dust settles, there are 1,626 total rooms with a diverse offering of these various brands at a variety of price points, offering a wide-range of styles, services, amenities, packages and options to convention and meeting organizers and professionals.  Marriott Place also provides all businesses and organizations the opportunity for flexibility and creativity for their events, all under one roof, with diverse options available, unlike any singular facility.

My hat is off to Marriott and Indianapolis for their collaborative and creative efforts, which has culminated in merging these various aspects, components, goals and expectations of a project of this scale.  The impact and magnitude of Marriott Place on the hotel and convention industry will be felt for some time to come, as it has changed the landscape of design, purpose and possibilities.  With regards to Indianapolis, the impact of Marriott Place will be far more substantial and wide-reaching as the final step in Indy’s long awaited goal of becoming, no longer just a ‘city among the corn fields’, but as a city that is has matured, having a great deal to offer.  Indianapolis should be taken seriously as a ‘major player’ in hosting future conventions, concerts, and other notable events, both nationally and internationally. It is time for Indianapolis to be given the recognition it has worked so hard to achieve, and with Marriott Place, it has attained that, and even more.

I am here in my room while my wife is in a Continuing Education class.  I figure I should do this  so we can enjoy ourselves this afternoon when she wraps up her class.  I was trying to decide on what to write about and I decided to have a little fun with this post.

As a kid growing up and sitting in the backseat with my brother & sister, we would come up with many games to play while we were on those long road trips.  Things I’m sure many of you have played yourselves.  In addition to singing every car/travel song there is, we also played – Punch bug, I spy, different state license plates, cars that are _______ (color, 4 doors, 2 doors, semi’s, etc), slaps (with our hands), hide & seek, and the original electronic games… Mattel Electronics football & baseball games.   So, after all these years of playing car / travel games, I was amused to find a new one.

As we drove down here (approximately 12 hours) we obviously had time to kill so as my wife was looking at the atlas (UniversalMap Atas) trying to figure the best way to adjust our route to accommodate  a construction project at the Tennessee / North Carolina state line on I40.  While perusing the atlas we decided to check a few things out.  We had seen a lot of cities names that ended in ‘ton’.  So, my wife went through the list and came to realize that there were 65 ‘tons’ in North Carolina.  Then we began to think about other quirky items, so with still plenty of time to kill, we moved on to Georgia.  I decided on a whim to look up cities ending in ‘ville’ (ok my wife did, I was driving).  WOW, Georgia has 118 cities with ‘ville’ at the end of their names.  I then decided (without looking) to look at Arizona and counted the number of cities with ‘A’ at the end of the city’s name.  47 (not including the state itself).   Interesting what you can find to entertain yourself when you try.  Also, it’s a great way to get better acquainted with different areas and possible places to look into visiting or places to go.  We came across some interesting facts, historical sites, national parks, alternative routes and even learned some things I didn’t know about.  It also gave me some ideas for future trips I hadn’t thought of.

Our new game was fun, interactive, thought-provoking and educational.  So next time you are looking for something to do when you are on your next road trip, try coming up with various games using the atlas which can keep things interactive with everyone involved, of course along with today’s modern ‘travel’ items (cell phones w/ Facebook, Twitter, blogs, internet access, miniature travel games, portable DVD players, iPods, etc ).

What kind of  things do you and your family do when you travel to pass the time?  We would love your feedback.

Until next week…

Happy & Safe Travels

No, it’s not a furniture sale or a lay-a-way program, it is however a theme that should be adopted by travelers.  As summer winds down it is the best time to consider your holiday plans.  Now I know that you are currently reading the thermometer and seeing 90+ degrees with no end in sight and can’t even think about the cold winter ahead.

People get caught up with the end of the summer, the back-to-school activities, sports and before you know it, it is already Halloween and the holiday season is fast approaching.  Now you are scrambling to figure out your plans and aren’t going to be able to take your time to work a good deal. 

Why not sit down inside from the heat outside and get a cold glass of lemonade or iced tea and give a few minutes to thinking about what’s next.  Everyone knows the feeling of what it’s like as you go through the process of picking your next trip.  It can turn a bad day into a great one, just the thought of  the trip can inspire and keep your spirits up when you’re having a ‘moment’. 

The upside is also that by planning early you can take the time to consider a plethora of options that you may not consider or can’t due to waiting to the last-minute.  With Christmas falling on a Saturday this year it creates some unique opportunities for travel.  Long weekend, 2 long weekends, maybe even the rare 2 week trip.  Travel vendors are going to have to plan for this as it creates a quandary in how to plan and consider their offers for the ‘holiday season’.  They now have to plan for the week leading up to Christmas and the week following, so it could create some opportunities for you to take advantage of if you are flexible.  Maybe you should even consider a longer Thanksgiving weekend as there are many great deals to be had between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  You can have an extended weekend and the following week and still have a few days off around Christmas to spend with family  without having to take off extra time. 

This is one of the slowest periods for high-profile and in demand locations such as Hawaii.  When we went this last December, it was slow, not crowded and not nearly as expensive as it might be by going on the more traditional holiday breaks.

If you can pull off the rare 2 week vacation, you now have much more opportunities and locations that now are in play such as Europe, Australia or other long distance destinations.

And if your locked into the ‘family’ holidays, then consider taking time off for New Year’s and splurge and go somewhere for the long weekend instead of staying in town and going to the annual neighbors party (not that there is anything wrong with that). 

Whether it’s a warm beach, some desert heat, Mickey & Friends or skiing or other winter sports or a quite inn with a fireplace in a quaint New England village, think about breaking the cycle and trying something new.  But no matter what you want, at least begin the process now and give you something to look forward to as the end of summer activities kick up and bum you out as your are reminded of it and have nothing to look towards.

What is on your Christmas list?  What do you want from Santa this year?  Because Santa can be anywhere at any time as his work is never done and Santa understands the importance of vacations and time away (see photo). So, why not get started now?

Happy Holidays & travel safe.

With the ability to process, download, cross-reference, disseminate information so fast in today’s computer and social media world, it has become a matter of distrust, uncertainty to areas of privacy, information, spamming, viruses and such.  However, it is just as much a wonderful advancement in other areas as well such as customer service (feedback, survey, quality control, and satisfaction). 

In the past you might comment to someone say at a hotel or restaurant about a problem or bad experience you had and maybe the manager would do something to correct the problem like buy your meal, give you some rewards points; but you really have to ‘work’ at getting that sometimes.  With social media resources such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and other review sites, the playing field and the rules have changed. 

Most major companies now have sophisticated software that actually monitors and tracks responses on social media sites and can get positive and negative feedback in a matter of days or even hours. 

So, using the premise that you are on vacation let’s pretend that you have arrived in Miami in the morning the day before taking a cruise leaving tomorrow.  You go for a late breakfast at a restaurant where you have a bad experience.  You decide to Tweet about your experience and mention the restaurant and the problem (in a respectful manner).  You go about your day touring Miami and you return to your hotel to get ready for dinner and you suddenly get a Tweet from the corporate HQ of the restaurant you had the bad experience earlier in the day at.  You respond and they ask if you have an e-mail for them to contact you and get more information about your experience as so they can help clarify and resolve your issue and concerns.  Sounds to good to be true?  No it’s not, it true and it happened to me.

This is my story…  I was traveling back home for my niece’s graduation (congrats again Breck) in Ohio and traveled to Indianapolis the next day to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday.  We got in just before leaving for dinner and I began having a headache.  I was hoping dinner at a favorite spot of our family would make me feel better after an already long day.  Well, to spare you all of the details of my experience, suffice to say that I had a very bad experience.  I was very disappointed as this was supposed to be a nice rebound from a rough day.    The waitress was very pleasant and offered to rectify the problem, even offering to get the manager.  I was polite and said no thank you; but the manager came anyway and tried to insist on making things right.  I declined again just hoping to leave and go home to goto bed and start a new day tomorrow.  As I waited for everyone else to finish, I decided to check my e-mails, Facebook and Twitter.  I was  bored and decided  to post a Tweet from my new phone to see if it would post to my Facebook to check out the set-up.  I posted a very simple post:

 “Just had a surprisingly bad experience at one of my favorite regular Indy stops. Very disappointed. Usually great… not tonight. Bad Buca     6:07 PM May 29th via web

That was it.  Nothing more.  Saturday night, Memorial Day weekend in Indy (race weekend).  I gave it no more thought and went about the rest of my weekend. 

Come Tuesday (after Memorial Day) I received a Tweet from the restaurant:

“Humm I am sorry to hear that! Could you DM us your email address so we can further address this issue? ” 12:57 PM Jun 1st via web

 All I could say was – WOW! 

I made my post at 6:07pm on Saturday of a holiday weekend and received an unsolicited response on Tuesday at 12:57pm.  That is incredibly fast.  Less than 1/2 business day to respond to one single Tweet that had one single word distinguishing them from the all of the other thousands of Tweets, Facebook posts and other unknown countless posts and reviews from people all over the country.  Very impressive. 

Later that week I got to speak directly to the restaurant’s corporate Social Media Director and later the Regional VP who informed me how serious they took these kind of issues and customer service.  I believed them.  By this point I almost felt bad about even posting my complaint.  They had regained my loyalty by handling it the way they did.  I explained to them that the restaurant did everything to attempt to resolve the issue to my satisfaction but I told them I said no because I was so put out by then, it didn’t matter.  I found myself defending the restaurant to corporate.  What a turn of events. 

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the restaurant I am talking about is Buca Di Bepo.  Now for the record, I debated whether to post this post and reveal who I was talking about; but after giving it some thought, I realized this is not a negative towards them, it actually is a compliment to them and their committment to customer satisfaction. 

Thanks Buca for showing how to do it the right way. 

In business, no one is perfect and to expect that is unrealistic.  The real mark of a great company is how they handle and resolve the issues that do arise and take ownership of all aspects of what happens on their watch with their property, product or service.  I feel in this new and expanding field of social media, they moved quickly and recognized that this is truly a new frontier and it’s impact will be massive, quick and effective.

So, now apply it in some other situations…

You’re at a hotel and your given a wrong room type, bags take a while to be delivered, ice machine is broke, room is not quite clean or stocked, AC/Heat is not working, cold water in the shower, water leak or whatever the problem de jour is.  You try to get some resolution but aren’t quite getting anywhere or not quite the level of response you were expecting.  Of course, I hope you are using the ABC’s of negotiating: be polite, respectful, courteous and understand you will not get anything if you are antagonistic, confrontational or make it personal (unless you have the unusual gift of this type of approach).

So take to newest frontier in negotiating… social media.  Post something on a major review site, or Facebook or post  a Tweet.  Be detailed in your problem, identify the business and hope that they or their corporate offices see the post and reply quickly.  If not, it will bite them in the end by not addressing it and the other negative reviews and posts they get about their business.  It may not get you what you want on that visit; but who knows the impact you may have on them in the future.  You might be surprised at what happens.  Also, fill out the in-room surveys and inform them of your experience and lack of resolution on their part, who you spoke with and what action you took (ie. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, etc). 

Social media is the common man’s sword against the big bad insensitive corporate hotels, cruise lines, restaurants, resorts.  Now you have a fighting chance.

If something comes of it, please let me know about it by posting a comment and sharing your story with others, good and bad.

Happy and Safe Travels

No problem I told him as I envisioned talking to him as if I were standing next to him on Ka’anapali beach.  I gave him several restaurants, beaches, coves and other things to do and places to visit while he was there.  I find pleasure in helping others which is one of the reasons I got involved with travel.  Just to hear the excitement in his voice and his anticipation of a great experience (a great dinner that night at Mama’s Fish House and a wonderful trip overall) made it all worthwhile for me.  It even helped me revisit my trip to Maui back in December.  What great times.  I found myself getting a little uplifting injection into my day as those memories passed before me.

That is what travel and vacations are all about.  Creating memories, experiencing new places and locations or revisiting old familiar stomping grounds that are comforting which is why we find ourselves going back to a location once again to try and recapture those memories and moments.  But each time, we find new things, new experiences and new feelings.  I find it hard myself to try new places even though I have an extensive list of places I want to travel to.  When we are planning our next trip, it never fails that we always mention a place we have been before because of our previous experiences and want to recapture them or we didn’t feel we never really got to see or do everything on the previous trip(s) and want to expand our experience and capture even more of the area.

We all have places like that in our lives whether it was as a child or as part of a group of friends or as a young couple (before kids) or as a family.  And there is nothing wrong with that; however… there are so many great places that we overlook or never venture out to try.  I can remember my sister and her family going to Myrtle Beach every summer and staying at the same place until one year a hurricane caused them to go somewhere else.  They decided on Destin, Florida.  When they got back my sister called me so excited about their trip and couldn’t wait to sing its praises to me.  She went on and on about the beaches and the area and how she absolutely loved it.  I was so happy for her and the family because I knew that feeling of adventure and awakening of what a new place can bring.  The excitement and wonderment of wow, what else is out there to be seen.

I explained to her this concept of adventure and that even though Myrtle Beach and Destin are great destinations, there is still so much more to see.  Since then, they have ventured out and each time, they come back more conscious of this thing called travel and more comfortable doing it. 

So as this summer winds down, take a minute and take out a map and think of new places you’ve heard about, whether it’s a city, a park, event, region or just from pictures.  Start off small and venture to a new location within a few hours drive from home for a weekend.  For us, we live within 4 hours of Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, major lakes, national parks, wonderful festivals, sporting events and teams, historical locations, tourists sites, museums and on and on and on.  And even though we have visited many places in this region, we haven’t gotten through a lot of it.  I’ve been to St. Louis on numerous occasions but I really feel I’ve never seen the city.  I know a lot about it and where to go, but I just haven’t done it yet.  That is one of my goals in the next year.

What is around you, what have you seen on TV, heard about from friends, seen in photos or a magazine that sounds interesting or something you’ve said you would like to do but just haven’t?  Take some time and find a way, make a plan and just get out there and broaden your horizons and experiences.  And if you’re not sure where to look, contact us here or on our Twitter or Facebook page for advice or suggestions.  Use your hobbies, interests and your curiosities lead the way.

My hope is that people will start posting their experiences (good and bad) thoughts and ideas on here to share with others.  So, if you have a story, question, recommendation or review of a place, location, restaurant, hotel, resort, park, event, etc, let us and everyone else know about it. 

Until next week,

Happy & Safe Travels

2.   Biltmore Inn – Asheville, NC

3.   Conrad – Indianapolis, IN

4.   Firesky Resort – Scottsdale, AZ

5.   Gaylord Palms – Orlando, FL

6.   Grand Bohemian – Orlando, FL

7.   Hyatt Regency – Reston, VA

8.   Loews – Coronado, CA

9.   Omni Severn – Indianapolis, IN

10.  Omni Shoreham – Washington DC

11. Opryland- Nashville, TN

12. Reniassance – Cleveland, OH

13. Reniassance – St. Louis, MO

14. Ritz Carlton – Charlotte, TN

15. Ritz Carlton – Maui, HA

16. Royal Sonesta – New Orleans, LA

17. St. Regis – Atlanta, GA

18. Seelbach Hotel – Louisville, KY

19. Westin – San Antonio, TX

20. Westin – Indianapolis, IN

1.  Four Seasons – Maui, HA

2.  Grand Wailea Resort, Maui, HA

3.  Grove Park Inn – Asheville, NC

4.  Hard Rock Hotel – Orlando, FL

5.  Hotel Del Coronado – Coronado, CA

6.  La Mansion Del Rio – San Antonio, TX

7.  Las Vegas – To many to mention (Wynn, Venetian, Red Rock Canyon,  City Centre, Palms…)

8.  Portofino Bay – Orlando, FL

9.  Scottsdale Resort – Scottsdale, AZ

10. The Hermitage – Nashville, TN

 1. Luxus Suites – Indianapolis, IN

 2. Panorama Towers – Las Vegas, NV

 3. Sheraton Mountain Vista – Avon / Beavercreek, CO

 4. Sheraton Broadway Plantation –  Myrtle Beach, SC

 5. Westin Villas – Maui, CO

Where are some of your favorite ‘alternative’ locations (ie. B&B’s, resorts, campgrounds, private property, cabin, time share, etc)?

TOP 5 SPAS

1. Bellagio – Las Vegas, NV 
2. Dukane – Evansville, IN
3. Gaia – LaJolla, CA
4. Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa – Asheville, NC
5. Ritz Carlton – Kapaulu, HA

 What are some of yours.  We would love to hear from you.  Also, if you have any questions or are looking for suggestions, recommendations or anything else, please contact us.

I trust everyone has had a wonderful start to their summer season.  The graduations are over and now it’s on to summer sports, weddings and family vacations.  I originally planned on suggesting several unique travel ideas, locations and things to do for the summer.  However, I am trying to find more ways to include others in the process of ‘social media’. 

So, I am going to be utilizing my Twitter account (@travelwithsean), my Facebook page (Cornerstone Travel and More) and my blog to gain feedback and insights from all of you out there over the next few weeks with several polls, discussions and hopefully some great feedback posts as well. 

I have been doing some traveling of my own this recently and as I travel, I have some great conversations with fellow travelers about things to do, where to go, hidden gems and it just reaffirmed what I know and believe that no one can be a travel expert on everything or about everywhere.  There is simply too much out there. 

That is why shows on the Travel Channel, National Geographic and even the Food Network have such a strong following.  It is because people like to know about other places and are curious about what else is out there and not just the luxury stuff; but the ‘hole in the walls’ and quirky and unique items, places and things.

Now, I do keep up on quite a bit when it comes to travel and one of my secrets is my access to information through my contacts, the internet, research and simply paying attention and always tracking and logging information over the years.   And now, I am really going to use social media and all of its wonder and potential to create a dialog and feedback from all who see this and my other posts as well.  I am going to get the ball rolling by creating a series of  ‘lists’ that will be diverse, specific, general but all fun.  So, check back in to see what everyone I hope will be talking about. 

So, to get things started take a look at the lists on the next couple of posts that I have on a couple of topics / areas of interests and give me your thoughts, feedback and your own personal suggestions. 

And as always, happy and safe travels.