The last time we took a trip when we needed to book hotels was in 2019 when we went from Florida back to Texas to pick up a UHaul full of stuff that we missed when the movers came. We planned to stay in the same places again. For both the outbound and inbound legs of the trips we were staying at Hilton Garden Inns and Holiday Inns.
So this is what I know about hotels in the time of Covid. You pay more and get less. The average price per night on that 2019 trip was $120 per night. This time it was $180. Seems significant to me.
The Holiday Inn hadn't really changed their menu but the Hiltons and the Embassy Suites, where we spent four nights in OKC had what they called a "limited" menu. In Mobile, they were serving their limited menu on real plates but with plastic cutlery. But the food was awful. The young man who was bartending and serving in the dining room was very personable and friendly but in my old-fashioned opinion, dressed totally inappropriately for the job. (He was wearing a hoodie with the sleeves cut completely off.) I'm just going to say that if I owned the hotel, people working in the dining room would at least be wearing shirts with sleeves. But let's get back to the awful food. I ordered a Cobb salad. There are a few things that a Cobb salad should have. Avocado, bacon, tomato, blue cheese crumbles to name a few. This salad had no avocado or bacon and the blue cheese crumbles had been replaced by dried out grated cheddar cheese. It was served with fried chicken rather than grilled or roasted chicken which would have been okay except that the chicken had probably been fried two or three days before it found it's way into the salad. Totally dried out with the meat and breading separating. Mark had a BBQ chicken salad. The young man told him no one had ever ordered that before. Probably not a good omen. It really wan't too different from my salad except that there was BBQ sauce on it instead of vinaigrette or blue cheese dressing. So there was no way we were going to brave that place for breakfast, especially at 14.95 each.
On to Shreveport. Another Hilton Garden Inn. Another "limited" menu. The only thing that wasn't "fried food" was the grilled chicken breast. It was okay. Nothing stellar. Very bland and served on a paper plate with plastic cutlery. They also had signs all over the dining room indicating that breakfast was no longer free. Again, I don't want to pay for whatever they're serving on their plastic plates.
Then we arrived at our destination - Embassy Suites in Norman, OK. We were informed when we checked in that the bar/restaurant was open from 5 until 10, again with a "limited" menu, which we noticed was served in boxes and on plastic. Fortunately, there were multiple restaurants very close by, so we only got stuck eating their very limited menu one night. The odd thing was that they did a breakfast buffet. With real plates. But plastic cutlery. You could even get a custom order omelet. So apparently Covid precautions are only important after breakfast.
The other thing they were being cheap about was cleaning the room. We were told when we checked in that housekeeping would only be performed by request. What that means in real life is that they aren't planning on cleaning your bathroom, making your bed, or providing you with more towels unless you make a special call. As my British husband would say "Sod that!" Assume that I'm calling you every day. The sheets don't have to be changed every day but I do want you to make the bed. I also want the bathroom tidied on a daily basis.
On our return trip, we spent the first night in a Holiday Inn. To their credit, they really didn't have many changes. (We'd stayed at that one in Pearl, MS before.) The menu may have been slightly different because it wasn't the glossy Denny's type menu they used to have, but a simple printed page. But it was easy to find the grilled shrimp salad that I like. And it was all served on real plates with real cutlery.
Which brings me to that last night in Tallahassee at a Hilton Garden Inn with yet another limited menu with food in boxes and plastic cutlery. We just couldn't bring ourselves to eat there. But there was a Texas Roadhouse just down the road...
