RobertinSeattle

Well, it sure didn’t look like the picture on the TraveLodge site! (They managed to leave out the chain-link fence with razor wire on top surrounding the entire perimeter of the place.) I got in around 9:30 pm from the airport after a long day flying in from Seattle for the CTIA Show. I knew it was going to get interesting when I walked into the lobby and there were 10 pissed-off people standing around the small lobby at this TraveLodge. Unfortunately, we all knew that there weren’t any other rooms available ANYWHERE in New Orleans; the town had been booked for months in advance for this wireless telecom convention and trade show. We were completely at their mercy and they knew it!

It took over an hour to get checked in (and only after a very colorful, sarcastic and loud comment in the lobby about the long wait to no one in particular). Once I finally got into my room, I decided to at least put my digital camera to good use documenting my stay at this fine, overpriced establishment and hope to shame the TraveLodge corporate management to look at this place closely enough to put it out of its misery. Maybe I can also draw some attention to Orbitz as well and strike a blow for road warriors everywhere. So here’s my 2-night adventure at the TraveLodge in New Orleans complete with color commentary…

But I DID find some decent Chinese Soul Food. See the final picture in this series… (and click HERE to read my earlier post when I first arrived at the Travelodge.)

The Door to My Room at the Travelodge

I knew I was in trouble the minute I walked into my room and noticed the security latch had already been torn from the door frame and the deadbolt didn’t bolt.

Close Those Curtains!

The curtain’s wouldn’t close completely so… this is where carrying band-aids in my toiletry kit comes in handy!

Woo-hoo! Air Conditioning!

The Cool Knob was missing from my loud air conditioner so the room made me really get the feeling of being in New Orleans: hot and humid.

Great — An Ice Bucket!

Wow! There was an ice bucket (I never did find an ice machine anywhere during my entire stay however). But there were absolutely NO glasses to be found in the room.

OMyGod! A Working TV Set!

The remote control for the TV was nowhere to be found in my room… anywhere!!!

Coffee in the Morning?

Oh wait! Look! They gave me a coffee maker and coffee. But heck — there aren’t any coffee mugs!

A Running Toilet… REALLY!

Oh yeah — and the toilet wouldn’t flush until I reached right in there and fixed it (yuck!). But then it ran all night, every night…

And I Get Two Beds!!!

But what the heck — I DID get two beds in the room so they wouldn’t have to change the sheets or towels the next morning. (And they didn’t!)

And a Convenience Store Next Door…

And next door was the BG Mart, a gas/convenience store that sold Chinese & Soul Food (just like the sign says). They actually had some pretty tasty food: I tried the sweet-and-sour chicken with side orders of egg roll and black-beans-and-rice and corn bread. Yummm!

POSTSCRIPT: Strangely, it was only a few months after my New Orleans trip that Hurricane Katrina hit and wiped out a good part of the area. I haven’t been back there since my Travelodge experience.

Tags: BG Mart, Chinese Soul Food, CTIA Show, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, RobertinSeattle, TraveLodge

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 19th, 2005 at 10:04 am and is filed under RobertinSeattle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.