Triangle Trip

Demonstrating the depth and breathe of our travel experience, Terminal D and Captain G have put together the best practices for business travel in Dothan, AL. Where exactly is D-town? See the map below:

Below is a list of our recommendations:

Where to stay?

1.  Hampton Inn

Believe it or not, this is the nicest place to stay in town, if you can get a reservation.  Built within the last few years, it’s managed to stay fairly clean and has free wifi.  It’s recommended that you bring your own pillow.   (For a true best practice, steal a pillow from the Fairfield Inn by Marriott)  And don’t let those Hilton points expire!

2.  Courtyard Marriott, which happens to be connected to the Fairfield Inn, is our number 2 pick. We recommend the Courtyard because it is slightly cleaner, but “clean” is a very generous word in this case.  Only stay here if you are a true PW.

(Warning: Don’t be confused if your morning paper and coffee is interrupted with a bill.  The breakfast is not free!)

3.  Sleep Inn is next to the Hampton Inn. It’s fairly clean but clearly in 3rd place.

What to eat?

1.  Long Horn Steakhouse – it is the best restaurant hands down. It also has a great wine by the glass selection which is unheard of in D Town!  They have a St. Jean Cab!!  Woohooo.

2. The Bistro – A great lunch place located at the heart of downtown D-town! It has good food and nice pictures of Europe – probably the only place where you could find such pictures.

3.  La’Le Mediterranean Cafe & Bistro – A great lunch place offering classic greek and similar cuisine.  Odd hours, random closings and a difficult-to-find location may anger you the first 3-5 times, but it’s worth holding out for.

4. Atlanta Bread Company – We know, but it’s the only place you can get fresh fruit and $3 coffee — although Starbucks recently opened at Target which doesn’t open until 9:30AM.

5. Applebee’s – And you thought #4 made us look dumb.  Don’t go here for the food, but the bar is nicely stocked, it’s packed with locals every night, and its proximity to the Mariott makes it a great place to wash away the memories of this terrible visit.

5a. TGI Friday’s – This is a toss up with Applebee’s. Hence the 5a rating. They have karaoke night like 2x a week. It is probably the only karaoke place where you will find zero Asians.

We love to hear from you. You can reach by leaving a comment or via email:  captaing@triangletrip.com or terminald@triangletrip.com

“Earn 500 bonus Starpoints every night and an additional 5,000 every 10th night.”

Starwood Hotels (W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton) have been addressing the economic downturn with a strategy that I can only call a self-inflicted double whammy.  Because of falling demand, prices for a single night at Starwood properties have been falling.  While this is a normal business practice, what’s disconcerting is that at the same time, they are rolling out excessive point-earning incentives.

In exchange for short term solvency, they are guaranteeing a future “market correction.”  Will it be in the form of a bankrupt points program?  Will a Sheraton reward rise from 2,000 points to 10,000?   Will Westin rebrand as Le Meridien? For someone with a very generous balance of points, I’m downright worried.

If anything, SPG should be increasing their rates for this fairly inelastic market.  Yes, there are alternatives like video conferencing, but they’ll never replace the effectiveness of a face to face meeting.  On top of that, I’m guessing that SPG’s bread & butter business traveller is as greedy as I am.  The hotel stay is going to be reimbursed, so they’re not going to compromise their starpoints balance to save $20 a night by moving over to the Hilton.

I don’t care how bad the economy is, any self-respecting consultant won’t be found at a La Quinta.  What’s next?  Online coupons?

-Terminal D

I’ve been Marriott Platinum Elite since middle of 2005.  However in 2007 I only had something like 40 nights but they gave me Platinum status for 2008.  I thought it was some kind of fluke.  One needs 75 nights to maintain or become Platinum status with Marriott, possibly the toughest hotel status to gain.  In 2008 I had even less, 28 nights to be exact.  But lo and behold, I received my 2009 Marriott Platinum Membership card in the mail the other day.  Can someone explain this to me?  I’m not complaining though.  I just hope they don’t fix this glitch in their system.