Marriott Hotel, Prague

...2002. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel for 5 nights. This op simply describes the facilities at the hotel. I have also written a few words about my temping assignment at Marriott Services.


WORKING FOR MARRIOTT SERVICES

In 1997 I had the stupid urge to go temping. I registered with the employment agency Hays Accountancy Personnel, which soon found me a 10-week assignment with Marriott Services. This company is ...
...each other.

Marriott Services was preparing to move its premises to Beckenham, which is also where Kate, the Big Brother winner, lives. I spent a lot of the assignment moving boxes, files, equipment etc. This differed a lot from my original job description.

There was one unfortunate incident where an employee stole my jacket complete with wallet, tube pass and keys. I was loaned GBP 10 and got home. I cancelled my bankcards ... more

WRITTEN August 2002

INTRODUCTION

My wife and I had a lovely visit to Prague in July/August 2002. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel for 5 nights. This op simply describes the facilities at the hotel. I have also written a few words about my temping assignment at Marriott Services.

WORKING FOR MARRIOTT SERVICES

In 1997 I had the stupid urge to go temping. I registered with the employment agency Hays Accountancy Personnel, which soon found me a 10-week assignment with Marriott Services. This company is an offshoot of the hotel chain and provides vending machines to hospitals and gardening services to schools etc.

My hourly pay was a paltry GBP 4.50, which was about 80p above the minimum wage. My job was to help out the accounts staff in the payroll, credit control and purchase ledger departments. Unfortunately these 3 departments did not speak to each other.

Marriott Services was preparing to move its premises to Beckenham, which is also where Kate, the Big Brother winner, lives. I spent a lot of the assignment moving boxes, files, equipment etc. This differed a lot from my original job description.

There was one unfortunate incident where an employee stole my jacket complete with wallet, tube pass and keys. I was loaned GBP 10 and got home. I cancelled my bankcards and notified Hammersmith Police. But I had to go to the Police Station to make a statement. I also got a call from a bank that suspected something was amiss.

The following day I went to that bank and recovered my keys. But GBP 500 was taken from my bank account. I filled in loads of forms and had to go to Shepherds Bush Police Station to make another statement and obtain a police crime number.

I got a full refund of the stolen money. I contacted Hays about making an insurance claim but they said that the client was responsible. Marriott’s said that I would have to pay the first GBP 100 of any claim. As my claim was around GBP 120 it was not worth making a claim.

A few days afterwards the managing director of Marriott’s had all his bank cards and cash stolen. This time the police were called in. Even I had to give a statement to the security officer.

The summer of 1997 was quite hot and so fans were provided for the staff. On a really hot day I asked a female work colleague if she would alter the switch so that the fan would rotate giving both of us some air. But she said that it was her fan and for her own use only. While she was getting the full force of the fan I got no cold air at all.

Another temp who was working with me was getting GBP 18 per hour. This was 4 times what I was earning.

When my assignment ended my boss was on holiday. When he returned he demanded my return. Hays even wanted to ring my GP’s surgery where I had an appointment that morning. But I refused to go back.

Temping can be fun but beware of unscrupulous employment agencies.

For the past 5 years Marriott was a swear word in our household.

By choosing to stay at a Marriott Hotel some ghosts were to be exorcised.

WHY WE CHOSE THE MARRIOTT HOTEL

Normally when planning a holiday we see how much we have to spend. Then we decide how many nights we are staying. Thus we can decide which hotel to stay in.

Usually this means staying in a 4 star hotel. But accommodation was so cheap in Prague that we plumped for a 5 star hotel. There were 3 to choose from. But the location of the Prague Marriott Hotel was walking distance from the town centre.

I also wanted to give Marriott a chance to redeem themselves after my bad experiences working for them.

I have only stayed in 5 star hotels on 2 previous occasions: Chicago in 1977 and Miami in 1988. On both occasions I felt that I was out of my depth.

AIRPORT TO HOTEL

After leaving Prague airport I located someone holding a Cityrama placard. It was his job to drive us to the hotel.

In Prague taxi drivers have a dodgy reputation and are best avoided. But taxis from the hotel can be trusted.

Two other couples joined us on the mini-bus and were dropped off at other hotels.

The journey from airport to our hotel took about 45 minutes.

Prague was built on 7 hills and the scenery was quite picturesque. Some of the roads were quite steep though.

CHECK-IN

On arrival at the hotel a man helped us with our luggage. The check-in procedure was quite quick.

I simply handed over my hotel voucher to the receptionist. Then I filled in a form giving my name, address and credit card details. My wife’s Czech visa number was also taken, as all new tourists to Prague have to be reported to the local police.

The check-in procedure took about 3 minutes and I was given a key card for our room. I noticed that the female receptionist spoke with an American accent. I thought the idea was to make American guests feel at home.

The baggage handler took us to the lift, which does not operate if your key card is not inserted. This was an excellent security measure. I noticed that the manufacturer of the elevator was Otis who has a good reputation.

On reaching the room I noticed that the room number was also written in Braille to help the blind.

Normally check-in takes place after 3 p.m. but I saw people check–in at all hours in the day.

HOTEL ROOM

On entering the room the first thing to do was to insert the key card in a slot near the bathroom. This ensured that the electricity was switched on.

The TV had a lovely message ‘Welcome to Mr and Mrs Kundu’ which was a nice touch.

The room was spacious but not huge. The room resembled a 4 star hotel. The largest hotel room I have stayed in recent years was at the Sequoia Lodge in Disneyland Paris.

There was a table with various hotel leaflets with a chair. There was also a comfortable sofa chair with accompanying footrest.

There was plenty of wardrobe space. The bed was larger than a double bed. The pillows were smaller than usual. Certainly I had no problems sleeping.

There were a couple of phones, one of which had a modem attachment. My father rang us to ensure that we had arrived in one piece and left a message on the voicemail as we were out.

There were 2 huge table lamps beside the bed.

There was a small safe to keep important documents. But I found it too complicated to use.

Several pictures adorned the walls. My wife who has studied art in the past said that the sketches were of high quality.

The room had air-conditioning regulated by a thermostat. Temperatures peaked at 35 Celsius in Prague. The rest of the time it was in the early 30s. But coming into an air-conditioned room from the outside heat was very comfortable.

My memory goes back to Athens. It was a really hot day but the temperature inside the hotel room was hotter. Life was quite uncomfortable then.

TV

A lovely oak cabinet encased the TV.

There were about 30 channels. Most were German satellite channels. I mainly tuned into CNN, BBC World and Sky News. I really fancied Anna Botting of Sky News.

Although we were in Prague it was nice to keep in touch with the news from back home.

There were some pay-per-view channels and adult movie channels payable by credit card.

There were also a couple of radio stations accessible from the TV. One channel played mainly tecno music, which was too loud. The second channel played classical music, which was quite soothing. Apart from Antonin Dvorak my knowledge of Czech classical music composers is quite sparse.

I used to set the morning alarm via the TV. The TV would switch on at the designated time with an alarm loud enough to wake us up.

The TV can also display how much you have spent in the hotel eg meals, drinks at the bar, phone calls etc. This information is updated daily.

BATH/SHOWER

The bath was quite large. The hot and cold taps had buttons on which regulated the water temperature. But I found them too complicated to work out.

The weather was so hot that I had 2 showers per day, which was refreshing.

I can recall the days when I was a workaholic in the mid 1980s. I was so stressed and depressed that I rarely took baths. Even my workmates complained about the smell.

BATHROOM

Apart from the bath, there was a sink inside the bathroom.

Free bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lotion were provided. There were also facial and body soaps. I did not know the difference between chemical composition in them.

There was plenty of room next to the sink for toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving equipment etc.

On one side was attached a hairdryer.

There were even sockets for electric shavers.

Also attached was a shaving mirror whose mirror was magnified. I saw a similar type of mirror on sale at Boots but the high price put me off.

There were enough towels, mini-towels, face towels for a family of 5.

The bathroom was immaculately cleaned every morning by the chambermaids.

MINIBAR

Like in most hotels there was a minibar. Normally the items are kept in a fridge. But some items were displayed next to the wardrobe.

The items on offer ranged from crisps, chocolate etc to bottled water, soft and alcoholic drinks. But the prices were a rip-off.

The chocolate was deliberately put in a place easily reachable by children.

I used to buy bottles of coke and sprite for 25 Czech Koruna (GBP 0.58) from a nearby shop.

MONEY EXCHANGE

The hotel changed some of my larger bank notes into smaller denomination. I hated paying for small items using a 2000 Czech Koruna note.

The same situation occurs here where foreign tourists pay for small items using a GBP 50 note.

The hotel also exchanged foreign currency at impressive rates. The exchange rate for the pound was 44 Czech Koruna. In the UK I got 43 Czech Koruna to the pound. So it may be better to obtain the Czech currency in the Czech Republic.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast was served between 6.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. It consisted of an All-American Buffet which was fantastic. My mouth waters just by writing about it.

Hot foods: Scrambled eggs, bacon, 2 types of sausage, mushrooms, sautéed potatoes with fried red onion, French toast, tomato sauce and American mustard.

There was a cook who made fried eggs or omelettes with fillings such as cheese, onion, ham, bell peppers, mushrooms etc.

There was a grill where waffles could be warmed. The accompanying sauces were maple syrup, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, vanilla sauce and whipped cream.

Cold foods: Pickled onions, bell peppers, sweetcorn, yoghurt sauce, salami, Parma ham, chicken ham, turkey ham, chicken roll, half boiled eggs with dill, halibut, Grav lax (marinated salmon), cheese, peaches, apricots and other fruits.

Cereals: Cornflakes, coco pops, and crunchy nut cornflakes with ordinary and skimmed milk with white and brown sugar.

There was a do-it-yourself muesli section. There were bowls of prunes, apricots, sultanas, oats etc to make your own museli.

Juices: Orange, multivitamin, apple, tomato, grapefruit and mineral water.

The fruit bowl included apples, oranges and grapes.

The cheeseboard had 4 types of cheese: Cheddar, Stilton + 2 others.

There was a selection of yoghurts.

There were at least 15 types of biscuits, cakes such as apple strudel with butter, honey and marmalade. I liked the apricot in cream cheese in a tart.

Finally we were asked if we liked tea or coffee. I expected a cup of coffee but received a huge jug instead. My wife received a huge pot of tea. Several types of herbal tea were also available.

The quantity of this breakfast was enormous but the quality was excellent. I started off this holiday fat and ended it like a beached whale. Every day we had lunch around 4 p.m. as we were so full.

When hotel guests came to the breakfast table they were simply shown to their table. With us the head waitress asked how we were and how we slept etc. It was nice to be pampered.

USA TODAY

Near the brasserie was a newspaper rack storing newspapers such as the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Die Welt etc.

When we returned to our room after breakfast a bag carrying the newspaper USA Today was hung on the doorknob.

I found the paper quite interesting to read. The number of pages is much smaller than English newspapers. There was no consistency on the main lead.

One morning the main news was the TV programme American Pop Idol that featured Simon Cowell from the British version. Next to it was a short report about the latest atrocity in the Middle East. The articles simply stated facts and did not have much analysis. The letters page consisted of 3 letters all in support of Israel. The rest of the paper was filled with business news and stock quotes.

The sports section dealt mainly with American Football, baseball, basketball and horse racing. There were a few lines about Major League Soccer. There was no mention of the Commonwealth Games or any other sporting event.

May be this is why the Americans are so different to the British?

HOTEL GUESTS

The majority of the hotel guests were American which is not surprising, as Marriott is an American hotel chain. I saw about 5 people with English accents and a few Oriental people.

Some of the Americans treated their wives as trophies on their arms. Americans speak slicker than the British but have less knowledge. After questioning an American man for a few hours he started to give monosyllable answers.

The people I fear the most intellectually are the Germans. Whenever I meet them I always use a defensive bat so to speak.

HEALTH CLUB

On the lower ground floor there was a health club which is free for all hotel guests.

There is an indoor heated swimming pool, sauna, massage treatments, treadmills and exercise equipment complete with personal trainer.

I am quite happy staying fat and felt sorry for the many who were sweating buckets in search of the body beautiful.

CASINO

Next to the health club was a casino. We did not go in but overheard another American diner who made some losses in the casino before hitting a winning streak.

I have always hated casinos. I came across several of them in Las Vegas. I also paid a brief visit to a hotel casino in the Bahamas. It is true that the prettiest women congregate around the men winning the most money.

PIANO ENTERTAINMENT

During evening meals there was a pianist playing middle-of-the-road numbers eg Burt Bacharach, Abba, musical numbers, Beatles etc.

There was a short pause before the music restarted. This time the music was note perfect. We found that a piano was playing the tunes by itself. I think it is called a pianola and I have seen a few of these in Hollywood movies.

During 2 evenings a singer-songwriter sang and played the piano. We seemed to be the only ones applauding his songs. Later on I made a request for a LeAnn Rimes song but he did not know any. Instead he sang ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles for me.

Another evening a different piano-singer appeared for a couple of hours. He opened with ‘Your Song’ by Elton John and finished with the brilliant theme to the 1967 film ‘Un homme et une femme’. I would guess that the stars of that film were Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve. Can anybody help me out?

The music was really entertaining and soothing.

CONCIERGE

I booked our Prague sightseeing tour via the hotel concierge. She was quite efficient and booked the tour with a quick phone call. She simply gave me a reservation ticket, which I would give to the tour office with payment via cash or credit card.

Other American guests enquired about the best Czech restaurants to visit.

EVENING MEALS

One of the most difficult things on holiday is finding a place to eat on our first night abroad. We were both tired by the journey to Prague. The thought of exploring Prague in the dark trying to find somewhere suitable to eat did not appeal to us. So we ate our evening meal at the hotel brasserie.

The food was of excellent quality, plentiful and very cheap. So we had our meal every evening at the hotel. The whole meal cost about GBP 5 per person which is very reasonable for a 5 star hotel restaurant.

At the start of each meal the waiter poured out light and dark olive oil into a saucer. Then using the largest pepper mill I had ever seen put pepper onto the olive oil. The pepper mills were made of oak and came from France. With each meal there was a basket of warm bread rolls.

For drinks we usually asked for tap water. But the waiter gave us mineral water without charging it to the bill. I have to say that all drinks are marked up at the hotel. A glass of sprite would normally cost Czech Koruna 25 but cost 60 Czech Koruna at the hotel bar.

Here are some of the meals we ate:

French onion soup
Greek salad
Tuscany chicken with fried aubergines
Breaded veal on a bed of sautéed potatoes with roasted pine nuts
Club sandwich with French fries
Breaded pork chop with baby carrots in a Dijon sauce
Roasted chicken breast on a bed of garlic mashed potato with green beans
Strawberry ice-cream

As our breakfast was so filling we only ate lunch at 4 p.m. This meant that usually one course at dinner was suffice to fill us up.

I asked the waiter if he had served any celebrities in the past. He mentioned the names of American actors Samuel L Jackson and Lorenzo Lamas. He also mentioned the Real Madrid footballers Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Stevie Mac. I suspect that Real Madrid played Sparta Prague in a Champions League group match last season.

FOYER

The hotel foyer was beautifully designed. The décor was lovely. There were plenty of comfy sofas to sit on and put the world to rights.

We spent a lot of time sitting on the sofas just people watching.

RESTROOMS

Restroom is the American word for toilet. These were beautifully designed.

Inside the toilets music was piped in. I must say that using the men’s room was made more pleasant by listening to Britney Spears’ ‘I am just a girl not yet a woman’.

Outside the restrooms was a show polishing machine, which dispensed polish, and a brush, which buffed shoes.

SOUVENIR SHOP

Next to reception was a souvenir shop. The main souvenir from Prague is Bohemian crystal. I could see several figurines made of crystal from the outside.

I have a habit of being clumsy and always knocking things over in shops. So I gave my wife some Czech Koruna and a bankcard and let her do all the shopping.

CHECK-OUT

We checked out at 12 p.m. and left our suitcases in the luggage room. I paid for all the evening meals by debit card. I even got awarded over 5000 Marriott reward points.

We had lunch at the hotel and just sat around the foyer.

A taxi to the airport was organised for us and it was goodbye to the Marriott Hotel.

HOTEL TO AIRPORT

The journey to the airport took 30 minutes. The fare was 790 Czech Kr (GBP 18).

The taxi driver was quite chatty. He said that it was a good thing that communism was over. He liked the Premier Vaclav Havel. New elections would take place soon.

SHAREHOLDER PERKS

People who know me know that I like my pizza and love visiting Pizza Hut. So I bought some shares in Whitbread which owns Pizza Hut. Now I get regularly sent discount vouchers for Pizza Hut. These vouchers are useful as the price is often discounted by up to 25%.

A couple of years ago Whitbread bought the Marriott Hotel chain. Since then I have received discount vouchers for a stay at the Marriott. These vouchers only cover stays in the UK.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The fact that I took ages writing this op showed how much I enjoyed the stay at the hotel.

I would recommend business people to stay here as they can claim all outstanding expenses from their companies.

As accommodation was cheap in the Czech Republic the Marriott Hotel was affordable for us. I doubt if we could afford to stay at any other Marriott Hotel in Europe.

If you are staying near a Marriott Hotel then I would recommend trying their breakfast at least once.

I would rather be pampered by the Marriott Hotel staff than work for the company for peanuts.

Finally congratulations to Brian on the birth of his daughter.

 

...less