Tourist cabins, auto and motor courts

[tonyb]

Just another guess, but it's probably why those parking spaces didn't/don't have doors--better ventilation. Also, if you're upstairs in the room you aren't sitting in the car with the engine running creating that carbon monoxide, and if you're in the car with the engine running you aren't upstairs breathing it in. Either way, it seems to be a relatively minor risk.

Minor risk, yes. Still, people have inadvertently left car engines running. A quick search shows that roughly 1,500 people succumb to accidental CO exposure annually in this country, and another 2,300 or so use it as a suicide method.

In Seattle there is a significant effort whenever it gets unusually cold to alert non-English speakers, especially those who came from tropical climes, not to use their barbecue grills as an indoor heat source. Yes, people have done that. And yes, people have died.

 

[Fading Fast]

Here's an old postcard of the place I posted. I can remember when the neon on top and out front was still there and working. That's been more than a few years, though.

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Great pic here and the earlier one of the same motel as well dh66.

Hard to tell from this pic, did the motel start out with a garage under every room?

 

[dh66]

Great pic here and the earlier one of the same motel as well dh66.

Hard to tell from this pic, did the motel start out with a garage under every room?

I'm pretty sure it did.

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[tonyb]

Thanks for the review Tony. I think I'll take the plunge and order a glider at least. That should get me several indulgences even if the chair isn't exactly as I'd like. Sounds like I'm not going to be disappointed though.

I just now ordered a second chair. The one I bought last year hasn't disappointed, so I got it a mate. Same model and color, same closeout price.

 

[3fingers]

I just now ordered a second chair. The one I bought last year hasn't disappointed, so I got it a mate. Same model and color, same closeout price.

I just went to the site and it doesn't seem to want me to order anymore unless I am a retailer. I'm not interested in $550.00 worth at the present time.

 

[1mach1]

I just went to the site and it doesn't seem to want me to order anymore unless I am a retailer. I'm not interested in $550.00 worth at the present time.

What? I thought you were bleeding money? You know, just like me and everyone else here [emoji14]

 

[tonyb]

I just went to the site and it doesn't seem to want me to order anymore unless I am a retailer. I'm not interested in $550.00 worth at the present time.

Huh. Wasn't my experience. I made my 50 buck purchase (plus another 20 for shipping) and they processed the payment and sent me an email confirming it. That was earlier this day

 

[3fingers]

What? I thought you were bleeding money? You know, just like me and everyone else here [emoji14]

Well that was before I realized I had some extra and set it on fire in the driveway.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

The Little Yellow Cottages in Port Austin, Michigan have been around since at least the 1960s and are now completely and beautifully renovated with all mod cons. My family has been vacationing in this area since the late 1950s (before I was born!) My avatar is a photo of my mother in 1960 on the beach nearby. It's a great area to visit and much of it still has a mid-century feel to it.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I was a Front Desk Clerk for Holiday Inn back in the early ‘80’s, we used this to set wake up call reminders for the Night Auditor and early Desk staff.
The guest would call and we would take their name and time(s) they wanted to be called and wrote it on a wake up pad. Then we’d set the reminder on the timer.
You got a call from an actual person who called you by name and said “good morning!”
Now you enter your wake up call on an automated recording and just get a ring to wake you.

I like the personal call myself.

 

[1mach1]

I was a Front Desk Clerk for Holiday Inn back in the early ‘80’s, we used this to set wake up call reminders for the Night Auditor and early Desk staff.
The guest would call and we would take their name and time(s) they wanted to be called and wrote it on a wake up pad. Then we’d set the reminder on the timer.
You got a call from an actual person who called you by name and said “good morning!”
Now you enter your wake up call on an automated recording and just get a ring to wake you.

I like the personal call myself.

I miss those personal wake up calls. Also miss the big old Holiday Inn signs. Love those.

I dig that wake up call gizmo! Is it yours?

 

[KY Gentleman]

I miss those personal wake up calls. Also miss the big old Holiday Inn signs. Love those.

I dig that wake up call gizmo! Is it yours?

No, unfortunately that is not mine.
On a whim I was looking for vintage hotel stuff online and stumbled across it.
The old Holiday Inn sign is something I really miss too, it stood out like a beacon when you were tired and on the road!

 

[Zombie_61]

...The old Holiday Inn sign is something I really miss too, it stood out like a beacon when you were tired and on the road!

Same here. A little gaudy perhaps, but it did indeed stand out and had a bit of "Las Vegas" flair to it. Their new signs and logo smack of conservative corporate branding. They're probably easier to maintain, but they could easily be missed while scanning hotel row for a place to stay for the night.

 

[3fingers]

Their new signs and logo smack of conservative corporate branding.

As do the motels themselves. The old Holiday Inns were a cut above. When I was young and traveled more a Holiday Inn was a splurge for a night when we didn't stay at a local place. Now they are all the same. Bland boxes that have no character. I really can't tell one from another. It used to be fun. Now it's simply a place to sleep.

 

[Zombie_61]

As do the motels themselves. The old Holiday Inns were a cut above. When I was young and traveled more a Holiday Inn was a splurge for a night when we didn't stay at a local place. Now they are all the same. Bland boxes that have no character. I really can't tell one from another. It used to be fun. Now it's simply a place to sleep.

I can't say I've done a lot of traveling, but unless you're paying a small fortune per night for "luxuries" I'm pretty sure all of the hotel/motel chains have become that way--a bland room with the basic necessities, a few minor amenities, and decor that was clearly bought by the truckload.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I'm pretty sure all of the hotel/motel chains have become that way--a bland room with the basic necessities, a few minor amenities.

Through relocating for different jobs or traveling for work I have spent a lot of time in chain motels, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.
I have run into some extremely helpful staff members who will clue you in to local favorite greasy spoons or interesting local sites. After you have been identified as a long term guest the employees generally try and let you know they recognize you. That’s what struck me about the wake up call reminder/clock. It was a personal touch that’s disappeared over the years.
But staying in a motel lost its luster for me pretty quick once I had done it for a bit.

 

[tonyb]

...

The old Holiday Inn sign is something I really miss too, it stood out like a beacon when you were tired and on the road!

"The Great Sign," it has come to be called.

I miss it, too. There was something magical about Holiday Inns in general back when they were novel and I was young. That was when air travel was something young families such as ours just didn't do. Nope, you saw the USA in your Chevrolet.

 

[Zombie_61]

Through relocating for different jobs or traveling for work I have spent a lot of time in chain motels, sometimes for weeks or months at a time. I have run into some extremely helpful staff members who will clue you in to local favorite greasy spoons or interesting local sites. After you have been identified as a long term guest the employees generally try and let you know they recognize you...

Unless it's a complete dive, the one thing that can make or break any hotel/motel is the staff. The last three times we visited my wife's relatives in the Chicago area we stayed at the same Sleep Inn in Tinley Park not because it was centrally located to everywhere we needed to go (it was), not because it was conveniently located near a freeway/expressway (it is), not because the rooms are spacious and comfortable (they aren't), but because the staff there has always been helpful, friendly, and treated us like we were old friends.

 

[Fading Fast]

Unless it's a complete dive, the one thing that can make or break any hotel/motel is the staff. The last three times we visited my wife's relatives in the Chicago area we stayed at the same Sleep Inn in Tinley Park not because it was centrally located to everywhere we needed to go (it was), not because it was conveniently located near a freeway/expressway (it is), not because the rooms are spacious and comfortable (they aren't), but because the staff there has always been helpful, friendly, and treated us like we were old friends.

Several years ago, I went to Jacksonville FL on business and stayed at a "business express" style hotel (I forgot the name or I'd post it). The premise was it was clean, efficient, business oriented and saved money by having almost no on-site staff - check-in and check-out were all done on line.

It was fine in that it was clean, had what you needed - no coffee shop though (but there were a few food places within a block or two) - but it felt weird to, literally, see no staff in the small lobby, not touch base with someone before going to your room, etc.

I used the very efficient gym in the morning and felt like I was in some sci-fi flick as I went down to the lobby, walked across to the gym, carded myself in with my room card, worked out, walked back across the lobby and went up to my room without seeing a single employee (or other guest - it was early in the morning).

In a way, a perfect Millennial hotel - all done on line, no in-person interaction. It will be interesting to see if that model or the personal-connect mode of Sleep Inn wins out in the end.

 

[Zombie_61]

Several years ago, I went to Jacksonville FL on business and stayed at a "business express" style hotel (I forgot the name or I'd post it). The premise was it was clean, efficient, business oriented and saved money by having almost no on-site staff - check-in and check-out were all done on line.

It was fine in that it was clean, had what you needed - no coffee shop though (but there were a few food places within a block or two) - but it felt weird to, literally, see no staff in the small lobby, not touch base with someone before going to your room, etc.

I used the very efficient gym in the morning and felt like I was in some sci-fi flick as I went down to the lobby, walked across to the gym, carded myself in with my room card, worked out, walked back across the lobby and went up to my room without seeing a single employee (or other guest - it was early in the morning).

In a way, a perfect Millennial hotel - all done on line, no in-person interaction. It will be interesting to see if that model or the personal-connect mode of Sleep Inn wins out in the end.

I don't think I'd like that at all, and I'm sure my wife wouldn't; it sounds too cold and impersonal. Also, we're not the type who pester the staff with demands but I would think with little or no staff on-site it would take longer to resolve any problems that might arise.