I had my first business trip following my accident two weeks ago. I went to Memphis for a mediation. The work trip itself was successful and I got to see a tiny bit of what appears to be a great small City.  I took an expensive United flight (nearly $1,100 to fly less than 500 miles, that’s crazy!) landing at 17h30.  Being a Delta hub, I was surprised to see only one other plane at the airport (not counting FedEx, of course).  I was in a taxi less than 10 minutes from touchdown and was in the lobby of the DoubleTree Downtown Memphis by 18h00.

I had left a note when I made my reservation saying this was my first trip to Memphis and that I  am interested in recommendations for BBQ joints.  When I arrived at the check-in desk I was greeted by Lenee. She pulled my reservation, thanked me profusely for being a Gold Member, gave me a welcome cookie, tickets to the lobby happy hour and immediately started telling me about her favorite BBQ joints within walking distance. She and her colleague along with one of the valets began telling me the good and bad of these places.  I then explained to Lenee that I was nursing a severely broken arm and I would need more pillows for my bed.  She said I already had 6 on my bed but if I needed more just ask.

I headed up to my room and was surprised by its size.  There weren’t enough pillows for my cocoon that I need to sleep now (damn aching/healing arm).  The room was large and relatively clean, but it looked like it hadn’t been refreshed in quite a while.  It was just a bit old and tired.  It was quite comfortable and suited my needs for one night.

I did have two complaints (which I did not raise to management). The first, it appears the sheets on my bed were stained with something red (blood, ketchup, BBQ sauce, lipstick???) – the sheets had been washed but were just old and stained.  I decided to cover the stained area with a towel and sleep on the other side of the bed.

My second issue – the shower.  The tub itself was so slippery I nearly fell. This of course really scared me since I’ve been very skittish since my accident.  The hotel should either change their cleaning supplies or provide one of those gross anti-slip mats.

The staff at this hotel really did provide top notch service – as good as I received at the Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton.  The housekeepers on the floor called me by name both in the evening and in the morning.

The location of this hotel was really great. It is immediately across the street from the Autozone Park and just a two minute walk to Beale Street (queue Walking in Memphis by Cher).  I didn’t really get to explore the City since I was only in town for 24.5 hours and was working most of this time. I did get BBQ – I’ll review the BBQ Place in my next entry.

Would I stay at this hotel again? I’d say yes. Was it perfect? No, but it was more than adequate with truly top notch service. Kudos to Lenee and her colleagues. Thank you for truly making my stay enjoyable.