Archive for the ‘Checking In’ Category

As you may remember, The TICKET had a new reader promotion several months ago where we asked readers to introduce us to their social networks. With your help, the promotion brought us about 200 new readers! Those who participated were signed up for a sweepstakes drawing.

Do you remember the prize? We gave away FOUR free round trip business class tickets compliments of AirTran.

So without further ado, allow us to introduce the lucky winners! (I asked each to send us a little info about themselves to share with other TICKET readers.)

Clare Millians: Oh my gosh!  I am thrilled to win the contest.  I can’t believe I won.  You have made my day.  I am retired.  I was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines and then worked as a corporate sales manager for The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead.  My husband and I decided it was time to travel, so off we went for 7 years.  We still travel, but mostly in the U.S. these days.   We are sneaking over to Vancouver later this month though.  I plan to use the prize to fly to SEA to see my niece and her family.    We love AirTran because of their prices, keeping the fares from ATL competitive and they don’t fly regional jets.  The service is very good and they are flexible with changing dates of travel.  I only wish they went to more places out of ATL.  We have only flown AirTran’s business class once from ATL to SEA and back and it was great.  I enjoy reading your column on a regular basis. (The photo was taken in Alesund, Norway last summer.  It is called, “the prettiest town in Norway”, and I have to agree.)

Ann Larson: This is awesome and I am delighted!! I am an Atlanta-based tour operator and am still jet lagging from dodging volcano ash- having returned yesterday from a fabulous AMA Waterways riverboat cruise/tour with 26 of my “Happy Campers” (travelers) doing the Danube River from Budapest to Prague and everything in between! What a great treat to win this. I will use my AirTran ticket to do a site inspection in the West for something special to put into my 2011 agenda of great tours!! I love and appreciate Air Tran– the best thing that has happened to Atlanta. I travel about 50,000 to 60,000 miles a year- much more in the past. (Photo  is from Mykonos, Greece.)

John Penninger: AWESOME!  You’re serious, right?  Where is Ed McMahon? That is so cool…Thank you so much…I feel like I need to make an acceptance speech. As far as the number of miles I travel per year, it’s definitely down for this Million Miler.  I haven’t flown business class on AirTran before, but I just flew Business Elite on Delta for the first time and it rocked! Thanks again for the AirTran ticket — it will definitely come in handy– working in the nonprofit world has its rewards, but big money certainly isn’t one of them.  :)

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I made the following video for my Best Western blog at www.youmustbetrippin.com and it’s sorta gone viral (nearly 1000 views as of Aug 27)

It’s a video report on the opening of the cool new Hotel Avatar in Santa Clara, Calif….in the heart of Silicon Valley. Very clever re-do of the classic motel with all the modern amenities you’d expect, like free and fast wifi, nice pool, gym with elliptical trainers, etc.

Rates start in the very reasonable range of about $130 per night and it’s a nice colorful change compared to a lot of the beige box hotels in the area.

Check out the two min video and see for yourself:

Between our business trips, press trips and personal travel, we stay at a LOT of hotels. We’d like to share our experiences with TICKET readers here in this new feature, CHECKING IN WITH THE TICKET.

HOTEL PALOMAR-ATLANTA. We’ll start out with a review on familiar turf: Atlanta. A few months ago, the new Hotel Palomar in Midtown Atlanta hosted us for one night. By now you may have seen the 21-story, 304 room Hotel Palomar from the downtown connector. It’s a brand new-from-the-ground-up hotel at 12th and West Peachtree.

We stayed there on a Saturday night in late May. Having had many positive experiences at other Kimpton Group hotels scattered around the country, we had high expectations, and we are pleased to report those expectations were met this time around.

For a hotel that had only been open a few short months, we did not detect the slightest bit of just-opened jitters. All the staff, from the bellhops who greeted us on the street, the front desk staff, housekeepers…everyone was completely on their game. We are used to giving a wide berth to the staff at brand new hotels as they work through opening kinks, but that was definitely not necessary at the Palomar.

We really liked the modern, yet comfortable design of our room. Lots of ambers, browns, grays and tans in both wood and stone with a splash of red and orange here and there. Nice desk with an Aeron-like chair. Wi-fi is free for members of Kimpton’s In-Touch loyalty program. Flat screen TV. A nice bright and modern bathroom with a big tub-less shower.

Overall, it had the mod feel of a W Hotel without the disco-y dark corridors throbbing to a deep beat which always strain us when traveling on business.  We had an outstanding meal in the hotel restaurant called Pacci, which was reviewed earlier this year in THE TASTE OF THE TICKET. Then we spend several hours on the rooftop deck, complete with its own screened in porch.

The only downside was the enforced valet parking @$30 per night (plus tip). There’s no self-park option, which is too bad considering that the hotel parking lot is located right next to the hotel…and about 100 feet from the valet stand. Next time we’ll ditch the car and take MARTA!

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