October 24 to 25th, 2006 – I spent one night at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel while in town for a business meeting. I wanted to see what the rooms were like after the renovation earlier this year. They are beautiful!

While the room renovations are complete, the hotel is now renovating much of the public areas. During my visit the pool and health club were closed. The hotel offered a small exercise room. To use the enclosed walkways to MARTA and other downtown buildings required leaving the hotel and walking about 100’ to the Marquis One office building.

Check-in at the Marriott Marquis was very fast. My preference is for a king, non-smoking and high floor. My room was 4321, on the 43rd floor. The room was great. My first thought on entering was “this is really beautiful.”

My room was an end unit on the southwest side of the hotel. From what I could tell it was a few feet shorter than other rooms and lacked space for an arm chair. To me, the room was so beautiful and comfortable in every other way that the smaller size did not matter.

The entire outer wall of my room was glass and the view from the 43rd floor to the south was awesome. The room featured the new Marriott Revive bed which was great. I also really appreciated the new-style desk and fully-adjustable office chair. My only comment was that the charge for high-speed internet service was $12.95 per day, $3.00 more than I have ever paid. The service was by I-Bahn and worked perfectly though.

The bathroom was compact, but beautiful with everything being brand new. The combination tub and shower had a shower curtain that bowed outward for extra room and a wire basket for soap and shampoo. Hot water flowed instantly, the water pressure was strong and the shower head “just right.” The hotel offers a nice selection of bath amenities including: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shower gel, and mouthwash. One of the best features of the bathroom was an under-the-counter night light.

I read another review of this hotel were the reviewer complained that his room was not clean. Mine was extremely clean and the bathroom was spotless. I did notice that room service trays remained on the floor outside of rooms for over 12 hours. I will be emailing the hotel manager about this.

The concierge lounge on the 42nd floor is the largest that I have ever seen. The evening hors d oeuvres included chicken fingers, beef satay, and mini quesadilla. There was also fruit and cheese available. Later in the evening there was a nice selection of desert items. Breakfast the next morning included hard boiled eggs, oatmeal and grits, biscuits and gravy as well as lox, fruit, cereals, and breakfast breads. The coffee was hot and good.

I did not park at the hotel, but the daily charge was $22.00 per day, typical for downtown. My business was confined to the downtown area and it was easier and a lot less hassle to take MARTA to and from the airport and walk rather than worry about parking a car.

I had spent two previous nights at the Atlanta Marriott Downtown. The Marriott Marquis has over 1,600 rooms vs. about 300 for the Downtown hotel. The beautiful new room décor and the spectacular views from high-floor rooms would make me choose the Marriott Marquis even though I thought the service was friendlier and more personal at the smaller Atlanta Marriott Downtown hotel.