wow. peace and tranquility in the middle of Johannesburg. Wonderfully sumptous rooms. i was in 16. I would return in a heartbeat. the perfect place to write a novel. the room had a REAL desk. not the tiny excuse that most hotels build onto the walls that are nothing more than shelves. this was a real desk.

definatly one of my top ten hotels that i have ever stayed in.

http://www.fairlawns.co.za/

what would you do if the power went out and you had no idea when it would come back? an increasingly familiar state of affairs for many around the world already. and guarenteed to become more common as large power companies continue to protect their long-vested interests against far more redundant and logical distributed power generation.

i arrived at my hotel [ the Fairlawns in Johnesburg, SA] after a journey made slightly arduous by all the traffic lights being out along the road. a large cadelabra and smiling faces [albeit slightly strained] greeted me. they were wonderful. the entire property was candlelit. from the rooms to the bar and dining room. it was amazingly beautiful. we all cheered when the lights blinked on momentarily. the 'batle' had been won....but not really. when the electrons flowed about an hour later time, the noises of our modern daily life returned. no one cheered. i suppose that all to often we neglect to remember the things that we have lost as we have 'progressed'. don't get me wrong, i love my expresso machine. but i also loved the flickering candlelit hotel and the surrounding quiet.

i am in new york. time shifting so i wake up pretty early. it is sunday morning. turned on the television to check out the news. a tele-evangalist was on. the first, the jimmy swaggart somethingorother, told the audience that if they did not donate to a ministry that was spreading the 'word of the cross' around the world, then their donation DID NOT COUNT. the message was disgusting in that it implied that only donations/charity that helped ministries was any good - NOT helping your neighbor, or enhancing the situation in the local comunity around you - ONLY the ministries afar.

another station.

a super church in the mid west. very charismatic 'bishop' speaking about 'the stand-off'. PROTECT YOUR STUFF was his message. again, incredibly scary. the message was clear. THEY are out to get US and to take our stuff from us. nothing about equality of the distribution or consumption of the STUFF.

I pine for the day when a ride to Manhatten from JFK is relaxing.....arrived at the Westin Times Square just before midnight. I went up the escalator to the check-in on the first floor. I inquired at the Preferred Desk about a room. The front desk person was processing my reservation as i asked if my loyalty number was on the reservation. I recently decided that i should start staying with a reduced number of hotel groups in order to accru some benefit for all of my travels. This should have entitled me to an upgrade since iI have gold status with Starwood. Our conversation went like this.... He asked 'are you paying for the room?'
'No', was my answer,' the conference organizors are'
'Since that is the case, you get no points or upgrades'
'None?'
'none, you should read your membership guide, the conditions are in there'

hmmmm. i thought it best to hold my tongue and count to ten, as my mother had taught me to do when really annoyed.

'So, when the conference organizors asked me which Hotel I wanted to stay in, and I said 'the Westin' due to my loyalty to you, this really does not matter as far as the Hotel is concerned? My loyalty only counts if i pay the bill personally?'
'Yes, it is all in the membership information.'

'So, why should i be loyal to Westin/Starwood if half of my visits are paid by others so don't 'count'? I wondered out loud.

This is really appalling - escpeically for one who spends 3/4 days a week in hotels with the bills often being paid by clients. I will have to look into this to see if this is the same with other groups.

NOW TO THE ROOM.....I went up to the 26th floor. A King had been reserved. Two doubles were there. It was one room away from a Dinging Elevator. The red light was blinking on my phone. A message! Called up the 'one touch' service to find out what was up. 'A package has arrived for you and you are welcome to pick it up between the hours of 0700 and 2200'' 'But it is now 12:30 in the morning and i need to know what the package is in case i need it to prepare for tomorrow.' 'Sorry Sir, you are welcome to come by in the morning' [at least this chap was cheerfully insistant]. 'But I need to know what it is.' 'well sir, i can call security and ask if they can take you in, but it will take me at least 45 minutes to get an answer, bucause they are very busy'......hmmm, count to ten again? .....[.it is clear, that in NY, business only transpires between 0700 and 2200 now]

Back down to the concierge to ask about getting a room type tha i had reserved. I could tell by Alexander's face he was not pleased to see me. To his credit, he was able to barely manage a smile when i sauntered up. Any chance for a King room?, I asked?' again, to his credit, he asked the desk manager to release a room for me. it turned out the 'only' room available was one that was right next to the elevator, but that was not going to work for me. i had enough of the pinging from being two doors down the hall. Back upstairs. I had to accpet the filty carpet, the chair with boot prints all over it [they could be covered up with a towel], beds and tables skewd as if the chamber maids had had a party before straightening the linens.....and then...then i opend the drawer in the bedstand to get rid of all of the normal table-top movie crap and found five boxes of pills. GREAT!

back down to the front desk. asked to speak to the Duty Manager. He came out and i told him about the pills. He had done his homeowrk and knew about the other room issues as well. He told me that no rooms were available but he would find something else for the rest of the stay. Back to the room amd security followed shortly. Robert took the pills in a big plastic bag and noted the room deficiences. He was very professional and sympathetic.

Day 2 - packup my bits and went to the office. Meetings all day until just about sunset. Came back to find that i had been moved to the 45th floor. Amazing view over all of NY with a room that is all but perfect. I had messages from both the head of housekeeping and the general manager inviting me to contact them. I will do so when they are back in the Hotel. [Thanks ML!]

It is really hard to make a hotel room that no one has ever stayed there before. Tough job, but necessary.