stoki

Hey guys,

Up to this point I have not stayed at many hotels, so I have a quick question.

Do the hotels your airline puts you up in have anything to do in terms of recreation?

Gyms, swimming pools? Bars? Is this fairly typical?

The hotels are usually like Holiday Inn types?

What do you guys do to pass the time?


Mainly I am interested to know if most offer some sort of gyms?

kansas

Ours probably aren't quite as good as everyone else's due to our contract, but here's my .02...

Swimming pools are very common, as are bars. Gyms are a little harder to find, and generally not that good (think 2 treadmills and a stairmaster). The worst gyms have "death machines" that are broken, but you don't know it until you try to use them and nearly break your neck in some fashion. But hey, I'm a distance runner, so I just pack my shoes/shorts and run outside...

To pass the time I generally get caught up on sleep, phone calls to friends and family, run, surf the internet, and read. The goal for me is to get through every overnight without turning on the TV, unless I totally want to veg out or watch Chefs football...and I'm usually able to do this.

Holiday Inn type hotels are fairly common for us, actually probably the nicer ones are such hotels.

flyandive

For Comair, a gym free at the hotel or nearby for less than $5 (I think) is a requirement for the hotel. Swimming pools and bars are pretty common (I have in my bag, swim shorts and a plastic bag).

Usually we get about a 20% discount at the hotel bar/restaurant on everything except drinks but some places do have cheap drinks for crews.

Business centers are a requirement so you could get away without a laptop and still check email, print, etc.

We stay at some pretty nice hotels, Generally, Marriot, Crown Plaza, Hilton, Holiday Inn, etc. No Days Inn, motel 6 etc. I think there is one place we stay at a Best Western but it was pretty good. Some places are by the airport, some are downtown: Des Moines, Cleveland, Portland, Lexington, Oklahoma City. I think one of our best layovers is the Hilton at Boston airport, nice hotel, walk from the gate, and very quick to get downtown. Generally, we are not the only airline staying there, often I see a lot of the major airlines will use the same hotel. I see ExpressJet and Southwest crews a fair bit.

All in all our hotel contract is pretty damn good.
I generally spend some time walking in the local area to try and get a feel for the place, especially if it's downtown. Otherwise, I spend most of the time, well... sleeping.

flynavyj

every time we get a nice hotel, management must go there and say "this is to nice, we taketh away" and we end up in a dumper. Typically though, we will have a pool and a work out room, normally there's a business center (i don't carry a computer, so i like to have one). I try to avoid drinking at the hotel bar, as there have been some places where they'll try find out when your show is, and bust you if possible (key there, don't break a FAR, or company policy) but it's annoying to think someone's looking over your shoulder, plus hotel bars are expensive. The dive bar down the street is normally the better bet, cheap drinks, no-one watching you, and you can say you're a railroad conductor as opposed to pilot.....although everyone in the bar already knows what you do, as we stand out like sore thumbs.

flyandive

This is very true, it is not hard at all to spot another airline crew!

labbats

Every hotel we stay at has a sidewalk in front of it. Put one foot in front of the other and you'll see all kinds of new things and get exercise too. Hotel gyms for the most part are pretty lousy with the exception of 5-6 out of our 75 ORD overnights at Eagle.

Timmay

Ditto that. I usually try to get out and walk for a couple hours on each overnight if time allows. We stay at a couple DoubleTrees and those have some nice gyms (free weights, treadmills/ellipticals with TV's in them, some nicer machines)!

Just personal preference for me; if the motel has a nice, free, hot breakfast, that equals a good stay.

III Corps

I seldom used the gyms but just carried my running shoes and toured the city. Easy to do if you note the highest building in proximity to your hotel and then you can tour where-ever and not be lost. Doesn't work at night sometimes.

Of course, on a short layover, you're probably at/near the airport and that can cause some problems with security.

another way to search is just to google "running in Boston" or "running in Chicago". If you don't find a map, it will probably list a running club in that city and they can help you.

stuart716

the only exercise i get at most of the hotels we stay at is knocking the bugs off the bed before i get in.

flynavyj

can remember joking with a flight attendant once about having an entire work out routine designed around my flight case and the bedroom furniture....developed it when staying at all those hotels w/o a workout facility, or one that had less in it than my hotel room + flight case combo....

I tried running, but...my body doens't like it that much, and via some advice from a SWA captain, " a guy who's around 200 lbs shouldn't be out there running. Keep your butt on that eliptical, and your body will thank you later!"