How Marriott Handles a Local Theme: Space in Huntsville

“Would you like a mountain view room or a rocket view room?”

“Well, it’s not every day that I get asked that, so I’m going to say, ‘rocket view,’ please.”

That was roughly how my husband’s conversation with the booking agent went.  We hoped the property would be as unique and fun as our imaginations told us it would be. After all, who the heck says, “no” to a rocket view room?

Would it be classy or kitschy?  Would it be convenient or on the outskirts?  As we followed our vehicle GPS to Tranquility Base (yes, that’s the street name), these were the things we wondered.  Since Huntsville, Alabama was the key player in America’s race to the moon in the 1960’s, the cosmos, rockets, and space are common themes throughout the community.  Today, the space industry is still going strong here, so we thought it would be fun to stay at the Huntsville Marriott at the Space and Rocket Center.

From the interstate, we could see the seven-story hotel in the distance with nothing else around it except the space center.  We were immediately concerned that it wouldn’t be convenient to anything else.  We were wrong.  As you will soon see from the upcoming series of posts, our hotel was only 10 minutes from everything. 

As for classy or kitschy?  Marriott definitely went with classy.  While there are obvious references to space (i.e. light fixtures, a cosmos behind our bed, and moon rock-esque wall art), these references are subtle.  The colors of navy and gold are common, but they are understated.  After all, when this is the view from a guest’s balcony, you don’t need to beat them over the head with the space theme. Note: The sunset pic at the top of this post was taken from our room’s balcony.  Be sure to specially request a room with a balcony).

The room was spacious with hardwood floors and streamlined furniture.  There was an extra upholstered chair that we were able to move over to the desk.  That allowed my husband and I to both work at the same time.  I would have liked, too, a lightweight end table next to that upholstered chair for those times when I wasn’t at the desk, but that’s a minor thing.

The onsite restaurant, Southern Chop, had a super friendly staff.  While we didn’t have the opportunity to eat there for dinner, we did eat breakfast there most mornings.  The one item of note for me was the sausage gravy.  I rarely eat it because I think of it as a heart attack on a plate. 

However, I decided to give a tiny spoonful a try.  It was the freshest version of this stuff that I’ve ever had.  Yum!  I confess to going back for more a couple of mornings in a row, which I just never do.  Special thanks to our usual server Torey for great customer service.  What a nice guy!  He was attentive and prompt when fulfilling any of our requests. Even though we couldn’t see his face behind his mask, his voice had a smile in it, even at the crack of dawn.

This property underwent renovations recently and their fitness center got a bigger space.  When you are done sampling the sausage gravy, check out their HUGE fitness center.  It was so nice to have options.  There were free weights, a universal and four weight machines (two for upper body and two for lower body) too!  In addition, there was a separate area for stretching and floor work.  It’s nice not to lay at the feet of a stranger for that part of your workout. All the usual cardio machines were present too.

The hotel and conference wing form a U-shape and the pool is the center of the U.  It’s quite beautiful and I am sad that with all the sightseeing I did, there weren’t enough hours in the day for me to spend some time out there. The blooming crape myrtle trees and the arbors with upholstered seating do beckon, so next time, I’ll decompress out there at least once.

Note for my Event Planner Colleagues:

I was remiss in my duties and I didn’t get photos of their event space.  That’s mostly because there seemed to be something happening every day of my stay and I was trying not to stroll through the center of a group’s private event with my camera.  The fact that the conference center was so busy is a good sign, not only are in-person events coming back, but this property seems to have a positive reputation.  They have a total of 16 available event spaces totaling almost 21,000 square feet.  Their flexible meeting space is about 15,000 square feet and they can accommodate up to 8 breakouts at once.  It makes you want to plan a conference for Alabama, doesn’t it?

Don’t even get me started on how fantastic the giant FREE parking lot is.  I’ve mentioned in this blog before that I have gotten to the point where I refuse to pay for parking.  If a property is going to charge me for parking, I will stay somewhere else. Planners don’t really want their attendees to be charged either.  

Unfortunately, like most hotels these days the “business center” is just an alcove off the lobby rather than somewhere with an actual door.  If you need quiet to concentrate, these areas aren’t conducive to that.  I guess all hotel designers assume everyone works in their room.  This is not true, of course.  In this day & age, connecting to people overseas in a vastly different time zone is not uncommon.  Lots of hotel guests want to allow their travel companion to sleep while they work.  Fortunately, the front desk staff was helpful in accommodating my on-camera computer needs at 5:00am and found a more appropriate place for me to work.  This may not seem like a big deal, but I promise you I’ve had struggles with front desk staff that can’t or won’t think outside the box to assist with a request like this. 

As Marriott Bonvoy members, we have a profile.  I am always surprised at how many properties don’t read our profile before we arrive.  At a certain status level (which we have achieved) it really does make sense to check the guest’s profile for special requests and preferences.  The Huntsville Marriott was only the second property in all of our many, many stays that has studied our profile.  We got to town a littler earlier than traditional check-in time.  As I waited in the lobby for our room to be ready, a wonderful front desk agent, Lashana, said to me, “I saw in your profile that you like extra towels.  I am just going to check and make sure they are waiting for you and then the room should be ready for you to check into.”  Yes!  Yes, this is the point of achieving a high status in any company’s loyalty program.  It was such a small thing and it made me so happy.  In fact, we had a lifetime supply of towels waiting for us in our newly renovated bathroom.

A few miscellaneous items: There are three elevators as well as guest rooms on the first floor to account for ADA needs. The rooms have refrigerators, which is always important.  When did microwaves stop being standard room décor?  Is this a Covid thing?  I hope that it is only a temporary trend.  Anyway, this property has a community microwave on the first floor near their little market.  It’s nice to have the ability to heat up some leftovers when the need arises.

The Huntsville Marriott at the Space and Rocket Center is a spacious, quiet retreat from the day’s activities and yet, is only a 10-minute drive from shopping and great food. The real kicker, though, is reclining on your balcony as the orange sun sets behind America’s historic rockets.  That’s not an experience you can get just anywhere.  That’s a Huntsville experience.