Norfolk Marriott Waterside

I had a short, but nice, stay at the Marriot in Norfolk. This Marriott has very upscale ambitions - perhaps it was going to be a Ritz Carlton (owned by Marriott, you know) but plans were scaled back at the last moment. Here's why I think so. Beyond the grand (and freezing) lobby, the carpet pattern in the elevator landings says Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey to me. (See much earlier posts). Check out the giant graphic!



The rooms are very nice, but they played it dim on the hallway lighting.



Maybe they were hoping that you wouldn't notice the peeling wallpaper:



There was a palimpsest of elevator landing devices of yore, too. I can't guess what it could've been. (And, yes, I do know that it's not really a palimpsest. But it is an impressive looking word, so I used it anyway. So there)



And they couldn't have spent more than a minute or two coming up with the imaginatively-named dining room:



I had one very odd thing happen to me. I got in the elevator to go downstairs, the door shut, and the elevator started to descend. It changed its mind after it had gone about 4 inches and slammed to a halt, after which the doors opened. I got off quickly. Later, when I made it downstairs in a different elevator car, I mentioned it to the (very nice) front-desk-person. Walking away, I heard her on the phone saying something like "...the elevator's acting up again..". Yippee