Settling in at the Hotel
Grand Cayman Travelog #4
At the Westin, Grand Cayman - Mon, 15 May 2023, 2pm
We're settled in at the Westin on 7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. The drive over from the airport wasn't long. It's not even 5 miles. The view in the lobby as we arrived was nice.
In this photo you can't make out the pool and beach outside the doors at the far side. Trust me that it looked a lot nicer in person.... Even though the weather this afternoon is not exactly great. It's cloudy out like there might be a thunderstorm this afternoon.
Westin is part of the Marriott portfolio of properties. I have Lifetime Titanium elite status with Marriott, which would ordinarily get me some preferred treatment at hotels. The agent who booked us didn't put my number through so we got a rando basic room with two double beds instead of a king and no upgrade. Once I gave them my number they said they'd see if they could upgrade us later in our stay. I'm not holding my breath.
Our basic room isn't quite the bottom rung. We do have a partial ocean view. In other words, from our balcony if we crane our necks to one side we can sorta see the ocean. Getting an upgrade with a better view would be awesome... but like I said, I'm not holding my breath.
Along with checking in at the hotel we stopped by a desk in the lobby where a colleague was passing out gift bags for us president's club winners. The gifts are pretty nice.
The main gift is a JBL bluetooth speaker. That's nice because I have an older model, a JBL Flip 2, that I've been using for, like, 9 years. I considered bringing it on this trip but didn't as one of the comprises necessary to travel with only carry-on bags. Now I'm glad I didn't because we have a new replacement! Of course, fitting it in the bag to get home may be tight.
Let's see, what else is there.... Oh, right, that pile of cash!! Typically on these president's club trips the accommodations are all-inclusive. Meaning all meals and drinks (to a certain extent) are paid for as part of a package. Here there either isn't an all-inclusive option, or the organizers chose not to pay for it. Instead they gave us a cash stipend to cover meals and drinks aside from the two catered events the company is hosting. The stipend is $400. Each.
For the 3½ days of the official trip $800 is a lot. But that's because we don't have expensive eating/drinking habits. For example, we're about to head out for lunch, but instead of eating at one of the pricey, fancy restaurants in the hotel we'll walk across the street to a strip mall and try one of the sit-down places there. It's half or less what food costs here. We expect we'll be able to stretch the money to cover all 5 days we're on Grand Cayman.
Update: the $800 not only covered our food for all 5 days but also the car we rented the final two days.
At the Westin, Grand Cayman - Mon, 15 May 2023, 2pm
We're settled in at the Westin on 7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. The drive over from the airport wasn't long. It's not even 5 miles. The view in the lobby as we arrived was nice.
In this photo you can't make out the pool and beach outside the doors at the far side. Trust me that it looked a lot nicer in person.... Even though the weather this afternoon is not exactly great. It's cloudy out like there might be a thunderstorm this afternoon.
Westin is part of the Marriott portfolio of properties. I have Lifetime Titanium elite status with Marriott, which would ordinarily get me some preferred treatment at hotels. The agent who booked us didn't put my number through so we got a rando basic room with two double beds instead of a king and no upgrade. Once I gave them my number they said they'd see if they could upgrade us later in our stay. I'm not holding my breath.
Our basic room isn't quite the bottom rung. We do have a partial ocean view. In other words, from our balcony if we crane our necks to one side we can sorta see the ocean. Getting an upgrade with a better view would be awesome... but like I said, I'm not holding my breath.
Along with checking in at the hotel we stopped by a desk in the lobby where a colleague was passing out gift bags for us president's club winners. The gifts are pretty nice.
The main gift is a JBL bluetooth speaker. That's nice because I have an older model, a JBL Flip 2, that I've been using for, like, 9 years. I considered bringing it on this trip but didn't as one of the comprises necessary to travel with only carry-on bags. Now I'm glad I didn't because we have a new replacement! Of course, fitting it in the bag to get home may be tight.
Let's see, what else is there.... Oh, right, that pile of cash!! Typically on these president's club trips the accommodations are all-inclusive. Meaning all meals and drinks (to a certain extent) are paid for as part of a package. Here there either isn't an all-inclusive option, or the organizers chose not to pay for it. Instead they gave us a cash stipend to cover meals and drinks aside from the two catered events the company is hosting. The stipend is $400. Each.
For the 3½ days of the official trip $800 is a lot. But that's because we don't have expensive eating/drinking habits. For example, we're about to head out for lunch, but instead of eating at one of the pricey, fancy restaurants in the hotel we'll walk across the street to a strip mall and try one of the sit-down places there. It's half or less what food costs here. We expect we'll be able to stretch the money to cover all 5 days we're on Grand Cayman.
Update: the $800 not only covered our food for all 5 days but also the car we rented the final two days.