Atlanta - Southern Hospitality?

"Frankly, My Dear, I don't give a damn." Rhett Butler and me

Everybody should get out of town occasionally. It's good for the mind, body and soul to get off the hometown treadmill, even if part of the trip means jumping on another.

So we headed to Atlanta for a pleasurable business trip. A business-oriented pleasure trip. Whatever. We were happy just to get away.

But here in the land of Turner, Tara, the Braves (fuggetaboudit), Coka-Cola and supposed southern hospitality, everything that could possibly go wrong with an upscale hotel room--actually a nice junior suite--has gone wrong.

Well, wait, no fire. Yet.

One of the phones didn't work, the TV was broken, high speed Internet ran hot and cold, faucets and toilets dripped, fridge was warm. Closet door was jammed.

This was my least favorite: the bed sheets were stained (yeah, blech), comforter cover torn, pillows without cases.

Here's my most favorite: light bulbs blew out in a ghostly chain-flickering light show from bathroom to kitchenette to bedside to living room.

There's even a twofer: they replaced the old 20 inch (picture shrinking to 12 inch) tube TV with the high end flat screen model shown in all their ads. Loved it. Except at 10 pm Thursday when the NBC channel went bad just as "ER" was starting.

Aaarrrggghhh! Code Blue! Mayday! Enough! All of this in less than 48 hours??

Wouldn't you think that after 2 or 3 problems in a row they'd get a little preemptive? Send somebody to check out the room from top to bottom? Nope. They just wait for us to report each new crisis.

They keep fixing things. Apologizing. Giving us lip service instead of real service.

Oh they did finally offer us 5,000 bonus points. Right. Like that's gonna cut it.

This is a world renowned international hotel chain, not Bubba's Notel Motel. And --you guessed it-- the place is fully booked, sold out, not another room to be had here or anywhere else in town.

But hey, we escape the hotel to hang out with old friends Eddie and Patti and their great kids. Eat lovely and large at down-home Southern restaurants only the natives frequent. Enjoy private tours of the city complete with inside details and personal anecdotes.

Wouldn't have missed that for the world.

Having a great time. Wish you were here.

Just not in this hotel.