Very Nice Hotel For Business Travel
Written: Aug 27 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great quality for the money
Cons: Rooms are smaller than normal.
The Bottom Line: Everything was great and I'd definately return.
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| dareynolds's Full Review: Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West |
A recent trip to Dallas was my first experience with the Omni chain of hotels. By and large it was a very positive experience and I would certainly stay here again.
LOCATION:
The Omni Dallas Park West is located in the North Corridor section of Dallas, easily accessible from the LBJ Freeway, about 10 minutes from DFW Airport. I believe it is about 20 minutes from Downtown Dallas but with Dallas traffic it could take much longer. If your business in Dallas is focused downtown you may want to stay directly downtown.
The hotel is directly adjacent to the LBJ Freeway which initially made me think this would be a noisy, high traffic type of environment but luckily this was not the case.
GENERAL HOTEL PROPERTY:
As they say, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression, and this hotel does a good job with the first impression. The very large foyer area with upscale decor, marble floors, high ceilings, and quite a few couches and chairs give you the feeling that you are in a high quality property. Front desk personel were very friendly and in no time flat I was on my way to my room.
With 300+ standard rooms and 25+ suites the Omni Park West is a decent sized hotel.
ROOMS:
I was pleasantly surprised with the overall furnishings and decor of the standard rooms. Rooms were very clean with wood grain accents and furnishings. There was a desk with very comfortable ergonomic chair, medium size lounge chair and ottoman, armoire with a 19'' TV (unusually small given the size of the armoire) and mini bar. King size bed was extermely comfortable. Not quite a Heavenly Bed from Westin experience, but it was a close second! I was glad to see that the Omni hasn't joined the ranks of hotels that have abandoned free coffee and those mini coffee makers in the room. All the other standard ammenities such as iron/ironing board, extra pillows and blankets, hair dryer, full length mirror, Lodgenet TV/Pay Per View, etc. were present, so no disappointments there.
The bathroom was more than ample size with upscale type brass accessories throughout.
While I was pleased with the overall quality and ammenities in the rooms, the room was much smaller than I'd expected. To the right of the bed was only a 3 foot space and to the left was only a 6 foot space or so. In front of the bed was just enough room for the desk and chair/ottoman with not much extra free space. I think two people would be tripping all over eachother if they had to spend a lot of time in this room.
DINING:
There is ample dining on premise. Dover's Grille serves breakfast lunch and dinner each day including full a buffet for breakfast and lunch. I didn't actually indulge in the buffet but it looked very good. Dovers full menu is available for in room dining as well. I had lunch here once and the service was great, but my sandwich was less than appetizing. I'm not sure what they put on the thing but I was only able to finish half of it because it just didn't taste right. I ordered room service for dinner from them one evening which was quite good. Very professional presentation and my steak was cooked to perfection, one of the better room service meals I've had in my years of traveling.
The Promenade Bar is located right in the hotel lobby. Being adjacent to the lobby it doesn't draw a loud or smoky type crowd and it's a good place to have a business conversation over a drink or just unwind from your travels.
Hunters Lounge is a large restaurant and bar that has a huge TV (half the size of a movie theatre screen type of TV). It's a business casual type of environment rather than a sports bar type of place. There is a very large bar in the middle with a number of tables surrounding on all sides. There is plenty of free space, Hunters is quite large, so it's perfect to have a business reception or function. They do serve lunch and dinner here but I did not dine here during my stay.
BUSINESS FACILITIES:
This property is definately well suited for business functions with 17K square feet of meeting space, a huge ampitheatre (holds 300 I think) which has top of the line Audio/Video facilities, two ballrooms and several medium size meeting rooms.
High speed wireless internet access is available through out the entire hotel and it's 100% FREE! Even in the bars, lounges, rooms, etc.. you can pick up a wifi hot spot. They even have a video conferencing set up (PictureTel I think) for business use.
When you get in your room you'll notice the message light flashing. This message is to inform you that you have a direct dial phone number assigned to your room during your stay (no extra charge to you). I thought this was a GREAT little extra. I was able to forward my calls directly to my hotel room. Sometimes it's the little things that keep ya coming back!
LEISURE/RECREATION:
There is a nice outdoor heated pool at the Omni. However you need to walk directly through the middle of Hunters Lounge to get to the pool. This might not seem like a big deal, but it was kind of weird to have to walk through the main traffic area of the busy restaurant and go directly through the people in the buffet line with your beach towel and swim suit on while everyone else is in business attire. No big deal, but it was just an odd set up.
The pool isn't very big given the size of the hotel, its about the size of a small/medium backyard residential pool. Plenty of beach chairs and towels to catch some rays and the waitress from Hunters will make an occasional pass by the pool if you want drinks poolside. There was supposedly an outdoor jacuzzi too but I couldn't find it.
There is a fully equipped health club on site too with Cardio (treadmills and stair machines), free weights, and nautilus machines. One of the nicer set ups I've seen lately at a hotel, for some reason hotels have given up on their health clubs. There are mens and womens locker rooms with sauna as well.
Omni also has available a free "Get Fit" kit. They will bring to your room an excercise matt, two dumbells, an elastic work out band, and bottled water so you can work out in your room if you'd prefer.
For the fitness orientated there is also a 10 mile jogging track around a 125 acre lake. This is actually a nice set up that joggers will certainly enjoy.
SUMMARY:
Outside of the rooms being smaller than I'd like, I can't say anything bad about this hotel. The service was always great, ample ammenities and dining, the property is clean and upscale. The Omni kind of reminds of the Wyndham hotel chain in that you think you are staying in a property that should cost twice what your paying per night. Everything is clean, upscale, modern, etc.. and your paying a fraction of the rates many hotels charge. I was definately happy with the Omni Park West and would return in the future.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dareynolds
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Member: David Reynolds
Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 1 member
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