Here are a couple more small observations about our hotel here in Long Beach, California.

Yesterday’s post described the oddly designed shower that creates a potential impact zone for anyone 6 feet or taller using the shower here at the Marriott Long Beach Downtown hotel.

Today I’ll point out an oddity impacting short people.

Like most hotels, this Marriott has a built-in room safe where valuables can be stored when guests leave the room. Usually it’s located in a drawer, or on top of a low cabinet in a closet.

But here at the Marriott on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, it’s on the top shelf in the small closet, above the area provided to hang clothes. It works fine for me. But it’s simply too high to be convenient for a short person (like me wife), who would have to stand on a chair or something to reach into it. I think she could enter a code to lock or unlock it, but she can’t see inside it, and it’s too high to for her to reach and find items by feel.

While I appreciate the amenity, its placement creates difficulties for the vertically impaired.

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And then there is the security system in the hotel elevators, which are located in a hallway off the lobby just inside the main entrance to the hotel.

These key card readers are common features in hotels these days. To leave the public floors and reach the guest rooms, you are required to swipe your room key in order to select a floor. Although not foolproof, it restricts access to registered guests

But for some reason, this hotel has deactivated the system, removing what has become an important layer of routine hotel security.

The former Renaissance Long Beach was rebranded as a Marriott just last year after a new group of investors bought the property and undertook a major renovation. It would appear that they chose not to reactivate the system after the makeover, but whether that was just a matter of cost or some other consideration isn’t known.

From a customer’s point of new, though, it feels like investor savings at the cost of guest security.

If I’m wrong, please leave a comment and let me know.

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I should add that the renovation of the hotel was very nicely done. Our room, for example, appears to have had a total facelift, without the usually reno giveaways like poorly patched grout in bachrooms, shoddy caulking, etc.

The exception is the basic furniture, including the cabinet below the wall-mounted television that contains a mini refrigerator, three drawers for storage, and a storage area for glasses and a small ice bucket, along with the nightstands on either side of the king-size bed, which appear to be original. The only problem is that at least half of the original built-in electrical outlets can’t be used because anything plugged in to them just falls out. In this age of digital assistants, from phones to tablets and more, working electrical outlets are among the most important travel amenities.

But to be fair, the room is relatively large, the bed comfortable, there are two chairs for us, and the view over Long Beach Harbor more than make up for the shortcomings and oddities.

I awoke this morning to find a weather warning: Dense Fog Advisory!

“Visibility one quarter mile or less in dense fog.”

“Low visibility could make driving conditions hazardous.”

We’re not driving on this trip, and won’t be going anywhere for at least a few hours. But the fog alert was still attention grabbing!

Screenshot

It got me out of bed and over to the window to see whether there was actually any fog here in Long Beach.

Short answer: Yes!

We told another guest who stepped into the elevator on the way down to get breakfast that we don’t have fog like this at home, and this was kind of a new experience. He valve assured us that the fog will “burn off” soon.

We’ll see.

Small things.

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After our plane landed at the Long Beach Airport last evening, we quickly collected our bags and walked outside to catch a taxi to our downtown hotel.

Hmmm. The last time we were here, a year and a half ago, there was a taxi stand across the street on the side of the parking garage. Not there any longer. We looked up and down the street just outside the terminal, saw nothing resembling a line of taxis.

Then I spotted a sign. “Long Beach Yellow Cab,” with a phone number. Okay. I dialed. And reached a computer which asked where we were located, and where we wanted to go. I provided the information, and the computer voice responded that I would receive a text message when the taxi was dispatched. Then it advised that we needed to go to the taxi stand. We had already figured out that there was no taxi stand. So I waited to speak to an operator. A male voice answered after a short wait and I explained the problem.

“It is to the right if you are just outside the main terminal.” Okaaaay. We walked the length of the sidewalk in that direction. Nothing. And no text message. So after a few minute wait, as most of the passengers who arrived with us had gone on their way, I called back. Got to an operator. Where is the taxi stand? This time round, the answer was that we should ask an airport employee. Right. And that text message? Is a taxi heading our way or not? There was no clear answer forthcoming.

So I hung up, opened my Uber app, and in three minutes Phillip pulled up in a black Tesla to escort us to our hotel.

So it seems the taxi companies have just completely ceded the Long Beach Airport business to the ride share companies.

…

The little tag says “Make an Impact”.

And I did!

In fact, it took three solid impacts between my head and the top bar of the shower door before I figured out that anyone 6 feet or taller has to duck when entering or exiting the shower, or else!

I don’t think this is the impact the hotel was advising us about.

A “Watch your head” hang tag would have been more in order.

I don’t remember ever being in a hotel where I had to duck to avoid head injury when going to take a shower.

Live and learn.

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Air Quality: 62 (poor) according to Accuweather. Temperature up to 60 degrees from the low 50’s earlier this morning.

It looks like a lot of vog blanketing the area today, except no volcano! So this must mostly be old fashioned smog from pollution.

I just took this photo out the window of our hotel, but the smog is much more visible to the eye than it appears in the photo.

It will be interesting to see how it changes over the course of the day.

Other than the layer of smog, it is sunny and clear.

I’ll be taking a walk in a while to pick up a couple of bottles of wine to take to dinner tonight at the home of one of my cousins. Other than that, this is just a day to relax.