Well, if anyone’s been wondering where I’ve been all week (as if you cared?), I’ve been poked, prodded and generally observed like a lab rat in a maze to see whether I’m capable of further progression within the company. Of course, it was discovered that I am completely incompetent but not until after I’d had a chance to review the hotel I stayed in for my lovely Dooyoo friends.

***Overview of the Hotel Chain***
Marriott International, Inc. is a leading worldwide hospitality company with operations in the United States and 63 other countries and territories.

It had sales in 2000 of $19.8 billion. The company has approximately 152,000 associates and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Its operations include three major businesses: Marriott Lodging, Marriott Senior Living Services and Marriott Distribution Services.

***First Impressions***
Hollins Hall is 3 miles from Shipley and set in The Yorkshire Dales. It can be found by taking junction 42 of the M1 and picking up the M62. Junction 26 takes you onto M606 off which you take the A650 turning following the signs for Salt's Mill. A straight road all the way to Shipley takes you to a major set of traffic lights. Cross over still going straight on via A6038 to Otley and the hotel is a further 3 miles on the left. The journey from Northampton took me 3 hours.

Alternatively, from Leeds join the A65 to Guiseley and then pick up the A6038. At the crossroad turn left down Hollins Hill. The hotel is on the right hand side (Leeds/Bradford airport is close by).

Hollins Hall is an impressive sight. Built in 1878 it is set in the rolling hills of the Dales and has a stately home appearance. The façade appears predominantly Georgian in style with spectacular ornate, rectangular windows dominating its appearance supplemented by vines and other greenery climbing tastefully up the walls at selected junctures.

This is a large ho
tel with 122 bedrooms on 4 floors. The car park is ample and has space for 250 cars (no charges involved). Surrounding the hotel is a championship standard golf course that is in great demand all year round.

Upon arriving at reception I was given a friendly greeting by the staff and a porter whisked my case up to the bedroom. The service was so good I was left wondering just how much the Company was paying for these few days (he wouldn't even take a tip from me – said it was his pleasure after giving me a tour of the bedroom and explaining what was what).

***Accommodation***
The bedrooms come equipped with free SKY TV along with terrestrial TV and 4 radio stations. The satellite TV came in very handy as I kept abreast of developments in the Test Match in New Zealand. There were the obligatory pay movies (£7.50 a throw) including decent movies plus the dodgier porno stuff.

Each room has hairdryer, modem/fax link, mini-bar (the items are on sensors so if you don't want to pay then don't disturb the contents!), direct-dial telephone, tea & coffee making facilities, trouser press, ironing centre and voice mail. The room I had was very spacious(2 double beds, in fact) and the bathroom was fully tiled with bath/shower. There's even a bottle opener on the wall for you to open your bottle of Miller with (had to ring down to discover this after trying to get the top off for ages using either my hands or my knife and fork!).

***Food and Drink***
24-hour room service is available with a £2.50 additional charge for the service and a promise that failure to deliver within 30 minutes would result in no charge (not that I cared as I wasn't paying). I used RS on my first night. It's a bit pricey with a small chicken and rice dish costing £12. The meals are generally available from 11am – 11pm. Otherwise; it's a choice of sandwiches and drinks.

Heathcliffs is the main restaurant. The food i
s excellent albeit a bit nouvelle cuisine (small but perfectly formed). 3 of us ate in there one evening and it cost £96 for a 3-course meal for the 3 of us including a couple of beers each. The menu was excellent with, generally, meat dishes available e.g. duck, beef, chicken and so on. The ambience was OK with a light airy atmosphere and the service reasonable although we had spent a couple of hours in there by the time we'd ploughed through our fodder. No sign whatsoever of any Basil Fawlty types, sadly with everything being fairly straightforward.

Long Weekend Café Bar & Hollins Bar are the areas to get a drink and food is available in the Long Weekend Café Bar. The latter had a sports theme where you could catch the latest footie etc. Naturally, this was checked out when ManU played Bayern Munich although we needn't have bothered as it was a bore no score draw (suiting both teams...how convenient).

***Business***
There are 6 conference rooms, a business centre and 4 syndicate rooms accommodating 200 delegates. The rooms that we used were pretty spacious with plenty of room for flip charts, OHPs and the like. All the usual pre-requisites were present i.e. supplies of sweets, water, cans of drink, writing pads etc.

***Leisure***
Apart from the impressive golf course and driving range, there is a complimentary heated swimming pool, 3 gyms, a steam room, aerobic studio, sauna, spa bath and activity classes. I did use the running machines in the gym at one point and all were state of the art (so much so that I took a few minutes to work out the controls). The gym had overhead TVs and was well attended with it looking a popular destination for many of the locals.

Other facilities include solariums, a health and beauty spa and, how could I forget the Internet café? (Couldn't get on as the server was down!).

***Local Attractions***
Apart from the Yorkshire Dales themselves, York isn't too far way
along with more locally Leeds and Bradford. Haworth and Bronte country are close at hand and The Woolpack pub from Emmerdale is literally only a couple of miles down the road (didn't get chance to go).

Bolton Abbey, National Museum of Film, Photography and Television (Bradford), Saltaire Victorian Village/David Hockney 1853 Art Gallery, Ilkley Moor, Royal Armouries (Leeds) and the Alhambra Theatre (Bradford) all add up to plenty to do.

***Room rates***
You can view the hotel and find out more from www.marriotthotels.com/Ibags. Reservations are held for guest arrival by 4pm. Booking through Credit Card, switch or cheques supported by a guarantee card. My room cost £99 per night but there are other deals available according to your need. Just go to the link above and tap in your requirements in terms of price range, dates involved etc.

***Overall***
This is a definite recommend. There are special deals for weekends away and it's well worth a look on the website to see what's on offer. The service was immaculate throughout. My only reservation would be the cost of dining. Certainly, if you are a golfer then this is Nirvana.

I'm just about recovered from my experience now and ready and raring to go in terms of Dooyoo again. Of course, if you want to get rid of me simply lobby my company to get me promoted as I wouldn't get time for this site any more (as he gets bowled over by the cyber rush to hit the e-mail button...man, I thought you guys liked me)

Thanks for reading

Marandina