By Audra Anders for The Aha! Connection
Because I live in Dunwoody, I rarely have any reason to stay in local hotels. I stayed at a nice downtown hotel for a college girls’ weekend once and at the Embassy Suites when our power was out for more than a week during an ice storm, but I think that’s it. It’s therefore kind of odd that in the past two weeks I’ve been in both the Crowne Plaza Ravinia (to eat at Parkwoods and for the State of the City Address) and Le Meridian.
When I travel to NYC I love to stay in affordable boutique (non-chain) hotels. You can ask Danielle (my travel planner extraordinaire)…because she’s so good at finding boutique hotels! So..when the folks at Le Meridian invited me to stop by and see their hotel I was shocked to walk through the lobby and see how fun and funky it is! I told Zhana (the catering manager) this looks just like a boutique hotel I would choose for my own travels. But guess what? It’s a Marriott. You’d never know!
Here’s what I loved about it:
- The lobby is filled with fun and funky seating and there are nooks everywhere for reading, working, having a quick committee meeting etc.
- The bar had the best almond milk latte I’ve had in a long time.
- The pool area was gorgeous with plenty of private cabanas for a long day at the pool.
- They have every size meeting room you could possibly imagine for anything from a small business meeting, to a wedding reception with all the AV equipment you could possibly imagine.
- It’s tucked in behind California Pizza Kitchen and Wells Fargo so you barely even notice it….and you can walk to Perimeter Mall.
- The restaurant (Portico) was beautiful with a picturesque outside seating area.
Most of you who read this probably won’t have any reason to spend the night at Le Meridian unless you are planning a stay-cation or a middle school girls sleepover birthday party. But, you can go there for a meeting in the lobby, for a coffee alternative to Starbucks/Crema, for dinner at Portico, or to one of their many weekend events. Plus, if you don’t have extra room for guests, they have GREAT prices on the weekends for their rooms since their primary patrons are weekday business travelers.
The next time I plan girls’ night I’m taking my girlfriends to Portico for outside seating! I’ll soon be posting some of their events on our Aha! Calendar so you can go see (and enjoy) for yourself!
Le Meridian Atlanta Perimeter
111 Perimeter Center West
Dunwoody, GA 30346
770.396.6800
