I found it sort of wierd that the NYT would have an article on the downtown Courtyard...

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Marriott Courtyard Downtown in Oklahoma City

By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

Published: June 5, 2005

This Courtyard has features other Marriotts lack.

THE BASICS Marriott operates hotels under more than a dozen brands: J. W. Marriott is considered the top of the line, followed by Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Marriott, and then Courtyard by Marriott. But in a series of recent stays, I've found that the distinctions between those brands are being blurred by a corporate design department that is putting a similar stamp on very different hotels. Rooms at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza, in a mall next to the airport, for instance, look remarkably similar to rooms at this far less expensive hotel in Oklahoma City. In fact, the Courtyard has amenities (including in-room safes) that the Renaissance lacks.

THE LOCATION The hotel is the newest (and most centrally located) of three Courtyards in Oklahoma City. On the edge of downtown, it sits across a plaza from the Ford Center, an arena built in 2003. Bricktown, the closest thing Oklahoma City has to an entertainment district, is a brick's throw away. Parking is next door in an above-ground garage. The city's most poignant tourist destination - the Oklahoma City National Memorial - is five minutes from the hotel by car. The freeway that leads to Norman (home of the University of Oklahoma, and in many ways a more cosmopolitan place than Oklahoma City) is also nearby.

THE ROOMS Surprisingly attractive and efficient. Some of the features - including a niche with a shelf for the coffee maker, so it isn't in the bathroom - are identical to ones I saw in Tampa. There, the TV sat out on the dresser; here, the media cabinet, a wardrobe, and a writing desk together form a clever built-in unit. In Tampa, the windows don't open; here, they open onto pleasant balconies. Rooms on the east side face Bricktown; on the west side, the view is of the roof of the Ford Center. Go east. The rooms are a bit too colorful: picture bright greens, reds, blues and yellows on bedspreads and just about everywhere else.

BATHROOMS Ordinary. The shower curtains (which match the bedspreads) are fabric. In older Courtyards, they were just plastic, said the general manager, Jim Rickards. His hotel was constructed to match the 2004 Courtyard standards, Mr. Rickards said, adding that about 600 older Courtyards would be upgraded to the new standards by next year.

THE CROWD Given the proximity to the Ford Center, there's no predicting who will also be staying at the hotel. One night this spring, there were devotees of the Lipizzaner Stallions; another, fans of Motley Crue. And then there are followers of the Yard Dawgz - an Arena Football team founded in 2003; their home is the Ford Center.

AMENITIES Surrounding the lobby are a restaurant (the Courtyard Grille) that serves breakfast, a pleasant indoor pool and a business center with a computer printer and basic reference books. The lobby also features a kind of alcove convenience-store - dubbed the Market - that never closes. Apples and bananas are free, perhaps because they're so unpopular compared to junk food. Service isn't perfect. When I received a fax at the front desk, there was a page of someone else's (very confidential) fax mixed in. But that could happen anywhere. The employees, who answer the phone with "Home of the Yard Dawgz," are uniformly enthusiastic.

ROOM SERVICE From the lobby restaurant, 4 to 11 p.m. only.

THE BOTTOM LINE The standard room, with tax, comes to $159. On one popular travel Web site, www.tripadvisor.com, this Courtyard was rated first among 101 hotels in Oklahoma City. "Nice new hotel in the middle of it all." one guest wrote.

The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown. 2 West Reno Avenue, Oklahoma City; (405) 232 2290; www.marriott.com.