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When A Hotel Turns Into A Gymnasium

May 23, 2017/0 Comments/in THE BLOG, The Daddy Files /by Chris Read

Disclosure: TownePlace Suites hooked my family up with a stay while we were in Buffalo and certainly exceeded all expectations we had with such a large group.

We traveled to Buffalo last weekend to take part in our daughter’s 1st ever gymnastics competition. I haven’t written much about gymnastics on here yet but if the trend continues, you are going to be sick of hearing about it by the end of the year. We brought the whole Kanata Gymnosphere competitive team and crashed into the TownePlace Suites Buffalo Airport location like a hurricane!

I had tweeted a warning to TownePlace Suites ahead of our trip to make sure they understood what was about to happen and they assured me that they were ready for it. I saw round-offs, back handsprings, cartwheels, handstands and more as the weekend went on and could have sworn we were back at the gym as opposed to being at a hotel. True to their word, though, TownePlace was ready at every turn.

I have to admit that at one point during our stay I realized I had become the annoying guest who always had a question or request for the front desk, but each time they handled my requests swiftly and with a smile. Even when the kids got a little loud and rambunctious in the lobby area, which may or may not have happened on a couple occasions, the staff were polite in asking them keep it down a bit.

There were so many memories made throughout the weekend that it’s hard for me to talk about all of them but here are a few of the highlights.

– The Pool – Something I learned this weekend is that gymnasts are not allowed to go in the pool until after they have finished their competition. That meant for 2 full days the girls could only stare at the hotel pool and dream of how much fun it could be. I’m not sure what I was expecting but those kids hit the water as if they hadn’t swam in years. It was really fun to see their excitement.
– The Business Center – Who knew that the TownePlace Suites business center was going to be the place the kids spent the most time in? The girls spent hours on the computers watching, what else, gymnastics videos! I mean, it’s technically the business they were there for, right??
– Pizza Night! – I was tasked with ordering pizza for the group on our final night, which is well outside of my area of expertise. That said, I ordered WAAAAY too much pizza but ended up being able to pay the staff back for all my questions by sharing some pizza with them. I’m just going to pretent that was my plan all along…
– Breakfast!!! – The breakfast area was my favourite spot in the hotel, for obvious reasons. Every morning, the breakfast nook opened and was filled with goodies such as cereal, fruit, yogurts and my personal favourite, waffles! In fact, I had tweeted to TPS a month before our arrival asking if they had waffles and upon our arrival at the hotel they handed me this note.

It’s a small gesture but knowing that they cared enough to make our stay a little bit more special is something that will always keep me coming back. We had an amazing trip and can’t wait to see what next gymnastics season has in store for us. I also want to say a huge thank you to TownePlace Suites Buffalo Airport for making our stay a memorable one!

Oh, by the way, we also did some gymnastics while we were in Buffalo! Proud Dad Alert!!

Days Inn Canada Falls Short With New Dad Ad

February 28, 2014/17 Comments/in Reviews, THE BLOG, The Daddy Files /by Chris Read

I have been a part of the online dad community for a little over two years now. In that time, I have learned to value my contributions to my family and have become a far better and more attentive father because of it. I have also become more aware of the way fathers tend to be portrayed in the media and have even been fortunate enough to be a part of a community that is striving to, and has succeeded in, changing the dumb dad stereotype. In fact, according to a recent extensive study by 8 Bit Dad’s, Zach Rosenberg, fathers are being portrayed in a more engaged and positive light, more and more every year.

Unlike my American counterparts, however, it is extremely rare for me to see a commercial where the dad is being portrayed in a negative light. That changed this week after I saw the new commercial from Days Inn Canada. The commercial shows a sad child sitting alone in his room, wishing his father was there with him to read his bedtime story. It then cuts to the father, who is excitedly lounging alone in his hotel room, and sings the line, “And on the brighter side, dad’s watching mixed martial arts”. It gets worse from there but this is about the point in the commercial where I checked out and thought of a million different scenarios they could have gone with that would have made this commercial a viral sensation. First and foremost, why not have the dad reading to the kid over the internet and showing the love that I know most dads feel for their children. That would have been something I would have been proud to get behind and shared immediately. It would have even been enough to get my future business, at least once. And look, I’m all for Me-Time, as we all need it, but mixing it in with the sad child just made it look like the dad was happier outside the house than in it.

Not that fatherhood has ever been the way that the Al Bundy’s of the world would have you believe, but things are different now than they used to be. For a father to be a more engaged member of the overall household and child raising duties is not the exception anymore, it’s the norm. I’m sure Days Inn Canada thought this was harmless fun and others may see this as me being a whiny dad, but I think it’s important for them to know that it’s okay to go against the stereotype and to create a new mold.

What are thoughts on the commercial? I know we all see things differently, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

All this said, I would love to invite Days Inn Canada to have a conversation with us dads, so we can talk about what our version of fatherhood looks like for future commercials. In the meantime, I invite you to take a look at how the face of fatherhood has changed in just the last 1000 days. Video is courtesy of the folks at the Dad 2.0 Summit.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. Check out these posts from Buzz Bishop from DadCamp and Justin Connors from Life in 140.

A Vacation In Our Own Backyard

March 21, 2013/6 Comments/in THE BLOG /by Chris Read

Something people may not know about me is that before I became a blogger, I went through a pretty hard core phase as a contester. I’m not talking about entering a couple contests here and there either. I mean full blown, spreadsheet creating, madness! I have probably entered about five contests in my first year as a blogger and this past weekend I was lucky enough to win a weekend stay at a hotel right in my own town, the Ottawa Marriott.

After breaking the good news to my wife, we decided to spend one night in the hotel with the kids and one night with just the two of us. A huge thanks to my Mom for watching the kids on the second night to allow us to have our first night away in almost two years! We got there and immediately headed down to the kids play room. I had heard about this from a few friends and couldn’t wait to check it out for myself. As expected, the kids had a blast and negotiated their way to an extra 15 minutes of play time. They probably could have scored an extra 30 minutes, but don’t tell them that.

The kids love staying in hotels and we decided to get a king sized bed so we could all sleep together. I knew that meant we would get a little less sleep and I even took a few shots to the face from the boy, but it was totally worth it to see their smiling faces. And just in case anyone from the Marriott reads this, I promised that the kids would jump on the bed and I always keep my promises. I even threw in a little extra…

Daddy jumps on beds too!

As much fun as night one had been, I was definitely looking forward to some husband and wife time. It had been so long since we could just go out to enjoy a dinner without worrying about how late it was. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Hard Rock and headed back to the hotel to watch a movie. Unfortunately the movie channel was broken, so we were left without many options on TV on a Saturday night.

Fortunately, if I taught my wife anything about social media, it is that excellent brands always come through in the clutch! She had just started to discover the world of twitter and expressed her disappointment over not being able to watch a movie together. Two minutes later, the phone rang and it was the manager of the hotel, who mentioned they saw her tweet and wanted to make it right. They offered to bring up a DVD player and some movies for us, which I appreciated but declined. That would have been enough for me but they decided to go the extra mile and offered us breakfast in bed for two the next morning. JOY!

I took so much away from this weekend and have felt extremely energized ever since. It’s so important to take the time to unwind, both as a family and as a couple. To be able to do it right in our own backyard was icing on the cake. This is not a sponsored post in any way but I want to say a huge thank you to the Ottawa Marriott for your hospitality and amazing service. Also, thank you for having a Starbucks in the lobby!

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