I'm spending the night in Geelong tonight after spending the first day of a two day engagement with a new client in the area. When arranging travel and accomodation plans the boss asked if I wanted to stay in Geelong or in the city. I decided to stay in Geelong and I am really happy that I did - because I have discovered the Haymarket Hotel (OK, credit must go to Super Karen, our Logistics Manager who booked the room).
After the day was done I made tracks back to the Geelong "city centre" to find the hotel. I probably made two or three passes of the place simply because to me, it didn't look like a hotel. I resorted to counting numbers and found the place on the last pass. After parking on the otherside of the road and crossing the street I was greeted by the owner at the door who helped me in. With a PDA in one hand, laptop back around the shoulder, car keys and overnight bag (on wheels) I was running short of hands.
After being shown to my room on the second story I decided to go down to the bar and have a beer (or two). The bar is only open to guests and guests of guests. The owner was down stairs talking to another of the guests and it was really nice just having a social chat. The best that I can describe it is that it is like faulty towers without the things that make you cringe. If I ever need to come back to Geelong to see our client again I hope to stay here again.
Over the last few years I've travelled a fair bit and stayed in all sorts of hotels, with a few exceptions they are generally all large concrete structures with rooms of varying size and absolutely no character. The result is that I either go to bed early or work out of complete boredom. Right now I am sitting in a common lounge, there is a fire crackling in the corner and in about twenty minutes I believe my room is going to be turned down. All in all I have to give this place two thumbs up.