The Marriott and Sheraton Hotels

Back in July, my co-chair Laurie and I visited Raleigh for a number of business meetings with various staff members from the convention center and the hotels. On that trip, we stayed in the Raleigh Marriott City Center Hotel. If you're looking to stay close to the action over at the Raleigh Convention Center, either the Marriott or the very-nearby Sheraton Raleigh Hotel are right onsite. The Marriott is directly across the street from the convention center, and you can get back and forth either by walking across the street or taking an escalator to an underground "connector," which resembles an underground skyway. The Sheraton is close as well; it sits diagonally across the street from the northeast corner of the convention center. Walking to it is nearly as quick as walking from the Marriott, and if the weather gets bad its underground garage connects to the Marriott's parking garage, which in turn connects to the underground "connector" walkway to the convention center. So Sheraton guests can also get to the convention center without going outside if they wish. Both hotels provide free wireless internet access, have nice exercise rooms, and are really comfortable places to stay. We thought the Marriott was great when we stayed there; similarly, we toured the rooms at the Sheraton, and would have been just as happy there. Both are great choices.

One of the many neat things about these two hotels is that there is an outdoor plaza adjoining them with a number of gourmet-style fast food restaurants. While both hotels have restaurants inside them that are quite good, you've also got the opportunity to grab something tasty yet fast. The restaurants in the plaza include Jimmy John's subs, Crema, ZPizza, and Shish-Kabob. Laurie and I tried ZPizza back in July, and really liked it. If you're looking to eat and run, these restaurants appear to be great options.