If you are at convention hotel and not attending the convention you need it to be a good hotel experience. The Hotel Phillips in Kansas City has some good and some bad points.

The hotel itself is beautiful. It is an old building with an art deco design and lots of wood paneling. I’m going to take a wander round with a camera later. Of course being an old building has its problems. The elevators are commendably fast, but everything seems a little cramped compared to modern US hotels. the place is built more on a British scale.

Access to food is a major problem. The hotel is in a business district. The only places to get food are restaurants and other hotels. There’s a food court in a nearby building, but as it caters for office workers most of the outlets are closed at the weekend. Only Starbucks and McDonalds were open today, and they are closed tomorrow. Thus far our dining has been confined to The Mango Room, a Caribbean and Southern US themed restaurant. The food is excellent, and I won’t manage to eat my way through all of the good stuff on the menu in just a weekend, but they too are closed tomorrow. Oh what I’d give for a nearby deli, or even a 7/11.