That’s a lot of Gingerbread!

Earlier this month, the state of Texas dethroned previous title-holder Minnesota as home to the world’s largest gingerbread house. Located at the Traditions Golf Club in the City of Bryan, the new Guinness World Record Holder is 36,600 cubic feet of confection.

The sweet concoction called for 7,200 lbs of flour, 7,200 eggs, approximately 3,000 lbs of brown sugar, 1,800 lbs of butter and 22,304 pieces of candy.  It required 200 volunteers and 4,000 gingerbread bricks to assemble the 20 x 60 x 42 ft display. That’s a lot of holiday baking!

Although we are not donning any life-sized edible dwellings on the property, there are many sweet surprises to be found at the Courtyard Marriott. You will find yuletide cheer as you cozy up next to the lobby fireplace with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from our 24-hour Starbucks. We may even roast some chestnuts!

We want to be your home away from home this Christmas season. Hang your stocking at the Courtyard Marriott, and we’re confident you will have sweet dreams of sugarplums in our welcoming suites!

Season’s greetings from our family to yours!

When the weather outside is frightful…

It’s that time of year again when all the beautiful leaves come off the trees and find their way to the ground. Only a couple weeks of fall remain and before you know it, we’ll be in the thick of the winter months.

For some, winter means frightful weather outside and a time to turn up the heat on the inside. However, not everyone likes to run up those heating bills in the winter cold. If you keep your house a bit cooler this time of year we have a few tips on how to stay warm and cozy in your home.

1. Use smaller rooms – This one isn’t hard. If you’re feeling the chills, you can always warm up a smaller room the fastest.
2. Find a friend or a pet to cozy up with – Everyone should know this. Sharing that body heat with a neighbor is one of the quickest ways to get out of the cold.
3. Drink warm beverages – A hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate can immediately fill you with warmth (and maybe some much-needed caffeine)!
4. Exercise – If you have any kind of workout equipment in your house, 15 or 20 minutes of strenuous activity will get you plenty warm. And it’s good for you!
5. Buy a nice robe – A comfy bathrobe or dressing gown is a quick and easy thing to throw on in the comfort of your own home.
6. Vacation or travel – The easiest way to get out of the cold is to go somewhere warm or to stay in a hotel that you know will have the heat on. At the High Point Courtyard Marriott, you won’t have to worry about your heating bill one bit. Our lobby and all of our rooms are kept warm and cozy throughout the winter just for our guests.

We hope you stay nice and warm this season. Feel free to stop by and warm up at the HP Courtyard any time!

Igniting High Point

The Piedmont Triad has always had plenty to offer for our guests, but now there may be even more reason to come and visit the area.

As the “Ignite High Point” initiative continues to build revitalization ideas for the downtown area, city leaders feel that they may have their biggest and best solution yet.

The answer comes in the form of “the pit.” The pit would serve as an all-purpose gathering space to host concerts, games, artists and other events for High Point locals and visitors. The city of High Point looks to invest upwards of $1 million on the project that will serve as a catalyst for the area.

This means that your ticket to a fun and active weekend would only be minutes away from our front door!

Take a look at the photo of the proposed “pit.” Does this get you excited to come and visit soon? It certainly has us excited!

How to fight the winter cold(s)

Brr! For those of you in the North Carolina area, you already know well that we’ve had our lowest temperatures of the season these past few days. Temperatures as low as 24 degrees have had us all scampering to get out the warm winter gear.

While we do love bundling up in front of the warm fire in our lobby, winter weather usually brings winter sickness as well. And we all know there is nothing much worse than traveling under the weather.

Solutions? We have a few for you to make your trip down to visit us as easy as possible.

1. Sore throat? Try gargling some warm salt water before your transit. While traveling, try to drink some hot tea or a warm liquid with some added honey. These things could go a long way towards keeping your throat moist for the duration of your trip.
2. Sinus congestion? Don’t forget about those decongestants on your travel day! Also, try placing a warm, damp towel on your head to relieve sinus pressure and fight against those itchy eyes.
3. General aches and pains? Using your standard over-the-counter medications will work wonders, especially acetaminophen. Also, look for pseudoephedrine and naproxen as your anti-inflammatory options.
4. Fight against dry air? Drink plenty of liquids! This means water, teas or juices and not sodas and coffee. And of course, a tiny bit of Vicks VapoRub on your chest can help to breathe in dry, frigid air.

Hopefully you don’t have to use any of these tips often, but we hope they prove useful if you do. We look forward to serving you (healthy or not) soon!

New Season: New Sport

The leaves have all changed and now are beginning to fall away as winter approaches. The cold air is moving in and, before you know it, you won’t be able to leave the house without a hat and gloves.

Weekends full of football will soon change to weeks full of basketball. Being in the great college basketball state of North Carolina — this has us excited.

Within just 30 minutes of our hotel you have the chance to see college powerhouse basketball teams that include Wake Forest, UNC – Greensboro, High Point and plenty of big name visiting teams. For those of you looking to travel down and catch some of the best college hoops has to offer: we have rooms ready just for you.

Whether you’re traveling with your favorite team as they visit the area or if you have made the trip down to spend a weekend in the Piedmont Triad, a great basketball game is never far from our front door. In fact, two of the area’s biggest teams – High Point and UNCG – will square off this weekend at the Greensboro Colosseum that is located less that 30 minutes from our hotel.

Just stopping though and don’t have time to make it to a game? No worries. Our rooms are all equipped with HDTVs and our lobby has a full bar and plenty of TVs for you to catch all of the winter college hoops action.

So, travelers, are you ready for some basketball?

Market Wrap-up

After our busiest week of the fall, it is time to thank everyone that stayed with us this past week during the High Point Market.

Every fall and spring we fill our rooms with hundreds of guests that make the trip from around the world to High Point, N.C., to see what brave new styles the furniture world has in store for us in the coming months. Despite the government shutdown and doom and gloom that often surrounds talk about the economy, officials still claim that this fall’s High Point Market received a 2 percent increase in attendance.

This is pretty impressive when you consider that this event usually draws upwards of 75,000 guests semiannually!

What does this mean for our guests at the Courtyard Marriott? This means it’s time to book your room for the Spring 2014 Market!

April 5-10 will be the running dates for the big event this spring and we expect to fill out of rooms like usual… so make sure you grab your reservation as soon as possible.

Here is the link to sure-up a spot for the next market: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/gsocy-courtyard-high-point/

See you soon!

September: A Month in Review(s)

We’re a full week into October now and as the temperatures begin to drop and the leaves begin to change, fall is feeling more and more official. Here at the HP Courtyard we can’t help but look back and reminisce on what a great month September was, which included some of our last days of summer.

The easiest way to bring back some great memories for us (and any potential travelers) is to check out our page on TripAdvisor! Let’s have a look and see what people said about their stays in September…

“The hotel is very attractive and well maintained, inside and out. Definitely a ‘Wow!'”

– Gregga62 on Sept. 1

“The beds were so high and pillow-top mattresses and pillows were just so comfortable i didn’t want to get out of bed… I will definitely stay here again.”

– godfrey-moss on Sept. 4

“(A) contemporary jewel…The room was spacious and clean. Very good value for the money.”

– Nutriscan on Sept. 22

“Alex, one of our waiters at a DELICIOUS breakfast (sausage and gravy — cannot be beat) also demonstrated consideration and kind words that left me thinking I was at the best hotel I had ever stayed.”

-Johanna A on Sept. 29

Hopefully you, soon, will come stay with us and have your own great story to share with your family and friends. Happy fall, followers!

Happy Family Weekend!

It is another one of our busiest weekends here at the HP Courtyard Marriott as the city of High Point and High Point University are set to welcome in more than 4,000 guests. Over the next three days we are set to see a $1,884,510 economic impact from this event alone.

What that means for our hotel is a full house! We can’t wait to see all of the smiling and familiar faces returning to our hotel this weekend.

One of the best parts about family weekend for our families has to be all of the wonderful food that you can find just around the area. Here’s our guide to what is close and what you can’t miss…

• Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery – Located just around the corner from our hotel, this family-friendly restaurant offers a wide range of lunches and dinners along with several in-house brews.
• Southern Roots – A short 10-minute drive to Jamestown, N.C. will bring you to Southern Roots, a favorite among HPU families. This restaurant offers can’t-miss Southern cuisine in an upscale setting.
• Sake – Another restaurant located just around the corner from us is Sake. This sushi bar offers some of High Point’s best sushi and Japanese cuisine in a very friendly, welcoming environment.
• The Dog House – Here is your hole-in-the-wall diner for the weekend. Looking for the best hotdog or burger in town? Look no further than The Dog House, located on North Main Street. Don’t mark off too much time on your calendar though… it won’t take you more than 20 minutes to eat!

We hope all of our visitors have a happy, healthy, safe and delicious visit to the High Point area this weekend. See you all around the hotel!

Throwback Thursday: Rooms of the Past

Hello blogosphere! Has anyone else noticed how much Throwback Thursdays have caught on in the past few months? Well we certainly have and we thought we ought to join in the fun.

Surely some of our followers out there have been loyal customers for a long time and can remember (not that long ago) what our old rooms used to look like. Even though our hotel had already been rated the top Courtyard Marriott in North America, there was room for improvement.

As you can see in our official #tbt photo this week, there has been quite the change from the old rooms to the new ones.

If you haven’t had a chance to come and visit our newly redesigned hotel, we’d love to have you!

Word of the Week Wednesday – Swimming Pools

As always, a very happy Wednesday to all of our followers. We’re all about teaching you everything there is to know about our hotel (and a little bit about history), so this week’s word will definitely be a good history lesson for everyone!

Surely, there won’t be any followers out there that haven’t been in a swimming pool before, but how many followers know that swimming pools have been around since 3,000 B.C.?

That’s right! The “Great Bath” at the site of Mohenjo-Daro in modern-day Pakistan was most likely the first swimming pool, dug during the 3rd millennium BC. This pool is 12 by 7 meters, is lined with bricks and was covered with a tar-based sealant.

Many may also know that the Ancient Greeks and Romans were famous for their love of pools as bathhouses were extremely popular in their towns and cities. In fact, the Romans were the first people ever to create a heated swimming pool! They would light fires under the marble buildings to warm the water right up.

While we don’t do anything quite that barbaric at our hotel, we do have an indoor heated pool that any of our guests are welcome to use. As our spring slowly turns to summer, there is simply no better way to relax than a nice dip in the pool before bed.

Come have a swim with us sometime soon!