Fix Up Your (Hotel) Room!

Who: Carrie Lavine (kclavine@aol.com), VP of marketing, Morgan Internet Research
Home Base: Woodside, California
Mileage: 66,000 miles per year
Favorite Destination: London
Don't Leave Home Without It: An ATM card

"People love to complain about their hotel rooms, but there's a lot you can do to improve them. If I'm going to be in the same room for more than two nights, I try to make it feel as much like home as possible."

"If I'm going to be working at my computer, and if the desk is against a wall, I move the desk so that it faces a window. I spread my work out on the desk. Then I hide the hotel's promotional material and place reading material from home on the table."

"There's one last touch. I always keep cut flowers at home. So when I arrive at a hotel, I go to a local florist, buy whatever flowers are on sale, and put them in my room."

"A couple of years ago, I was attending a conference in Hong Kong. I had a room overlooking the harbor. I needed to get a lot of work done in the room, so I moved the desk in front of the window. Room service always brought an orchid with the coffee and orange juice that I got in the morning. Most guests just put their orchids out in the hall, along with their used trays. Each day, I put my orchid on a shelf in my room. I created a pleasant environment -- and accomplished more than I would have otherwise."

The Internet Travel Network (www.itn.net) contributed to this report.