Andalusia Al Hotel

Officials: Help keep rodeo finals in Andy

Local rodeo officials are asking the community to show organizers of the Alabama High School Rodeo Association finals that Andalusia is the perfect home for the group’s annual rodeo.

If not, there’s a chance the finals could be moved to another location next year.

Community members can help by attending the rodeo finals and contributing money to the rodeo, said Debbie James, who is active in the rodeo and runs Touch of Country Western store.

The finals came to Andalusia in 2005, when the Covington Arena was selected over Montgomery’s Garrett Coliseum.

James said other areas such as Montgomery, Robertsdale and Troy are working hard to get the finals to come to their cities, while “support in Andalusia is drying up.”

“Other counties are offering to give their arenas for almost nothing,” she said.

Still, James said events such as the rodeo finals generate much-needed revenue for the community.

“It’s good for the restaurants; the hotels sell out; gas stations generate revenue, grocery stores, tire stores, air conditioner repair people get calls; propane businesses reap the benefits,” she said. “Families buy new trucks and trailers from Massey Automotive and Andalusia Ford. Really, every business is affected.”

James said the finals have the potential to bring an estimated 2,500 people to Andalusia; however, attendance levels are often less than that.

“We wish everyone would come together,” she said. “We are still anticipating a good number of people, but we are hoping for a sold out crowd.”

Local municipalities and the county commission have made large financial contributions to the rodeo finals, she said.

“It’s important that people realize that all the money goes back to the kids,” James said. “Rodeo kids go to college on scholarships.”

Of the 10-15 rodeos held annually in Alabama, three of them are held in Andalusia, James said.

“We’d also like to get the junior high finals back here,” she said. “Then we’d have people here for two weeks.”

The finals will be June 16 and begin at 7 p.m. nightly.

Admission is $10 for adults and children 12 and under are admitted free.

“It’s a good family-oriented activity,” James said.

Anyone interested in making a contribution to the rodeo finals can call 222-7400.

“Those who make contributions will be announced at the rodeo and will have a banner,” James aid.

Tulip Inn Andalusia Al-khobar, Saudi Arabia « LunarDream

Well, I’m not a big fan of the Golden Tulip hotel chain due to my previous experience with it in Bahrain. I’ve stayed in Golden Tulip, Bahrain twice and it was only due to the close proximity to my business meeting and it’s reasonable fare for executive room. But there was nothing executive about it. Here, for Tulip Inn that’s another story. I’ve stayed the first time in Tulip Inn Andalusia on early April when I went to Al-Khobar to get my medical examinations prior to hiring me. The company paid for the single night and the reception staff were so kind that they upgraded my room to a junior suite when I mentioned my Flavours Benefits membership, although it wasn’t activated yet. That’s something I have mentioned here which is kind of annoying. To join their loyalty program, first you have to sign up online. Then get a print of a bar code for your membership. Then whenever you stay at any of their hotels, show them the bar code, they’ll scan it and present you with a loyalty card which doesn’t have any kind of customization for you (i.e. name). So, I ended up presenting them with my ANA Mileage Club card for miles (they didn’t credit me yet!! I have to check with them again!). They have a really weird set of affiliations for airlines miles which don’t add up. You can look it up here . I’ll upload the pictures for the junior suite later on.

What really put me off was that I didn’t find a room service menu anywhere in the room, so I had to ask a housekeeper to fetch me one. The menu he brought was awfully printed like a give-away pamphlet, no pictures and no illustrative descriptions. It was pretty bad from paper quality-wise and it had children scribbles on it. I ended up ordering the Tulip Inn Burger, which was more like something out of cheap sandwich joints. I mean they used they used the frozen hamburger patties which you would usually get from any grocery store. No real cooking was involved. Their breakfast buffet is standard and misses a lot of items and the chef who prepares the fried eggs and omelets was never on location except once and one resident had to order him rudely to get him going in taking orders. Really lame service.

The room was pretty spacious with good furniture but for the bedroom it had the old TV monitor while the living room had a wider screen monitor. And don’t get me started on the bed, it was bad. I wouldn’t recommend it at all. The general atmosphere of the hotel is deadly-quiet. It was so quiet that I felt it was lost in a time hole. I mean anyone would get for sleep only, other than that there’s nothing here to do. The next time I’ve come by this place, unfortunately since my company was contracting with this hotel, I’ve been given 7 free nights till I find a permanent place. I’ve been given a regular room which was OK, although its A/C was pretty cold even on the lowest setting. I would recommend this place only for a single night when dropping by for business, otherwise I would not recommend it for those seeking social events or entertainment. I don’t know how they classify themselves as 4 star hotels chain, but this 3 stars is a lot for their mediocre status. The following pictures are for standard rooms.

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