The Marriott Residence Inn, at the corner of 15th and J, is open for business in more than one way. Most of the floors will be available for rent, but the top three are for sale. But hurry because half of the available 30 condos are already spoken for.

Remember, not so long ago, when the only upscale chain hotel to stay at downtown was the Hyatt. Then the Sheraton became the competition. There was also the privately-held Sterling Hotel, which was the choice of the senior management of my company, Sterling Software. One time I put a colleague from England in there, forgetting the hotel's no-smoking rule - long before no-smoking rules were the norm. He had to climb out of the window onto the roof to smoke a cigarette during the night. And then we went to Moxie's for dinner (my home away from home in the late 90's) where owner Bill just brought us an ashtray as the crowd was thinning out and told us to go right ahead!

But, enough of my walk down memory lane. The new Marriot Residence Inn is owned by a coalition of Native American Tribes and is only the second hotel of its kind to be built off a reservation.

And that's fuel for another blog soon on the impact that allowing Native American tribes to have gambling has and will have on the future of this country. Hint: I am all for empowerment!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive