This was only maybe my sixth stay of the year at the Andaz 5th Avenue. I’ve been trying out a variety of hotels this year in New York — sometimes due to location (like the Conrad New York when I was attending an event there, or the Renaissance Newark for the Freddie Awards), sometimes due to getting simply too good a deal to pass up (the couple of times I stayed at the Andaz Wall Street), and sometimes because the 5th Avenue Andaz was full and I don’t have deep enough pockets to cover a Diamond guaranteed availability stay (so I took refuge at the Grand Hyatt and the Parker Meridien). Every time I stay in New York and it’s not at the Andaz 5th Avenue, I’m disappointed. It’s not the single best hotel in…
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Bangkok Golden Thai Restaurant in Northern Virginia Isn’t a Thai Restaurant
I had lunch at Bangkok Golden Thai Restaurant on Tyler’s advice, and was totally blown away. It’s in the Seven Corners shopping center, next to the Tobacco Barn and a nail salon, and two doors over from a Jenny Craig. This place is maybe half a mile from the Eden Center — where most everything inside is Vietnamese, and very good, that was the originally-planned destination for the day (no place in particular, just the Eden Center and go from there). The photos in this post are just from my phone, since I really wasn’t expecting the lunch that I had and didn’t have my camera with me. The Yelp reviews of Bangkok Golden Thai are strange because in many ways it’s a strange place. There are tons of great reviews saying how wonderful it…
Returning to Le Parker Meridien New York
Le Parker Meridien in New York didn’t participate in Starwood Preferred Guest until December 2008, when it entered the program as a category 6 hotel. In February 2009, with the annual re-categorization of hotels, it dropped to category 5 — making it a great value for points stays in New York. Most of the year it was just 12,000 Starwood points, which considering that New York hotel rates can often be high (and most chains have most of their decent hotels in the top redemption tier or close to it) was a pretty good value. That, and that Starwood’s Platinum members could usually rely on getting a junior suite, made it truly recommendable. Sadly with the February 2012 recategorizations it jumped back up to category 6, most of the year 20,000 points per night, and…
Eating Around the Grand Hyatt New York
I was staying at the Grand Hyatt, and as folks who read the review know I had a bit of room service on arrival. So I wasn’t hungry early, but headed out to get a little bit of dinner around 8pm. First stop was Schnitzel & Things, a small restaurant that started off as a food truck with both excellent schnitzel and sides, it’s counter service and a few tables in back. Unfortunately they close at 8pm and were cleaning up as I arrived. So had to go looking for something else to try. That neighborhood has plenty of Japanese restaurants, and wherever there are clusters of one type of food you have competition which gives you a good shot that the food at any given place will be ok. And walking down the side…
Grand Hyatt New York: Excellent Renovation, Great Club Lounge, Way Too Busy to Get the Little Things Right
My favorite hotel in New York, and my favorite big city hotel in the United States, is the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York. My love of breakfast there is something readers of this blog know well, I’m told by two different people that it even became a subject of a journalist’s interview with a Hyatt Vice President. Hyatt has several good options in New York, I’ve stayed several times at the Andaz Wall Street which is a good hotel, with a confusing breakfast benefit, and a very different location. If I need to be down in the financial district I never hesitate to stay there. I’m less a fan of the Hyatt 48 Lex but they’ve improved the breakfast benefit for Diamonds since I stayed there (now allowing a dollar credit in the restaurant…
My Labor Day Barbecue Pilgrimage to Lockhart, Texas
Best barbecue in Texas: This was a trip I’ve been intending to make for about the last two years, and yet something always seemed to get in the way. Often it was an international trip, or it was dead of summer and I didn’t want to be in Texas because of the heat. And though it was hovering around 100 degrees much of the weekend, it was also Labor Day. And that’s the barbecue holiday of the year, so it seemed like the perfect time although I suppose I worried that others would see it the same way. First stop was Franklin Barbecue which is actually in Austin. Arriving just before opening, there was already a line. It was a young crowd, people brought coolers ready to hunker down and wait for the barbecue. At…
‘Keeping Austin Weird’ at the Hyatt Regency on the River
I spent much of Labor Day weekend in Austin, and decided to stay at the Hyatt Regency there. Rates were on the high side, perhaps largely due to a Longhorns football game that everyone on property seemed to be going to, so I used my annual free night from the Hyatt Visa. (While the card comes with two free nights at any Hyatt as a signup bonus, each year cardmembers are credited with one free night valid at a ‘category 4’ hotel or lower, the best value category 4 is often considered to be the Hyatt 48Lex in New York but the Hyatt Regency Austin is a category 4 hotel as well). You can’t make an award reservation and a paid reservation together online, but offline there’s no problem in doing so. I created one…
A Cheap Stay at the Recently Redone Renaissance Boca Raton
From 2004-2006 the Renaissance Boca Raton was probably the hotel I stayed at most often. Once upon a time it was actually a Sheraton, it’s on 19th street but you turn off Glades Road onto Renaissance Way which brings you a block down to the property. I remember driving past Sheraton Way years back. It happens to be the closest decent place to where I was traveling. And it was a hidden treasure. Service used to be incredible. Some of the friendliest, most engaging people I had come across at a hotel, I thought the place was flagged with the wrong Marriott brand or at least they had sent the staff over from the Palm Beach Ritz. An oasis of a suburban hotel, the pool area was more akin to a resort. Without a resort…
Excellent Hunan Chinese in Northern Virginia
I’ve been known to go off in search of great dumplings and dim sum when I travel (even here in the States). And living in the DC area I’m blessed with some generally very good Asian foods. My favorite Thai in the area remains Elephant Jumps. You can’t go wrong with anything Vietnamese in the Eden Center. But most of the Chinese seems to taste the same, there are decent carryout places that fill a niche (I’m not sure what niche, exactly, but a niche) but very few Chinese places that reach the heights of the Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in the area. For good Sichuan there’s China Star. And when I lost power at the beginning of the month and stayed out at the Hyatt Fair Lakes I discovered some really good Hunan —…
A Superior Suite and Inferior Service at the Intercontinental Boston
I walked into the hotel and straight up to the checkin desk. I was asked for my name and I handed over my credit card. They asked for my drivers license. I know that internationally I’m frequently asked for a passport but I wish hotels would not card their elite members, they should at least feign knowing who I am and welcoming me rather than asking me to prove that I am who I say I am. This is hardly an issue I have with the Intercontinental Boston as such, just an observation. When I first became a Royal Ambassador member, one of the benefits that was explained was that they keep my credit card on file, I would never have to do the usual check-in formalities. That never turned out to be the case,…
