The Andaz 5th Avenue is a bit of an enigma, I think the property is widely misunderstood and expectations were certainly high so when it opened a few months ago many of the reviews were lukewarm or negative. It’s not an inexpensive property, but it’s not an expensive property by New York standards either. It not ultra-hip trying to be cool W, but it’s still sleek and fun. And it’s a new brand trying to get out all of the kinks, there aren’t a whole lot of Andaz properties such that they’ve figured out exactly who their customers are (as opposed to what market research tells them to expect) and how those customers’ needs actually match pre-planning. So lots of misses being reported at the outset: people who feel like it’s not their style, trying…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
Lotus of Siam’s Upscale New York Location
I tried the new Lotus of Siam in NYC this past weekend, it’s the outpost of the Vegas well-known and quite excellent staple. Opened just a month or so back and I’ve been very curious. In their original Vegas form, housed off the strip in a strip mall, they are an outstanding Thai restaurant. The New York version strives to be a more fine dining experience, and also it seems to adjust the food to the New York palette. While there are certainly Thai places in New York, they’re not known to be particularly outstanding by world standards. And having grown up in New York, I can say that New Yorkers don’t really do spice. At least not Thai spicey. So how would it translate? Not exceptionally well. The bottom line is that if the…
Thanksgiving in Mumbai: Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
Our transatlantic flight touched down on time and fortunately came into an “A” gate which meant the trip over to the First Class Terminal was going to be an easy one. The special terminal is really intended for first class passengers originating in Frankfurt only, and certainly the path of least resistance is to use a First Class Lounge since you’re already airside and most won’t want to actually go through passport control to enter Germany in order to visit the First Class Terminal. Especially since the First Class Lounges are actually quite similar. The First Class Lounge in the A terminal, which I visited on my return trip, has the same design elements and the same food and better views. The First Class Lounge in the B terminal even has a car service that’ll…
Thanksgiving in Mumbai: Washington Dulles – Frankfurt in Lufthansa First Class
Upon boarding, a flight attendant distributed amenity kit, pajamas, and slippers and immediately brought a choice of beverage and nuts to munch on while the rest of the aircraft got settled. I was struck by how modest the amenity kit has become, really just a single liquid item. The contents of the mens and womens bags were similar though the bags themselves were more pedestrian and understated for men and more designed for women. Still, my wife tells me that the quality of the contents is high. I had come to the airport in fairly relaxed uniform, prepared for an overnight flight, so I stuck the PJs in my bag and settled in. This flight had just one other person in first class. Sadly not an entire upper deck to ourselves, but close. As we…
Thanksgiving in Mumbai: Washington Dulles and the Lufthansa Senator Lounge
I decided to have my Thanksgiving dinner with Indians, so my wife and I went to India. She expressed a strong preference against my usual ‘let’s try out new flight product’ approach, and I didn’t take the opportunity to fly Turkish first to Istanbul or fly the new Swiss first (hop up to Montreal..). Instead we made the flight with just two flights in each direction, 3 segments in first class on Lufthansa and a final flight home in first on United. I’ve actually been a fan of the Lufthansa first class product, it’s old and dated but certainly comfortable. But it’s sure wearing thin. And the United product, well, we’ll get to that. I was flying the old United first. I haven’t flown it internationally in 3 years. At first it seemed familiar, like…
Return to the The Jefferson Hotel, Richmond — Better This Time
Last November I reported on my mediocre stay at the famed Jefferson Hotel in Richmond. While a grand hotel, there were significant problems: Noise from our upstairs neighbors, including hearing them walking around above us Exceptionally slow service in the hotel’s casual restaurant Valet parking dinged my car door The Assistant General Manager proactively called me the day after my stay, asked me about the stay, apologized and asked to comp a future night. I finally took her up on the offer, a full year later. I was given a small suite, similar though a bit smaller than my room last year. It was perfectly fine, the only thing that last year’s room had though was a bigger shower with three showerheads, one of the best showers I had experienced. I had no complaints about…
Hyatt Regency Pier 66 — Consistently Misexecuted Service
This past weekend I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 in Ft. Lauderdale, I’m in the area frequently and most often I’ve stayed at the Westin Diplomat but I had a couple of expiring Faster Free Nights so I thought I’d burn them rather than converting them to 5000 Gold Passport points each. My wife and I arrived checked into a 10th floor tower executive room on Friday night and there was old food sitting on the ground on balcony, attracting swarms of ants. They had said the hotel was sold out when we checked in, it was late, and the ants weren’t likely to get into the room. So I didn’t worry about it. The room itself was fine, it did smell like a South Florida hotel that’s 40 years old, but the…
Phoenix and Scottsdale Dining
A couple years back, Randy Petersen treated Flyertalk’s member-elected Board to dinner at Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale. I much enjoyed the meal and decided to return for lunch. Here’s the menu: As an appetizer I ordered the Crispy Mac ‘n Cheese with white cheddar, bacon, tomato/chile salsa. It could have used a bit of salt, but was otherwise good. The salsa strangely reminded me of Pace Picante Sauce, though with a slight kick. I ordered a sandwich to follow the entrée, but the waitress misheard and thought I ordered the risotto. She was most apologetic, but left the Short Rib Risotto with asparagus, pecorino romano, and truffle oil rather than bringing it back to the kitchen so that I could try it. Again, a bit undersalted but otherwise interesting, creative, and delicious. I ate many…
Intercontinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, Paradise Valley Arizona
On arrival in Phoenix I took the airport rental car bus over to the shared rental center, where Avis had waiting for me a brand new Cadillac with 3 miles on it. And off we went to the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort & Spa. I had booked the Facebook promo $99 per night rate with a $25 daily room credit. This booked into the lowest category room, but I was given a first floor Oasis Village Suite (room 501). My reservation became inaccessible online shortly after I had booked it, presumably due to the room type change being made long in advance as a Royal Ambassador. We arrived and found valet parking $15, apparently reduced over the summer, though self-parking is also almost as convenient. Walking into the resort it’s not entirely clear where reception is,…
British Airways First Class, London-Toronto under Strike Conditions: A Continuation of Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant
Here are the previous posts from this trip report: Prelude Desperately Making it to Toronto, Sheraton Toronto Airport Toronto – Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific First Class The Wing lounge and Hong Kong – Manila, Cathay Pacific First Class Intercontinental Manila Presidential Suite Manila – Cebu and the Hilton Cebu Resort Philippine Cooking Class Cebu – Manila and Return to the Interconinental Manila Presidential Suite Manila – Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific First Class and on to Macau via Turbojet Westin Resort Macau Fernando’s, Beijing Kitchen, and the City of Dreams Macau – Hong Kong via Turbojet and Hong Kong – London, Cathay Pacific First Class Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London Lunch at the Fat Duck Restaurant Heathrow was a ghost town when we arrived. BA might have been covering all their London City flights (such as those…
