After months of anticipation and significant stress making it up to Toronto to start my trip, it was finally time to get underway. The KLM lounge in Toronto was disappointing to say the least. They did announce boarding, at least, and walk around letting everyone know it was time to head off. I couldn’t help thinking, though, that they were really just shooing us out of the lounge so they could close down rather than being helpful. So off to the gate where things were a bit of a madhouse. We lined up for boarding (boarding call was made rather prematurely in the lounge) and finally made it onboard. All the unpleasantness and stress melted away upon entering the aircraft. A flight attendant walked us to our seats, showed us the closet for our carryons,…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
A 12-Year Old Boy Visits Air Canada’s Transborder Lounge in Toronto
I’ve visited this lounge twice in two weeks, both times around breakfast. It’s perfectly well-provisioned for what it is, which is unimpressive by international standards but certainly better than a red carpet room. It was busy, though with plenty of seating, certainly clean and staff were visibly picking up after folks and restocking the modest breakfast selections. I took a walk over to the restrooms and was reasonably impressed. But it was the shower room signs that stuck with me. Heh Heh. That sign’s cool, Beavis.
The ‘Almost Nice’ Fairmont Royal York
I spent this past weekend at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. This was from the United Vacations $600 off a $700+ Canada package from back in December. For $550 all-in I got 2 roundtrip tickets to Toronto (with 5000 bonus United miles apiece) and 3-nights at the Fairmont Royal York. We’re upgraded to a suite and we get complimentary internet as Fairmont Presidents Club members. And breakfast was a throw-in as well. I checked in, our suite was confirmed, but they didn’t see breakfast in the system. The desk clerk added it without argument. The paperwork had said breakfast was to be taken in “York’s Kitchen” restaurant. We asked the concierge where that was and were directed down to the basement level shopping arcade. We found the restaurant, but it was closed that first…
Desperately Making it to Toronto to Start the Trip: Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant
For two days before my trip began, I checked the weather obsessively. I was connecting up to Toronto to begin my first class oneworld award. Missing the start of the trip would be a serious pain. Fortunately oneworld awards are pretty changeable, even after travel begins, but there are no changes to routing. And if I don’t even start the trip, then I’m at the mercy of award availability… from the looks of things I could fly Toronto – Hong Kong – Manila in first class the next day if I missed my outbound flight. But certainly that availability could have changed, especially with Cathay Pacific where availability sometimes seems to come and go for no logical reason at all. I certainly didn’t want my first class flight to Hong Kong to turn out to…
Another Excellent Stay at the Westin Diplomat
Several folks asked me about this post from yesterday morning, the sunrise photo I was waking up to, where I was? It was another great stay at the Westin Diplomat. This isn’t the nicest or most refined property in Starwood, or even of theirs in South Florida. There’s a new W in Ft. Lauderdale that was tempting to check out. But this hotel offers the very best Platinum elite treatment of any property, anywhere. They have something like 86 suites in the upgrade pool, about three-quarters of which are “corner suites” — a bedroom and separate living room with small dining area and large bathroom. These suites have a wraparound balcony looking straight out at the Atlantic ocean, and to the side the ability to see the Intracoastal Waterway as well. With this many suites,…
My Choice of Property in the Fresno Hotel Wasteland
Fresno is something of a hotel wasteland. There’s a Marriott Courtyard, a couple of Holiday Inns, the local Picadilly chain (which years ago was about as nice as it got), a Radisson, a couple of La Quintas, and a well-placed Hampton. Supposedly there’s a Hyatt Place coming. Not a lot as far as full service properties go. And with a penchant for Starwood properties, I wind up at the Four Points. I wish it was further North, it is it’s on Blackstone (a main drag, across the street from a mall that’s been surpassed many times over and that’s fairly dead, and near a Starbucks and the 41 freeway) about 10 minutes from the airport. The neighborhood isn’t the best in Fresno, I lived there at one point in Northwest and this isn’t Northwest. Not…
Conrad Miami One-Bedroom Bay View Residence
Last weekend I stayed at the Conrad Miami. Hilton isn’t especially known for their Diamond treatment. Diamonds get full breakfast, access to a lounge when not on the executive floor, and promised upgrades aren’t meaningful (i.e. they don’t offer suite upgrades as part of the rules of the program). Then again, do I really count as a real Diamond? I made my status with a quick $40,000 churned through a Hilton Surpass American Express. In other words, it was earned quickly with a bit of credit card spend, not through loyalty to the chain. So I’ll take what I can get! And at the Conrad, I got more than I was paying for (a $220 rate, I believe): a one-bedroom bay view residence. Valet parking on arrival was excellent, a staff member read my luggage…
Hotel Prince de Galles 52 Euro Mistake Rate Stay
Last year the Prince de Galles hotel in Paris had a mistake rate of 52 euros per night (they intended to load a 520 euro rate). It was only available for up to 4 nights, the week of Thanksgiving. I’ve just returned from the hotel, and had a lovely stay. On check-in I was upgraded to a deluxe room on the top floor with a large balcony looking out over Paris (and if you crook your neck and look right, a view of the Eiffel Tower). I did check availability, figuring that the hotel wouldn’t provide much of an upgrade – as a result of the rate and of this being Paris, after all. The hotel wasn’t offering any suites at all online, for any of the four nights of our stay. And they were…
The Jefferson Hotel, Richmond
Nearly all of my hotel stays are with a major chain. I have status, I earn and burn points. It’s rare that I stay outside ‘the system’. That also means I don’t usually experience the very very best luxury properties, most of which also exist outside of the traditional mainstream system. Although they frequently have affiliations, whether Leading Small Hotels of the World, Tablet Hotels, or just participation in American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts or Virtuoso. But this weekend I needed to be in Richmond, and everything downtown was priced extraordinarily due to the Marathon. I could have stayed on a cheap rate at the Westin, but that was 6 miles from where I needed to be. And with the race traffic was going to be a nightmare. The Jefferson, though, was priced pretty…
View from the Wing Goes Home
Home, for me, means the Westin Diplomat. It’s not the single most modern property, the single best service, the most intimate. But as an all around hotel experience it delivers, consistently. And no other property delivers as good a value in terms of elite status recognition. Sometimes the property is very busy, but a combination of off-season and the economy means poolside chairs were much easier to come by (people do save chairs starting around 8am). Alternatively they offer pay cabanas and ‘beach cabanas’ which are covered chairs on the beach. Some folks don’t like to pay, but when there’s a shortage I do appreciate having the options. This is not a small, intimate property. But when ensconced in a suite, and visiting the club lounge frequently, it actually feels as though it is. There…
