We arrived at Narita right on time around 3:25pm. After a quick transit security screening we headed up towards the ANA lounges. We weren’t given a lounge pass at check-in, and were continuing in two-cabin business class on ANA subsidiary Air Japan’s 6:40pm Hong Kong flight. I decided to walk towards the First Class lounge, even though ANA treats their lounges as departure rather than arrivals lounges and thus technically I would only be entitled to use the business class lounge. I approached the woman standing outside the lounge to greet passengers, ostensibly looking for directions, and showed her my first class boarding pass stub from my arriving flight. That was the only thing I showed her, she saw first class on it, and indicated I was in the right place! She escorted my to…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
Westin Maui
I was recently at the Westin Maui, which is a lovely property but hardly for me. I knew exactly what to expect and the hotel absolutely lived up to expectations. It’s a large upscale (though not luxury) property on the beach in Maui. In general I’m not a fan of 700-plus room resorts. Of course, the island of Maui itself is quite beautiful. The Westin Maui is a factory. It’s a lovely physical property right on the beach, with a network of several pools. Despite taking up much geography with their pools, on a busy weekend there are never enough lounge chairs. Guests arrive down at the pool area at 8am or so, put out their towels and maybe a book, and then depart for the better part of the day. The hotel has a…
Mistake Rate Stay at the Hilton Barbados
Back at the beginning of March, Hilton.com had several Carribean and South American properties pricing out at full rate for New Year’s Eve but then at $0 for all nights booked thereafter. It was a glitch, and one that folks at Hilton apparently didn’t realize existed for at least a couple of months. Not long after booking the rates corrected on the Hilton website, with the $0 rates being replaced by the originally-intended full prices. The deal was flagged for me by a co-worker, and I made the commitment not to share it broadly such as posting it on my blog or on Flyertalk. He was taking the trip for his anniversary and I didn’t want to jeopardize the deal. Two and a half months after booking the Hilton Barbados (among other possible properties were…
More Suite Photos — the Westin Arlington
The Westin Arlington is a lovely hotel. The lobby is just outstanding, I’m a big fan of their lighting concept. The gym and pool are nice. It’s still new construction, I first visited with a hard hat and then attended opening day less than three years ago. My only real beef about the hotel is that their standard rooms feel small, and there are very few suites. Fortunately I managed to snag one for five days recently. The hotel was a virtual ghost town, occupancy was so low that they had closed off the top four floors. No suites available at checkin but they were happy to prompt just as soon as one became available and switched rooms without difficulty. The club lounge was closed for renovation, which is a bummer because the lounge has always…
Intercontinental Barclay Suite Photos
The Intercontinental Barclay is a great Royal Ambassador hotel. The agent at the dedicated Ambassador check-in desk (where you may be seated, instead of standing in the sometimes long lines at reception) explained, “Royal Ambassadors are supposed to get suites.” And so I did. This is not a truly world class hotel, by any means. Turndown service is performed and they… turn down your bed and turn on the CD player. They didn’t deliver any chocolates or bottled waters, fortunately Royal Ambassadors receive complimentary drinks from the minibar so it hardly mattered. The bathrooms, even in a suite, are tiny and virtually identical to bathrooms in standard rooms. The closets, however, both in suites and regular rooms are quite large for New York City. In fact, rooms here generally are large by New York…
Atlantis Casino, Reno
Reno’s Atlantis Casino has been a perennially easy hotel to score on Priceline, it’s been the only four-star property in Reno for awhile – or so Priceline says. It strikes me as rather three-star, but there’s no hard and fast Priceline rule distinguishing the two categories. Still, targeting Atlantis is easy if that’s your bag. Although at some point the Peppermill may get an upgrade to four stars as they complete a renovation. Last week I was there on a $39 Priceline rate. At check-in I was told that no king bed rooms were available (I had put in a request for one in advance). I insisted and was offered a king in the motor lodge. There’s a no-tell motel facility out back, pretty dodgy, a separate facility that I wanted nothing to do with. After…
Travel Photos – Boca Raton Public Library
Boca Raton Public Library: The new Spanish River Public Library has a cafe, more flat panel screens than I’ve ever seen in one place, and what appeared to be Herman Miller office chairs in the childrens computer room. Oh, and it’s on the water. You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Travel Photos – Westin Diplomat Pool and Sunrise
The Westin Diplomat offers the best Platinum elite recognition in all of Starwood. With the exception of the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and perhaps Presidents Weekend and Memorial Weekend, a suite upgrade is almost guaranteed (they have over 80 of them). In addition, the club lounge is just lovely — a 33rd floor affair with both indoor and outdoor seating and an extensive breakfast, evening canapes, and after dinner treats. I’ve written about my stays at the Diplomat several times, for example here, here, and here. Here’s the pool at the Diplomat, during the day and at night: And sunrise off the balcony of my corner suite:
The Phoenician: A Beautiful Property With Some Things To Learn About Starwood Preferred Guest
The Phoenician is a lovely property, and in short worth of both its Starwood “Luxury Collection” branding and its recent fifth diamond. The facilities are beautiful and well-maintained. The service is prompt and courteous. And, for a property of this caliber, I didn’t even find the food offerings to be especially overpriced. Not cheap, mind you, but not really more expensive than better Westin properties. If there was a short-coming, it was in this property’s understanding and recognition of Starwood Preferred Guest program benefits. My status didn’t appear to be properly reflected in my reservation, and I asked the hotel to correct that which they told me they did. In advance of my arrival, I received a concierge email that contained someone else’s reservation — but that showed my Starwood Preferred Guest number with the…
Return to Le Meridien Barcelona
The morning after dinner at El Bulli we took a cab to the Figueres train station, had our return ticket stamped for the Catalunya Express to Barcelona, and boarded the train. Uneventful ride back, grabbed a cab to the Meridien, and checked in. This time they had us assigned to a junior suite on the 7th floor corner, facing a side street. I asked if we could do any better, and they offered a similar room overlooking Las Ramblas with a fairly panoramic view. I asked whether any renovated suites were open, and they told me this was it… they also mentioned that they hadn’t yet decided to renovate some of the remaining suites on the upper floors, “some customers prefer the older style.” I don’t know whether this was guesswork on the checkin agent’s…
