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…
Trip Reports
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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…
Off to Roses, and Dinner at El Bulli
I had considered renting a car, and in the end that would have been the easiest. It’s just not that difficult a drive from Barcelona to Roses. Instead, though, we took the Catalunya Express train to Figueres. Cost was ~ 10 euros apiece each way. A car wouldn’t have been more expensive overall, though, because of the cost of cabs – a good 40 euros each way to and from the train station into Roses. (I’d still take a cab to and from the restaurant, though, for reasons I’ll explain). At the train station you stick your ticket in the machine to enter the area of the station with the tracks, but presumably any train ticket would work, no tickets were ever checked onboard in either direction, so why not buy the cheapest ticket and…
Barcelona Trip Report Continued – Le Meridien and Rambling Along Las Ramblas
Le Meridien Barcelona Just under 30 euro cab ride from the airport, and I walk into the hotel and up to the checkin desk. Relatively quick and painless, but not suite available. In fact, no upgrade available. “It is a very nice room, it is an upgrade, trust me you will like it.” It’s the smallest room I’ve ever seen in Europe, and it faces a side street. Back down to the desk to renegotiate, they give me a somewhat larger standard room – this time facing Las Ramblas with a little standup balcony to walk out on. The only downside is that it’s two beds joined together rather than a true King. Ah, Europe. This is an improvement, at least. Service isn’t great here, no one helped me with my bags. And my first…
A Second Trip Through Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
Friday, March 28, 2008 The First Class Terminal is eminently walkable from the Sheraton, although it did involve being outside on a rather crisp morning. Back across the passenger bridge to Terminal 1, downstairs to the arrivals level, to the very end of Hall A and out by the hotel shuttle pickup we just continued walking against the direction of vehicle traffic and there was the First Class Terminal, lower level. We buzzed the entrance and someone came down to meet us and let us in. Back up the elevator and through ever-so-polite security, and now I’m ensconced in here a bit before 8am with a bloody mary in hand. Here’s a view outside the terminal, where staff were washing the cars: We arrived a full 5.5 hours before flight time, but figured it was…
Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers
We cruised through immigration with not a single person in line ahead of us and walked over to the departure level and up again to the escalator to the pedestrian bridge, and across the way to the Sheraton. I had reserved the hotel on a cash and points award, US$60 + 4000 points a night. Walked up to the check-in desk, though I suppose we could have headed up to the Towers lounge on the 9th floor for checkin. We were given a room on the club floor. I asked if suite was available as a platinum upgrade (not that I cared, actually, on a one-night stay at the airport). The woman checking me in said “We don’t normally do that.” I asked, “Are you sure, I thought that if a standard suite was available,…
