Category Archives for Trip Reports.
An anonymous reader shares an experience at what is likely Marriott’s worst hotel in the Americas, a deflagged Hilton in with 17 year old mattresses, a restaurant that’s still closed, and no daily housekeeping.
I don’t often feature guest posts. I’ve done it just a handful of times in the past 20 years. But I found this report on the Woodlands Plaza Toledo Hotel was interesting as a window into what Marriott has become willing to sell to its customers.
Air Mauritius business class isn’t something we see reviewed often, so I was happy to hear from reader Doug Hess after his recent trip. I can count on one hand the number of contributors I’ve featured on this blog. I write every post myself, but over the course of 20 years have had three people share trip reports with experiences very different than my own that seemed really interesting. Doug is one of those, sharing his experience flying African low cost carrier Fly540 and Flying Air Tanzania’s Airbus A220 from Lusaka to Dar es Salaam. Why You Want To Know Air Mauritius Although better known to Europeans than Americans, Mauritius is a remarkable destination. Beautiful beaches, incredible mountain hiking, great scuba diving, and all the adventure sports one could wish for (sky diving, wind surfing,…
United’s Polaris lounges remain excellent, a real highlight to the airline, and sadly a contrast to their onboard business class product which has declined markedly since its introduction (even before the pandemic).
Grand Hyatt SFO Airport review: a gorgeous hotel. Standard rooms are small, but the rooms are gorgeous, and the views of the airfield are magnificent. The hotel appropriately plays these up. It’s an expensive property for what it is, but if you can manage it, the convenience is unbeatable and it’s one of the better airport hotels in the United States. Unquestionably this is the property you want to stay at for a San Francisco airport overnight, cost-permitting.
At the end of 12 days in Australia, my wife, three year old daughter, and I were set to fly back to the States on United award tickets in business class, Sydney – San Francisco. Flight UA870 was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, the airline’s largest aircraft, and every seat was booked.
Here’s the experience in a nutshell: United Airlines business class is (usually now) a better seat than the airline used to offer, but one with less space than you’ll find on Delta, American, Air Canada or Air France. United has good bedding, an the wifi worked on my flight, but the rest of the soft product from food to service was subpar.
I flew Sydney to Gold Coast on Virgin Australia, and then back to Sydney on Qantas. That gave me a taste of two different Australian domestic options on the same route, and they were remarkably similar. (Jetstar and REX also fly between the two cities.)
While there wasn’t any award space on Qantas for my trip up to Gold Coast from Sydney, for our Thursday morning return there was plenty available. In fact the short flight can be booked in business class for just 9000 British Airways Avios one-way per person and $76, which is a nice value against a ~ $525 fare.
Normally I’d be inclined to pick up Qantas tickets in coach for the short 1 hour 20 minute flight, using my American AAdvantage status for priority check-in and boarding, lounge and extra baggage. But those were pricing at around $300 in economy for the one way trip while Virgin Australia was asking $200 for business class.
And I was really curious to see what Virgin Australia was like after having been acquired out of bankruptcy (“administration”) by private equity.
My overall Hyatt Regency Sydney review is that everyone was friendly, and service was fine. It’s in a good location, with small rooms, but the ability to upgrade to a suite here was a real advantage. Sadly the club lounge was still closed.
Air Canada offers an excellent if dated business class product and is very competitive between North America and Australia. Food lacks somewhat on the post-11 p.m. departure and service was somewhat indifferent but it was a good flight overall.
What makes the Signature Suite special isn’t that it’s an exclusive space within the Air Canada lounge. What makes the lounge is the food – a nice buffet, sure, if you’re in a hurry but a menu to order from that’s a cut above other lounges with sit down dining.
The food here is better, for instance, than I’ve had in United Polaris lounges or Qantas First Class lounges (and the latter can be quite good). Signature Suite dining is curated by Canadian chef David Hawksworth.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
