After clearing customs and immigration in Mumbai we walked outside the terminal to teeming masses of people waiting for passengers. The airport was sure bustling at almost 2 am! The Grand Hyatt Mumbai comes with complimentary airport transfers for club guests, and I had used a confirmed suite upgrade for the property so we were certainly upgraded in advance. (I believe that the benefit is consistently offered to Diamonds regardless, but with the upgrade offered in advance I was certain of the transfers, and had emailed the hotel my arrival information ahead of time.) I didn’t see a Grand Hyatt rep right away, but did see someone holding a Hyatt Regency sign. I asked them, “Grand Hyatt?” and they pointed to the right and a gentleman immediately appeared with his passenger manifest, asked my name,…
Hotel Report 2010
Tag Archives for Hotel Report 2010.
Andaz 5th Avenue: Really Great First Stay, Could Become My New Go-to in New York
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…
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…
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,…
The Waldorf Hilton, London: a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”
Last November, after my stay at the Prince de Galles in Paris, I decided that I would always endeavor to pick a hotel in a major European city that had an executive lounge. Now, the Euro has been falling relative to the dollar in recent weeks (oh, those profligate Greeks, Portugese, and Spaniards, you make the Italians look fiscally responsible!). But Europe is just really hard on my wallet, and a lounge there yields especially good value — for my morning coffee, for breakfast, for access to water. I’ll never ‘get’ Europeans who don’t drink water and no I’m not willing to chug multiple bottles of marked-up Evian over lunch every day. So I decided to burn some Hilton points for London, and as a Diamond I had heard that the executive lounge at the…
The Westin Resort Macau: a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”
It was a quick 10 minute cab ride over to the Westin Resort in Coloane. The hotel does offer a complimentary shuttle to the Venetian and ferry dock, but a cab was inexpensive so we didn’t wait for it. The Westin is a grand older hotel on the beach, far away from the action of Macau but not really more than 10 minutes away. The property reminds me a bit of the Westin Puerto Vallarta, each floor set back slightly from the one below it and all rooms offering balconies. It’s a beautiful, old, quiet property and seemed fairly unoccupied throughout our three day stay. We were assigned a suite looking out on the beach on the top guest floor, I didn’t ask how many suites they had but there didn’t seem much competition for…
Philippine Airlines Manila – Cebu and Hilton Cebu Resort — a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”
A quick ride over to the airport and we were walking into the terminal. Documents checked upon entering, then all bags screened prior to reaching the checkin counter. We each checked a bag and then they weighed our carryons. So we checked two bags. These were not heavy rollaboards — two 20″ bags, not pushing a size limit by any stretch — and there was plenty of space on the flight. Then we had to stand in line to pay the airport usage tax. They give you a receipt, which is then immediately collected. Then men and women stand in separate security lines. Computers didn’t have to come out, but everyone got a pat down. And off to the mediocre lounge downstairs. Couldn’t get the wireless internet to work, and didn’t bother trying to convince…
Intercontinental Manila Presidential Suite — a continuation of “Cathay & British Airways First Class, Philippines and Macau, a Presidential Suite, and the Fat Duck Restaurant”
On arrival at the Intercontinental Manila we waited for the bomb sniffing dog at the entrance to give us the all clear. Not bringing any bombs into the hotel, so we were cleared to head to the checkin desk. After a long overnight flight I didn’t want to think about, “where is the club?” to handle checkin there, a waiting staff member at the main desk in the lobby would do just fine. Now, it was still a bit shy of noon. As a Royal Ambassdor I’m entitled to 8 a.m. checkin, one of the great unsung elite status benefits out there and one which no other chain matches. However, I was told my room wasn’t ready yet. After all, there was only one of my room… the Presidential Suite. I had actually wanted to…
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…
