Review: Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok (a great category 3 property)
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Mini Review: Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha
In the middle of a recent set of flights with Qatar Airways, I found myself (unexpectedly) staying at the Hyatt Regency Oryx Doha, and while the stay wasn't long enough for me to justify calling this report a 'full review', what you'll find in this article should be more than enough to let you know what the property is like and what it offers.
InterContinental London – The O2 (a mini review)
Towards the end of December, I had a one night stay at the InterContinental London O2, and while that one night wasn't quite long enough for full review of the property, what follows should give you a good idea of what you can expect when you stay.
Review: Threadneedles, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel in London
This review of Threadneedles is based on a single night stay, but because the property isn't particularly large and because it's more a of a boutique hotel than a major tourist hotel, that was more than enough to give me a very good idea of what the hotel is like and what it offers.
Review: Hyatt Place New York/Chelsea (City View/King Bed room)
The Hyatt Place New York/Chelsea is one of the newest of Hyatt's New York properties with the hotel officially opening its doors in December 2021. The new build property sits part way between Central Park and Lower Manhattan and a few weeks ago, I got to check it out on a layover on my way back to Los Angeles.
Review: Moxy Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (a Marriott Bonvoy property)
As part of a recent trip to try out JetBlue's new route between Paris CDG and New York JFK, I spent a night at the Moxy Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. This is a review of that property which sits between the airport's two main terminals.
Quick Look: Hilton Los Angeles Airport (LAX)
Although I have a base in LA, I still find myself using the hotels at LAX when I have very early flights to catch or when I’m just passing through for a few hours. On a recent trip, I found myself booked into the Hilton on West Century Boulevard, a short shuttle ride from the airport terminals.
Review: The InterContinental Sydney
There are two InterContinental properties in Sydney but with the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay being the less central of the two properties, it was a straightforward decision to choose the InterContinental Sydney as our second hotel on this visit to the city (the first was the Sydney Harbour Marriott).
Review: The Sydney Harbour Marriott At Circular Quay
I’ve stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott in the past and my experience on my last visit was a big reason I chose to book the property for this trip I was taking with Joanna. The location adjacent to Circular Quay is very convenient for exploring central Sydney, for access to local transport links (including ferries, buses, and trains) and it’s an incredibly easy property to get to from Sydney airport with the airport train stopping less than 3 minutes’ walk from the hotel doors.
Quick Look: Hyatt Regency DFW – King Runway View Room
Recently, I had a brief overnight stay at the Hyatt Regency at Dallas/Ft. Worth and, although I wasn’t there long enough to try out a lot of what the hotel offers, I thought I’d share a few images and thoughts in case any readers are thinking about booking this property and would like to know what to expect.
London Marriott Canary Wharf – Executive Room (In Pictures)
The London Marriott Canary Wharf is my go-to hotel when I'm visiting London on a weekend because it often offers some amazing rates for Friday and Saturday night stays. I reviewed this property in quite a bit of detail earlier this year but as that particular stay saw me upgraded to an Executive Suite I thought it might be useful to post details of what a more standard room at the London Marriott Canary Wharf is like.
Marriott’s London EDITION Reviewed
The London EDITION is a property I’ve been wanting to try out ever since its doors opened in 2013 but, for one reason or another, before last month I'd never stepped foot inside the property.
Shortly before the recent changes to Marriott’s award chart took effect some of my plans changed and I found myself needing to book a single night stay in central London and, with the EDITION’s nightly award cost about to increase from 60,000 to at least 85,000 points per night, this seemed like a very good time to give the hotel a try.
Review: JW Marriott Rio de Janeiro
At the beginning of last month I took a trip to Rio de Janeiro courtesy of the fantastic Iberia Avios promotion from last year and, for my 4-night stay, I booked the JW Marriott Rio de Janeiro on Copacabana Beach.
Review: London Marriott Canary Wharf – Executive Suite
The London Marriott Canary Wharf has only gone by this name since it went through a name change at the beginning of the year (it used to be called the Marriott London West India Quay) and its new name is a lot better at letting people know where it’s located.
Review: The Conrad Centennial Singapore
As someone who enjoys making the most of his Marriott Titanium Elite status benefits I normally book Marriott properties for my trips but, on this occasion, booking the Conrad Centennial Singapore made a lot more sense.
Review: Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit
Bangkok is one of the more economical cities in the world to visit because food is ridiculously cheap and good accommodation doesn’t have to be expensive – there are a lot of good properties to choose from in the city and you won’t have to break the bank to stay at a lot of them.
Review: Andaz West Hollywood King Suite
A few weeks back Joanna, MJ and I spent six nights in a King Suite at the Andaz West Hollywood. It's a property I know quite well (having lived down the road from it for 5 years) and it's a property I've stayed at a few times in the past....but never with Joanna and MJ.
I've already discussed why we booked the Andaz how much it cost in a previous post so I'll move straight on to the review.
Review: Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo
Some time ago I visited Sao Paulo on a crazy itinerary that saw me spend as many nights on American Airlines aircraft as I did in Sao Paulo (I earned a lot of miles and elite qualifying miles on that trip!) but, rather annoyingly, the flash drive on which I stored all my pictures became corrupted and so I haven't been able to publish any reviews...until now.
I've finally managed to recover my files from the Sao Paulo trip so I thought I'd share the pictures I took of the Grand Hyatt and add add my thoughts on teh service and the property.
Review: Hilton London Canary Wharf
Joanna, MJ and I had a night in London over the Holidays and we decided to use some of my Hilton Honors points to book a stay at the Hilton London Canary Wharf.
I rarely stay at Hilton properties so I've had a balance of around 80,000 Honors points sitting in my account for some time (most of the points came from a sign-up bonus for the free Hilton Amex credit card) and this seemed like a good time to use them.
Review: Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel At Circular Quay
I only had three nights in Sydney on this trip so it was important to me that I booked somewhere central and within an easy walk of most things I'd like to see and do while I was in town. I was also keen to spend as little as possible while still enjoying a good amount of comfort so that meant booking a property with points and with a chain at which I have status. All of this made the Sydney Harbour Marriott a logical place to stay.
Review: SkyCity Grand Hotel Auckland
Auckland is one of those cities where you’ll find it pretty hard to use most of the well known hotel loyalty currencies as, aside from a Hilton and a Crowne Plaza, there aren’t any other centrally located hotels that are part of one of one of the large international chains.
It’s because of this that I found myself booking the SkyCity Grand Hotel for a two-night stay I had in Auckland.
Review: JW Marriott Singapore South Beach
I normally don't have more than one or two reasons for booking a particular hotel but, in the case of the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, I had four very good reasons for wanting to visit. Firstly I wanted to use up some of my Marriott Rewards points, secondly I wanted a property where we would be making the most of my hotel status (I have Platinum status with Marriott), thirdly the hotel looked to have a convenient location and finally I don't think any of the bigger blogs has reviewed this property yet - it's still reasonably new.
The JW Marriott Hong Kong Reviewed (Lots Of Pictures!)
I booked the JW Marriott Hong Kong for a number of reasons but the two main ones were that I'd heard good things about the property overall and I'd heard good things about the Executive Lounge that, as a Marriott Platinum member, I would have access too. After a good Business Class flight from Tokyo I was looking forward to finding out if the hotel lived up to the reviews.
Hyatt Regency Tokyo – King Room In Pictures
In an earlier post I explained the thinking behind my decision to give up a reservation at the Park Hyatt Tokyo in favor of the Hyatt Regency Tokyo so this was the hotel Joanna and I stayed at on our recent trip.
I reviewed this Hyatt Regency earlier in the year so another full review seems a little pointless...instead I thought I'd share a little more info and some pictures of our room as it was slightly different to the room I had earlier in the year.
Review: Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun
I had picked the Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun as my base in the South Korean capital for its convenience in the centre of the city (10 minutes walk to Seoul Station and even closer to a number of subway stations) and because it was reasonably priced compared to my other options. On top of all this I had never visited a Courtyard property outside of the US so I was interested to see how an Asian Courtyard would compare to, for example, the Courtyard Chelsea in New York.
Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo
The Hyatt Regency Tokyo, in partnership with a few other central Tokyo hotels, offers a paid bus service from both Narita and Haneda airports but, as I wasn't in the mood to be driven around Tokyo as others were being dropped off art their hotels, I chose to take the train into Shinjuku station and walk the 1,000 yards to the hotel.
Review: JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur
For my trip to Kuala Lumpur with Qatar airways I booked the JW Marriott as my base in the Malaysian capital. I was looking forward to seeing what this 5 star property would offer and, thanks to ongoing renovations, I was looking forward to seeing what the new rooms at the property look like.
Review: Courtyard By Marriott New York Chelsea/Manhattan
New York is one of the more expensive major cities in the world when it comes to hotel accommodation so I often find that even the more rudimentary properties in the city cost quite a bit. If I'm traveling with Joanna I don't mind spending a bit more on accommodation but when I'm traveling solo, as I was on this occasion, I resent paying anymore than I have to for a reasonable quality room.
Review: Hyatt Regency Hong Kong – Harbour View King Room (Part 2)
I ended Part 1 of this review with a bit of a cliff-hanger saying that the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong offers the single best amenity I've ever seen offered by a hotel...and I really don't think I'm exaggerating.
If you don't happen to have access to a great roaming deal (like T-Mobile offers in the US) then you're likely to be at the mercy of wifi hotspots when you travel abroad...but not if you visit the Hyatt Regency in Hong Kong.
Review: Hyatt Regency Hong Kong – Harbour View King Room (Part 1)
The Hyatt Regency Hong Kong (full name: Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui) is located on the mainland side of Hong Kong right in the middle of Kowloon and in a very good position to explore that area of Hong Kong. It's also within a short walk (10 - 15 minutes) to the harbour where you can catch a ferry to Hong Kong Island....which is useful if you plan to visit Victoria Peak.
Quick Look: Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel – Single Room
This is the second "quick look" post I've done of Holiday Inn properties at Heathrow (the first was the Holiday Inn Heathrow T5) and, once again, my visit was purely as a result of the IHG Summer Accelerate promotion I discussed earlier this week.
Just like with the Holiday Inn Heathrow T5 I spent enough time at the property to get a good look around (as hopefully the pictures will show) but I didn't stay the night so you should bear that in mind when forming any opinions from what I post here.
Quick Look: Holiday Inn Heathrow Terminal 5
I visited the Holiday Inn Heathrow Terminal 5 as part of my plan to earn some quick IHG rewards points before the summer Accelerate promotion ended. I spent a little bit of time at the property but I didn’t end up spending the night (that is something you need to bear in mind when drawing any of your own conclusions from this post).
I may not have spent the night but I knew I was going to be writing this post so I made sure to take a few pictures to show you what the property offers.
Grand Hyatt San Francisco – Grand Club Lounge Review
Our stay at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco was part of Joanna's mystery tip (introduction is here) and I posted my review of the suite and the hotel yesterday. Today I'm taking a look at the Club Lounge that the Grand Hyatt San Francisco offers.
Review: Grand Hyatt San Francisco – Executive Suite
There were two things that were never in much doubt about our visit to San Francisco - we would be staying at a Hyatt property and we'd be staying at least 4 nights. The reason I was keen for us to stay at a Hyatt was because I wanted to use one of my Diamond Suite upgrades that comes with my Hyatt status and the reason for staying at least 4 nights was because I wanted to make use of the "4th night free" benefit that comes with my Citi Prestige credit card.
Review: Aria Resort & Casino Las Vegas
I've been to Las Vegas more times than I can remember but I've never stayed at Aria before. I've walked through City Center (the complex within which you'll find Aria) on countless occasions and I've gambled in the Aria casino more times than I'd care to admit but, before this trip, I'd never seen inside one of the hotel's rooms.
Review – Sofitel Heathrow Terminal 5
To get Joanna's mystery trip off to as relaxed a start as possible I decided to book the Sofitel at London Heathrow's Terminal 5 for the night before the first flight. Our flight wasn't a particularly early one (9:25 am) but anything that helps avoid an early wake-up call is a good idea to me. The Sofitel is linked to Terminal 5 by a foot bridge so, if you if you make a bit of an effort, you can get from your room to the British Airways check-in desks in under 10 minutes - great if you want a lie-in.
Review – The May Fair Hotel London
The May Fair is a hotel that falls under the umbrella of the Club Carlson loyalty program and is a property at which I've stayed a few times. In the Club Carlson point heyday (when the top Carlson hotels cost 50,000 points and when you would get the a second award night for free just for having the Club Carlson credit card) this property was fantastic value - you could have a weekend in London's Mayfair for just 50,000 points! Now the same weekend will set you back 140,000 points so things are a little different.
Review: InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa – Overwater Bungalow
Joanna and I recently visited the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort - one of the most aspirational properties you can book with IHG Rewards points - and this is part 2 of the review of the resort. In part 1 of the review I looked at the location of the resort, the arrivals process, our check-in and the first impressions we got as we explored the resort's grounds. In this part I'll take a look at the accommodation we booked.
Review: InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa – Arrival & The Resort
There is simply too much to say about the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa to fit into one blog post so I'm going to split this review up into more manageable sizes.
In this section of the review I'm going to focus on the transfer from the airport to the resort, the check-in process and our first look around the resort grounds and its amenities. Other blog posts will cover the accommodation, the dining and how we paid for the stay in the first place.
Review: Andaz West Hollywood – Suite King
Back in January I had my first stay at the Andaz West Hollywood and, on that occasion, I stayed in one of the View King...
Review: Hilton Los Angeles Airport
The last hotel I got to try out on my rather manic "8 Flights, 7 Lounges & 3 Hotels In 5 Days" trip was...
Review: Hilton Copenhagen Airport
Thanks to some very good Economy Class fares I found myself using Copenhagen as a jumping off point for yet another trip across the Atlantic. Last...
Review: Los Angeles Airport Marriott
I had a very nice couple of nights at the Andaz West Hollywood and, if I'm being honest, I didn't really need to book...
Review: Andaz West Hollywood – “View King” Room
After having successfully matched my Marriott Platinum status to Hyatt Diamond status back in November, I was looking forward to seeing what top-tier status...
Review: Marriott AC Hotel Bella Sky Copenhagen
Whenever I have an overnight layover, unless I'm arriving into a city in the morning or early afternoon, I will always look to book a hotel that's close to the airport. If I know I'm not going to have time to explore a city I always look for the path of least resistance and, as on this trip I would have a 7:00am flight to catch the next day, I definitely wanted to book something within easy reach of the check-in desks.
Atmosphere Resort – Dauin, Philippines
Over Christmas and New Year Joanna’s family had a great trip to various parts of Asia and, along the way, stopped off at Atmosphere Resort in the Philippines for a bit of well deserved R&R – this is their account (with a bit of editing from me) of one of the more popular beach and diving resorts in the Philippines.
Review: Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi Grand Canal
To say that I procrastinated about which hotel to book in Abu Dhabi would a be an understatement of gargantuan proportions. I must have changed my mind a dozen times, switching between both of the Hyatt's, the Ritz Carlton, the Intercontinental and the Le Meridien.
A few things made up my mind for me in the end:
Review: Hampton By Hilton Liverpool (UK)
I've never stayed at a Hampton property before and, to be completely honest, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Last week I found myself needing a hotel in Liverpool and, as I wasn't going to be in the hotel or the city for very long, I wasn't about to splash out on an upscale property. All I needed was a comfortable room at a reasonable price and in a central location so, from the reviews on TripAdvisor, the Hampton by Hilton seemed to check the right boxes.
Review: Andaz 5th Avenue – New York
One of the biggest selling points of the Andaz 5th Avenue is it's location. Unless you need to be towards the bottom of Manhattan (Wall Street/Financial area) most of the major places people will want to visit are within easy walking distance.
Review: Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club
This time last year we were visiting the US Virgin Islands and staying at Marriott's Frenchman's Cove in St Thomas. This year we wen't back to a place Joanna and I know pretty well - Marriott's Aruba Surf Club on Palm Beach...Aruba (unsurprisingly!). What follows next is an in-depth review of the resort.
Review: InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam
Towards the middle of last month Joanna and I took a quick 3-night trip to Amsterdam courtesy of an IHG Rewards promotion. Aside from really wanting...
Review: London Marriott West India Quay
Back in June Marriott launched a promotion whereby anyone booking a premium room at one of their London hotels (for a Saturday or Sunday...
[VIDEO] Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club 1-Bed 2-Bath Oceanfront Villa
Earlier this year we spent a great week at Marriott Vacation Club's "flagship property" - Marriott's Maui Ocean Club. And, while we spent our...
Review: Radisson Blu Plaza Helsinki
When I’m looking for a hotel there are a few criteria that rank high on my list of “would-be-nice-to-have” but there’s only one “must-have”...
[VIDEO] Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club 2-Bedroom Oceanfront Villa
Earlier this year we spent a great week at Marriott Vacation Club's "flagship property" -Marriott's Maui Ocean Club.
We spent our week in the Lahaina...
Review: Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club (Part 2)
In part one of this review I focused on the newly refurbished units at Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club. Here, in part 2, the focus...
Review: Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club (Part 1)
Out of Marriott's Kauai properties Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club is my favourite. The Kauai Beach Club and Kauai Lagoons both offer different things and each...
Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club – Review Part 2
In part one of this review we focused on the 2-bedroom ocean front villa we had in the Lahaina Villas building of Marriott's Maui...
Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club – Review Part 1
We've not long been back from a wonderful two week vacation in Hawaii where we were lucky enough to stay at Marriott's Maui Ocean...
Video: Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve (Pool Area)
Continuing on from last month's announcement that we will, slowly, be adding videos of all the resorts we visit, today we're releasing the third of our...
Video: Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve (One Bed Villa)
Our aim at here has always been to help our users make informed decisions when it comes to their vacation plans. Whether we're highlighting resorts...
Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve (Orlando) Review
Earlier this month we had reason to take a lightning trip down to Orlando, so we couldn't resist the temptation of, finally, trying out a resort...
St Thomas Trip Report – Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove Review
Frenchman'Early in 2013 we used the 2-bed portion of our Marriott Grand Chateau (Las Vegas) timeshare to put in an exchange request, through Interval International,...
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