DISchurners Hotel Reviews Thread (extension of I love credit cards so much! thread)

[ep1229]

Miraval Austin
2 nights in December
Redeemed 45,000 Hyatt points, BOGO night promotion.

I went solo but if I did bring someone, it's an extra 20,000 points per night. You can only book this hotel by calling them 1-800-825-4000. It took a while to get a hold of anyone but if you leave a message, they will get back to you. You should also book your activities well in advance of your trip so you have more options. The resort is an adults only all inclusive wellness resort and spa. I was upgraded to a top floor king with an outdoor shower because of my Globalist status. You also receive $175 resort credit for the night that you used points. I used the credit for a delicious Chef's table meal. It was a really amazing experience. Some of the activities that I did in the two days were: the farm tour where you see the food they grow and use in the restaurant. They also have horses and chickens. I did a couple hikes, a line dancing class, yoga, and learned about tarot cards. They had two pools, an amazing spa and a rope course where you really get out of your comfort zone. Some activities had extra fees but they had plenty that were included in the package. I tried to add photos but it's loading sideways. I don't know how to change it :-(. If you want to see more photos, I saved them in my stories highlights on my IG profile https://www.instagram.com/edda_/

 

[Judique]

Miraval Austin
2 nights in December
Redeemed 45,000 Hyatt points, BOGO night promotion.

I went solo but if I did bring someone, it's an extra 20,000 points per night. You can only book this hotel by calling them 1-800-825-4000. It took a while to get a hold of anyone but if you leave a message, they will get back to you. You should also book your activities well in advance of your trip so you have more options. The resort is an adults only all inclusive wellness resort and spa. I was upgraded to a top floor king with an outdoor shower because of my Globalist status. You also receive $175 resort credit for the night that you used points. I used the credit for a delicious Chef's table meal. It was a really amazing experience. Some of the activities that I did in the two days were: the farm tour where you see the food they grow and use in the restaurant. They also have horses and chickens. I did a couple hikes, a line dancing class, yoga, and learned about tarot cards. They had two pools, an amazing spa and a rope course where you really get out of your comfort zone. Some activities had extra fees but they had plenty that were included in the package. I tried to add photos but it's loading sideways. I don't know how to change it :-(. If you want to see more photos, I saved them in my stories highlights on my IG profile https://www.instagram.com/edda_/
View attachment 634974View attachment 634976

Thanks for sharing!

 

[wanderlust7]

Marriott Grand Residence Club, Lake Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe, CA
January 2022

Stayed here for 5 nights using my Delta Vacations voucher from the 2 cpp Delta miles promo, way back when, pre-pandemic! Booked a 2 bedroom at $575/night. Pretty pricey, but I’m happy to finally use up the bulk of my voucher. Since this is part of the Marriott Vacation Club, I don’t think it’s bookable with points, but is with cash on the Marriott/Bonvoy website.

The Residence is in Heavenly Village and super convenient. Many restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and magic show just downstairs. There’s a supermarket across the street. I booked the kids 2 days of ski lessons with drop off at the Gondola. We should have been able to roll out of bed and just taken them downstairs. But both days the lessons were moved to California Lodge, so we had to drive. Both days, the e-mail said it was due to high winds. The first day had a wind advisory and the Gondola was closed, but the second day was not. One of their ski instructors said that lessons were consolidated at CA Lodge because of staffing shortage due to staff getting Covid.

I got the kids one-day Epic Passes when it was on sale. Was then able to get 20% off both days of their lessons. Saved almost $200 total, great deal!

We were assigned a huge unit facing the ice-skating rink. We could hear the music and announcements, but it ended around 8-9 pm and we didn’t find it too bothersome. Unit had 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, kitchen, dining room, and living room. The second bedroom had 2 queens even though our booking details said one. The master bedroom wasn’t particularly big, but the master bath was. With a huge window. Looking out at the ice-skating rink lol. There are 2 gas fireplaces on 30-minute timers. We tried to use that more than the central heating in the hopes that we could get the air to be less dry. The master shower has a steam function, we used that a few times hoping it helps too. The unit was it good condition and beds were comfortable.

Parking is valet only at $29/night. The valets were very efficient and nice. DD wanted to do several of the resort activities, which had a cost. S’mores was $4 or $6 for 2. Carmel apple was $6 and hot chocolate with toppings was $4. Hot chocolate was at Timber Lodge, which is their other vacation club property in the village. It was just a few minutes’ walk away.

We enjoyed this place a lot, though I feel like we weren’t able to take advantage of all the location had to offer. Would love to come back when things are more normal.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino
Category 6
Incline Village, NV
January 2022

Stayed here for 2 nights using the Amex hotel credit after our stay at the Marriott Grand Residence Club, Lake Tahoe. This hotel is part of Fine Hotels and Resorts, so booked one night each on 2 plats to use up the $200 credits. Rate was $366, so OOP was only $166/night. I put in DH’s Hyatt number when making the reservation and it showed up on his Hyatt account immediately. We got all his Globalist benefits. He also got points for the stay, but I’m confused how it was calculated. We got more than the incidentals, but less than the room rate even subtracting out taxes and fees.

We were upgraded to a lakeside cottage upper, which is a premium suite. ❤ Cash rate for the room was $1600+. I e-mailed the hotel ahead of time to link the 2 nights, request early check-in, and mentioned that we would love to be in a cottage. The general manager texted a few days before and I mentioned the same again. The morning of check-in, the upgrade appeared in the app and I got the notification that the room was ready before we had to leave the Marriott at 11 am.

The 1-bedroom unit in the cottage was very spacious, with living room (had a sofa bed), wet bar (microwave, minifridge, small sink, and dishware), separate bedroom with king bed, and 1 ½ bathrooms. There is a connecting room with 2 double beds if someone wanted to make it a 2-bedroom unit. The bed was comfortable, but the sofa bed was not. There’s a TV in the master bath mirror that DD got a kick out of lol. I enjoyed the lake view, though it’s a little hard to see in the picture (blends in with the sky). Parking is convenient as we could just park next to the unit.



Both Globalist and FHR breakfast is their buffet at Sierra Café (from 7? To 11:30 am). It was a nice spread with good variety. We were given vouchers for each day as the Globalist benefit. I think it covers 4 people (voucher said “Glob(4)”), though the benefit is usually 2 adults and 2 children. FHR benefit is for 2 people, and we were told to charge to room to use that. The first day at breakfast, we were given a bill to sign even though we used the voucher. It was charged as 4 adults, but only 2 made it onto our folio along with the tip. The charge for 2 was eventually removed, but not the tip. The second day, a different server only took the voucher and said we didn’t need to sign anything. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to work. I texted the front desk to ask if tip should be included as Globalist. Was told that it’s automatic and anything over is charged. So, then I had to tell them that we didn’t intend to leave an extra tip and to please remove it (which they did). I think next time maybe I should write Globalist in the tip line like some on Flyertalk do.

There is a parking fee, but we were told that it’s waived for Globalist. Usually, it’s only free for award nights, so that was nice. We were also given a voucher for 2 free items at Tahoe Provisions, their quick service/convenience store. There was an additional voucher for 1 item attached to the FHR letter. Almost all food/beverage items were covered, including full bottles of wine! We don’t drink much wine, but that was the best deal, so we got 3 bottles of wine lol. Sticker price is $49 (!) but looks like only $12-15 usually. You can also get snacks, salads, sandwiches, flat bread pizza, etc.

A s’mores ticket is given to everyone for pick-up at Tahoe Provisions. Only 1 kit per room, it includes 3 small packs of graham crackers, 4 marshmallows, a small bar of Hershey’s chocolate, and however many sticks you ask for.

We had a nice dinner at Lone Eagle Grille and the $100 FHR credit covered about half of it.

The resort runs several activities, most with no fee. You can find the description and schedule on their website under “Area Attraction”. We only did the archery, which was advertised at 1.5-2 hours, but was only 1 hour. It was fun though.

We enjoyed our stay. They have good Globalist recognition. It’s a great use of the Amex hotel credit and I’m happy to add 2 elite nights in my quest to make Globalist again lol.

 

[wanderlust7]

Alila Napa Valley
Hyatt Category 7, Adults only
St. Helena, CA
March 2022

Spent the weekend at the Alila Napa Valley for 30k Hyatt points per night. Glad to get a stay in before it goes up to a Category 8 and 40k standard rate.

DH is Globalist and we were upgraded to a ground floor vineyard view. I saw a high floor vineyard view in the app the night before check-in, but then it changed to just vineyard view the day of. Still a very nice view and I was glad to not have any of the noise issues I saw in some reviews about the rooms facing the Beringer winery next door. We did hear some creaking from the floor above when people walked around, but it wasn’t too bothersome. Our room was close to the pool, and we could hear the music when we were out on the patio, but not at all inside.

The room was comfortable and modern. Everything looked very new. We enjoyed the firepit and sitting outside on the patio. The bathroom is split in two rooms. One room has the shower, soaking tub, and sink. Another has a Toto toilet and another sink. There are plush non-branded slippers and Votary toiletries. Housekeeping gave us a new set the second day. I love adding to my collection lol. The turn down service is nice. They left us local artisanal chocolates the first night and macarons the second.

There’s a resort fee of $55/night, which is waived on award stays. It covers half a bottle of wine, valet parking, $25 mini bar credit, bottled water, etc. We were given a whole bottle of wine, maybe because we stayed 2 nights? You must use the mini bar credit per day. I didn’t realize we had that until the second night. The items we took went over $25 and we were charged for the excess even though we didn’t use the credit from the first day. Which is fair enough, but I think they should have a note in the mini bar that the credit exists. Housekeeping leaves 2 bottles of Alila branded waters every day. You can also grab more by the pool. I drink a lot of water, so appreciated that. Though would have preferred a reusable bottle and refilling stations. Parking is valet only. Getting the car was usually quick, except for a small wait during the dinner rush. They charged our electric car for us.

We enjoyed breakfast at the onsite restaurant, Acacia House. There are reports on Flyertalk that the Globalist breakfast is limited to $35/person, but this wasn’t mentioned to us. Not including tax and tip, we went over a little bit the second day, but weren’t charged. My favorite was the breakfast sandwich. DH liked the Healthy Elvis (banana and almond butter on toast). I didn’t realize the large French press is very large lol and ended up taking the leftover in a to go cup.

The location is great. Lots of wineries around, though we didn’t partake. It’s about a 15 min walk to St. Helena downtown. So much great food around. We ate at Farmstead and Brasswood, which were both good but perhaps not that memorable (a little pricey, which is expected in the area). Happy hour at Pizzeria Tra Vigne was awesome. $1.50 oysters, so fresh and delicious. The other happy hour items we had were yummy too (arancini, chicken wings, and the Pompelmo Margarita). We also loved the Clif Family Bruschetteria food truck. Not your typical bruschetta. The porchetta bruschetta was sooo good. I’d make the trip again just for that lol. We also ate at Gott’s Roadside. Long line, so thought we’d try it out. But I just realized it’s a chain and we have locations closer to home lol. But the ahi taco was good (nice to have something lighter) and so was the California burger.

 

[MarBee]

Gaylord Texan Resort
Grapevine, TX
April 2022
4 Bonvoy Free Night Awards (35,000 points)

Stayed here for 3 nights as a little getaway to somewhere warmer. Had a fairly rough travel to the hotel and didn’t arrive till 3/4 am. Hotel staff was so accommodating and upgraded us to a balcony room overlooking the lobby. If you’ve never seen a Gaylord lobby, they’re like a mini city. Very grand and impressive. It was a great view, but it can be super noisy. (We were woken at 7 am after getting in a couple of hours before by an energy drink MLM convention doing morning chants and cheers to show how energized they were )
The room itself was spacious though drawer space was a bit tight. Had a large bathroom with private changing area, comfy beds, very clean.
The restaurants are insanely overpriced, but there is so much to do on property. They even have a cool water park on site that we spent a ton of time at with my kids.
Overall just a great experience. Though I believe it’s primarily a convention hotel, it was perfect for a nice long weekend getaway.

 

[calypso726]

Park Hyatt New York.
30k Hyatt points per night.
Suite night upgrade certificate applied.

We stayed here for 3 nights and the service was outstanding. We enjoyed free breakfast as Globalist as well as late check out. The breakfast options were really good and prepared well. We had 3 guests in the room and they brought in a roll away bed which I am told was very comfortable. The charge that we were told we’d have to pay for the roll away was waived when I looked at the final bill. I’d definitely stay here again but would want to spend more time enjoying the hotel amenities. We were pretty much on the go the whole time we were there.

 

[MarBee]

Courtyard by Marriott Carolina Beach
Carolina Beach, NC July
3 Marriott Bonvoy SNAs plus 6,000 “top off” points


Stayed 3 nights at this beachfront hotel not really having any idea what to expect. Because I had some FNAs that were going to expire (35,000 points or under), I set about searching the closest driveable beach hotel to me. To my surprise, I found a true beachfront hotel- all rooms in the hotel face the ocean. I was apprehensive as I’ve never been to this beach and have never loved a stay in a Courtyard, but I decided to take the plunge.
The location was unbeatable- not only ocean view/beach front but walkable (1-5 minute walking) to all of the best places this beach has to offer.
It had an indoor pool that was tiny (we didn’t use) and an outdoor pool that would be great for little kids as it was mostly 3 feet deep. Though the pool was small, it got the job done.
We did eat at the “bistro” in the hotel to take advantage of our Platinum food and beverage credit. It was better than anticipated though the expectations here were super low.
As far as cons go, this is most definitely a Courtyard, albeit the nicest one I’ve stayed in to date. There were some signs of wear in the room and we had some issues with mildew in the bathroom.
I will say that any issues that arose, the staff dealt with so very promptly. They really were top notch and not understaffed like most hotels as of late.
Overall, it’s a great use of any FNAs (no resort or parking fees) you may have if you want to enjoy the beach.

 

[wanderlust7]

Conrad Bora Bora
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
89k Hilton points, 5th night free
June 2022

Booked the Conrad Bora Bora when Frequent Miler reported standard award availability wide open. It was 89k/night back then, though now it’s up to 110k. Staying in an overwater bungalow has been on my bucket list forever. The upgrade fee to the King Overwater was 40,000 XPF/night (about $350 at today’s rates), but totally worth it for me. I e-mailed to ask about upgrades soon after I booked. The price can vary depending on season.

The upgrade fee is paid in advance. It’s nonrefundable except in cases of illness or family emergency. The charge ended up on the folio with the payment showing as a deposit, so we were able to get the stay points too. There’s a triple points promo and I got 54x on all spend (including the 14x on Aspire).

It was me, DH, DS (age 13), and DD (age 10). Had to pay an extra person fee for DS of 17,250 XPF/night. If he was still 12, then he would have been free. Roundtrip transfers from the Bora Bora airport by boat is 15,000 XPF/person (12 and under is free). I did a search for private transfers but didn’t find any cheaper options compared to paying for 3.

Since I’m Diamond, I asked about further upgrades when we checked in. I saw a pool overwater unit that was available for 4 nights during our stay. But was told that they’re not doing any upgrades since the resort was very busy.

The room was very spacious and upscale. They set up the couch as an extra bed and a rollaway for the 3rd bed. It fit into the room very well and was comfortable. The TV comes out from the cabinet in front of the bed and can swivel 360 degrees (fancy!). The bathroom is huge with a gigantic round tub. DD used it once. We mainly used it to dry our swimsuits lol. But it looks very nice! The bath towels are large, plush, and plentiful. There were also pool towels in the room. The toiletries are Shanghai Tang, Mandarin Tea scented (very nice). Housekeeping replaced the entire set every time we moved some tubes away. Slippers are Conrad Bora Bora branded. The closet is walk-in with a vanity table and window with view of the water.

We were gifted 2 boxes of chocolate (looks house-made), a bag of assorted candy, bottle of fresh juice, Evian, and Perrier. They give 2 medium size bottles of water at turndown service each day.



We spent a lot of time relaxing on the deck in the loungers and the rope net beds. DH snorkeled off of the deck often. Not much coral there, but he saw some fish. I think he just liked the convenience. There’s a handheld shower head out on the deck to rinse off.



We enjoyed the pool and beach. There are some cabanas next to the pool that are free to use. Reef safe sunblock is provided at the towel station. It’s nice, made with Tahitian monoi oil. There’s also flavored water there and you can borrow snorkeling gear.

There’s a section of beach that’s designated for Gold and Diamond members. I saw a blacktip shark while snorkeling there. DS enjoyed biking around the resort. We did a little bit of kayaking, but conditions weren’t particularly good that day. The view up by the spa and chapel is very nice (a little bit of a trek).

Gold/Diamond Beach:


The boat to Vaitape is free during the day as long as it’s not your arrival or departure day (they don’t want you getting around the airport transport fee). There is also a fee to use it in the evening if you want to get to dinner in town. We only took the shuttle once during the day to just take a look and to go to the supermarket to get some instant noodle for dinner one night lol (there is an electric kettle in the room). If you don’t want to stay for several hours, the most convenient time is the 11 am departure and noon return (reservation with the concierge required). It was enough time to go to the supermarket and then look in the souvenir market right at the dock.

We only did one excursion here, a half day tour with H2O Bora Bora. Hands down, best snorkeling tour I’ve ever done. They only take 6 people. Nobody else booked our time, so it ended up being private. The owner, David, is super nice and patient. He gets in the water with you to show you stuff and pulls along a flotation ring on a rope in case you need it. First stop, we saw a family of eagle rays deep down. Second stop, we saw a manta ray for a good while and so clearly. Third stop was to the coral garden where you have to follow him through. The flotation ring was helpful to me here since I’m not a great swimmer. Water is so clear, lots of coral and fish. Last stop was to the edge of the coral reef. Kids and I were a bit snorkeled out, only DH went, and they saw blacktip sharks. Highly recommend!

The kids went to the Kids’ Club a couple times when there were activities they were interested in. We didn’t end up doing any of the resort activities. We saw people with the palm leaf purses they made, that looked really cool. But I don’t think you can bring it back to the US due to agricultural restrictions.

As Diamond members, we got the breakfast buffet complimentary for all 4 of us. I thought that was very generous since officially it’s only for 2. It we had to pay for breakfast, it would have been something like 5500 XPF/person. Breakfast ends at 10:30 am and they start putting it away then. We tended to go a little later and was so full that we only needed dinner. Breakfast is a good spread – lots of yummy bread and pastries, fruit, meat/cheeses, smoked salmon, poisson cru, some Asian dishes (stir fry, eggrolls, steamed bun, rice, porridge), etc. The scrambled egg was not good – very watery, and the bacon was hard. There is a menu for made to order items for an upcharge, but we never did that.

Food is very expensive at the resort. There is a kids’ menu, or they can order off the regular menu for 50% off (but again only those 12 and under). There isn’t really a tipping culture in French Polynesia, but there is a tip line on the resort checks. The Hilton Tahiti had it too. But none of the other restaurants we went to did.

We went to the beach restaurant (Tamure) twice, once for lunch on arrival day and once for dinner. It’s the same menu. The shrimp bao were very good, so were the tacos that came with a big corn topped with stuff. The pizza is pretty good and big enough to comfortably feed 2 adults. We tried the margherita and the tandoori chicken (that one wasn’t as good). This would be the one to go to for a “cheaper” meal (where cheap is relative!).

We did the Upa Upa Lounge for sushi for arrival day dinner since I didn’t know when we would be hungry after the late lunch. This is the only restaurant that you don’t need reservations for dinner. It’s decent sushi, but very expensive. Lucky we weren’t too hungry!

Iriatai is the French restaurant, it’s the same place that breakfast is served at. We had the lagoon fish, pork 3 ways, and the beef. Everything was tasty. They serve a complimentary amuse bouche appetizer.

Banyan is the Chinese restaurant. This one is harder to get reservations for (I think because it’s smaller?), so we ended up there on our last night. We had the steamed dumplings (a bit over steamed), lagoon fish with black bean sauce, beef with oyster sauce, and rice noodles with beef. Also had the first 2 desserts on the list (very long names!). Everything was good, but good Chinese is a dime a dozen where we are, so we were a bit meh for the price. I think some of the reviews I read made me have unrealistic expectations. At the end of dinner, we were served a complimentary goodbye dessert. Didn’t know this or maybe we wouldn’t have ordered 2 desserts lol.

We had a wonderful stay at the Conrad Bora Bora. Hope to come back someday. Maybe combined with another archipelago to explore.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hilton Tahiti Hotel
Papeete, French Polynesia
80k Hilton points (used FNC)
June 2002

Stayed here for 1 night on the way home from Bora Bora. They have 2 Queen rooms, but oddly they only sleep 3. I e-mailed the hotel thinking there’s a 4th person charge but was only offered a suite to fit 4. Ended up booking 2 rooms with FNCs. 1 was mine and 1 was DH’s, we are both Diamond with the Aspire. Booked a 1 King and 2 Queen room and was able to get connecting. Was upgraded to ocean view, though it was a side view.

King room (with shower):


Queen room (with tub), sunset view from the balcony:

We were given 3000 XPF/person drink vouchers as Diamond. But only for the “adults”, which included DS (age 13), but not DD (age 10). The check-in person originally wanted to give free breakfast to only the “adults” as well, but then checked with his manager to give it to DD. Which is totally weird because Diamond status should give free breakfast to 2 people, and we were 2 Diamonds in 2 separate rooms.

Breakfast was very good with a lot of variety. They had someone making fresh waffles and crepes, as well as an egg station. There were also lots of pastries, fruit, poisson cru, sashimi, etc. I overheard that it would be something like 4500 XPF/person if we had to pay. We didn’t even have to sign a bill. The restaurant setting is lovely, part built over the ocean with a nice view.

The hotel is very new. The rooms are nicely decorated and comfortable. Employees were nice. I would stay here again if we came back to Tahiti. The small mall across the street over a bridge is super convenient. There’s a large Carrefour supermarket there with a good selection of prepared foods. There’s also a food court, restaurant, pharmacy, and Vini mobile phone store. Vini has a 3GB data only SIM that’s only 1000 XPF. We bought it on Moorea, but if we had stayed here first, it would have been super convenient to buy it at this Vini store.

Our flight wasn’t until 9 pm, but unfortunately, we could only get late checkout until noon (normal checkout is 11 am). The plan was to go to the Papeete Market, but I didn’t research this part of the trip enough and realized that morning the market is only open from 4 am to 9 am on Sundays! The kids didn’t feel like using the pool (though it looks like a very nice pool), so we ended up deciding to walk to town anyways even though nothing is open on Sundays.



It’s supposed to be a 30-minute walk one-way. We didn’t time ourselves, but that sounds about right. Very hot and sweaty, part next to a busy road (on sidewalk), part through a large park next to the waterfront. I wouldn’t particularly recommend it lol. Everything was closed, even grocery stores and gas stations. A few restaurants were open. We stopped by McDonalds for a snack. For a Sunday, a better plan is probably to rent a car and drive around the island. But no regrets since we got to see what Papeete is like.

As we wandered down a side street ready to turn back, we see a pearl store open! Everything was 50% off except the items that were already special priced at 6000 XPF. Turns out the owners were permanently closing the store. They were SO nice! I bought several items. They gifted the kids 2 bracelets and a necklace. As we were leaving, one of them wrote out recommendations for other islands to visit if we come back. We were sad for them that they’re closing their store. A bit of serendipity that can’t be repeated.

When we got back to the hotel, I needed a shower. Luckily, there are 3 next to the pool. We waited around a bit in the lobby then headed to the airport early. The taxis we took both from and to the airport cost 1750 XPF (metered). Our timing ended up pretty good. The check-in counter opened a few minutes after we got there, and we were second in line. Looked in the shops while we waited for immigration to open. Second in line there and were the first into the Air Tahiti Nui lounge (with Priority Pass). We were the only flight leaving around that time, so the lounge didn’t end up being too crowded. It was very nice with strong air-conditioning. DH took a shower there. They had little finger sandwiches, little desserts, canapes, instant noodle, etc. We made a dinner of it lol. There was dinner on our United flight too, but it was pretty gross. The time passed quickly relaxing in the lounge. I was grateful for this side benefit of churning.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hyatt Regency Seattle
Seattle, WA
Hyatt Category 4
July 2022

Stayed here for 3 nights before our Alaska cruise. Took my mom and needed 2 rooms since it was 5 of us. Booked one room with FNCs and the second under the Family Plan at 50% off the standard rate. The blogs say that this rate doesn’t earn points, but we did earn points on the room rate minus taxes.

I e-mailed ahead of time to ask that the 2 rooms be close to each other. But we were put on different floors when we checked in. The hotel seemed very busy. As Globalist, we were proactively offered check out at 4 pm, though we didn’t need it (getting on a cruise! ).

Both rooms were high floors. One had a great view of the city out to the waterfront. The other faced a different side and was just a city view. The hotel is fairly new, so the rooms were in good condition. Beds were comfortable. I appreciated that there were 4 bottles of water already in the room. A major complaint is that there were no drawers at all in the room. There is a shelving unit that is a luggage rack and clothes hanger. I guess the expectation is that you’ll be living out of your suitcase. This was a recurring problem with our hotel stays this trip (also stayed at the Thompson Seattle and Hyatt Regency Portland). I'll refrain from complaining about it again in those reviews lol.

Globalist breakfast was the buffet in their restaurant, Andare. Good variety and there were a few made-to-order items you can order with your server (eggs, omelets, and waffles). Restaurant isn’t that big, so usually we had to wait a little for a table.

The lounge is open, but they’re only doing packaged foods. We found it very convenient for grabbing water, soda, and snacks. It’s a nice space - large, spacious, and bright. There are 2 computers with printers there where I printed out our e-Med Covid test results for the cruise.

All in all, a good stay and I would stay here again in the future.

 

[wanderlust7]

Thompson Seattle
Seattle, WA
Hyatt Category 5
July 2022

Stayed here for 2 nights after our Alaska cruise. Booked 2 rooms and used up the $200 hotel credit on both my and DH’s Platinum cards. The Thompson is Hotel Collection which has a 2-night minimum. Each room came with a $100 credit for any incidentals.

We tried to check-in around 9:30 am after getting off the cruise, but no rooms were ready. The valets stored our luggage, and we went to Pike Place. About 11 am we get the text that one of the rooms was ready. The second room wasn’t ready until 3 pm (regular check-in time). Both rooms faced out to other buildings. We didn’t get any upgrades that we could tell. -Maybe- a slightly higher floor?

We weren’t proactively told about our Globalist or Hotel Collection benefits. The first person gave me some wrong information, the second person finally gave me the Hotel Collection letter. The letter does say that you’re supposed to pay with an Amex card. But we paid with the Chase Hyatt card, and nobody said anything. It seems that not everyone there is that familiar with the program.

There was no bottled water in the room other than an expensive bottle of Icelandic water at the “honor bar” (i.e., minibar). When I asked for water at the front desk, they had to go to the back to get it and then only gave me 1 small bottle. There is a flavored water dispenser next to the elevator. Sometimes it runs out though. They also have a coffee station in the lobby, but only in the mornings.

There is a Thompson tote and umbrella in the cabinet. We were confused at first if they were gifts until we saw the prices on the minibar list. There are Thompson logo branded plush black slippers. Only one pair for the King room and 2 pairs for the 2 Queen room. Not on the price list, so safe to take lol. Someone stopped by our room and gave us our Globalist gifts (wine, Perrier, and small box of chocolates). I asked about Globalist breakfast and was told to just charge it to the room.

Breakfast was order off the menu at their restaurant, Conversation. Flyertalk mentions a $25/person limit. We were never told that nor charged it. My mom was with us, so we were 3 adults and 2 kids. I fully expected to pay for 1 person since only one room was under DH (the Globalist), but our entire charge was erased. Unlike the HR Seattle, breakfast was never crowded, and we never had to wait.

We used the $100 x2 credit at the same restaurant for dinner. The food was good. I especially enjoyed my halibut, which had a nice balance of flavors. The head chef was the winner of Chopped on Food Network. We had the bill split between the 2 rooms and only had to pay OOP $30.

Their rooftop bar, The Nest, is supposedly a big draw. Under 21 not allowed though, so we didn’t make it up there.

I asked for late checkout the night before but was told that they were fully committed and couldn’t offer that. I think it’s supposed to be guaranteed for Globalist. So, I HUCA’d the next day and asked for late checkout as Globalist, which was then granted (to 2 pm as that’s all we needed). There seems to be no chat option in the app, so I had to call. All the other Hyatt’s I’ve been to have had the chat option, which I find really convenient.

The location is awesome, just up a small hill from Pike Place. We found the service a little off though. I still need to call to fix a billing issue. Between the Thompson and HR, I preferred the Hyatt Regency. More light and bright, whereas the Thompson is darker, plus we really enjoyed having the lounge at the HR.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center
Portland, OR
Hyatt Category 3
July 2022

We stayed here for 4 nights after leaving Seattle post cruise. I had originally booked 2 rooms with points, but the cash rate dropped low enough that I decided to just pay cash. Unfortunately, no Family Plan rate when I asked. I forgot that free parking for Globalist is only for award stays. I should have kept one room as points (oh well). Valet parking is $37/night and self-parking is $20. The self-parking is in the city parking structure across the street behind the hotel. It’s faster to get there through the entrance by the conference rooms.

A couple days before our arrival, the hotel sent an e-mail with info and asking if we needed anything. I replied to that requesting that our rooms be connecting. Got a very quick reply back that connecting rooms had already been blocked for us. We were assigned the top floor with a nice view of the city. We could see the river from one of the rooms.

Globalist breakfast was the buffet in their restaurant. Decent variety but got repetitive after 4 days. Only change seems to be pancakes on weekdays and French toast on weekends. The fruit was especially good. Unfortunately, the lounge is still closed.

Location is east of downtown across the river. It was very convenient getting on the freeway, which worked well for us since we did 2 day trips (to Columbia River Gorge and Tillamook).

The hotel is very new, so everything was in good condition. Service was friendly and we enjoyed our stay.

2 Queen room:


King room:


King bathroom (shower instead of tub):


Nice restaurant space:

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

---

Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Hilton
August 2022

Just back from a long weekend at the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya. I posted previously about the great rates; it appears the rooms go for about $700+ in high season, or about 90kHH/nt:

Booked through Amex Plat, paid net of $819 for 3 nts in partial ocean view room with these FHR benefits:
Early check-in 12pm
Breakfast for 2 daily
Late Check out, 4pm
Upgrade if available
$150 property credit*

As a Hilton Diamond, I receive most of these benefits, but the $200 Amex Plat credit and $150 property credit gave FHR the edge. We were arriving very early, about noon, so I was hoping for the early check-in. *Turns out, and this was clarified twice, that they provided both the standard $100 property credit and stacked another $150 property credit on top of it. Pretty sweet and unexpected. We were upgraded to a full ocean view room in Building 3 and our room was ready nearly at arrival.

Rooms
We were on the third floor of Building 3 in a full ocean view room. We had a beautiful view of the bay and pools directly in front of our room. A previous poster mentioned the third floor is ocean view, second floor is partial ocean view and first floor is tropical view. The foliage is quite varied throughout the resort, with some third floor views completely obstructed and some second floor rooms completely unobstructed, so I am not sure if the room views always coorelate with floor. The tropical view patio is much larger, with the plunge pool being 2-3 times the size of a balcony pool. However, these are completely in the vegetation. And we found the mosquitos to be quite intense and you didn't know you'd been bit until you had 20 bumps the next day. And that was wearing bug spray. So a tropical view room wouldn't be for us.
We had a two queen bed room. Really liked the bar area with coffee and refillable glass bottles. Near each elevator is an ice machine and water refill station, which is awesome. Loved the warm wood tones of the room and the moody dark features, along with the great lighting features throughout. Double sinks. Toliet, shower and sinks are all separate areas. No locks on the toilet room. I am just not a fan of these open concept bathrooms. Two large closets with deep bottom drawers- this was great to have real storage. I still prefer to enjoy some bathroom privacy and the no lock, slight door gap and glass door don't provide any sound protection. Our shower didn't drain correctly, but seemed like a construction sloping issue. The toilteries were TO DIE FOR. The brand is BYREDO Mohave Ghost and the scent is memorable.
We brought a Roku stick for the kids, but couldn't seem to stream from any providers. Were able to do so via iPads though.
Balcony with two chairs and plunge pool.



Tropical view room



Ocean View room

Pools
Building 3 is where you want to be. It sits directly in front of the bay and two pools. FYI, the pool water is VERY warm, like bath water. They were doing some tile work so had the pool levels lower than normal at Blding 3, so perhaps the water wasn't circulating as it normally would have. But the water at the main pool was also very, very warm. This may be ideal in the winter months, but it's one of the few things I would note need change. We didn't experience towel service at any pools It was primarily DIY. But there are many great cabanas throughout the resort which are no cost, first come, first served. Loved this. Hope it stays that way. Poolside food and beverage service. Occassionally, paletas or an appetizer bite would be brought around. Nice touch. The shrimp ceviche served from Crudo was phenomenal. We walked over to the pool at building 6 one day which had great full ocean views, a nice wind, the sound of waves crashing and very cool water. We were the only ones there. Glad we made the walk. Pools close at 8pm.


Beach
The bay it sits on is absolutely breathtaking, sort of reminiscent of Hawaii. Another great benefit of it being on a bay is that there no beach vendors. There was sargassum, some days more than others. We went into it expecting not to be able to swim at all. We swam unimpeded one day and another day we were eventually edged out of the ocean by it. So we were more than pleased with that. I believe SUP, kayaks and snorkel gear are available. Because of the bay, the water is super calm. Hammocks, day beds and beach chairs are all available beachside.


Nearly free of sargassum

Dining
The resort really shines here. Nearly every dish we had was excellently prepared. Including room service (pesto pasta from in-room dining was the best I've ever had). We had dinner service at Kengai (japanese?) and Maratea.(mediterranean). The service was excellent at Kengai and they provided some nice touches like an amuse-bouche and tea and chocolates after the meal. Also a sweet treat for my daughter's birthday. Maratea was beautiful and we were also provided with an amuse-bouche and chocolates post meal. But the service seemed indifferent. Maratea's restaurant manager was onsite though, and we had a lovely conversation with her. We discussed Hilton's diversity and the fact that several women are restaurant managers at the Conrad Tulum. Nice to see. Ultra-Mar is the restaurant adjacent to the main pool. Tasty food and service. Drinks about $20 each for something like a grey goose and tonic.
Breakfast buffet- complimentary for Diamond or with FHR. They waived the fee each morning for our children 9 and 12, but I overheard them charge for the child at the table next to us, who looked slightly older, maybe 13 or 14. I believe the child cost is 350MXN or about $17USD. This was one of the best hotel breakfasts we had. Three HUGE rooms. And still culinary masterpieces, so beautifully presented. There were several stations where they would make you pancakes, french toast, your preferred egg dish, avocado toast, tacos, etc. All of this was in addition to the serve yourself stations.






Breakfast Avocado toast made-to-order


Breakfast Buffet one of three rooms



Out of pocket cost
Our total f&b bill was only $268 after our $250 credit. This was for three meals a day, albeit a light lunch, for two adults and two kids. But few drinks and an occassional dessert. We always added another 10% for a total 20% gratuity/service. Breakfast is so filling and poolside portions are large.

Overall impressions
I was not expecting to like the resort as much as we did because we typically prefer a more boutique sized resort. I'd estimate the resort was at 20% occupancy, so it was easy to get a room in building 3. I don't think we would have enjoyed the experience if we had been much further out. The service level is approachable, but wouldn't be considered high end service level, just yet. Kind service, for the most part. The resort is stunningly beautiful- the design executed to perfection. Very "Instagrammable." The weather was HOT (mid 90s) and humid, as expected. While the forecast showed rain every day, we never had any daytime rain but heard some at night. The hotel rooms are literally carved right into a mangrove forest and we saw lots of iguanas, hermit crabs and even raccoons. This resort deserves a spot in the rotation.

 

[MarBee]

Gaylord Palms Resort
Orlando, FL
December 2022
Mix of FNAs (35,000) and points

Stayed 3 nights for a quick Disney trip. I am very much a “Disney Bubble” person when going to the parks, but we had some FNAs to use. I believe this worked out to be 104,000 Bonvoy points for 3 nights plus about a $40 resort fee. We didn’t have a car but I believe the parking fee was $27/night.

The room was nice, spacious, and clean. Our Suite Night upgrade was denied, so we had a “no view” room which actually wound up having a decent view of the quiet pool. There was a ceiling fan in the room, which I always appreciate, especially in Florida.

The atrium is super impressive and was all decorated for Christmas. They were also running their annual Ice! event there.

Though Ice! bought larger crowds, I did not find the hotel to have any issues with staffing at all. The pool facilities were great (water park, lazy river, flow rider)! There was lots for kids to do and see as well, including real alligators there!

Everything was pretty pricey on their property, but it was all of a decent quality.

We did use the resort shuttle to go to and from Disney Springs. The bus was basically the same ones they used to use for Magical Express. It was clean, comfy, and on time.

Overall, I’m still a Disney Bubble person, but this is a great use of points in the Orlando area, especially for anyone with Marriott FNAs at a 35,000 or under. This would make for a nice resort-only stay or as a home base for any of the Orlando parks.

 

[platamama]

Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo
December 2022
Hyatt Category 5

Stayed here five nights over Christmas break. Originally booked two separate back to back award stays, grabbing nights when I could find availability, and redeemed 100K points altogether (some nights were off-peak and some were peak). Even though the room type was not the same (one was 1Kg, the other 2Qn) I reached out to Globalist Concierge two days prior to arrival to see if we could possibly stay in one room type for the duration of our stay. I was told they would put us in a 2Qn room for the five nights and I was satisfied with that.

Checking the Hyatt app, I saw we had been upgraded to an Andaz Suite on the first reservation! As happy as I was to see that, it was tinged with regret because I really didn't want to change rooms halfway through our stay. Made a phone call to Andaz during our layover on the way to Liberia to see about staying the the same room for our five nights. The rep said he couldn't keep us in the suite but would see what he could do about staying in a 2Qn for our stay (seemingly my previous call was for naught). To our delight, when we arrived at Andaz we found out we were staying in the Suite for all five nights. For giggles, I looked at rates for this room for the same travel dates but in 2023, and the cash rate was almost $20K. Globalist really paid off for this trip! (That's an eye-popping 20cpp redemption, not that I would've ever paid that for a suite!) The Andaz seemed to respect Globalist status, one of our servers at dinner one night even thanked us for our loyalty so I guess the staff know too.

Room
The suite was so spacious, and a rollaway bed had been set up in the living room for DD. There is a half bathroom by the entry door, and that made such a big difference to have that additional bathroom space when washing up. There was a welcome amenity on the table (wine and sweets). The resort provides complimentary flip flops and Panama hats. The rain shower head was divine, seriously the best shower I've ever gotten to experience and I miss it haha. My water-starved state means we live with low flow shower heads, so this was a novelty for me. I was worried about the privacy glass by the shower, but it was more diffusely frosted than appears in online photos, and situated far from a path where people might see it.

There are no elevators on the property, and the golf carts can take you around to most spots but not to the beach. There are a LOT of steps, going from the beach to our room was a 180-200 ft elevation gain. DH & DD spent a good amount of relaxing on the verandah.

Filtered water is provided in refillable glass bottles. Our building (and I assume all the others) had a water filling station for us to use as desired.

The minibar was complimentary for non-alcoholic drinks, and snacks (plantain chips, cassava chips, other chips) were refilled daily. There is a Britt coffee capsule machine, and we enjoyed that many times.

Use bug spray liberally (Deep Woods Off is available in the pool areas). I came home with SO MANY bug bites. I'm still scratching and I left four days ago.


Food
As Globalists, breakfast was included for all three of us at Rio Bhongo. [Breakfast is also (free for Globalists) at Ostra, and has a slightly different menu.] Normal price for the buffet is $35/pp + 13%tax + 10%service charge. There were hot stations that had pinto gallo, scrambled eggs, fried plantains with syrup, sausage or bacon, vegetables, some tofu or cheese dish, tortillas, sauces, and a meat that would be sliced for you. Three types of juices (orange, "green" which was pineapple/celery/something else, and a rotating juice like melon or fruit punch), coffee, tea. There were cold cuts, oatmeal, little parfaits, fresh cut fruit, yogurt, granola, lots of pastries. You could order omelets, French toast, pancakes & waffles, and specialty drinks with your server, and that was also part of the buffet. We would fill up on breakfast, sometimes shared a pizza at the pool for lunch, and then have dinner at one of the three restaurants. Ostra is more seafood focused, Chao Pescao is a tapas type place offering regional dishes from Latin America, and Rio Bhongo is the main family restaurant. Each has a slightly different vibe and music playing. The food was fresh, well prepared and presented. Not huge portions but enough to feel sated.

All dining is in open air restaurants, looking out on the bay.


Beaches & Pool
These look like what you can find on the website. I'm not much for hanging out by the water so we didn't actually spend much time there. They did have loungers, kayaks, paddle boards, and snorkeling equipment that were complimentary. The beach is not white soft sand, it's more grey/black reflecting that it comes from volcanic rock, and there are small pebbles as well. But it was fun to ride the hotel boat, called Nimbu, to the other beach where the Andaz Beach House was. The boat runs 8(maybe 9?)-12, and 1-4, subject to water conditions and will not be in service if the water is too rough. There is a shuttle van that can take you from the Beach House back to the main resort, but it takes much longer than the 10 minute boat ride, maybe 20-25 minutes? It is called the Peninsula Shuttle, and we rode it back from the "big" marina all the way to the Four Seasons just to check out the Four Seasons and that took almost 30 minutes. The Four Seasons has nicer beaches, but I liked the Andaz property better overall. The Four Seasons had fun hermit crabs to watch on the beach that's on the south side of the resort.

Wildlife
We saw capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, iguanas, little lizards, hummingbirds, and deer during our stay. Other guests said they saw coatis too. I'm pretty sure there were bats flying around at night but they're so quick and silent, I wasn't positive.

Communication
The Andaz likes to use WhatsApp to text with guests, so it would be a good idea to have it. You can text the concierge any question or request, and you'll get a response fairly quickly. Everybody speaks some English, but to varying degrees of fluency. Everyone we met was enthusiastic and encouraging about practicing your Spanish with you if you wanted. The people are really genuine and warm, I thought the employees were lovely.

Bottom Line
Would I return here? Maybe someday, I had a good time, but not in the near future. That's not a reflection on the resort itself though. This was our 4th time to Costa Rica, and I'm realizing that we really enjoy actively exploring parts of Costa Rica and that we would like to see more of the rest of the country. Staying at a resort is relaxing and enjoyable, but we've had the most fun when we're out exploring and doing day tours. So I think our next trip will involve more moving around to places.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hilton Tokyo Bay
Urayasu, Chiba, Japan
December 2022

Stayed here for 3 nights on a cash rate since the points rate was high when I went to book (80k/night). My Aspire $250 resort credit had just reset, so was able to use that. Plus, I upgraded DH’s Surpass and was able to use that resort credit as well. No upgrade bonus offer, but I’ll get the value out of the annual fee.

I booked the Twin Ocean room and put 4 adults since both kids are over the age of 6. We got a room with 4 single beds and a view of Tokyo Bay. We had nice clear days when we were there and could see Mt. Fuji. The room was spacious, comfortable, and clean.

I have Diamond status from holding the Aspire, which comes with breakfast for 2 people. At check-in, the nice front desk lady gave us breakfast vouchers for 4. She said it was to make-up for not being able to offer us a room upgrade. It was greatly appreciated since I would hate to pay the overpriced breakfast price for the kids.

Diamond status also has access to the lounge, but she said the breakfast selection is much less there. We could have the breakfast buffet at either lounge O or the Square. The offerings are essentially the same. We tried both and preferred lounge O because there are more drink machines. They have orange juice, grapefruit juice, and Calpis (Calpico in the US). You can select carbonated or not. We also had cappuccinos from the coffee machine. They offered us many tea options that we could order for being Diamond. We only tried the fruit tea one day, which was good.

The food selection is great with both Japanese and Western options. My favorites were the tamago and soba noodles. The pastries were a little disappointing, scrambled eggs were runny (seems to be the Japanese style as even made to order ones elsewhere were like that), and bacon was a bit soft. They also had smoked salmon, salad bar, various Japanese pickles and side dishes I don’t know the name of, curry, fried rice, miso soup, steamed dumplings, Hokkaido style French toast, omelet station we didn’t try, etc.

Location is just across the street from the Bayside monorail station. There’s a shuttle, but I don’t see the point lol. We bought a 2-day monorail pass from the ticket machines there since it’s cheaper than using our Suica for each trip. The hotel has a free shuttle to Maihama station, which we used when we were leaving.

There’s a 24-hour Lawson convenience store right in the hotel. We sent our luggage onward to the Andaz Tokyo. There’s a separate counter that does that instead of the front desk or concierge. They charge a 500 yen/item extra hotel fee on top of the usual delivery fee. They tried to teach me how to fill out the form, where every other place I’ve done it at just fills it out for me. But I messed it up, so they ended up doing it for me. I would think it’s better to write the hotel address in Japanese rather than me writing it in English.

Overall, a nice stay. We enjoyed our one day at Disneyland and one day at DisneySea. We stayed at the Sheraton last time. We like them both and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at either in the future.

 

[wanderlust7]

Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills
Tokyo, Japan
Hyatt Category 7
January 2023

Stayed here for 4 nights at 35k Hyatt points/night. A standard room fit our family of 4 (kids ages 10 and 14). This can be hard to find in Japan. Playing around with the website, looks like the limit is up to 3 adults and 1 child with the child definition being <=12. I booked a 2 Twin room and they had a rollaway already set up when we arrived (no charge). The luggage we had sent from the Hilton Tokyo Bay was also already in the room. DD and I shared a bed and it was fine.

The bathroom was nice and big. The round tub was great for soaking away sore legs. We enjoyed the long couch across the entire wall of window. There was very little storage, just 1 drawer in the cabinet by the door and one cubby in the bedside table. It wasn’t for lack of space, and I lamented the wasted opportunity. The cabinet could have had one more drawer, but it was just empty space. I ended up keeping most things in a suitcase on the luggage rack in the closet.

This being an Andaz, minibar snacks and non-alcoholic drinks are free. I found the 2 types of rice snacks too salty. The glass bottles of water were kept well stocked, which I appreciated since I drink a lot of water.

DH is Globalist, so we had breakfast for all 4 of us. This is something I really like about Hyatt status vs Hilton or Marriott, which only includes 2 people. Breakfast is buffet plus made-to-order items and coffee/tea you can order. The French toast from the menu was particularly good. The buffet had a nice selection of both Japanese and Western items.

Don’t think we got an upgrade as the view looked to be a regular city view. We liked it though and were fascinated by the construction of the building across the way. We watched as they lowered one disassembled section of the crane down to ground level.

The hotel is in a business district and the area was very quiet when we were there since it was over the New Year’s holiday. We left on January 4, that’s when people came back to work and the stores/restaurants opened back up. We were surprised to see even a Lawson convenience store was closed (the Ministop next to the hotel was open). Closest train station is Toranomon Hills Station. Toranomon Station is also close. They are 2 different stations (I was confused at first lol).

Once you enter the building, you need to find the elevators to the Andaz. This was confusing when we first arrived, and we had to ask someone. The lobby is on the 51st floor and the rooms are below via a different set of elevators. Going out we always had to go up to the lobby first, then down to the ground floor. This seems to be common in Japanese city hotels to take advantage of the view.

When we left, the front desk helped us send our checked luggage on to the Conrad Osaka (bypassing our Universal Studios hotel). They put it on our folio, and we earned Hyatt points on it.

We enjoyed our stay. Service was friendly and everything felt very upscale. The location isn’t the most convenient, but I have no regrets.


We could see Mt. Fuji from here too:

 

[wanderlust7]

Conrad Osaka
Osaka, Japan
95k Hilton points (used FHR and FNC)
January 2023

Stayed here for 3 nights with first 2 nights using the Amex Platinum $200 hotel credit (1 with DH’s card and 1 with mine) and last night using a free night certificate. The hotel is part of Fine Hotels and Resorts. Cash rate was about $350/night, so out of pocket cost after the credit wasn’t too bad. Standard rooms cost 95k Hilton points/night. In that respect, it was a great use of an FNC, but not so much in terms of the cash rate lol. In any case, my FNC was expiring so I used it.

FHR comes with a $125 credit to use at the hotel. At check-in, the FHR letter said this was worth 16,300 yen (a fair rate). We were only given a letter for the night under DH and not for the night under me, so I assumed we were only getting the credit for 1 night. This fits the new terms Amex added and I was fine with it. We were given the length of the 2 FHR nights to use it.

FHR also comes with breakfast for 2, though we would have had it anyways as Diamond members. We paid for the kids’ breakfast one morning using the credit, it was 2500 yen for DD (age 6-12) and 5000 yen for DS (13+ is adult price). The other mornings, we let them sleep in and got them convenience store breakfast.

Breakfast had the most amazing croissants. It was buffet plus a menu you can order with daily specials. I tried the eggs benedict okonomiyaki and the scrambled eggs with truffles (saw pieces of truffle but couldn’t really taste it). Buffet had a good selection, I liked that they had persimmon. The freshly sliced prime rib was very tender. I liked the mango juice, but it’s one that rotates, and they only had it one day.

One night we weren’t very hungry and decided to check out the lounge offerings (FHR as well as Diamond benefit). They don’t allow children under 12 after 7 pm, so we got DD a burger from the room service menu, using up more of the credit. Another night, running out of time to use the credit, we got all 3 desserts from the late-night menu. We needn’t have worried it was too much because they were tiny (but good).

The hotel policy is children under 18 can bed share for free, so we were able to stay in a Twin Deluxe room. On the Hilton website, if you try to enter the number of kids, it’ll think you want a separate bed for them and so will only let you enter a total of 3 people. It made me nervous not entering the right number of people staying, so I also e-mailed the hotel to confirm the policy.

The layout of the room is interesting. There’s a toilet room by the door, then the large bathroom with 2 walls that can slide open. I liked the counter along almost the entire length of one wall. But no drawers. So much missed opportunity. The luggage rack was on top of a cabinet with some small drawers. One drawer had a scale in it, and another had PJs that I moved out. I kept my suitcase on top of that with stuff still in packing cubes but couldn’t even keep it out of sight like at the Andaz. The bedside tables had small drawers, but I never find much use for those. The closet had 2 small shelves. DH thinks hotels put less storage so you’re less likely to forget things. Maybe he’s right, but it’s a pain living out of a suitcase.

Closest station is Higobashi. You can get there by exiting the Conrad entrance, going down some escalators and through underground walkways. There’s a convenience store close to the entrance in the same building.

We walked from Osaka Station when we arrived (about 15 min). We only had the carry-on then and it didn’t feel too bad. When we left, we took the KIX limo bus from the Herbis stop. We had the large luggage then and that walk felt more painful. There are yellow grooves on the sidewalks (for the blind) and we had to lift/drag the luggage whenever we needed to go over them. Should have taken a taxi.

On the subject of the limo bus, we were glad to have picked the Herbis stop and not the next one at Hotel New Hankyu because the bus was already full at our stop, and we saw a long line there. The limo bus ticket machine is a little weird. You need to put money in first. I was confused when I selected number of tickets, and nothing happened.

We had a lovely stay here. The hotel felt very high end and the lobby has amazing high windows overlooking the city and river.

 

[calypso726]

Waldorf Astoria Washington DC

A Hilton property. Used two free night certificates from the Aspire card. $50 per night food credit offered to us upon check in. We were upgraded to the 7th floor.

The hotel used to be the old post office in DC and there are still nods to the history and some original aspects are maintained.

We came for the cherry blossoms and absolutely enjoyed a weekend here in the city. The hotel is very conveniently located and we were able to easily walk to our White House tour, the Tidal basin and other scenic locations.