Has anyone stayed here fairly recently? We're planning a visit soon and will be staying on the Gold Level. Will we like it?
You will love it. Even though I live in Victoria sometimes I check in just for fun (or when my mother in law visits). If you love old school hotel bars you will love "The Bengal Room". Just a fantastic room with great service and excellent martinis. The Willow Stream is a great spa if you enjoy that sort of thing. However the best thing about the Empress is the location. Easy walking distance to everywhere in town.
Cascadia...
Thanks for the input... We have actually decided to go with the Pierre Marquis, we had been leaning that way, being "kidless" it seems that it will be a better choice. Already confirmed on the updated rooms (eg. Not Tower Rooms) We will try your food reccomendation as well. Cheers!!
Ny husband and I just returned from a 4 night stay at the Fairmont Vancouver Waterfront. The hotel is in a great location and many rooms have water views. We had reserved a cityview room on the 9th floor Concierge/Gold level, but were upgraded to a harborview room (my husband is a Premier President's Club member).
The room itself was about 400 square feet, with a king sized bed, work desk, comfortable chair and ottoman, tv armoire, bar, and a fairly small but nice bath with tub and a make up mirror. There was a large picture window with a great view of the ferry boat landing and harbor. Cds were available for the clock/cd player.
The Gold Lounge was an excellent benefit, with a free extensive breakfast each morning, offering cereals, yogurt, fresh fruit, pastries, breads, cheeses, meats, and a hot entree, as well as beverages. In the evening, cocktail hour hors d'oeuvres were available, as well as an extensive honor bar (although the majority of people using the lounge did not appear to have any intention of paying for these drinks). The lounge had an outside seating area, with a view of Stanley Park and the Harbor, which was unused during our visit due to the constant rain. There was also a selection of newspapers available in the lounge daily and two newspapers were delivered to our room each morning.
The hotel has a fitness room, which we did not use. There are only a few pieces of equipment and they are rather old. There is a small outdoor pool as well.
All of the staff were very helpful and pleasant. There was a very rude man making multiple loud phone calls in the Gold Lounge (despite several signs asking not to use cell phones there) and when I complained to the Concierge, she quickly asked him to stop.
The only complaint I have about this hotel is due to the ongoing construction to enlarge the Convention Center across the street and in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. The pile drivers start banging away early in the morning and don't stop until about 6 pm. There can be 3-4 going on at once and they make a teriffic amount of noise which you can clearly hear in your room. If you plan on spending any time in your room or sleeping in, you really should consider staying in a hotel away from the waterfront for the next few years.
Programs: BA Gold, SPG Gold, IC Plat RA, Fairmont Plat...
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Fairmont Southampton Bermuda
Fairmont Southampton
Oct 05
This is my second stay with my family
The hotel and country are both great.
Climate is very good
Can strongly recomment the Jet Skiing
Request a high floor and sea view where possible
Gold Floor Rooms look exactly the same as deluxe rooms (and they're pretty similar to the Fairmont Rooms apparently)- however the gold floor access is well worth it - staff couldn't be more helpful or friendlier than the Gold Floor ones. Reception + Concierge in lobby usually busy
Great indoor pool + jacuzzis which guests can use for free between 18.30-24.00 or you can pay - it's in the Willow Stream Spa area - very quiet +empty +good views.
Junior Suites - quite large - mine had very noisey air con though
Outdoor Pool is small + busy
Beach is great - beautifulsand + sea
Can strongly recomend the Newport Room + Waterlot Inn (both seriously expensive though)
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Turnberry Isle Resort Miami
My wife and I stayed here for 3 nights after our honeymoon cruise. It was the perfect way to end the honeymoon (nearby shopping, restaurants and the beach club). We loved the pool which was relaxed and the service was good.
I used a suite upgrade certificate and a "buy 2 get 1 night free" coupon from my premier package (now platinum, too bad we weren't then!). We asked for a Jasmine Suite as they are newer and larger, but the first night they had us in an older suite in the Orchid (I think that is the name) wing. After moving to the HUGE Jasmine suite, we realized that we like the other, smaller and older, suite better for just 2 of us. The Jasmine suite was sparse and the TV was on one wall, with the couch all the way in the other corner. hah, we had to drag the couch over just to be able to watch TV. I suspect as platinum we would have gotten a "Tower Suite", which looked quite nice.
Staff was nice, except for a horrible waiter during breakfast one morning. We were so annoyed that we just grabbed some fruit from a nearby grocery store so that we wouldn't have to bother with them the next 2 mornings. Supper at "The Verandah" was nice, the food was a good value, but were there on a slower night and they seemed a little disorganized.
We ate the next evening at "The Grill" - the golf course restaurant. It was laid back, very nice and very well priced.
A welcome fruit dish (4 or 5 apples/oranges) was delivered on arrival, and a bottle of champagne was in the room on our last night (would have made more sense on the first night?) along with some chocolate covered strawberries.
We had a 5am wakeup call to go to the airport and when we didn't pickup after the second call (we were just too dazed to figure out the call was coming on another line) they sent up two nice guys to ring the doorbell and make sure we got up.
If you plan to go to downtown Miami from the hotel, just take a taxi. We thought we would take the bus for some reason (there was an "express" bus listed, but it was not express) and ended up spending and hour on the bus going in to the city. There really isn't anything to see in Miami, for us at least, so it was a boring trip. Time at the pool would have been better spent. I guess that is the point of a resort after all.
We didn't go into the Willow Stream Spa either even though we could have had free access. It looked very nice from the outside, but we just never got around to it.
We would definitely go back, and my wife said that she would have even preferred to have just gone to Turnberry Isle for a longer period of time and skipped the cruise... Not that the cruise wasn't great, but Turnberry Isle is that great.
I recently stayed there celebrating a major anniversary.I had asked in advance if they could do something special.When I arrived the bellman took us to a wonderful suite annd said we had already been checked in.
In the room were fresh flowers, chocolate strawberries and other goodies.We had asked for reservations at two of the five highest rated restaurants in Phoenix. When we got to the restaurants, they were aware we were celebrating an anniversary and did special things .This was totally unexpected.
In the four star Mexican restaurant at the hotel,my wife was singled out to receive a special song and again it was noted we were celebrating an anniversary.I could go on and on but the bottom line is I want to go back because of the quality in every area of the hotel
The hotel itself is very large and spread out. There was a lot of convention business there but it never felt rushed or busy. It is connected to the golf course where they play the Phoenix Open.There are several pools that are nice and a Willow Springs Spa which costs $49 a day unless Platinum or Premeir and then it is free.
This is my favorite Fairmont so far.I think I have been to ten.
I stayed there for five days in August in the tower which is the newer section.The room had a great view. Otherwise it was very average.
The hotel has a good location but there was nothing special about it except the view from the Tower
The hotel feels old and doesn't seem to have much going for it except its history. The atmosphere was that of a three star large urban hotel.I had expected more.
In fairness, my only food experience was with room service and I had very little contact with the employees there. The ones I did meet were not rude but not particularly friendly or helpful.
I did get a good rate but would probably try another hotel if going back to the city.
I had a wonderful visit to the Sonoma Mission Inn in August.
I was warmly welcomed and taken to a suite at the back of the property.It was a very nice room with a nice view of the garden.Eventhough the resort is very close to a busy highway, it feels like it is in a remote location.
The room service was excellent.The food was great and the servers really did their job with enthusiasm.The staff in general was very friendly and seem to want to help you have an enjoyable experience.
The spa blends in with the rest of the resort. It is built over a mineral springs and it is truly a wonderful place to relax.There are cold pools, hot pools, steam,sauna and more. As I recall, there is a garden and small pool outside the spa which are quite attractive.
It is probably an hour or so from San Francisco and is an excellent base for touring in wine country.
I am heading up to the Fairmont Copley Plaza for 3 nights in January, I have two rooms booked currently. One is a regular room on the gold floor, while the other is signature room. Anyone have an opinions on which one I should take?
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Take the Gold. The Lounge is FANTASTIC: Multiple meal presentations. Your wake up call is in person with hot coffee/tea service. Upgraded bath amentities too. I have never had a bad room in this place. As a premier, I think even without upgrade coupons, they tend to give you a better room.
Take the Gold. The Lounge is FANTASTIC: Multiple meal presentations. Your wake up call is in person with hot coffee/tea service. Upgraded bath amentities too. I have never had a bad room in this place. As a premier, I think even without upgrade coupons, they tend to give you a better room.
I do not have any more upgrade certificates, I only have a basic gold room booked, but am hoping for the upgrade as premier.
