MDtR-Chicago

Holiday Inn Express ALBANY - DOWNTOWN (Albany, New York)

What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Eh.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
"1 King Bed Leisure Nonsmoking" - no upgrade but got my request to be away from the highway

How are the rooms?
One of the firmest beds I've ever felt. It was unreal. Woke up with a happy back and a sore neck...

Otherwise, everything a little worn, but felt cleaner than when I was there a few years back. They now have access to the parking lot of the abandoned building across the street, so the parking situation is much easier. They've also set up an extensive self-service local information and attractions desk in the breakfast area, along with local trivia posted around the property. Actually learned quite a bit.

How is the exec. lounge?
N/A

What was good and what was bad?
Good:

• Breakfast ran until 10am during the week
• Great location to walk to State Street for business
• Lots of free parking

Bad:

• Really firm bed... REALLY firm...
• Still don't like the material they used in the bathroom - looks dirty when it's not
• As convenient as the location is, the immediate surroundings in the block around the hotel aren't great - the highway off-ramp on two sides, an abandoned building, and the bus station

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
I keep saying no, but end up here anyway. It was only 15k points and I wanted the free breakfast........

Nickolash27

Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong

What is your Priority Club status?
Spire

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Deluxe, upgraded to Premier

How are the rooms?
Rectangular, with a view of other high buildings across the street. Comfortable bed - quite firm as I like. Shower was powerful, always a bonus. Good work desk with plenty of plugs, plus an armchair.

How is the exec. lounge?
N/A on this trip

What was good and what was bad?
Good:

• Welcomed as a Spire, given selection of biscuits in the room plus HK $100 voucher for the restaurants
• Good location, close to harbour

Bad:
Nothing

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Yes.

MDtR-Chicago

Holiday Inn ROSSLYN @ KEY BRIDGE
Arlington, Virginia - Washington, DC Area

What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked "1 King Bed Executive Nonsmoking" - they tried to find a suite for an upgrade but couldn't free one up; got a corner room but it was the same as the regular rooms

500 points for the amenity posted

How are the rooms?
Loud. I could clearly hear the unhappy person in the next room coughing late into the evening, as well as planes landing at DCA. Room was in good condition and overall clean but found some stray hairs.

On the positive side, there was a nice balcony on the room, so I could get some fresh air.

How is the exec. lounge?
N/A. Had breakfast in the top floor restaurant with panoramic views. Food was ok; staff went out of their way to make sure everyone was happy. As I recall, breakfast was $9.95.

What was good and what was bad?
Good:

• GREAT tourism location - 2 blocks to the Metro then 2 stops to the White House
• Lots of FREE parking
• Employees everywhere

Bad:

• Room was loud
• The whole property a little worn
• No night time convenience store nearby and no options within the hotel (I asked for an aspirin and the suggestion was to wait until the morning?)

The secret to the parking garage: There are three levels and they are NOT connected to each other! The top level garage entrance, around the corner from the lobby entrance, had far more open parking spots than the main entrance next to the lobby.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Rate was under $80 on the weekend - would definitely consider again for a tourism stay.

nicolas75

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire Royal Ambassador

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
It was okay

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest advanced rate and got a suite on fourth floor.

How are the rooms?
Around 50sqm
Bedroom with large bed, desk, table.
Flat screen television with large selection of international channels

Corridor with closet

Bathroom with bathtub with a view

Separate living room with table and sofa

Dated design (but room perrfectly maintained)
Quiet

What was good and what was bad?

Good
Good value
Convenient location even if not in the historical district, closed to metro
Very smiling staff

Bad
Rooms are dated
Minibar at extortionate price

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club points? Would you return?
Convenient airport hotel for late arrival
A renovation of the hotel will be more than welcomed though

Pictures of the city

Saral

Hotel Indigo, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked king executive, upgraded to a king with a balcony, but with non of the king with a balcony amenities, ie bottle of prosecco, alcohol in the mini bar

How are the rooms?
Fine, maybe starting to need some tlc

How is the exec. lounge?
N/A

What was good and what was bad?
Nice balcony, comfy bed, good aveda bath products. Reception staff not as good as normal they are usually excellent, didn't seem to care this time

Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
£85 so good value

Would you return?
Yes

LaphroaigAndRibeye

Crowne Plaza Fire CenterBarcelona

What is your Priority Club status?
Spire Elite

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yep!

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
I booked a Deluxe room (I think this is their lowest, base level) and was upgraded to a Two Bed Suite (their highest level, I think, without being a club room.) Prices at 67% more expensive; nice!

How are the rooms?
The suite was very nice; very spacious, cool balcony, couldn't have been nicer.

How is the exec. lounge?
Fantastic. Huge lounge. Soft drinks + alcohol available all day. Very plentiful breakfast buffet. Evening canapes are pretty filling; some variety from day-to-day, but wish the signage was better.

What was good and what was bad?
Great location. I don't love that they won't provide free lounge access to Spire members like some other CPs do; it was 20 EUR/person, a little less than the normal 25 EUR/person rate for non-elite. But the lounge is great; honestly, it's still definitely worth paying the money for in my opinion.

BAD: Their food logistics on New Year's Eve were nightmarish. With no prior warning to guests (or even the staff), management had all the menus in the hotel swapped out with more limited menus and prices that were 2x higher. The restaurant was fully booked up, the bar would only serve $28 USD hamburgers and other stuff from this limited menu, and even standard room service was not available. It took an angry crowd of guests forming at the front desk before the F&B manager agreed to make the standard room service available; that was pretty ridiculous.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?[/QUOTE]
Hell yes. Even at 2 weeks in advance for 4 nights over NYE weekend, I got a quote through Citi Prestige Concierge for 800 EUR / $879.40 USD on the Deluxe room. My 4th night rebate was 244.71 EUR / $269 USD. And we were upgraded to that awesome Suite. So, total paid was 555 EUR / 599.06 USD, or about $149.76 USD/night (not including lounge access).

Do it!

miadukes

Holiday Inn Tampa -Westshore Airport

What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum Elite

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, the hotel was nice, room was comfortable and the staff friendly.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

I booked on points and booked the King Leisure and was upgraded to teh 11th floor King Executive

How are the rooms?

Room was no bigger than the Econolodge in Orlando. The bath was big and spaced out, the room was laid out with a desk and chair. Bed was very comfortable as were the pillows. It was not a small room but nothing really large either. It was fairly average size.

How is the exec. lounge?

Having stayed over the weekend, I am going to go with poor. The lounge was open in that you could get in and get soda but it did not seemed to be re-stocked over the weekend. No water by saturday night and very very minimal snacks available as compared to friday night. Breakfast is only m-f I think the website says.

What was good and what was bad?
Good was that the hotel was nice and the staff was attentive and friendly. The room was nice and so was the bed. On those accounts I would stay here again.

Bad was parking was limited and then you were bumped to the garage, really no big deal but it was a bit confusing from back there to run the corridors, also, the club lounge floor on the weekends it not worth the extra they are going to charge if the lounge is bare.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

I would return if in the are and I was booking on points or the rates were in low. I think I checked and it was $204 for the night in our room. I am just cheap and don't think this was worth $204 dollars a night but others might see it different.


Overall is was a nice property (the little we saw) and like i said on god price I would pick this again since its located next to highway and convenient for a lot of downtown tampa places.

nicolas75

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire Royal Ambassador

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Not impressed

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest advance rather rate and got - after negociation - a superior room on last floor.

How are the rooms?
Tiny: less than 25sqm
Bedroom with bed, desk.
Flat screen television with poor selection of international channels (basically mostly news channels, and no smart HD television to switch from one language to another)
Bathroom with shower only. Etro amenities
Charming terrace with view over the roofs of the city
Very quiet
iPhone dock
Kettle (surprising not to have an expresso machine at Rome)

What was good and what was bad?

Good
- Fantastic location, in one of the most charming districts of the city, full of great restaurants, boutiques, cafés
- Small but pleasant indoor pool at spa
- Rooftop terrace restaurant
- A bottle of Prosecco and cheese were offerred

Bad
- Very poor design (a boutique hotel is not supposed to be a property with small rooms but with great design: definitely not the case here): soulless atmopshere, cheap furniture, even more terrible lobby.
It is all the more disappointing than the property is located in the creative area of the town
- Very poor Spire recognition (had to argue to get a room on last floor, despite the fact the hotel was far from being fully occupied)
- No bikes to be rented at the hotel
- Despite being quite recent, hotel starts to show its age due to poor maintenance (paint peeling of the pool)

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club points? Would you return?
The hotel is too expensive for what you get.
Not convinced by the hotel (but I am afraid there is not such choice as IC will close soon)

Pictures of the city

Pictures of the hotel

scubaccr

HIE - Clark's Quay, Singapore

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire (Royal Ambassador)

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Neutral experience overall

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked :-
At reception checked before booking.
Informed that if I now booked standard I'd get twin bedded room not queen. Was going to not bother and instead goto HI Atrium, when reception offered Accessible Room which had Queen bed.


How are the rooms?
Small even by HIE standards. Queen bed up against side and back wall, so can only get in from one side. 2 foot (60cm) gap at side of bed with bedside table and storage closset partition wall. As such no usual small table and chair most HIEs have.
Disabled room xx01 is end of floor and slightly wider, extra 1m at end of bed. Largeish TV on wall, plenty of channels.
Room itself pleaseantly decorated, in good condition as expected with hotel only 3years old.

Other side of wall is a shower only bathroom. Being a disabled room was open floor wetroom, no idea if standard rooms are open floors or have shower cubicals.

Room itself was pleaseant and quiet, bed was comfy and I slept well

HIE included usual buffet breakfast which whilst nothing special, was upto spec/scratch for an HIE offering

What was good and what was bad?

Good
+ Only 7min walk to Clarkes Quay and Brewerkz that I wanted to visit
+ Comfy and Quiet room, I slept well

Neutral
o breakfast restaurant layout, apart from a few tables in food area, you sit miles away, a real pain
o only one coffee machine for white coffee (they have another that does black w/o milk coffee)

Bad
- bottle neck queuing for coffees at only one coffee machine
- white coffee m/c breaks and cant be fixed SO no coffee for beakfast
- WORSE same error (no coffee beans) has occurred before (multiple times)
SO why the heck has the HIE not purchase a 2nd white coffee machine!

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club points?
o My rate was s$205++ Some nights the IC is only s$218++, so HIE not always value
o Nearby HI Atrium same night was s$195++ but wrong direction for me as further away from Clarkes Quay and Brewerkz

Would you return?
Due to rooms and beds against 2walls, I will only return on solo occupancy stays, and not for multinight stays.

meremale

CP Bangkok Lumpini Park ^
March-2016

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Gold

Were you happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Club Deluxe room.
Upgraded to corner junior suite (but on the lower 25th floor).

How are the rooms?
Corner junior suite is triangular in shape with a separate living room and bedroom. Spacious layout with a great city view. HDMI TV connection is a little bit spotty though. WIFI is great in the living room but also a little bit spotty in the bedroom.

What was your welcome gift?
Free drink voucher. Some sweets and fruits.

How is the exec. lounge?
Good breakfast selection (asian selection - noodles/congee, american selection - order to cook eggs/bacon/salad, continental selection - cold cuts/pastries/bread)
Evening cocktail selection was also quite good.

What was good and what was bad?
Plus: Location (near Saladeang BTS & Silom MRT). Recognition for IHG elite members.
Minuses: Limited sun at pool area. Small gym. TV channel selection quite limited.

Value for $? Would you return?
Yes.

LaphroaigAndRibeye

Crowne Plaza Dubai Deira (Dubai, UAE)

What is your Priority Club status?
Spire (Ambassador)

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Definitely!

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked a standard room with points and requested room with 2 beds; upgraded to Executive Club Twin.

How are the rooms?
Huge! My Executive Club shows as 30 sqm., which is the same as the Deluxe, but I guess the club rooms have higher floors and nice views. The beds are nice and firm, there's a work desk, various inputs on the TV for VGA, S-Video, HDMA, etc., Also a spacious amount of floor with a couple chairs and a table over toward the window.

How is the exec. lounge?
Fantastic! Access was granted as a Spire member. Overall, it's as good as any lounge I've been in and even rivals the IC Istanbul I enjoyed last week. In fact, CP Deira is probably my new favorite. It's a large, well appointed room with some TVs, many tables, some couches, computers, etc. We didn't see the breakfast because Club access also entitles you to free breakfast downstairs in the Spice Island restaurant. There are refreshments throughout the day. Evening apps/drinks are great; they had a variety of food options like paneer tikka, quesadillas, stuffed jalapeños, and fish kofta, plus your usual assortment of beer, wine, and liquor. Lots of variety; the next night it was lamb samosas, chicken tikka, roasted cauliflower, and tomato penne. Excellent!!

The lounge is also open until midnight, which is later than most. I would say the ambiance is not quite as cozy as some others due to it being so big, but the quality of the offerings is among the best and I would choose it over others any day.

Seriously, when is the last time you saw lounge food that looks this good?



What was good and what was bad?

Good:

• Spire recognition is great; upgraded to a Club Room with a nice view, given some BOGO drink coupons for the bars, and lounge access.
• Lounge access also includes the breakfast buffet downstairs in the Spice Island restaurant, which is one of the better breakfast buffets I've seen at any CP or IC.
• The rooms are fine; not over the top, but no problems either.
• Friendly staff that take care to remember names
• Heated pool, hot tub, and pool bar with a great view.
• 10 minute walk to the metro station, which is very easy to use, and doesn't take much longer than a taxi out of and into the Deira area.
• 3-5 minute walk to a supermarket

Bad:

• No bedside outlets unless you want to unplug the alarm clock.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Spent 25K points/night and am upgraded into a room that normally costs $148 US, so the $0.0059 cpp is about average. But in terms of the overall value, 25K points/night for a nice hotel, a great lounge, scrumptious breakfast, etc. feels like a steal.Would definitely return!

BotB

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Gold

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes. Nothing special but okay.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked a king bed non smoking leisure room (whatever that is supposed to mean)...received the same.

How are the rooms?
Clean, decent size. fairly spartan but functional. Nice that there were opening windows in the room and bathroom. decent bed. Small bathroom but functional.

What was good and what was bad?

Good
very good value. Friendly check-in staff.

Bad
poor location. (it was close to a customer but otherwise wouldn't have stayed here). Told not to talk or show phone when walking to restaurant nearby by front desk staff (trying to be helpful but hmm, nice area.)
breakfast room staff = couldn't care less about guests.
Asked night before if possible to just get coffee or juice one very early morning (just 5 minutes before breakfast should open and was told firmly no.)
only 6 rooms on each floor and quite small so hear hallway noise.
entrance driveway is ridiculously small and tight for any car...enjoy that experience...

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club points? Would you return?
Decent value for money but I would stay elsewhere in a better quality hotel and area. If budget is limited or close to something you need then it is clean and decent just nothing special. Be careful walking around the area.

nicolas75

HIX São Paulo has not the same location as IC, but I don't think it is "poor":
- safe area
- public gardens closeby
- many pleasant restaurants in the area

YYCowboy

HIX Clarke Quay Singapore

What is your Priority Club status?

Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?

No

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

Booked Standard Queen on 25k points x 2 nights, received same

How are the rooms?

First one had a slanted window and faced the front, decent view but had a dead bug in the sink. Went back to front desk and asked for a second room, this time facing the back with normal window, nothing special.

How is the exec. lounge?

N/A

What was good and what was bad?

Nothing was good, Breakfast was too crowded - didn't eat there. It's about a 15 minute walk to MRT & Chinatown which is incredibly long in the 35 celsius heat. The front desk was indifferent when I told them about the issue with the first room and not even a half-hearted apology was offered. Checking out - asked them to call a cab, acknowledged my request but nobody did, ended up calling an Uber myself.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

Not for a million points. Singapore in general is not a place I'd return to, rude service staff everywhere who wouldn't know the definition of 'hospitality' if you threw a dictionary at them.

YYCowboy

CP Hong Kong Kowloon East (TKO)

What is your Priority Club status?

Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?

Somewhat

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

Booked 1 night on cheapest advanced purchase rate Superior King, upgraded to Deluxe King

How are the rooms?

Fantastic, huge and great modern decor. However my shower wouldn't drain and flooded when I attempted to shower. Also the wine glasses were dusty but they replaced them promptly when asked, so no complaints there.

How is the exec. lounge?

Went to their top floor restaurant which I guess doubles as their lounge, had a free drink as part of their welcome package.

What was good and what was bad?

Other than the bathroom flooding everything was quite good, check-in girl was very polite if a bit robotic in a scripted kind of way, I can do Cantonese but she spoke way too fast for me to comprehend fully. Porter and room service were both super quick and friendly. Great perks for Plats, no comp'd breakfast, only a discount but there are so many good eats even in the mall there's really no point.

The front desk manager checking out seemed somewhat indifferent when I told her the bathroom flooded though

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

Willing to give them one more go next time, HKG is a regular stop for me every year or so and I quite enjoy the CP's location attached to the MTR and the Popcorn Mall.