I thought I start a thread to post Royal Ambassador experiences:
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
- How are the rooms?
- How is the exec. lounge?
- What was good and what was bad?
- Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?: Yes indeed. This is a very nice hotel and the location is excellent.
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive? We booked a superior room and got a suite. Also got water & fruit on arrival, and on New Year's Eve when other guests (in our party... not 6C members) got splits of champagne, we got a full bottle.
- How are the rooms? Very nice. Separate living room with it's own TV, as well as king size bedroom with TV in there too. Bathroom older but in fine shape.
- How is the exec. lounge? I don't think I knew about exec. lounges when I was there. But we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the hotel, since we were in Rome.
- What was good and what was bad? The hotel facade was under renovation at the time, as well as the rooftop garden. We wanted to be on the roof for the city fireworks at midnight. It took a bit of coaxing, since it was officially closed to the public. But at 11:40 we were permitted access to one of the best views of the city's fireworks.
- Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return? We got a decent rate using their "internet" rate. And considering the dollar to euro rate was $1.03/1E, it was a very good deal. We would definitely return.
I thought I start a thread to post Royal Ambassador experiences:
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
- How are the rooms?
- How is the exec. lounge?
- What was good and what was bad?
- Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
There are others on this list who are much more experienced Royal Ambassadors than I. However, since becoming one in March 2004, I've had the following experiences, all of which I would characterize as very good to excellent, as well as very good value for the money.
London: Two room suite, very nice, with two bathrooms and nice separate living room. We entertained guests there and it was very comfortable. The executive lounge must be booked as part of the original reservation (at least that's what they told us). It is very nice with courteous service and good amenities, including free high speed internet on working computers. Sometimes crowded, however, as was the coffee shop downstairs for breakfast.
Edinburgh: Two room suite, very large and nice. The hotel is a bit older as others have discussed, but the service and room were excellent. Did not see the executive lounge if there is one. I believe we booked a standard room, and received what appeared to be the best room in the house. Excellent deal and definitely would return.
Barclay: Two room suite, actually similar to the London hotel. Spacious and nicely appointed for New York. No charge for anything in the minibar, beverages or candy (unfortunately!). Did not check the executive lounge, if any, and none was offered. Showed up early and they gave me a room to shower and take a nap until mine was ready.
Washington, DC -- Two visits, both times received a two room suite. First was an "oval" suite with a very elegant oval sitting area done in gold and red. Literally the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in, booked for the standard room price (which, however, was not cheap). Cleaned out the two minibars entertaining without charge for the beverages but, thank goodness, the candy was charged and therefore deterred further vices. Second visit received another two room "executive" suite, very nicely appointed and very spacious. I did not check out the executive floor, if any, and none was offered.
New Orleans -- beautiful and very large two room suite on the club floor. The hotel seemed to be largely deserted (it was over Thanksgiving), which may explain the particularly nice suite and club floor access. The club attendant was superb, very friendly and willing to please. The club itself was a bit small, and the food was not even close to London's. However, the truly superb room and the very low room rate (AAA member rate, $125 per night), not to mention being in New Orleans made this perhaps the very best return on the $.
I know that others might chime in with negative stories, and I don't wish to sound like a pollyanna, but as I have previously said, I find RA status to be a real, true delight, and the rare loyalty program which yields tangible and constant benefits for customer loyalty. I have now moved as much business as possible to IC, and am planning vacations around, in part, my RA status.
Programs: DL (suckered me into) Diamond, ICH Plat RA, SPG Plat
Posts: 163
Excellent thread. I think this will be useful to all RA's.
Does anybody have any experience with the IC HongKong or IC Grand Stanford HongKong? I will be staying in HK during the holidays and want to see how they treat their RA's.
Hong Kong IC:
- Harbour view room (cheapest i could find). Upgrade to Harb. view junior suite.
- Room is nice, big bathtub
- Club not included
- view and service is good
- Expensive, but worth it. return any time (have been there several times)
Singapore:
- Bigger room (about 50 % bigger than normal), no club
- Nice, but not really special
- Club not incl.
- If you get a good rate: yes. return depends on price for the room
Muscat, Oman, Al Bustan
- 2 room suite. As usual booked the cheapest room i could find
- very nice and spacious
- not included
- Seems that the hotel is selling rooms to package tourists. So not the normal clientele.
- Good value, return yes
Dubai
- Bigger room (almost twice as big)
- Nice, but not in any way special
- no club access. They have a small ambassador lounge which is unmanned and a joke.
- ok value, return depends on price for room
San Jose, Costa Rica (actually there right now, writing from my room)
- upgrade to club floow
- ok, just a standard room
- small, in the hallway behind the elevator. a little disappointing
- Very friendly
- Stay again: yes
Barkley NY
- upgrade to two room corner suite.
- For NY standards very nice.
- No lounge/club incl.
- Slow service, understaffed (concierge, room service etc)
- Ok value, Depends on price, but less likely
Santiago, Chile
- Corner room on club floor, booked cheapest room
- ROmm was ok, but small
- Nice, good selection
- Location is a bit from the center of town and the lobby area (coffee shop etc) need a face lift.
- Ok value, return likely
I'd be curious to know RA treatment here, because they've always treated us well as just PC members (not even gold at the time). We book deluxe rooms on our corporate rate.
As PCs, we got the booked room, a few chocolates and a small fruit plate. Bottled water is included in all rooms.
As Ambassadors, we got upgraded to a business room, the same number of chocolates, a big fruit bowl, a bottle of mineral water and free breakfast at the restaurant on the mezzanine. (I didn't confirm if it was only for 1 person or 2). Welcome gift was: passport holder, luggage tag, memo holder, business card holder, boxed soap set.
As RA, I can't even imagine how much nicer it would get !
Upgrade to Large room on Club Floor - not a suite but from looking at the floor plan the room seemed the largest on the floor and about the same size as the suites. Received 1/2 bottle of white hungarian wine, which was .... local. Fruit bowl was replenished daily however the complimentary mineral water was never replaced and so I took the not as tasty nestle bottles from the mini-bar (for which there was no charge).
as I understand, PC gold vs platinum should not be relevant when it comes to Ambassador benefits. So, to relate the benefits we received at the BKK IC: my husband, who is PC gold, gets offered free breakfast at the mezzanine level restaurant (along with the welcome gift, fruit, water, upgrade to business room I mentioned above). I, platinum, received the above, but WITHOUT the breakfast ! Not sure what conclusion to draw about Ambassador benefits at this hotel .....
I just stayed at the IC London for 3 nights using points reward and got a better than average room, not a Jr. Suite (nor was I expecting one) but on the Club floor with Club privileges. Not bad.
__________________ 8 Million Miles and counting ........
as I understand, PC gold vs platinum should not be relevant when it comes to Ambassador benefits. So, to relate the benefits we received at the BKK IC: my husband, who is PC gold, gets offered free breakfast at the mezzanine level restaurant (along with the welcome gift, fruit, water, upgrade to business room I mentioned above). I, platinum, received the above, but WITHOUT the breakfast ! Not sure what conclusion to draw about Ambassador benefits at this hotel .....
I would have complained instantly, and it would have been rectified either through their manager, or through the ambassador helpline.
Shareholder earlier today was explaining how the Asian properties often confuse the 2 programs, and now we have possibly an example of status within the P.C. program being confused (gold is the best in the olympics, so who knows maybe the staff thought so too.)
Last edited by tristan727; Dec 7, 04 at 12:42 pm..
I just stayed at the IC London for 3 nights using points reward and got a better than average room, not a Jr. Suite (nor was I expecting one) but on the Club floor with Club privileges. Not bad.
I am not amused with my hometown's IC's policy on upgrades, as a Plat Ambassador I would expect an upgrade, but my reply to such a request was basically no (I will have to check my old emails on this to clarify, but it was certainly in the negative whatever my reasonable request was).
Now you as a Royal Ambassador didn't even get a junior suite, I also recall other FT posts about this hotel's upgrading policy as being in the negative - has anyone had a great upgrade at all from them?
