paul2

Why don't you unsubscribe Namaguide as you are obviously not happy. I have to say as a subsciber I appreciate not just the guide but the service and attention I get thanks to Gallivanters assistance time after time.

Kagehitokiri

has anyone brought up the topic of "more" areas/properties directly with gallivanters?

?

sources compilation >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post11345980

namaguide

Hi Paul - I am not saying I am not happy. Ian saying that we need to read more. GG concentrates on club sandwiches, tod's, Bali, India and Thailand.

What about hotel splendido, what about north island and the FE in the Seychelles. What about the fD and St Regis in Bora Bora and the Le Taha'a in Le Taha'a. When will the FD in St Petersburg be scheduled for. Are you just happy with the usual far eastern properties and the George V.

Ms Middlehurst - if you are reading this please take it a constructive feedback. More travel please and more club sandwich.

mike_la_jolla

No. My point is that she gets vastly different treatment due to her position and celebrity, making her reviews questionable and sometimes *wildly* inaccurate. Lyn, and quite a few people here, clearly don't recognize this.
She totally ignored my input, dismissing it entirely. So this is not a true statement. Is there some inner circle of friends that she pays attention to?
Is it perhaps possible to hold her to a higher standard? Most interesting to me is "How would this hotel treat a 'normal' person?" Gallivanter's doesn't answer that question very well, if at all.

namaguide

I think I will start to agree with you actually. Does anyone know what is her professional background.

I find the whole offering so the 90's. It annoys me great deal when I read about club sandwiches and Tods.

I think she only goes to the hotels they know her and to the ones she wants to go. She ignores a great deal of other great properties. For example she has never done the FS in buenos Aires.

Funny enough, I was the week before she was arriving at Amantaka and the whole resort was in a military operation to clean and tidy everything. I asked the GM what was going on and he said that they were preparing for Lyn's arrival.

If she really were objective and impartial she should make it clear that she does not accept any perks from the properties she is visiting.

One could only guess how much she will pay at Amanzo'e.

It makes me therefore wonder whether she only goes to the properties that offer her free accommodation?

I was laughing at the latest issue with the excuse she came up with about not visiting the Bvlgari and the Armani!

Equally, Bali which she visited few times but never a cover for any of the COMO properties. And I know for a fact Christina is not the person who will lure critics in. It is more like 'if you want to review it come and pay for it".

This now reminded me for Turks and Caicos. When will she be there next I wonder.

On another note her visits in all the properties are during off season. Please give us a review of Amanpuri at Christmas. No free rooms during that time and a complete mayhem especially when Kate is around!

RichardInSF

This is an interesting thread, it's a great of example of the kind of discussion that's pretty much only found on FT.

It is now pretty clear that

1. Some people think that GG's geographic coverage is not broad enough.

2. Some people think that GG's owner gets better treatment than less well-known guests.

Interesting points have been made both for and against. However, it seems to me that we've explored these issues enough for the time being. So I suggest that we should let them rest for a while.

If I got that wrong, please PM me and let me know your thinking.

Thanks,
RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels

Kagehitokiri

moved

Raffles

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Revolution

FS Buenos Aires has been reviewed a few years ago.
Begawan Giri was also reviewed before it became a COMO property.
The Metropolitan Bangkok and Cocoa Island, two COMO properties, were also reviewed.

quitecontrary

I think this post speaks volumes - would everyone who had a disastrous stay be contacted by the hotel's President of Operations and offered the complimentary stay. This is actually the second such occasion I know of where this has happened.

I have a friend who reviews top hotels and restaurants incognito and it is very interesting to note the different treatment he receives as an ordinary traveller compared at these establishments - he is aware that if they knew who he is that he would be getting upgrades, exemplerary service etc but for it to be a true review he must see it as regular traveller would.

namaguide

Thanks for this. What about parrot cay, uma paro and como shambala?

vuittonsofstyle

I wonder if namaguide actually subscribes to GG or just gets to see the occasional issue as I don't get the stuff about Tod's (apart from the Milan issue). Bvlgari was reviewed in depth in a previous issue. Armani was deemed unworthy of in-depth discussion. All the other Milan hotels were discussed in the intro.

The February issue did indeed feature India, but namaguide makes no mention of the scathing review of Four Seasons Mumbai - an important analysis given the revered status of Four Seasons in many other parts of the world.

There is no mention of the March issue on Amsterdam, which featured 4 hotels; none of which were Amans or Four Seasons, but small, often privately owned establishments.

The April issue on Mauritius included a hitherto unknown hotel, 20° Sud, which is privately owned and therefore unlikely to offer any special treatment.

The 16-page July issue on Paris detailed 6 hotels - many of which received less than favourable reviews.

I would agree with others and say if you have a gripe, email direct. Trite responses are not the norm.

Kettering Northants QC

Yes, some critics of hotels and restaurants travel incognito, but many don't and are well known. I don't see what the problem is, it's not as though anyone pretends otherwise.

GG is a subscription service, as others have said, if you don't like it go elsewhere.

Also, when I stay at many hotels, I realise there are likely to be people who are commercially more important to the hotel than I am, for whatever reason, and as a result may get a few perks that I don't. It would surprise me, f that wasn't the case. I've heard hotel managers say they treat all guests equally but we all know some are more equal than others.

I'm not sure anyone is suggesting they've had an experience like the Hotel Inspectors in Fawlty Towers are they?

I am confused about nameaguide's earlier posts where their opinion on things such a Club Sandwich's changes in the space of an hour or so, to the extent I wondered if it was the same person posting.

I wonder how many posters on this forum make there living in one way or another from the travel industry and therefore when they make recommendations there may be a commercial motivation for making that recommendation.

namaguide

Sorry there it was a misspelling. I mean 'no more club sandwiches' - i omitted the word 'no' from my previous posting.

To also clarify I am not involved in any way with the travel industry.

namaguide

Yes namaguide does indeed subscribe. The Amsterdam hotels had no value whatsoever. India had been reviewed many times and whether FS Mumbai included or not we would know where do go.

The point and I am making and jar been attacked many times already is that, I, as a subscriber, would love to see more destinations away from the obvious ones. To be told by whoever ' if you don't like it unsunscribe' is the note the right commercial answer. As much as the GG critiques properties it should be able I guess to accept some constructive feedback.

Another point I wanted to make is that the guide comments on the. Service of the properties it visits. I would therefore like to read properties being reviewed during pick periods not off season. What does a property cope with service when is full house? Amanpuri and Trisara and other Thai properties at Xmas ad not in August ]