- Hotel: ibis Praha Wenceslas Square, Czech Republic
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: A bottle of water (0.75l) and some fruit (apple, bananas, orange etc.)
- Reaction: Very satisfied and surprised since ibis hotels don't normally offer anything

- Hotel: Mercure Opole, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: an apple and 4 hard candies
- Reaction: Unsatisfied as the reception woke me up when they phoned in the afternoon to check if they could deliver my "VIP treatment" and then they took an hour to deliver it. The apple was not edible. The candies seemed to come from the 1980s.

- Hotel: Mercure Toruń, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: 1st stay: a CD with locally produced music (jazz); 2nd stay: a tiny packet of ginger biscuits
- Reaction: 1st stay: very satisfied - nice local touch; 2nd stay: rather unsatisfied as the cookies can be easily purchased around Poland for 0.50 EUR

- Hotel: Novotel Wrocław Centrum, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: some peanuts, some jelly beans, some pralines + 2 small bottles of orange juice
- Reaction: Quite satisfied - simple things but presented in an attractive way

- Hotel: Mercure Jelenia Góra, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: a small bottle of water (0.33l), a plum, a tangerine and an apple
- Reaction: Not too impressed, but it was a very cheap stay

- Hotel: Mercure Częstochowa Centrum, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: A small of local beer
- Reaction: So so; two bottles would have made more sense, but the beer was cold

- Hotel: Mercure Warszawa Airport, Poland
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: two sets of three pralines
- Reaction: Quite satisfied - tasty and nicely wrapped

- Hotel: Mercure Caledonian Hotel Aberdeen, UK
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: A plate with different sweets and biscuits (approx. 16 pieces) and a bottle of water
- Reaction: Very satisfied - nice selection of sweets

- Hotel: Novotel Puente de La Paz Madrid, Spain
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: a bottle of water (0.5l) and a piece of walnut (?) cake
- Reaction: Not impressed -- I thought they spent a fortune of the fancy plate and the glass but had no budget for the real thing

- Hotel: Mercure Sydney, Australia
- Status:: Gold
- Welcome gift: different choices available - two small beers (different types available) OR a glass of champagne (prosecco?) with a couple of stawberries OR a piece of cake OR 300 points; you can also choose when they should be delivered
- Reaction: Not impressed. I chose 2 lagers to be delivered between 8 and 9 p.m. I got two summer pale beers at 6 o'clock.