I looked and couldn't find any thread reviewing the latest year. So I've begun this thread. If I erred and this overlaps another thread, please accept my apologies!
I thought it would be nice to review the highs and lows of the past year. Perhaps we can do this at the end of every year.
For me,
THE HIGHEST--
Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace Jodhpur (Jan 2017): This hotel stay was near perfection and joins our list of 13 all-time best hotel stays of all time. Incredible service. Amazing sense of place and era. Great F&B. Incredibly beautiful and spacious suite. Handled me getting sick with aplomb. The hotel was the most amazing part of this city. Incredible. Felt like royalty.
Hotel Imperial Vienna (Oct 2017): This hotel stay also was near perfection and joins our list of 13 all-time best hotel stays of all time. Incredible service, incredible upgraded Imperial Suite for us and Elisabeth Suite for my mother. Historic and beautifully classic design. Amazing sense of place and era. The hilarious toilet in the hallway. A random invite to a wonderful piano concert to start us off. Tremendous F&B. Incredible concierge. Amazing bar. Loved the hotel even more than the city. Sublime.
St. Regis San Francisco (Nov and Dec 2017): Another of my 13 all-time favorite hotels just continues to treat us like incredibly valued family guests in a luxury home. My favorite city hotel in the USA without question. Always upgraded to my favorite upgraded Metropolitan Suite--with the extra installed blackout shades just for me (installed Dec 2016). Incredible welcome amenities, and even allowed us to bring our 110 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, Macallan, despite their weight limit of 35 lbs. Impeccable service, several complimentary Bentley car transfers, wonderful F&B, amazing bar, extremely comfortable stay as usual. Already booked for 4 more stays in 2019.
Rosewood Hotel de Crillon Paris (Oct 2017): Didn't stay but wildly impressed by "site visit" service, design, and F&B for our bar experience. Absolutely loved the combination of Art Deco modern design mixed with traditional Parisian elements to give a wonderful but updated sense of place. If I'm going to pay for a Palace Hotel in Paris, this is the place I'm staying. Absolutely loved it.
THE HIGHS--
The Lodhi New Delhi (Jan 2017): Wonderfully contemporary former Aman hotel with great service and location. Excellent F&B. Spacious rooms. Private pool in room is a first for a high rise hotel. Nice change from the many traditionally designed hotels we enjoyed for the rest of our time in India. Excellent start to our India trip. Handled air con fail very well...a nice change.
Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur (Jan 2017): Amazing upgrade to Luxury Suite with Private Pool for my birthday after a room assignment error by TA. Wonderfully spacious and comfortable suite with traditional decor. Nice view. Great service and F&B.
Taj Nadesar Palace Varanasi (Jan 2017): Wonderful boutique hotel in former governor's mansion with very spacious suite, wonderful service, and excellent F&B. Best hotel in our favorite city in India.
Amanbagh (Feb 2017): Very nice Aman stay with beautiful pool villa, excellent service, and intriguing rural location and excursions. F&B was disappointing, so this wasn't as spectacular for us as so many other Amanjunkies paint it, but a very good stay otherwise. Menu choices were too limited IMO, and the quality was just OK.
St Regis Bahia Beach Puerto Rico (Feb 2017): Really impressive and comfortable stay in a beautiful location for a splurge on a work trip, with wonderful upgrade to very comfortable and spacious St. Regis Suite, wonderfully friendly service and excellent F&B, excellent beach, and a very fun private cabana day by the pool with my friends and clients. Lack of adults-only pool is only weakness, but that didn't detract from my lucky experience. Wishing everyone in PR a speedy recovery from Maria...and quick re-opening.
Park Hyatt Sydney (May 2017): Very impressive stay only marred by a few housekeeping issues. No upgrades but had 2 rooms on points and as part of Hyatt Visa free nights, so quite the steal of a stay! Incredible location and great modern design appropriate to Sydney. Comfortable and spacious entry level rooms with very nice view. Great F&B and service except for housekeeping issue.
The Louise Barossa Valley (May 2017): Very comfortable stay in spacious Estate 2 Bedroom Suite with friends and mother. Excellent service, nice restaurant, surprisingly wonderful breakfasts, and great location amidst the many wineries of the Valley. Even nicer stay than expected due to such wonderful service.
St Regis Rome (Oct 2017): Wonderful but not yet renovated junior suite on award stay. Spectacularly beautifully renovated public spaces, excellent service with a few misses, wonderful F&B, great concierge, and surprisingly wonderful location within walking distance of more sights than expected. Surprisingly smooth stay despite the ongoing room renovation. Can't wait to return to see how the renovated rooms/suites look after seeing the tremendous public spaces!
Prince de Galles Paris (Oct 2017): Hosted surprise birthday dinner for my husband here, upgraded on award to spectacular Makassar Suite, while mother upgraded to next door deluxe room. Suite is one of best we've ever had, though air con wasn't excellent. Service and F&B were particularly fabulous, location wasn't our favorite but wasn't an impediment. Really had a tremendous stay despite not loving the location and having weaker air con than I'd prefer.
St Regis Houston (Dec 2017): Surprisingly very enjoyable and extremely comfortable stay in upgraded Astor Suite, despite the dated Texan decor. Really impressive service and F&B and almost perfect location for me. Surprisingly looking forward to my return next year!
RAAS Devigarh (Jan 2017): Only had lunch and checked out the property, but WOW. Extremely impressive renovated former palace in rural location outside Udaipur with modern and updated takes on incredibly impressive and historic property. Excellent service and F&B. Beautiful views--best we saw in all of India. Not for everyone but incredible option for those who can appreciate it! Made us second guess our choice of the amazing Oberoi Udaivilas!
Peninsula Paris (Oct 2017): Only had lunch and checked out the property, but very impressed. Not a fan of the location, but the F&B blew us away. Service was incredible even for us as non-guests! Not quite the Parisian sense of place, but a truly impressive hotel nonetheless.
HIGHS FOR ME, THOUGH SOME WON't SAY LUXURY:
Carolina Inn Chapel Hill (April 2017): Traditionally beautiful Southern hotel with semi-luxury service and tremendous Southern sense of place and equally tremendous F&B. Great location in Chapel Hill. Really aim to please.
SLS Beverly Hills (June 2017): Tremendous F&B and service in a well located hotel that is about to undergo renovation (and needs it!). Upgraded suite was dark, oddly laid out, and uninviting, but the staff and service really made me want to come back. The Bazaar and Saam are my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles.
The Nines Portland (Aug 2017): Incredible one night stay in excellent location, with amazing upgrade to The Nines Suite, huge and beautiful suite with amazing space, decor, and views, but weak air con. Service and F&B truly to a very high standard.
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD--
Oberoi Amarvilas Agra (Feb 2017): Overall beautiful property with nice view onto Taj Mahal, with excellent service, F&B, and obvious aim to please, marred a bit by subpar room air con and dated decor. The hotel needs to be refreshed and/or renovated. It's resting on its laurels and location IMO, but it does have excellent service...but not for that price.
W Boston (April 2017): Excellent hard product and location with quite the expected scene on weekends, but some service misses and F&B misses for a single night stay gives me pause. Returning for service recovery upgraded suite in 2018, so time will tell. Cautious.
The Allison Willamette Valley (Aug 2017): Nice luxury level property in good location with clean but dull and uninspiring decor...and some serious service and especially management issues. Housekeeping fails. Front desk deception. Management didn't seem to care at all. I'd have to think twice before staying for these rates.
Park Hyatt Vienna (Oct 2017): Only did "site visit" but very impressive modern hard product, marred by surprising service misses during our short visit. Some might miss a sense of place since it's so modern but still a beautiful property.
THE LOWS--
St Regis Dubai (Feb 2017): Great hard product largely ruined by so many service and F&B miscues as to be incomprehensible. Management response was weak, thought they did rebate half my room rate (can't believe they didn't comp the single night). This and StR Washington are unquestionably my poorest St Regis stays of all time. I wouldn't return until I saw consistent improvement in service ratings.
St Regis Washington DC (April 2017): Very dated hard product in upgraded Junior Suite...with just as unimpressive soft product in all areas. Air con fail, F&B fails, service fails, when will it end? Only saving grace was friendly manager visiting from StR SF who knew me and handled things very well. But incomprehensible level of failures. The hotel needs a renovation BADLY, too. Avoid at all costs until they renovated and then get their ship in order. Probably the worst StR stay I've ever suffered.
The Liberty Boston (Apr 2017): Beautifully chic clubby hotel with excellent F&B and location...but massive suite air con fail matched by pitiful management response. I love this hotel..and yet cannot return until they fix the air con and there's new management. Pitiful GM who should know better, in particular.