This year I mainly visited the same hotels again and again due to a relatively stable European base of operations for work, so I have a lot narrower set of hotels than in the last few years.I've tried to be realistic about expectations of each brand, but in general 3* hotels that make it up to "Very Good" are out-performing expectatins, whereas an expensive Luxury Collection or St Regis in "Good" is slightly under-performing.
* Great
St Regis Bali: Exceptional hotel and as a Platinum got an upgrade to a self-contained villa. The best Marriott resort I've ever been to and the best hotel breakfast ever
Grande Bretagne, Athens: Really special place, made even more so this year as my stay was an SPG Moments event with "dinner in the Sky" with the hotel's Head Chef and several senior members of the management team
Hotel Imperial, Vienna: One of the best Marriott hotels bar none. Excellent service as always, and a muti-level suite upgrade thanks to my Ambassador
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok: An incredibly special hotel which doesn't have the hard product of other hotels on this list, but the best service led by Marriott's best GM. A stay this year was a bit of a comedy of errors which is extremely out of character, but the service recovery made it all go away
Prince de Galles, Paris: A beautiful hotel with an extremely generous SNA offering to Platinums. Possibly the world's most attractive gym
Hotel Bristol, Warsaw: A consistent level of service and hard product that's unheard of in the region. A perfect example of what a Luxury Collection hotel should be
* Very good
Sheraton Grand Park Lane: My most visited hotel this year. Some rooms are small and a bit dingy, but service is warm and the (frequent) upgrades to larger rooms are the best value in London in months when the hotel is not a base for guests from the Middle East
Westin Dublin: My second most frequent base. Hard and soft product well above anything you might expect from a Westin
Sheraton Grand Edinburgh: Solid service, good rooms, great Platinum recognition and a beautiful spa
W Las Vegas: Sadly departed from the Marriott family, the W Insider actually added a ton of value and was a home away from home
Four Points Le Verdun (Beirut): Excellent Platinum recognition and a giant suite upgrade with better than Sheraton level furnishings
Caresse, Bodrum: Great on my first visit, Good on my return. A beautiful resort with occasiona exceptional service designed for the $1,000 a night mark, but which has suffered from Turkey and Bodrum's struggles
Sheraton Amsterdam Airport: Perhaps the best airport hotel I've ever seen. What a Sheraton really should be like
Al Maha, Dubai: On points, this sits at the very top of the list, but as a $1,500 hotel it doesn't quite deserve "great". Still a unique gem in the Marriott portfolio and well worth a visit
Four Points by Sheraton Diagonal: What every Four Points should dream of being like. Standard rooms, exceptionally well managed helpful staff, a proper restaurant with a real chef and incredible value meals and a great bar with its own beer
Ritz Carlton Budapest: The best RC I've tried since the merger. Great service and quite an impressive refurb since SPG days
* Good
W Bali Semniak: Legendary resort which is pretty cool, but which for me didn't deliver on expectations. A fun and over the top brunch, if you can handle drunk Australians in the early afternoon
Westbury Mayfair: A good Luxury Collection option in London, but often more expensive and less attractive than the Sheraton Grand Park Lane
St Regis Kuala Lumpur: Almost made "very good" for its insanely beautiful St Regis Suite and incredible breakfast, but the local context is a bit odd, and I wasn't too happy they forgot to pick me up from the airport
Great Northern Hotel: One of my favourite London haunts. Small rooms, but the best breakfast in London and consistently high quality hard and soft product
St Regis Istanbul: Beautiful modern hotel dripping in money. Given its location it didn't make me fall in love with the place, but arguably should be up in Very Good
Westin La Quinta, Marbella: Very impressive Platinum treatment and solid all round, but slightly out of date rooms and grounds
W Barcelona: One of the best W's on a good day, but a bit sleazy and with bad service on a bad one
Sheraton Frankfurt Airport: A very good airport hotel. Needs a refurb, but very friendly staff
Roomers Franfurt, Design Hotel: Very good on my first stay, average on the second. Has one of my favourite hotel restaurants
Hotel Arts Barcelona (Ritz Carlton): A good effort at an RC with solid service, but lacking a bit of soul
Moxy Berlin Humboldthain Park: My first Moxy. Not always my first choice, but a friendly and clean interpretation of limited service
* Acceptable
St Regis Bangkok: Got my first ever Suite upgrade here after quite a few stays, but it's still my least favourite St Regis. It's lacking polish and quality vs. expectations, especially at the price point and market
Sheraton Paris Airport: Quirky, odd hotel
Sheraton Tribeca, New York: Sometimes available for $110 a night in a great Manhattan location, you really can't complain
Le Meridien Etoile, Paris: Small, overpriced rooms, but the steakhouse is superb
Westin Dragonara, Malta: I believe this hotel is no longer around. It was fine, but unremarkable
Pine Cliffs Hotel, Algarve: A giant complex for well to do English people, it's a bit chaotic and impersonal
Ritz Carlton, Berlin: A perfectly solid RC, but absolutely soulless
Moxy Vienna Airport: My second Moxy, this one was bigger and less well done than the one in Berlin. The central temperature control was a pain
* Terrible
Sheraton New York Times Square: Never go here. This is a limited service hotel where customers are just a profit centre to be exploited in all kinds of odd ways. Ironically, this is what I think of Marriott's contribution to Starwood on a bad day, but this hotel shows that Starwood already had the seeds of its own destruction