Nice to read this very positive update -- thanks. We've booked a junior suite for three nights next month (the 50% "private sale" discount made the price extremely attractive) and I'll report in due course.

Pullman Dubai

- What is your A|Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior - got executive club

- How are the rooms?
excellent

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
1. Got massive cake selection, fruit platter and bottle of fizzy date drink
Bad:
1. nothing
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes

Well, the saga continues. I have received my credit card statement, and the hotel charged me twice. My bank has to verify with them before giving a credit. Plus the points for the stay have not been credited yet.

Sofitel - London Heathrow
 

- What is your A|Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Superior - Paid £25 at desk to upgrade booking to Lux - Got Junior Suite

- How are the rooms?
excellent

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:

Good sized very clean room, not "really" a suite, just a large room, but still very comfortable.
Nice view of Airplanes landing, good soundproofing. Very nice looking lounge.
Good desk staff. Excellent breakfast.

Bad:

Evening canapes in lounge were limited in selection and quite unimpressive. :td:
Moody bar staff in Sphere, didn't look after us really well considering we were buying champagne like it was going out of fashion.
Weird fusion restaurant menu. (including Peking duck Pizza? :confused:)
No swimming pool :(

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?

Reasonable value given the high quality of the room
Unlikely to return, prefer Hilton T4 for 1/2 the price.

I'd be interested to know who was pro-active here -- did you ask about a paid upgrade or did they offer? (I've never asked or been offered.)

Interesting (and several posters in the specific property thread have expressed the opposite view). One factor muddying things is definitely the (for outsiders) unpredictable pricing. I've paid from £69 to £200 for a standard room at the Sofitel -- and you can be sure that the times it was nearer £200 I checked the T4 Hilton prices first and found them to be just as high or higher.

I called before I left home to ask if I had ben upgraded and was told I had been, from Superior room to Luxury room.

I asked if they had any suites available and was told the upgrade would be £40 from Luxury room to Junior Suite.

I then asked if I could pay the upgrade from Superior to Luxury (£25) in order to get the upgrade to a Junior Suite as the website was not showing any Luxury room when I booked, and they agreed.

For me the fact that the Sofitel had no pool was the main problem as I usually travel with my wife and child. I normally book the Hilton quite far in advance and pay £100-120 for a standard room and get an executive with lounge access. The lounge may not be as nice looking as the Sofitel but the snacks are much better.

Thanks for the extra details, PG!

It's funny how different we all can be. If I'm traveling with family, I prefer the Sofitel since it's just a short walk for everyone to BA check in. I wouldn't want to subject them to an external hotel at LHR. Especially not the horror that is the Hoppa!

Hilton provides a free bus service to T3 and T5 although I just park my car at the Hilton, then move to the valet parking at whichever terminal we are leaving from.

Last time we stayed at Hilton we took the free bus service to T5 just to visit for "fun", Little Miss loved it as it was the first time she had ever been on a bus :)

I'll admit the T5 Sofitel does seem really convenient especially if you are on a really early flight from T5.

Another way I might consider using it is for a £99 day room incase we don't manage to get much sleep on our way back from an overnight long haul.

Sofitel Chicago Water Tower
 

- What is your A|Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, very happy

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Luxury room high floor - Got Junior Suite as a complimentary upgrade :)

- How are the rooms?
Very comfortable, big enough, nice view, room included a sofa and an armchair

- What was good and what was bad?
Good: of course the great MyBed, got 2 drink vouchers for the bar, excellent staff, concierge very helpful. Very nice lobby full of flowers (including many beautiful orchids). Good breakfast at café des architectes.

Bad: it's really to say something : room was not ready at 2:00 pm but did not complain too much with the nice upgrade ;). Went in town and front desk staff called me on my cell phone 20 min later to tell me the room was ready ^

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Certainly when the prices are not skyrocketing as too often in Chicago. Excellent hotel. I have stayed several times there and have never been disappointed.

Aaaah, the unbeatable pleasure to have your executive suite in historical tower ready at 8am at IC Chicago when being Royal Ambassador ;)

Sofitel Mumbai

- What is your A|Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest room. Got upgraded one level. Didn't get or ask for Club access.

- How are the rooms?
excellent. On the small side. Modernly furnished.

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
1. Staff was friendly and helpful.
2. Got nice cake and flowers as part of wife's birthday.
3. Fruit bowl + snacks + chocolate was waiting in the room.
Bad:
1. check in took longer than expected due to them having trouble pulling free nights from my Advantage account.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes if on transit. Would stay else where if visiting Mumbai since the hotel it's out in the middle of no where.

Extensive review and pictures available on my blog.

I would say Sanya Yalongbay Pullman is much better. Paid 150 usd and offered a pool villa! Not to mention welcome drinks and stuffs. One rare feature: They don't charge anything for the recreational facilities, you can play the snooker/pool ball or rent beach toys for free. One more thing, they offer half-price cocktails at the beach bar during happy hour, which is like 3usd ea. Real deal.

The only down side is that you have to take a golf cart to the beach as this is not a beachfront resort. But the 5minutes worth it. You can't even get a seaview room from the sheraton next door for 150usd.

MGallery - Hotel Baltimore Paris
 

What is your Le Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes, very. There were a few minor negative points that I'll mention below, but nothing that stopped this being my most pleasant hotel stay so far this year (better than two Sofitels, three Conrads and a dozen Hiltons in Europe and Asia).

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
We booked a "junior suite" and that's what we got. I asked about an upgrade at check in but was told that it wasn't possible because the hotel only has one suite. (That suite was available to be booked throughout our three-night weekend stay, however, so IMO they missed a chance to make us deliriously happy.)

Platinum recognition?
Voucher for a glass of champagne each (or a cocktail). No other welcome gift, letter or mention of Platinum status at check in. On the first night only, two bottles of water in the minibar wore collars marking them as "complimentary".

How are the rooms?
Delightful and extremely comfortable. Spotless and well maintained. Exquisitely comfortable bed.

Our room would never pass as a "junior suite" in Asia or America, as it was basically just a larger-than-usual room with a sofa -- but that made it extremely large for Paris.

What was good and what was bad?
Good: It's quite hard to put my finger on exactly why we enjoyed our time here so much -- it really all comes down to the quality of the room and the furnishings and equipment. We were out every evening, so didn't even visit the bar (or claim our free drinks). We didn't need the concierge or visit the restaurant (which, for reference, is closed on Saturday and Sunday evenings). But whenever we did pass through the lobby or see a member of staff we were greeted warmly but politely and given the feeling that we were in a real hotel rather than just another branch of a corporate entity.

Bad:
No price list for the minibar. Housekeeping missed a few things (one evening one pillow had no pillowcase, another day a waste bin didn't get emptied) and we had to request fresh coffee pods every day. Very few TV channels (the only English language channel was CNN, the only German language channel was SAT1) and most channels had a poor signal.

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes and yes (we booked during an earlier "private sale" and paid less than 200 EUR a night).

Novotel Mangga Dua - Jakarta
 

What is your Le Club status?
Gold

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Hard to decide...

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Superior room, asked to the Front Desk Supervisor during check-in and upgraded two level to Superior room on the Premier Floor (without Executive Lounge benefits). My tips: asked if there's any higher level room available now and told them if it's possible to upgrade their Gold/Platinum member.

How are the rooms?
For a superior room, it was very good and well-maintained

What was good and what was bad?

Good: Room, spacious swimming pools

Bad:
found out later that the executive club lounge benefits were not included on the upgrade :(

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes; can't decide to return or not since the GRO staffs on Premier Lounge lil bit rude.:td: