Did you check whether their web site will sell you the next room up? Always interesting to see what FD say when confronted with the facts.

Pullman Raja Orchid, Khon Kaen, Thailand

What is your Le 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 Deluxe room and got upgraded to Junior suite, one level up.
Did mail reservation beforehand and got confirmation of my new plat status being updated in their records for future visits. We visit Pullman Khon Kaen every two months.

How are the rooms?
Spacious, 63sqm. Table + 4 chairs, sofa, office desk, 2 salon tables Napoleon style, plenty of storage room

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
Free WiFi, Free parking
Fruit platter, daily newspaper
Platinium present: box of cookies
Excellent international evening buffet at Pavilion restaurant at 700 Baht.
It's the only hotel buffet in Thailand I give 10/10 so far price/quality wise.
Booked Delicious Escapade package, includes 2 welcome drinks & food voucher for 700THB, prepaid rate.
Excellent Vietnamese restaurant in premises.

Bad:
As usual additional food expenses were not recorded to my Le Club #

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes, Yes

No, I didn’t check this option. Simply had no time due to business travel and tight schedule.

Sofitel FLN (Florianopolis, Brazil)
 

What is your Le Club status?
Platinum.

Were you happy with the hotel/stay?
Wonderful spot but unimpressed with hotel.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked a standard twin room and got just that. Asked about an upgrade, sorry not possible. After a long journey didn't have the energy to argue the point.

How are the rooms?
The rooms are small and the bathroom cramped, no bathtub, paper-thin walls so you hear every cough from the neighbour

What was good and what was bad?
Good - It's a wonderful location and great view especially from the rooftop pool area. Charge for Internet (R$22 per day) but this did not appear on the bill.

Bad - The rooms. Elsewhere this would be an Ibis, not a Sofitel. Someone, probably the maid, spat her chewing gum onto the carpet under the bed during our stay, and left it there for us to step on.

Value for money or vouchers? Would you return?
Would love to return to this location, but would not stay at the Sofitel. The "Special" rate of R$300 (USD150) was rather a lot for an inferior room. Actually this was my first stay at a Sofitel anywhere, they don't have them at the places I usually stay, and probably wouldn't book a Sofitel again.

But Florianopolis, & the resort island of Santa Caterina, is a breathtakingly beautiful place

Sofitel Washington, DC
 

What is your Le Club status?
Platinum.

Were you happy with the hotel/stay?
Very happy (I have stayed several times before and had always very good stays). Great hotel and great location (5 min walking from the white house)

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Don't remember which category I booked, but was upgraded one level to a junior suite :). I was given also the drink voucher. A few minutes after being arrived in my room, some sympathetic pastries and figues (and a 1L Evian bottle) were bring.

How are the rooms?
Very nice, spacious, the excellent MyBed, no noise, large bathrooms with separate bath tub and shower (and L'Occitane products ;) )

What was good and what was bad?
Good : everything ! Very professional and efficient staff

Bad - I can't find anything bad

Value for money or vouchers? Would you return?
this hotel is generally quite expensive (as most hotels downtown DC), except January/february which is the low season. But yes, I'll return (next stay is already booked for very soon ;) - the hotel sales dept was very efficient to find a dozen rooms+ meeting room for my colleagues and I during a very full period, so a great thank you to them ^).

Mercure Tokyo Ginza
 

Mercure Tokyo Ginza, Japan

What is your Le 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 Deluxe room and that's what I got (once they finally found the reservation and had the room ready)

How are the rooms?
Simple, spacious, nothing fancy but this is a Mercure. No views.

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
Free internet (cabled), free WiFi but unreliable
Free newspaper on floor
Good location for Ginza shopping

Bad:
No recognition (but then again Accor doesn't promise anything at Mercure)

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes, maybe

Quite depressing really the choice of Accor properties in Tokyo or Japan for that matter. It's IHG and Hilton properties for me whenever I'm in Tokyo.

For those interested this is the sad story of the old Sofitel in Tokyo: http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009...otel-rip-ueno/

Is it any surprise that it failed? Interesting architecture notwithstanding, but a deluxe hotel in Ueno? A budget inn will more likely thrive there.

Sofitel Dijon La Cloche
 

- What is your Le 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 Standard room for 5 days, during the check–in got an upgrade to Junior Suite.

- How are the rooms?
Clean. Nicely decorated in the old stile. We liked it.

- What was good and what was bad?

Good:
Hotel staff is very friendly. Very nice location. Bed is very comfortable.

Bad:
Nothing bad about this hotel. Except that one particular waitress in the hotel restaurant was rude. She also insisted to sit us at a breakfast table we didn’t like. We had to argue to be sited at a different table.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Yes. Defiantly. We are already planning to do another private wine tour with the Burgundy Gold Tour next year (as it was impossible to see all sites we wanted in 5 days).

Mercure Hotel Wings Frankfurt Airport
 

- What is your Le Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Privilege Room with queen-size bed, balcony and kitchenette
Privilege Rooms with kitchenette and balcony. For more comfort: VIP bathroom incl. bathrobes, beverages from the minibar, coffee/tea and newspaper free of charge in the room. Also including: WIFI, late checkout and double points.

Didn’t expect to have a room upgrade. This hotel is going through renovation, therefore you could smell the paint and the contraction dust not only in the room but also in the hallways as well. We had to ask multiple times to bring into the room missing items (that supposed to come with this type of VP room, like bathrobes, etc.) to no avail. The room was not prepared for the guest. It was very cold and the heaters were not working. We had to request an extra electric battery to get warm.

- How are the rooms?
The room was Ok, but nothing special. Bed is not comfortable

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
Nothing

Bad:
The hotel staff is not so friendly. The day of our stay the personal was busy preparing the restaurant for Lufthansa employees (about 50 people) and we had to wait extremely long for a server to even place an order for our meals. Btw – food is not good either.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Definitely not.

Still I do not understand the destruction of the building. If the hotel was not profitable, it could habe been managed by another hotel chain.

Sofitel London Gatwick
 

Your Le Accor Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Classic Twin and told I received a deluxe twin but what was deluxe I am not quite sure. It was on the 7th Floor which I think is the biggest defining feature.

How are the rooms?
All rooms are 23 sq m, so quite small. Room overlooked the car park, think the rooms facing the interior atrium would be prefereable. Not luxurious which the hotel makes great play of, bathroom looked reasonably modern and clean. One small bottle of sparkling water and one small bottle of still for 2 guests. Small box of 4 truffle type chocolates.

What was good and what was bad?
Good: Not much really, but managed 5 hours sleep.

Bad: We were only there for just over six hours, arriving at 1 a.m. and leaving at 7.30 a.m. Had notified hotel of late arrival. On check in, the two drinks vouchers were in our packet but taken off us "to avoid confusion as the bar was now shut".

So I asked if we could get a complimentary soft drink from the mini bar or room service, and got a lecture about only the 8th floor rooms having mini bars, so if I wanted one of those I should have booked one as they don't upgrade to that floor (I hadn't even mentioned an upgrade - bit academic when all you want is a drink then bed). They knew in advance our time of arrival, I don't think it would have killed them to have left a couple of soft drinks in the room.

Housekeeping were very noisy from 6 a.m.


Value for £ or Vouchers? Would you return?

Room only no breakfast £102 special rate. Hilton at South Terminal was £85. I would put up with the minor inconvenience of shuttling across to South next time and stay at the Hilton.

I stayed here with f&gmad jnr on friday night, agree with most of your observations, being on 7th floor seems to be their 'thing' although we got a room overlooking the terminal which a 6 year old was most enthralled with, we got 4 bottles of water (2 still, 2 sparkling) plus a drinks voucher, they seemed very busy, i overheard someone in the bar saying they should have been on a flight to miami and were being putup as flight cancelled but don't know which airline!

Novotel Wuhan Xinhua, China
 

Your Le Accor Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked a Superior Room, got just that.

How are the rooms?
Nothing to complain about. Bathroom is small. Non-smoking rooms reeks of cigarette smells, but this is China.

What was good and what was bad?
Good: Location is good. Internet access if free by LAN, Wifi is present but one can never hope to get connected to it.

Bad: Breakfast service is mediocre basically staff just couldn't care less. The food is just disappointing. Overhead a table of customers complained about the lack of service and I nodded in agreement on every single point of complaint.

Pool/Gym is an afterthought located in another building above a night club, one has to walk a flight of stairs to reach there.

Value for $$ or Vouchers? Would you return?
No. Won't return.