starflyergold

For those who do not frequent Novotels regularly they might still be of interest.

stimpy

All you have to have is one single stay in one of these cookie cutter hotels to know what it's like. And you can find these pictures elsewhere on the web. Pictures of rooms or suites at an M-Gallery hotel are infinitely more interesting.

IMH

A compromise would be to post them in a hotel-specific thread rather than in this master thread, which has traditionally been dedicated to brief reviews. stimpy could skip the thread, anyone searching for the property in question would find it. Win-win. @:-)

I found the photos interesting, FWIW, as I haven't yet stayed at a UK Novotel.

zehbra

I did find it interesting to see the Novotel Chocolates, haven't ever received those! Speaking of novotels, another one here (slightly different experience than a week ago)

Name of the hotel:
Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay

What is your Le Club status?
Platinum

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Standard / Something on the Premier Floor

How are the rooms?
Spacious, standard Novotel

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
- Reception staff jumped into action upon seeing plat card, escorting me to the premier floor for check in
- big rooms
- great lounge
- was allowed to stay in lounge and enjoy evening cocktails even after check out.

Bad:
- apart from room upgrade (which is lovely of course) no special plat treatment (no fruit, chocolates, letter or anything alike)
- Even though I announced that I will be checking out at 4pm (which I was told was no problem), I was then not only called at 2pm to ask what my intentions are (one more night, late check out), but 15 minutes later, someone knocked at the door to ask the same question again.
- lounge fills up in the evening (friday/saturday at least), so much so that I left earlier than planned.

Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
Fantastic lounge both for breakfast and evening cocktails. Wide selection of good food.

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
No (except the standard lounge soft-drinks/juices which were offered on check-in)

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Booked during private sale, hence good offer and seriously spacious rooms for Singapore..

BotB

I'm back at the Novotel in two weeks and will take a few more pictures of the public areas and such and then write a more thorough review on a dedicated thread (or any existing one) as suggested as a compromise.

For the record: I've only stayed in 3 Novotels so far and one of those was in Russia where there were some small differences so wasn't aware they conform to a brand standard. My Mercure and Sofitel experiences certainly are different each time and so I thought Novotel may vary as well, hence the photos.

and now, we return you to the reviews.

Gagravarr

Name of the hotel: Mercure Letchworth Hall

What is your Le Club status? Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Generally happy, yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked standard double, got a nicer double in the old part of the hotel

How are the rooms?
Good condition, fair bit of space

What was good and what was bad?
Good - Gym+pool+spa area, nice food in the restaurant

Bad - Had booked a breakfast inclusive rate but they had me down as needing to pay for breakfast, forgot to issue welcome drink

Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
No lounge (but they do have the Great Hall, in the old part of the hotel, which has nice seating + log fire + newspapers + service from the bar, which everyone can use)

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
Had to remind them about the welcome drink, but they had pre-upgraded me

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Booked in the winter sale, so was excellent value. (I wouldn't pay rack rate for the hotel, but if you avoid busy Monday-Wednesdays it can be had at a discount offering good value)

IMH

Be sure to send stimpy the link.

Seriously: whenever anyone has the time to start a dedicated hotel thread they're doing a service to the community. Even for cookie-cutter hotels, which often have idiosyncrasies and always have a unique location with some rooms that are better than others (e.g. quieter or with better views).

I've often benefited from BotB's informative reviews and photos. I hope to see many more.

virtualaris

Name of the hotel:
Mercure Jakarta Sabang

What is your Le Club status?
Platinum

Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Quite happy despite some minor issues

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked deluxe room, upgraded to their Privileged room

How are the rooms?
So basically Privileged room is nothing different with the Deluxe room, the only difference is supposed to be the free mini-bars. However, no free mini-bars found in the room. I asked to the Front Office why there were no mini bars and they said that they don't have it (???) I said that the difference between Privileged room than others are the minibars but they said that they've just recently opened (actually it was already 3 months) and they just don't have it.

What was good and what was bad?
Good :
- The staffs in the restaurants are very nice & friendly (comparing to other hotels on the same class in Jakarta)
- The foods during the breakfast are delicious
- The hotel still new
- Location is great; near to Jalan Sabang (culinary street of Jakarta)

Bad :
- Upon checkin, I was told that I was upgraded (actually I was upgraded by their management during the pre-arrival; not by the FO). And one of the FO (who on the other lane) suddenly lectured me that people could choose Le Club Platinum or Gold or Silver when signed-up (????). and Mercure Sabang actually didn't have upgrade policy for Le Club Platinum member since it is only available in Pullman. (????) I was about to explain him that people can't choose Platinum or Gold or Silver upon sign-up and Accor has new policy about the Le Club since 2013 but unfortunately he suddenly excused himself because somebody called him. It was amazed that people who work with Accor never updated himself for more than 1 year old Accor policy regarding to Le Club policy. I think that there are lot of kind of these people in Accor.
- The welcome drinks are the standard fruit punch
- No welcome amenity in the room

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Booked during the supersale so it was quite good deal. Return ? not sure about that.

nicolas75

Don't you see the superb slippers and bathrobe that make a HUGE difference between Deluxe and Privilege room at Mercures?

virtualaris

Hahaha, yeah..noticed that too. Feeeel so luxury and magnifique

nicolas75

wantan

As a newly minted Plat (thanks to some Accor shares :P) I'm hoping to find what is the norm for this status (Especially Asia & UK properties)

1. Does "Lounge Access" include breakfast in the main restraunt ?
2. Is it the norm for 4-5star brands (Pullman, Sofitel, Novotel) to give out complimentary breakfast if property has no lounge ?
3. Any other benefits (F&B credit?) for hotels without lounges ?
4. Free Wifi via code or can I log-in with the room details ?

Thanks all !

stimpy

Pullman Hong Kong

What is your Le Club status? Platinum

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Deluxe, upgraded to Premium Deluxe park and harbour view. And Club access.

How are the rooms?
34 sqm which all the non-suite rooms appear to be. Modern bathroom with shower bath, and a glass wall looking out into the room. But there is a curtain you can pull for privacy. Glass top desk with plenty of power outlets and Ethernet and good WiFi. Nice chair with ottoman to relax in and watch the boats go by or people playing in Victoria Park. There was a yoga mat in the closet which is nice, along with robe and slippers.

Nice fruit bowl amenity was brought up after I checked in. No problems with a 10:30am check in and 4pm check out.

How was the lounge?
Pretty good with the usual breakfast and happy hour and high tea in the afternoon. Moderate wine selection and the usual spirits. Excellent staff and you can check in and out in the Club.

What was good and what was bad?
The rooftop Deck bar has great views over the city, harbour and Kowloon.

Bad -
They are renovating the suites now so there's a bit of daytime drilling noise, but it wasn't too bad in my room.

There is a free bottle of water in the room that has a note with language that implies that the mini-bar is free. There's no alcohol in the mini-bar, just juice, water and sodas. But later in the Club they told me the mini-bar was in fact not free. I told them they ought to have a native English speaker work on the wording.

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

stimpy

Please see this thread. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/accor...corhotels.html

Suggs99

- Name of the hotel: Novotel Reading

- What is your Le Club status? Platinum

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

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive? Booked a standard double, was upgraded to a Executive Room with 4pm check out

- How are the rooms? Very clean nice bed.

- What was good and what was bad?

Good: Staff, in the UK, you sometimes do not get the staff experience you should get, by that I mean generally polite and friendly. Here the staff are friendly and very keen to help.
Gym and pool access.
Late check out, meant I could go the gym lunchtime as well as the previous evening.
Five minute walk to rail station is needed

Bad: Location in Reading is a little poor, but I guess that is in common with most city centre locations.
Pay to park you car, I did not need to park a car, but just a heads up

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge? No, I do not think there is one available

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks? I have stayed here a few times, due to my office been nearby.
I do receive the drink voucher
Access to high speed internet
VIP gift, is generally chocolate. But once I got a Reading FC mug!!

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?