Ibis Budget... you are really on a bad slope my friend Stimpy :D.
Just joking of course ;)

It seems that Accor has really a lot of room for improvement (paging Gilbertaue :D) in Singapore...

Name of the hotel: Mercure Harvestland Bali

What is your Le Club status? Platinum

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked standard room, no upgrade on 1st stay, got executive with terrace on 2nd stay.

How are the rooms?
Pretty basic and quite dated. Can't expect much for < $23.

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
- I have 2 separate stays, booked by another company (long story).
Apparently my Accor# is not added here, so they didn't aware that I was platinum on 1st stay.
But as soon as they realize, the manager came out and greeted me.
Offered to pre-upgrade for the next stay.
On 2nd stay, got welcome fruit in room. Another personal greeting by the manager.

- And surprisingly, they also offered free transport to airport (hotel van) when they found out i didn't have transport yet.

Bad:
- Rooms very dated. Bathroom pretty basics. Towels very worn out and a bit dirty.

Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
- No lounge

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
- Personal greetings by management.
- A hand-written welcome card and fruits amenities.

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
- Hard to say. Bali has a lot of Accor properties at $20-$30 range.
Depend on where you need to be. Location is close to airport.
There's a big souvenirs store and places to eat in walkable distance.
And for < $23/night, and you prefer the location it's not too bad actually.

[QUOTE=starflyergold;25971301]- Name of the hotel: Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort And Spa


Damm, I heading there in just 4 days for a 2 night stay. I do hope to get upgraded even though I am only Silver. Although after this stay, my status will upgrade to Gold. Any tips for me during my stay at the hotel?

I'd say you will be hard pressed to get an upgrade as silver (at check in time). If anything goes wrong tell them, they are a bit out of their depth.

Name of the hotel: IBIS ADELAIDE

What is your Le Club status? PLATINUM

Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay? 4 seperate stays - 12 nights over 30 days.
-quite happy

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
-Booked standard room, upgrade to superior everytime. only 2 room categories at this property. I think the only difference is higher floor. corner room twice.

How are the rooms?
-Newish property. spotless rooms every visit. housekeeping spot on everyday. New smart technology tv. Airconditioning noisy in one room.

What was good and what was bad?

Good:

-this is a good example of what all hotels should be doing (for me travelling on business) - offering contemporary, quiet, clean accomodation at a decent price.
-Service was tested couple times - basic service avail here.
-Bar area great little hub on second floor. decent food at decent prices, incl food/drink combo specials.
-Welcomed as an accor member everytime. As quick as possible checkins, and express checkouts.

Bad:

-few slow service issues in bar. unanswered call to guest services or whatever they call it there.
-query about noisy airconditioner not recitfied in imo, or more to the point, did not know if they even looked at it. (still noisy)
-paid off site parking only.

Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
- No lounge

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?

-Everytime - a hand-written welcome card with managers bus card, fresh fruit salad & sweet bisquits. 2 drinks vouchers for house wine or beer.

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
-Yes i will return. One of the few hotels i stay at that make me feel like it is 'my' hotel. i want to stay there now.
- Has changed my mind on the ibis brand as i would not have stayed there.
-I think very good value for money. I have paid $127 to $220/night here. Was staying during event times and bush fire recovery period, and all hotels in ADL were charging ransom prices. At $127 a steal for CBD hotel. A steal at $200 when the rest are charging $300

Name of the hotel: SOFITEL BANGKOK SUKHUMVIT

What is your Le Club status? PLATINUM

Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay? yes it was a pleasant stay

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
-Booked luxury club room. highest category before suites. when queried i was told i got a corner room which was a benefit. imo no upgrade - this is not a bookable category, nor a beneficial view.

How are the rooms?
Nicely decorated, including, desk, lounge chair and chaise lounge. Luxury bathroom. what i would expect from a luxury club room.

What was good and what was bad?

Good:

Luxury surroundings and ambiance. quiet.
Pleasant club experience.


Bad:

- Another example of an accor hotel not giving any attention to its members - No special welcome. No indication of status. No indication of upgrade/benefits being offered as a elite member. Nor any recovery when queried.
- When queried about upgrade, 2 staff members chatted in thai in front of me while looking at computer, and mid conversation English words "super saver rate" came out. They politely explained the corner room was an upgrade. I asked if the rate i paid disqualified me for a upgrade, they would not confirm directly. But it was a topic in their discussion on how to respond to my query.
- did not encounter any management during stay.
- Bed was 2 singles pushed together i assume - wood panels underneath mattress squeaked and groaned on the one side with every moment.
- in room Bose speakers not all working
- ever on light from one of the electronic boxes on the floor by the bed had to be covered nightly as it was so bright.
- evening turn down was hit and miss. only once was it full housekeeping. other times it was only sheets and pillows fluffed. no fresh water bottles given.
- pool was crowded to the point of no chairs. In shade for majority? of day. Gym nice. Sauna tiny - 2 person?! no steam room.


Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
-Paid for club room. Lounge was luxurious and beautiful.
-Breakfast room & buffet very nice - Cooked to order entrees.
-Afternoon tea pleasant.
-Evening cocktails hours was busy but pleasant and service coped. Drinks plentiful & flowing and last calls given. Some food changed nightly.

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?

-did not receive any platinum benefits that i could tell. Only when queried after check in, received 2 drink vouchers for house wine/beer. No amenities nor welcome letter.


Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
-for the super saver rate we paid, yes it was value. Only stayed at the property because of the sale. Sofitel So is our regular hotel, but was not offered in sale.
-The difference between the 2 hotels is remarkable - One is old school. the other new! I thought my plat status was recognized better at So, but standard club rooms very small there (but upgrades great).
-Don't know which property is nicer. However i do note, Sofitel So has krept up in price and was more expensive than Sukhumvit. (we did not stay at the property on this visit because of price).

Sounds pretty bad. And I just booked this hotel. :/ Stayed at Sofitel So last time and was very happy with the stay but wanted to try Sukhumvit for change. Did you book directly using Accor's own booking channels since that might matter?

Yes I can admit i was disappointed. But it still was a nice stay. Just not the perfect stay you would like to expect with a company you have loyalty with. I Booked direct with Accor on one of the 40% saver sales.

A Week of Gold
 

Last week I stayed at 5 different Accor Hotels (during my trip down the South Island of New Zealand). All were booked as the near minimum rate with no fuss at all in the booking process. It was (mostly) a pleasant time at all the Hotels. I more concentrate on the things which where wrong than right in this commentary.

My surname, it is Whitmore, not Whitemore with it being wrong a number of times on hand written and printed material I got during the stays). I don’t know if I got room upgrades as they never told me directly except for a “we’ve given you a room with a view of the water/harbour” type comment at check in. I checked in Facebook Places everywhere as well and have "guest" status on all of them so not many people must use the app at all. All Accor points have posted (except one of them) so far. The biggest gripe is TV set up in hotels.. they hardly get it right. Some have Wide screen cropped to 4x3 and then stretched to 16x9. Some feed in via VGA so bad quality and lots of other problems. All staff where friendly and I had no problems with them at all.

Ok, here goes..

Novotel Wellington
------------------
How slow "free" internet can you give someone? The TV Remote was interesting. To do anything on the remote from the bed you had to turn the remote sideways. This has been a problem I've had a few times. Putting the RF receiver in a place which works where most people can use it? Do they test this? User Acceptance Testing?? Got a couple of small desserts and this was the best complementary card I’ve had at the hotels. A couple of drink vouchers.

Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco Apartments
--------------------------------------
When I got there a wedding reception was going on and there was loud live music. A note in the room said "... We would like to inform you that we have a function being held at the hotel tonight in our Village Hall. This function will have music which will be playing throughout the evening until 11.30 tonight ....."!!! and this wasn't quiet music. My Wife rang up and asked if we could move rooms (I don’t know where as the place isn’t too big) they said the music would finish at 5:30. We went out to dinner came back at about 9 and they had stopped in the middle of the Hotel, and just moved the music to the other end of the Hotel (which was still annoying and we could hear the Music). We just watched TV for a while and fell asleep with the noticeable music. They knew that people were booked in so why not warn them before they got there? (So people could have an informed stay). Saying that the rooms where cute look inside and outside and large but still a little old looking.
The Drinks Voucher (1 Only) was a messily cut up piece of photocopied paper instead of the usual nice cardboard card.
Also got a card and randomly found some chocolates in the fridge I guess which where for me. The card said "Welcome back to the Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco......". Oh I didn't know I had been there before (which I hadn't).At least the free Internet was about 20MB/s.

IBIS Christchurch
----------------
Apart from the $25/Night (I think it was) self-parking/night in the basement it was a great place in the heart of Christchurch. It was walkable to the CBD area (it was in it). 512Kb/s Free Internet was all I got and it was painfully slow to use. Nothing really wrong at all with the place and service. Everything was where it should be and how it should be including drink vouchers.

Mercure Dunedin Leisure Lodge
-----------------------------
This Hotel was .... well I dunno how it became a Mercure. Old decor inside and outside (except the bathrooms) and room/foyer/corridors smelt VERY musty. 1GB free internet for 24 hours, but wifi reception from the Hotel room was very poor. Reading the information from the hotel booklet in the room it said I would get 30 mins or 8MB of data free (how old is that booklet!!!). 1 Alcohol voucher if I remember right.

Mercure Queenstown Resort
-------------------------
Very nice and should be as it was the most expensive Room. Staff where very helpful and 2 Alcohol Vouchers where Supplied. I could get Coffee/NZ Beer (This means Macs). The view from the room was brilliant. The only downfall was the parking. It was free but the hotel carpark was very full so had to find the last carpark on the road outside the hotel. Oh and when I turned on the shower the show head moved up (as it was loose) and got all the ceiling/back wall got wet (I’ve had this in a number of Hotels in the past, not just Accor). A couple of free Sante Bars included with Wifi (512Kb/s which was slow)

A Week of Gold
 

Thanks Mr Whitmore ;)

Thanks for the compressed reviews on these properties in NZ.

Suggest starflyergold move this to the elite experiences thread.

No problem.

I have stayed(in NZ) before status/joining Le Club at the below in various times over the last couple of years.

Novotel Rotorua - No Problems at all, quite clean and inviting like all the Novotel Branded Hotels. Nice area and parking/walking to Bars was easy.

Grand Mercure Wellington - Wouldn't stay there again.. I was on a high floor and could still hear all the Street/Bar Noise. (its towers above a number of Bars). Unless you like to drink all night at the Bars below and then its great :-)

Novotel Hamilton - I've not had any problems with any of the Novotels ever. Apart from mostly being the same (decor/rooms/service etc) you know what you get.

Mercure Wellington - A little walk from most places and also a little noisy when I was there. There is a "secret" lift to get you down the hill a little so you don't have to walk it.

Ibis Wellington - The Wellington CBD (Bars/Entertainment etc) is mostly down the other end of town, but if you don't mind walking ,There is a sign posted lift near bottom Plimmer Stepps as the other way round involves a hill (well a lot of Wellington Involves Hills). Nothing wrong with it as far as I could tell.

Name of the hotel: Pullman Schweizerhof Berlin

What is your Le Club status? Platinum

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior (standard room) upgrade to next category "deluxe"

How are the rooms?
Pretty basic and quite dated, esp. bathrooms. Though spacious

What was good and what was bad?

Good:
- Got an upgrade, drink voucher and late check-out (5 pm) without asking
- The pool and spa area were under maintainance, but they have an agreement with Intercontinental (on the other side of the street) for free access. Not very convenient for this season, but still a good opportunity (never tried the spa at this pullman, but Intercontinetal Berlin is very nice).

Bad:
- No welcome amenity whatsoever.

Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
- No lounge

What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
- Welcome drink voucher handed over at check-in. Could be used for special category "Pullman signature cocktails", wine, beer or soft drink.
- No personal greetings by management.
- No welcome gift.

Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
- Not bad, but would get Hilton with lounge access for the same price.

- Name of the hotel: Ibis London Euston

- 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 a standard double room. There is no superior category (the only alternative is a standard twin room).

- How are the rooms? A little on the small side but very clean and a good desk space.

- What was good and what was bad?

Good: Impressed to see the duty manager jump in to help at reception when a queue started (I always think you can tell a lot about a hotel by the attitude of the manager). Got a friendly welcome (including thanks for being a member of L'Accor - first time that's ever happened) and drinks voucher was provided without having to ask. Bed was comfortable and clean. Big bar and restaurant area.

Bad: Not so much bad but the room was incredibly hot when I entered it - ended up having to open a window to get the temperature down.

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge? N/A

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks? Drinks voucher provided without my having to ask for it. No other amenities or perks.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return? If the price was right, then yes but I often find that if you book in advance there's not a huge difference in price with the nearby Mercure Bloomsbury or Pullman, where the benefits are better.

1F

- Name of the hotel: Pullman London St Pancras

- 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 a Classic Room, was offered a £0 upgrade to a Superior Room and on check-in was told that I'd been given a further upgrade to a Deluxe Room.

- How are the rooms? The Deluxe Room was the same one I'd stayed in before (209) which is a very good size. There's a decent view over the British Library but it was also quiet. Walk in shower was big and well designed, the bed was comfortable and there was good work space. The room comes with complementary water and a Nespresso Machine.

- What was good and what was bad?

Good: It's the best welcome I've ever had on check in - the lady actually remembered me from a previous stay, and gave me a very warm welcome. She had the drinks voucher available to hand over without prompting and made me feel that nothing was too much trouble.

Bad: If getting a VIP gift matters, then I only realised as I was getting ready to check out that I hadn't had a welcome gift (the hotel gives little miniature sets of Co Bigelow products (hand cream, night cream, lip balm and anti-stress cream)). To be honest, I really didn't notice and having already got a couple of the sets (which are very nice), I wasn't that bothered. But it could point to a consistency issue for status holders.

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge? N/A

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks? Drinks voucher provided on check in but there was no gift on this occasion.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return? Yes - this remains my favourite Accor property in London.

1F

Update on my own review : the points of the stay never posted and before making a retroclaim demand on the site to avoid the usual "hassles" (scan the invoice, etc), I sent an e-mail this morning to the hotel asking them to simply post them (as obviously they didn't do it) and here is the answer I just received :
Which translates into :

Dear Mr Goldorak
I let you contact the competent service at 0805 50 40 30. The agents are available from 8 am to 10pm Monday to Saturday (toll-free number from a land line or a mobile). Best regards.

So a polite way to say "we didn't do our job but we don't care to do it and so ask the customer service". I am speechless :eek: :td: