KLflyerRalph

- Name of the hotel:
Pullman Munich

- What is your Le Club status?
Gold

- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
With the hotel yes. Le Club recognition, not so much.

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked two standard rooms. Received no upgrade. Corner room was noticeably larger than the other room.

- How are the rooms?
Not the biggest but modern, clean and functional. Nice walk-in shower with rainhead.

- What was good and what was bad?

Good:
Breakfast was of high quality. Rooms modern and bed comfortable as well. Location in a quiet residential neighbourhood but the metro is 2 minutes walking and there is a direct connection to the city center.

Bad:
Quite long waits at check-in.
Poor, if any, Le Club Accor recognition. No mention of (lack of) upgrade and I had to ask for the drink vouchers. No mention of my status either at check-in so I doubt if they even knew.
Both in the booking and an email a few days prior I requested rooms next to or close to each other and bed preferences. This was not taken into account. In the end they managed two rooms on the same floor but not near each other, and the room with two beds ended up as a double bed despite asking at the reception.

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

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
As said, had to ask about the drink vouchers. In one room there was a pack of chocolate cranberries. Don't know if that constituted the welcome amenity...

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
For the price we paid, we were certainly happy with the modern room and breakfast. Just a shame about the LCAH recognition which was virtually non-existent.
Tip: booking through the hotel's own website, instead of Accor or the general Pullman website, gives a much cheaper breakfast surcharge. There is also a bakery/café 50m next to the entrance.

Stacycrow

Pullman Port Douglas Sea Temple Resort & Spa

- Name of the hotel:
Pullman Port Douglas Sea Temple Resort & Spa

- 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 Studio Spa Room and upgraded to a 2 bedroom unit

- How are the rooms?
The apartment was pretty basic with plenty of room and got everything needed. It was located on ground floor with another apartment above and thus noise received from unit above – moving chairs, thump when the people walked etc. Could not sleep-in

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
The location is out of Port Douglas town so needed a car and the beach was nice but at low tide mud flats and not suitable for swimming. Reception had to be notified when going for a beach walk because of Crocodile attack risk. Not recommended to visit the beach at night. Friendly and helpful staff

Bad:
No real loyalty recognition and don’t think the management cared to much about loyalty membership
Number of small children at the Resort from babies to toddler age – thought I was staying in a Child Care Centre. Not a Couples Resort.

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
N/A no lounge

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
One drink voucher and a bottle of Red wine
Late check-out was requested and denied. Very disappointed as we only wanted an extra 1 hour – check out is 11am. Mentioned Accor Plat. member but still denied and hotel reception were rather impolite about it with many excuses made i.e. we have a family checking in at 3pm with a baby etc.
No other benefits and or recognition

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
$240 AU per night was pretty good value, however not, in my opinion, 5 Star.
Would probably give this one a miss in future

kaizen7

- Name of the hotel:
Novotel Nusa Dua


- What is your Le Club status?
Gold ... still


- 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 :1 one bedroom apartment and 1 two bedroom apartment
Received : 2 two bedroom apartment

- How are the rooms?
Big but start showing its age and some area in the bathroom are badly designed so water pooled on that particular area (near shower screen) and cause some damage


- What was good and what was bad?

The hotel is kind of smaller and more budget friendly than its sister property (Sofitel Nusa Dua)

Good:
Staff are professional and very attentive.
LCAH status recognised straight away.
Breakfast offering was decent for Novotel level

Bad:
property was showing its age and some unsightly hard water marks
on the smaller side so getting crowded easily
not directly connected to the beach

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


- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
Got welcome drinks according to the incoming pax (6 pax to be exact)
welcome amenities : fruit platter for both rooms, and chocolate platter with macarons for members room


- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Very good hotel for its price point.
Unfortunately I might not return as I might book more expensive resort if I would like to relax .... or book lower priced mercures if I just need a place to sleep.

nrouxel

- Name of the hotel:
LaGare Hotel Venezia - MGallery by Sofitel

- 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 5 rooms (3 rooms with Accor and 2 rooms with expedia) :
- Junior suite (booked with Accor) : no upgrade possible
- Executive room for 4 (booked with Accor) : no upgrade possible
- superior room (booked with Accor) : upgraded to the best deluxe room
- 2 superior rooms (booked with expédia) : upgraded to 2 deluxe rooms


- How are the rooms?
The junior suite is really big and is the only one with a view to the Grand Canal of Murano.
Executive room is designed on two floors: a living area with sofa, that can be converted into two comfortable single beds, and a bathroom on the ground floor and a queen-size bed on the first floor. Big enough for 4 peoples.
Deluxe rooms are big enough and have windows with view (superior rooms don't have any view because The hotel is built amongst the walls of an ancient furnac )
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
The hotel is beautiful and perfectly located in Murano.
The free transfers to Venice and the airport by speed boat alone included in the very reasonable rates are worth the stay.
loyalty recognition was good and staff I met are all very friendly and helpful

Bad:
Asked for late check-out, but was only granted 12.30

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
-

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks?
One drink voucher for 2
A box of candied fruit in each of the five rooms

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
The free transfers to Venice and the airport by speed boat alone included in the very reasonable rates are worth the stay + I had a BRG claim which was approved.

kaizen7

Kobetraveller

- Name of the hotel: Fairmont Jakarta

- What is your Le Club status? Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay? First Stay with the Fairmont brand. I knew very little about Fairmont before making the booking except that Accor Platinum Status does not provide access to their Club Lounge (Fairmont Gold Lounge). I was generally happy with my Stay. Expectations were met but not exceeded given the high room rate.

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive? This is a little complicated. I originally booked their cheapest, Standard Room (Fairmont Room). I was originally given a one category upgrade to their Deluxe room which is bigger, and probably on a higher floor. But a couple of days prior to my check in I received an upselling email of discounted paid offers for various services. We can request the offers, and then find out if our requests have been granted (subject to availability) at check in. Anyway, I wanted to try their Gold Lounge so I requested it for USD 50. Very early in the morning of my check in I called the hotel to see if my request was approved. The Duty Manager approved it immediately. So due to this extra payment I received a room on the 19th floor connected to the Gold Lounge on the 21st floor by a staircase which was very convenient as I could avoid the lifts.


- How are the rooms? The room was fine. Nothing to complain about. Le Labo toiletries. I am not familiar with this brand but everything seemed to be very high quality.


- What was good and what was bad?

Good:

Central location.

The hotel is connected by a dedicated tunnel to a big shopping mall.

The buffet breakfast is very good, but in line with expectations rather than exceeding them,

Proactive staff in the Gold Lounge.

Very relaxing Lounge. I only saw a handful of people there, even during cocktails.

Bad:

Although this was my first Stay I did not receive a Welcome Email until I called the hotel and asked about it two days prior to check in.


- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge? The Lounge was very comfortable with a nice breakfast and cocktails, but not really outstanding given the room rates. They serve a very good afternoon tea though. The Lounge staff are excellent and very engaging. The Lounge was extremely quiet while I was there during afternoon tea and cocktails, and briefly to look at their breakfast after eating downstairs. The relatively limited nature of their Gold Lounge breakfast and Cocktails may have been due to low occupancy.

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

Welcome drink voucher. During the day it could only be redeemed at one outlet (Sappori Deli) as the two bars do not open until 5 pm. The choice of drinks was quite limited. There may have been a better choice at the bars at night.

A nice Fruit Platter, with a generic typed welcome note was waiting in the room. Four attractive hand made little cakes were delivered to the room a little later on with a typed Welcome card from a Duty Manager. His name was also typed, not signed.

At check out was presented with a very nice piece of traditional material, three small chocolates with my initials, and a nice photo of the staff.

Was given an 11 am early check in, and the room was ready when I actually arrived at 10:30 am. Early check ins and late check outs were two of the services offered as paid upgrades by email. My early check in was a Platinum benefit. I checked out early.


- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return? Not really value for money if paying the full rate. Will return using the APAC promotional discount, and points. Quite OK with 40% discount. Otherwise I guess it simply depends on personal taste. Certainly a very comfortable, and relaxing experience.

tris06

Thanks for the review. It is good to see how the new hotels measure up to the regular Accor hotel brands.A few more reviews of each are needed to get a better idea. Early to say yet but it does not seem that these hotels have not wowed the Le club members as much as we have been told to expect by some.

gilbertaue

. Hmmm

Another reason why I often promote the Pullman Central Park.

GM, according to him, feels a handwritten note is what at least every gold and Plat deserves.
+ a very nice welcoming me platter and typically a good upgrade.
Rooms are getting a bit tired, but some renovations coming next year.

Nevertheless, great staff and a lounge without having to dish out $$$

In a place where there's a pullman or sofitel with a lounge, I've decided to avoid Fairmonts.

tris06

While I have not tried a Fairmont yet I do get that same feeling. However if there is no other luxury Accor hotel in the nearby area or the local Sofitel/ Pullman has poor reviews/experiences I may likely book a Fairmont.
I think next time I am in Jakarta (last time was 3 years ago) I would take your suggestion to try the Pullman out. Isn't there a Sofitel So to open soon in Jakarta too as well?

Maelstrom

- Name of the hotel: Novotel Nanjing Central. I will do a full review once I have some time this week.

- What is your Le Club status? Platinum

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

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive? Booked Superior Room, upgraded one category to Premier Room.

- How are the rooms? Very comfortable and functional. They are well maintained, too with no obvious signs of wear and tear.

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
Fantastic location next to Xinjiekou metro station, with shopping malls and restaurants galore nearby.
Very comfortable bed, with pillow menu.
Spacious room for a standard room, though I suspect our room was slightly larger than the norm, as we were given a corner room.
Premier Lounge on the top floor with friendly and attentive staff.
Though breakfast in the Lounge officially finished at 10:30, if any guests arrived toward the end of service, the staff would not start packing down until after 10:45.
Wi-Fi was generally good, with a built in VPN (Japan based, I'm assuming, as Google defaulted to Japan).
Premier Floor rooms included complimentary four cans of soft drink or juice from the minibar daily.

Bad:
Checkout at the Premier lounge was disappointing. One of the staff members in the Premier Lounge did not speak good English (and my Chinese is elementary at best), and my paperwork had to be rushed upstairs from the reception so my checkout could be completed (we checked in at the Lounge).
The room had mediocre sound proofing of street noise (our room faced the street and shopping malls opposite). If you are especially sensitive to sound, request a quieter room.
Air conditioning was centrally controlled, no way to manually change the tenperature.
The floor of the shower was slightly slippery, with no slip resistant mat provided.

- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge? Lounge access was given. We booked a non-breakfast rate, so we were only offered breakfast in the Lounge and not in the restaurant.
We had breakfast each of the four mornings. Some of the food was constant each morning, such as bacon and boiled eggs. Other food was rotated each day, such as the vegetables, dumplings and other items.
We only enjoyed Happy Hour for two of the evenings. As with breakfast, some items were there both evenings and others were rotated. The hot foods were not very good, the desserts were delicious.

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks? 2x welcome drinks on arrival (valid for soft drink, tea, coffee and house cocktail), and also 2x drink vouchers given on checkout in the lounge; I don't know if it was by way of apology for my slow checkout in the Lounge, but it was a nice touch. Unfortunately, I had no chance to use them, as we were running late for our train.
Welcome gift was a small token fruit plate.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return? We would absolutely return. It was good value for money (we paid RMB 1900 for 4-nights). The room was comfortable. The staff were friendly. The location is fantastic.

I will do a full review once I have some time this week.

rny321

I may be remembering different comments than you, but many of the most avid Fairmont fans said they would be staying elsewhere after their certificates were used. What made Fairmont special to some of us was the ability to confirm suite, gold floor and room upgrades at the time of booking. Since Hilton, Hyatt and MPG (MR + SPG) Hilton provide suite upgrades to top tier members along with lounge access and/or free breakfast to members at many of their hotels, I don't believe that most Fairmont hotels are so special that I will be frequenting many of them going forward.

There are many excellent hotels withing Accor's portfolio that I look forward to staying at. Amex's FHR, Visa Infinite, and Virtuoso. commonly offer upgrades, free breakfast, food and beverage credits and welcome gifts. Since the travel agents mentioned above provide many of the same benefits as Accor Platinum, I am not sure I see the benefits of chasing Le Club status. I may be missing some of the benefits of Accor Platinum and I am willing to learn more about the program and give it a chance, so my opinions of the program may change over time.

I have stayed a large percentage of Fairmont's hotels and I am happy to offer advice or suggestions. Although I haven't stayed at the Jakarta location, I had a fantastic stay in Bali, which was at least in part due to the ability to use suite upgrades.

kaizen7

rny321

Although there are exceptions, Raffles is a higher end group than Fairmont. The trade off is suite upgrades can be used at Fairmont hotels and not Raffles. If I wasn't using a suite or gold floor upgrade and the price differential was reasonable, I would pick the Raffles Jakarta over the Fairmont Jakarta. Since I only have one suite upgrade certificate left, I would use it on a property where suites are much more expensive and not in Jakarta.

fransknorge

derfliegel

Name of the hotel: Fairmont Montreux, Switzerland

- What is your Le Club status? Gold

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

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive? Booked Deluxe room, city view. Upgraded to lake view on the highest floor.

- How are the rooms? Very comfortable and big. The hotel is a real "palace"!

- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
Fantastic location close to Lake Geneva with a beautiful view! Great hotel style (palace, huge hallways), one of the best breakfast buffets I had. Very friendly staff.

Bad:
We expected more from the spa. But I guess you need to do massages in order to see, why they won so many prices for the spa. We only used the pool and thought there are more options.

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

- What about welcome drinks, welcome amenities or any other special perks? 2x welcome drinks on arrival (valid for soft drink, tea, coffee, wine, and house cocktail), fruit plate in room.

- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return? We would absolutely return, Switzerland was beautiful as always, and it was a luxury experience, great food, friendly staff!