nicolas75

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 advance rate and paid additional EUR 130 a day, and was upgraded to Club suite.

How are the rooms?
Superb design
Around 90 sqm
Very comfortable bed
Very efficient air conditionning
Large bathroom with separate walk-in shower and bathtub
Large living room
Terrace with partial view (the reason it is not called panoramic suite)
Unfortunately not possible to connect the television sets with iPhone without a cable

How is the exec. lounge?
Quite nice (even if service can sometimes be slow but all staff is very friendly)
Quality breakfast
Good evening cocktails and food selections
Very pleasant terrace

Did you receive a welcome gift?
Amenities and wine

What was good and what was bad?

-Good
Renovated hotel (including renovated reception lobby and lobby bar)
Superb suites
Pleasant club lounge
Attentive staff
Excellent restaurant by the sea with very friendly staff
Private beach
Suite on the last floor come with free access to the Sky Beach

-Bad
Nothing

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Points?
Pretty good

Would you return?
Yes

New lobby bar

Ambassador check-in

Restaurant on the ground floor main building


Tea time at club lounge


Welcome amenity

Private beach

Restaurant by the sea





SkyBeach



Club suite







Club lounge




Second pool area (opened to every guest)

nicolas75

- What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire Royal Ambassador

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

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest advance rate and was upgraded to a Premium Suite.

- How are the rooms?
Around 45 sqm large
Classic and elegant design.
Separated entrance with dressing
Room with seating area and desk
Separated bedroom
Flat screen television set, with large selection of international channels
Bedroom with large and very comfortable bed
Marble bathroom with separate walk-in shower. Agraria amenities
Very quiet
View over the city
Fast wifi
Usb sockets close to the bed
Nespresso coffee machine
Sanitary set
No connectable televion set

- How is the exec. lounge?
Club lounge was closed and transferred to the lobby bar.
Breakfast was served in a dedicated private area.
Drinks available during the day (I did not experience evening spread, and even don’t know if there was any).


- What was good and what was bad?

GOOD

• With the exception of the bell boy, I did not recognize former members of staff. Still, service was really excellent from all members of staff
• Luxurious atmosphere in public places
• Nice courtyard garden
• Location is very convenient from airport (metro station 80 meters from the hotel). The hotel is located within :Salamenca, which is the most elegant district for luxury boutiques, quality restaurants, and full of museums and art foundations (Fundación Juan March, Mapfre Fundación Residencia des estudiantes, Museo Cerralbo, etc.).
• Good breakfast

BAD
Not much, except for non operational minibar

- Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club Points? Would you return?
Yes


Exterior


Lobby







Courtyard garden

Premium suite - entry with dressing

Premium suite - living room

Premium suite - view


Premium suite - Nespresso




Premium suite - bathroom






Breakfast




Temporary club lounge area

Raynyan

ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire Inner Circle Royal Ambassador

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, Received Club InterContinental Premium Ocean Room.

How are the rooms?

Club InterContinental Room:

43.2 sqm. Located in new Club wing bldg. King bed room is existed only 8 rooms, all other rooms are two single beds (Twin) room. This room have 4 categories Superior, Deluxe, Premium, Premium Garden (on 1st floor). However, difference is just a level of floor, rooms and amenities are completely same. Only Premium Garden has small garden but no view.

How is the exec. lounge?
Really beautiful and great lounge. Club guests exclusive pool with day beds and parasols, good comfort sofas and chairs, F&B qualities are still outstanding. (However, selection has been decreased due to COVID-19). Now Japan Government is restricted alcoholic beverages offering in the public space included all of restaurants and bars. Now evening cocktail service is alternated by in-room dining special menu.


In-Room Club InterContinental Evening Cocktail Service


How was the mini-bar?
Many selections of soft drinks and alcohol included G.H.Mumm Champagne. Price is relatively reasonable compared to other InterContinental (Because of the Liquor Tax Reduction and Exemption Government Policy in Okinawa Area) You can enjoy Champagne within RA mini-bar credit.

What was your welcome gift?
Bottle of Champagne and my favorite beer with snacks.

Did you receive fruit in the room?
Yes. large assortment plate.


Welcome Gift and Fruits plate


What was good?
++++++++++ Guest recognition (extremely personalized service included welcome gift. Every managements came to greet me)
++++++++++ Round trip chauffeur service for Royal Ambassadors from airport to the resort.
++++++++++ Lot of restaurant outlets selection included Club Lounge. Quality is also excellent.
+++++ Lot of resort activities. Golf, Scuba diving training/tour, Sea walk, Fishing, Cruising, Sea park, Private Beach, Pools, and etc...
+++++ Convenience Store and Souvenir Shop.
+++ In-house ATM

What was bad?
None

Value for $ or Rewards Club Points?
Yes

Would you return?
Absolutely

Raynyan

BTW, now RA benefits are available at not only in InterContinental, but also in Regent, Kimpton, and Six Senses (probably Indigo will be added from 2022), that completely different from other statuses. Should we post those properties’ experiences in this thread??

nicolas75

I had the exact same thinking.
My next stays at Kimpton, Regent and Six Senses would be post in this thread.

I am quite sure by the way that we may have a name change of the program to reflect this changes.

Chinatrvl

Six Senses Kaplankaya

What is your IHG Rewards Club status?
Spire Inner Circle Royal Ambassador

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked ridge terrace on points, got just that. Hotel was sold out.

How are the rooms?
Unfortunately, too small.
Very nicely located rooms with lots of privacy
Although the hotel has a very reliable buggy service, most of the rooms are walkable from any part of the main area of the resort
Beautifully furnished and all new
Excellent tablet where from buggy to reservations, everything can be reliably ordered
The rooms are too small. We had two big suitcases - no way to open them. This is really unfortunate, as the Kaplankaya area is huge and space is available

How is the exec. lounge?
None.

How was the mini-bar?
Good selection, with high prices. Pack of chips (25 gr) - 8 €

What was your welcome gift?
Bottle of red wine, mezze selection - very delicious.

Did you receive fruit in the room?
Yes. large assortment plate.

What was good?
- Outstanding staff and service: By WhatsApp, you have your personal contact that helps you with everything. Reservations, buggy service etc.
- Outstanding property. Beautifully located
- Excellent food - but only in the hotel restaurants - with great service
- Shuttle service to other areas of the resort every 30 mins
- Nice wine selection
- Prices are generally high, yet we found the hotel restaurants to be good value

What was bad?
- Breakfast is a Corona super spreader event (no precautions at all)
- Prearrival communication was not possible (no replies to e-mails)
- Not the hotels fault, but there is another restaurant on the Kaplankaya site, run by some 20 something "we are from Paris and are creative" people serving badly prepared food at outrageous prices (dinner for two with wine, at more than 500 €!)

Value for $ or Rewards Club Points?
Yes

Would you return?
Not my style of vacation, so I won't. But I can recommend this place.

FLYGVA

We will probably create a new thread for Six Senses. Please allow us a few days, till we have sorted out the details.

nicolas75

I had a chat with management at Kimpton De Witt this week-end, and he confirmed that the merge of the different luxury programs under a same brand Ambassador are in discussion.

Chinatrvl

Sorry to start a discussion here. Six senses explicitly recognizes RAs. So these hotels should fit in this thread? I presume to be SS, IC, Regent, and Kimpton to be in the Ambassador program.

stimpy

While I am sure that there are discussions going on, the final step is gaining agreement among the hotel owners, right? I don't think we can assume there will be a new program in 2021. Maybe not in 2022 either.

nicolas75

The discussions are apparently more on a marketing side.

Kimpton's integration into IHG had aroused emotion among loyal customers of the brand, who feared seeing the brand "normalize" (hence the retention of elements from the former Kimpton Karma loyalty program).

It now seems that the integration went well, and that the next step would be to merge all the programs under the Ambassador brand.

The study would focus on the acceptance of loyal Kimpton customers, and the benefits of unifying around a single brand.

FLYGVA

I understand your point of views. We have however to keep out non Royal Ambassador Members into account you might also stay at Six Senses. My impression is, that the template does not really fit for Six Senses (has any Six Senses a lounge? Would the focus for staying there being different that in an IC or Regent).

I am also not sure, that we will see the integration or a revamped Ambassador Program soon. Maybe we have to re-consider the approach of the experience threads in general - taken the new brand into account as well. But you can of course post your Six Senses experience in the Royal Ambassaodr Thread. We can move posts later. I did not want to stop you from posting, we have not yet made our mind about a new template.

Thank you for your input and thoughts on this topic

FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum

The discussion in this thread is okay for now - I will however move the post later to its own thread

VaBeachGirl

IC Washington DC - The Wharf

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes - what a surprise after my last visit at the end of June!

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked King Deluxe, received Compass Suite on 4th Floor which had 2 patios (one off the bedroom and one off the living area).

How are the rooms?
Modern, with great views of the wharf and Potomac River. I've stayed in a Compass Suite a few times before (a great corner room with decent size living area and in the past I've had one or two juliet balconies), but I really liked this room with the patios.
The only toiletries that have been available during COVID have been soap, bath gel, shampoo, conditioner but during this stay, all toiletries were fully stocked again, hopefully, it will stay that way.

How is the exec. lounge?
There isn't one.
​​​The Royal Ambassador breakfast during COVID had previously been $50 per day for room service breakfast, but the new restaurant, Moon Rabbit, is now open for breakfast (still $50 a day max which is fine for one person but 2 people could go over that amount). A decent selection, including some Vietnamese fusion options and everything was brought out pretty quickly.

Did you receive a welcome gift?
Lately, I've been receiving macarons and a bottle of wine, but this last stay I received a bottle of prosecco and chocolate covered strawberries.

How was the minibar?
Still stocked and a basic selection. A few beers, Johnny Walker Black, Tito's vodka, gin, 375 ml bottles of red and white wine, sparkling water, mixers.

What was good and what was bad?

-Good
Upgrade to Compass Suite for a 3 night stay
Great staff and there seem to be more new hires.
Happy to see the restaurant is open again for breakfast
Prosecco as a welcome gift
Everyday they would text to see if I wanted housekeeping or minibar refill
Location at The Wharf

-Bad
Nothing this time!

Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
Yes

Would you return?
Yes, but the upgrades here have been extremely hit or miss!

VaBeachGirl

IC Boston

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked King Deluxe, received King bed Water View

How are the rooms?
The room was fine. I was on a lower floor so didn't even have a great view of the river.

How is the exec. lounge?
Still not open and the front desk staff have a lot of confusion about RA compensation.
​​​Breakfast was in the restaurant and had a limited menu but it was very good and service was excellent. At checkout, I verified that the breakfast charge would come off my bill and was told yes. But when I got the email receipt, the front desk agent forgot to remove the breakfast charge.

Did you receive a welcome gift?
Nothing at all and I had to ask for water at the front desk.

How was the minibar?
Empty. Again, a lot of front desk confusion over compensation for lack of minibar. I was told at check in that I had $50 a day to spend for any food and beverages to make up for the minibar. But apparently, the RA compensation is $200/day for any food (breakfast is part of that) but cannot include alcohol because of a Massachusetts law (was told this at checkout after I had 2 glasses of wine the night before and charged it to my room).

What was good and what was bad?

-Good
Location

-Bad
No minibar
Club Lounge is still closed
No welcome amenity
All the confusion over RA compensation for lack of minibar and club. They need to provide a printout to RAs with the current benefits since multiple people at the front desk told me different things.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
Not really, especially with the no alcohol included for RAs

Would you return?
Yes, if Club Lounge opens back up

nicolas75

How come they limit breakfast at $50 a day max as, as Royal Ambassador, you get Club InterContinental® lounge access where available, and complimentary breakfast for two per night at properties without a Club InterContinental lounge?!?