nicolas75

There is a 40 something lady member of staff who is great. Hope she is still there

Lucky you because rates have increased (twice the price I generally pay) for my next stay


I had breakfast at both restaurant and club. I must say that I like very much the restaurant offer for the quality of the products (and service is pretty fast despite number of tables)

Evening food at the club lounge is more tapas like: pretty nice but more as appetizers than dinner.

Unterwegs

IC Estoril (Portugal)

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
booked cheapest, got relatively big room on 3rd floor (same as lobby) with club

How are the rooms?
Very nice. Spacious, big balcony with full ocean view, large bedroom (some other hotels would call this a junior suite), huge bathroom with separate tub (large size) and shower. Very modern, nice design, new (the hotel is only around one year old)

How is the exec. lounge?
relatively small, also with a balcony located next to the breakfast area on lobby floor. Unattended, but you can always ask somebody outside to get coffee etc.
Breakfast is the same as the main restaurant (they leave the door open and you can grab the food outside). Unfortunately no real high tea (just some cookies and nuts. Happy hour has some limited (but tasty) food offerings but good selection of drinks.

Did you receive a welcome gift?
Bottle of red, some sweets, small fruit basked, refilled daily.

How was the minibar?
Limited. Just some soft drinks and beer. Content (only 1st filling) it is free for everybody. Refill is charged normally and free for RA. For RA they also bring a few small bottles of alcohol and you can order more.

What was good and what was bad?

Good
- Great personal service. They don't constantly ask for your room number, they remember your name
- Nice big rooms with good view
- very good breakfast

Bad
Not much really, only a few smaller details:
- no free power outlet next to the desk (the one they have is used by the nespresso machine)
- train track between hotel and ocean (not very noisy since the train goes slow)
- could improve offerings for happy hour and high tea


Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
The room rate is higher than other ICs, but well worth the money.

Would you return?
Absolutely (when you are there you think they should rebrand the IC Lisbon to a CP)

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.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked best advance rate , and received a Club room on high floor with view and club access.

How are the rooms?
Around 35sqm.
Comfortable bed.
Sofa and desk
Nice marble bathroom with double sink, bathtub. Very nice Castelbel amenities (love the smell).
Dressing area.
Flatscreen television with large selection of international channels.
Nespresso expresso machine, kettle
Elegant classic design
Very quiet.
View over the park



How is the exec. lounge?
Recently renovated
No window

I asked to have breakfast at the main restaurant, as I do prefer the offer, and it was accepted with no issue.

Staff has changed, and is not as experienced as it used to be.

What was good and what was bad?

Good
- New renovated lobby (very elegant contemporary design); new bar and restaurant
- Excellent breakfast at the 1st floor restaurant (partly renovated): large choice of very good products (including local products), very efficient and smiling service despite large number of guests
- Central location, 15 minutes walk to the Bairro Alto historical district. Metro station is at 5 minutes walk to the hotel
- Great attentive and smiling staff
- Welcomed at the club lounge by a big " Any Diet Coke"
- Great weather

Bad
- Room was not perfectly clean (stain on the table, mildew in the bathrom)
- I was heavily asked by housemaid to clean my room before my 4pm departure

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Absolutely.

Pictures of the hotel

Pictures of Lisbon

nicolas75

What is your IHG Club status?
Spire Royal Ambassador

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest advance rate + points and received a balcony suite with Acropolis view.

How are the rooms?
Large (around 70 sqm).

Living room with dining area, seating area

Bedroom with comfortable bed, desk. Flat screen television with large selection of international channels

Separated toilets and entry room

Bathroom with bathtub. Korres amenities.

Large terrace with very nice view over Athens and Acropolis

Recently renovated in an elegant contemporary design
Fast wifi
Very quiet (2 double glass), despite being next to a busy road

How is the exec. lounge?
Very good breakfast.
Good selection of evening hot meals, drinks and afternoon pastries

Great staff

Nice view and pleasant terrace

2 PCs with printer
Quiet
Somewhat dated decor

What was good and what was bad?
Good

• Wonderful staff , from reception, customer relation manager, club staff, pool staff and housekeeping (smiling, responsive, proactive)
• Nice upgrade
• Large and elegant suite, great terrace
• Club lounge
• Superb weather (outdoor pool was open, which was very pleasant!)
• I had to cancel my advance reservation 2 weeks ago because of Athens Airport air controllers' strike. The hotel changed my reservation with no fee.

Bad
Nothing really

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club Points? Would you return?
Yes, definitely for the great staff and nice suite.


Pictures of the hotel

Pictures of the city

scubaccr

just to clarify, As an RA, did IC Athens give you Club Lounge foc or was it upsell ?

asking as from memory has not been free or even a choice of lounge v upgrades previously

nicolas75

Actually the standard upgrade I generally get is club room.

But obviously they like me at ATH as they gave me - with no negociation as I arrived at midnight at the hotel - a terrasse suite with club.

I suspect that it was the (great) lady from the club lounge who upgraded me to the suite with club , as at breakfast she said : "Oh, Mr Nicolas75 (she remembered my name), welcome back. You arrived very late yesterday evening, didn't you?".

Chinatrvl

IC Moscow

What is your IHG Club status?
Spire 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 a reward stay, got one level upgrade to superior room.

How are the rooms?
Average size rooms (ca. 35 sqm)
Hard wood floor
Stylish furniture
Small bathroom with glass front and limited privacy, little storage space
Excellent minibar incl. champagne (that wasn't free on reward stays)
Uncomfortable bed

How is the exec. lounge?
Access offered for ca. 120 € - we declined

What was good and what was bad?
Good
Wonderful staff
Excellent location
Great lobby bar with good drinks and service

Bad
I appreciate a thorough housekeeping, yet I do not like it when they re-pack my suitcase, close and move it around the room or throw away things they consider garbage (but I still have use for them)

Value for € or IHG Rewards Club Points? Would you return?
At check-in, they made it clear that there won't be RA benefits on reward stays. Of course, this is okay. However, on points, this hotel is horrible value(particularly after the devaluation): The paid room rate would have been ca. 130 €, meaning: suite, free minibar and club access.
Would return, but on paid rates only.

scubaccr

1)This is where I might ask at checkin to change my award night to a paid night

2)Similar to IC HCMC, club foc on award but zeroroom upgrade, where upsell upgrade was half rate of booking my paid room upfront, let alone vaue of points spend and not earned...... On a mixed award/paid (3+3) I paid upsell but will not use award/points again unless the last room left and correspondingly a crazyily high room rate.

nb 1
I have always struggled to find $70/10k value on nearly all my IC brand stays other than IC Amstel (just breaks past now Amstel is 50K not old 40k)), IC London PL (harder now with gbp at usd 1.30 not usual 1.60) and IC Paris LG
(I find 15k UK HIE's easiest to break even on ? ! )

nb 2
I guess USA Award nights for us UK (GBP) IHGers may be much more tempting these days due to adverse ex rate gbp v usd , but I rarely visit USA
(same number of dollars for rooms but 20% more in GBP terms)
Conversley USA IHGers will find award nights worse value as GBP room rate costs them less dollars.

Chinatrvl

We thought about this before, too. However, as strange it sounds, I don't know what else to do with all the points. We were there to visit Moscow and didn't spend much time at the hotel anyway.

stimpy

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

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
I booked two rooms, one was upgraded to Prestige Harbor view suite and the other was the exec twin room next door.

How are the rooms?
Excellent and the suite has been touched up a bit since I was last there. New furniture and the desk moved so it is closer to the outlets.

How is the exec. lounge?
none, but free drinks for everyone, once per day, is still given and they are good for anything on the menu. They had a special Halloween cocktail that was fun. Great service in the bar.

Did you receive a welcome gift?
Classic tin with candy inside, fruit and water.

How was the minibar?
Deutz Champagne, bottle of Provence rosé, and the usual set of drinks.

What was good and what was bad?

Good
Great upgrade as usual and service throughout.
I finally was able to try the gastronomic restaurant and it was fabulous.

Bad
Nothing

Value for € or Priority Club Points?
Yes

Would you return?
Every year around this time. Always great weather too!

Raynyan

InterContinental Tokyo Bay

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.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked chapest, Received Club InterContinental Premium SkyTree View Room. Granted all of RA/CLUB privileges.

How are the rooms?
52SQM Tokyo Skytree and Sumidagawa River/Tokyo Bay View.
Specious Tokyo Bay Viewbath Room


How is the Club Lounge?
Yes, granted.
Great view but F&B qualities are quite poor.

What was your welcome gift?
Bottle of red wine and chocolate (as always)

How was the mini-bar?
Degraded soft drinks selection. Snacks are also free.

Did you receive fruit in the room?
Yes

What was good and what was bad?
GOOD
Good recognition of staff

BAD
Closed great BBQ restaurant...
Club Lounge F&B selections
Degraded mini-bar soft drinks selection

Value for $ or Rewards Club Points?
Yes, JPY15200/night is good deal.

Would you return?
Yes

nicolas75

What is your IHG Reward Club Status?
Spire 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 cheapest advance rate and received a king bed executive room on high floor with club acces (after negociation).

How are the rooms?
Around 40 sqm. Elegant design.

Comfortable bed (but not so comfortable pillows as they are much to soft)

Sofa and desk

Flat screen television with large selection of channels
Kettle, no Nespresso machine

Bathroom with bathtub, separate toilets and shower. Agraria amenities.

Room was immaculate
Very quiet
Nice view over the city


Pictures of the city

Pictures of the hotel

How is the exec. lounge?
One of the best European club lounges.
Very good breakfast. Pastries at tea time. Cold and warm election of evening food, served in Bernardaud China
Very elegant design and great service
Excellent service.

What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- Central location, in the most exclusive part of the city
- Elegant interior design
- Great club lounge
- I stupidely booked by mistake the wrong day, and hotel agreed to change to the previous day with no charge.

Bad:
- I have been disturbed twice (by phone call and by visit despite the Do No Disturb sign on the door) at 1.30pm to know at what time I would check-out)
- The master switch cuts power to the entire room, including sockets, which prevents the loading of tablets when not in the room
- No bicycles available at hotel (despite I was offered this option during my last stay)
- The so-called concierge on duty the first day was not exactly friendly and well-informed (obviously did not know anything about Nextbike, as he advised me to go at central station to rent bicycles)

Value for $ or IHG Rewards Club Points? Would you return?
Yes, for central location, club lounge and interiordesign

Raynyan

ANA InterContinental Tokyo

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, firstly received 2 single beds attached (Hollywood Twin) Premier Room as waiting room, then received Junior Suite on Premier Floor. Since Sep.2016, RA only receive 2 level upgrade. So, if you booked cheapest, you will receive Premier Room in principle. My upgrade is exceptional coz I'm one of top 10 regular guest of this hotel.

How are the rooms?
Single Beds Attached (Hollywood Twin) Premier Room:
Approx.30sqm decent size room in Tokyo. 37inches Panasonic LCD TV, JBL Sound system, Bathroom TV, and THANN toiletries. (L'Occitane toiletries no longer provided)

Junior Suite (On Premier Floor):
52sqm good sized room. 2x 37inches Panasonic LCD TV, Blu-ray player, JBL Sound system, Bathroom TV, and THANN toiletries.

Video of 2 Single Beds Attached (Hollywood Twin) Premier Room

Video of Junior Suite (On Premier Floor)

How is the exec. lounge?
Yes, granted. As always superb. All of warm meals changed to serve by A La Carte menu (to order style). Bartender services in cocktail time. Absolutely one of the best Club Lounge in the world.

What was your welcome gift?
Bottle of Red wine, Japanese Sweets "Karinto".

Did you receive fruit in the room?
Yes

What was good?
Everything

What was bad?
Nothing

Value for $ or Rewards Club Points?
Yes

Would you return?
Yes. Here is my home. Every staff are my family.

stimpy

I think this isn't true, or at least there are nuances to upgrades at this hotel. I've been pre-upgraded to a corner suite twice at this hotel.

Raynyan

You are correct until this Sep. But for your future stay, not sure to receive the Suite. I mention about principle. Indeed, some of my friends of RA could not receive the Suite since this Sep. They officially got inform from Club staff if would like to have Suite, need to book Executive Deluxe Room.