Travel K

Next up for me, so far this year:

Resort at Pelican Hill later this month

In April, another tour of New Zealand with stays at Otahuna, Grasmere, Hakapuku Treehouse, and hopefully Eden House and Split Apple.

September is Australia, but I am not sure yet what my plan is.

Pierre&Cédric

2015 was a fantastic year: Norman Tel Aviv, Hotel du Palais Biarritz, Aman Canal Grande, Peninsula Manila, Amanpulo, FS at the Bosphorus, Finca Cortesin, Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice, Swissotel the Stamford in Singapore for NDP50, Amankila, Amanjiwo, Ashford Castle, Amanjena!

2016 should be much less fun
- Six Senses Douro Valley (July)
- Faena Miami (September)
- St Regis San Francisco (September)

Londonjetsetter

[QUOTE=Pierre&Cédric;26041383]2015 was a fantastic year: Norman Tel Aviv, Hotel du Palais Biarritz, Aman Canal Grande, Peninsula Manila, Amanpulo, FS at the Bosphorus, Finca Cortesin, Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice, Swissotel the Stamford in Singapore for NDP50, Amankila, Amanjiwo, Ashford Castle, Amanjena!

2016 should be much less fun
- Six Senses Douro Valley (July)
- Faena Miami (September)
- St Regis San Francisco (September)[/QU

I would be interested to hear your views on Amankila and Amanjiwo. Also how was Finca Cortesin?

FlyerEC

February

Have decided to postpone Jiwo & stay at Kila / Nusa

March
Not sure if Nemu will happen , see how it pans out next couple months

April

Maybe able to fit in Amanfayun & MOSHA ( PUD )
At TUH have been staying at harbour view suites , love the views across to Kowloon from the higher floors

Am contemplating combining Saffire & SOL . Wonder if too much of a good thing or save for separate trip

BTW , Sandra W - Kila will be at the AmanLON event on Friday

Pierre&Cédric

Some comments and pictures of Kila & Jiwo:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25314847-post391.html

Amankila is probably one of the best beach resort we stayed in, ticking all boxes:
- nice private pool & accomodation (pool suite)
- iconic main pool with great views
- nice beach club with an additional pool almost by yourself
- beautiful black sand beach, we enjoyed swimming and playing in the waves like children
- excellent service

Amanjiwo is even more extraordinary. Staying in the Dalem Jiwo Suite probably helps a lot.


Some pictures of Finca Cortesin there:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25145828-post21.html

I did not really like the area but the hotel itself and the beach club are great for a 2/3 days weekend.

NYBanker

We did both back to back over Christmas 2013. Really enjoyed them both, but with the nod to SOL.

The biggest drawback to both is the full day of transit time. It is a two+ hour drive from Freycinet down to HBA. There are no flights from HBA to ADL, so you need to stop in MEL to fly to ADL. Then you change to Rex Air for the 15 minute flight to KGC. Then you have a 45 minute drive to SOL.

We did it....I'm glad we did...but it was a full day spent.

Because KGC has a short runway, flying private wasn't a ready option, either. It was about A$12k when I priced it for a King Air. You still had the drives on either side as well.

FlyerEC

Thanks NYBanker , perhaps will take a couple days break in MEL before SOL .

Wonder if one should risk Nemu in March after the not so stellar opening in Tokyo .. Or what till spring 2017 .
Spread out Aman stays a bit

Ericka

Stowe Mountain Lodge in 2 weeks for some skiing with our little guy.
Now if we could only get some snow. You DC folks have all the luck.

DSI

Well, I thought this might be fun. Compared to people like Pricesquire, VOS, Pausinius, etc, etc... there's not much here... Feel free to share

late Dec-January: Kauai at StRegis. Fun, celebrity-filled and good for families. AA First class was was rip-off.

March: Peru at Tambo del Inka, Inkaterra, Luxury Collection Cusco. All were great for an SPG Plat and loved Inkaterra. LAN Biz on miles was decent.

June-July:
Abu Dhabi: Qasr al Sarab. Really fun and very nice. Flew First in EY on 787.
Seychelles at Fregate. AWESOME!
Kenya: Tassia (truly amazing), Serian lodges in Mara were wonderful.
London: Lanesborough: Really great.
Paris: Prince de Galles. Not quite as spectacular as the other places we stayed but an excellent value. Returned on BA First.

November:
India: Leela Palace (meh, wouldn't return). Amarvillas, felt a little like a cruise buffet place. Amanbagh. First Aman and LOVED it. Rajvilas, very nice. Flew EY F.

2016:
March-April: Amankora, Amansara, Amantaka, Siam Bangkok. F tickets EY.

June-July: Dubai: Armani one night and a night at Burj al Arab (it just is meant to be!)
Sri Lanka: Ulugalla, Stone House Kandy, Tea Trails, Amanwella and Amangalle
Barcelona: MO BCN
France: Sources de Caudilles and Le Bristol. F tickets EY, BA and J for Qatar.

November: Japan: Aman and either Amanemu or FS Kyoto or maybe all three? Have F tickets on JAL.

November: Bogota: Four Seasons

Xmas-New Year's: Portugal, Lisbon FS
Morocco: Just booked Kasbah Tamadot for 3 nights and Royal Mansour for 3 nights.

Most of these trips with the help of Pricesquire.
Most of the F tickets from miles.

ReallyNotFrequentFlyer

2 weeks total in Paris/Venice/Florence and Amsterdam. Had 5 trips last year so will need to cut down quite a bit this year

NYBanker

I've been by it countless times but never entered. I've been to the nearby Dorchester a few times.

Do you recommend it highly? Is there a minimum room category I should look to?

jp-mco

I recommend it very highly. We've always stayed in a Park Lane Suite but last week I stayed there for business and booked a base category room and they upgraded me to the first category of suite (Studio Suite) and it was very nice too. F&B is excellent with Wolfgang Puck's CUT being the signature restaurant and they have Japanese Wagyu on the menu. The decor and feel of the hotel is very masculine and you either love or hate Art Deco styling I guess.

If you're not bothered about taking a suite then I would say to go for an Executive Room with Balcony. They're exclusively on the 8th floor of the property and have their own small balcony with great views over Hyde Park. From that category upwards it only gets better!

FlyerEC

Welcome to FT !
Popped by & found the lobby & public areas rather OTT . Glad we were at the PH Palacio Duhau nearby , part of another historic mansion .

May have been posted elsewhere but if you're a first time visitor to South America , you may encounter unexpected situations plus language issues even at airports & other visitors venues .
Seems there are daily strikes or demonstrations in Buenos Aires , it was a transport one when we arrived !
With Brazil we had some harrowing experience . Seems some new Brazilian law has been causing travellers headaches especially those coming from USA . Met quite a few who were denied boarding their flights a few times ! A guy we met managed on his fourth try . Many no wiser why .. & being Olympic year , one would have thought they would have been prudent not to cause visitors grief .

Thankfully , the rest of our visit was less eventful .

MacMyDay

This is now extended to

June
Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech

December
Cheval Blanc
Velaa Private Island
Amanpulo
Upper House
Landmark Mandarin Oriental

Just one last holiday in November to plan now.

I'm a huge fan of The Connaught, but we are giving the Beaumont another go this weekend, as the ex-Director of Rooms from The Connaught - whom left to Le Bristol (where we also went to see him) - is now the new GM as of last Monday.

Aventine

You'll enjoy Upper House HK.^