Crave was a lot of fun. Didn't see any other FTers or many folks with yellow bands (that was IC - correct?)

Great effort from Kimpton. Some random thoughts on the event.

Fun costumes.

The bartenders were great, especially Matt from Zentan - what an awesome drink he made! And now my one complaint, no tips jars. The bartenders busted their butts, hopefully Kimpton made it worth their while. (I can neither confirm nor deny whether I tipped any of the bartenders since I have no idea what Kimpton's policy was that night).

The dessert table was wonderful. So was the salmon. These two were the best of the bunches of food.

Fun piano guys. And if you were wondering, I was the person who requested Iron Maiden. One of the piano players lost it laughing when he read the request but he did start singing Run To The Hills (I did however request Fear Of The Dark ).

Some (many?) poor performing invitees and a high level of professionalism (anger management?) by the staff. Many patrons simply were dumping/leaving trash on any flat surface they could find - remember, this event occurred in indoor ballrooms and out on the patio so folks were roaming the hotel. The trash was left on ledges, fireboxes, whatever. And this wasn't in the ballroom but rather in the halls of the hotel itself. The trash was cleaned quickly but who can't hold an empty cup for 10 more feet or on an elevator ride?

Good/Bad night for the parking crew. Holy cr@p! Dealing with DC traffic at rush hour coming in and guests in a hurry to leave heading out - ouch. The good news is that they should have raked in some $ on volume alone.

The guy at the door on the way out. Forgot his name and he was a contractor rather than a Kimpton person. Good job on his part.

Invite me again!

Cheers

I also enjoyed Crave, although I only stopped by for about an hour.

It would be great if in future years they had some sort of Inner Circle area for us to get to meet each other (although I probably won't requalify for 2015).

Can someone explain how you get "Karma" from eating at Kimpton restaurants? Is there a certain dollar spend that gives you the equivalent of an extra stay?

I *believe* that there a place on your kimpton "MY ACCOUNT + PROFILE" to record your credit card # and that when you use that credit card to pay for meals, you get some karma :-:

I understand about the stored credit card. My question is how does Kimpton specifically reward restaurant spending? If it's at their discretion, does anyone have experience receiving credit for dining in their restaurants?

Good question. I was at the Donovan House recently and ate/drank at Zentan. I added the restaurant bill to my room so there couldn't be a mistake about eating in house. During restaurant week in August, I did the same at a couple other Kimptons - stay and dine. Where is Karma? That being said, adding another Tier 3 benefit that will go unused would be useless.

I dined at Firefly (Madera in DC) and put the bill on my registered card instead of room to see specifically what would happen. I got an message from Kimpton on the new website acknowledging the fact that it happened. That was all.

It seems to be one of those "intermittent rewards" / surprise things. Not a formulaic benefit. But, if you're on the cusp in terms of moving from one tier to the next they might look at your other Karma-type activity.

I am on track to stay at 9 different Kimptons this year with my current plans. I might be able to get to 10 (for the two free nights), but if not, I wonder if they'd look at Karma and bump me up? Not something to be counted on, but maybe a possibility.

I place all of my dining on the room. Have not seen any mention of the dine in the "messages" section of my profile or any change in Karma, but I have already qualified for IC next year.

I now have 3 Kimpton stays (~7 nights) since the newspaper benefit was limited to IC's. I am IC. I have not received a single newspaper.

Has anyone received one lately?

I keep getting them at the Eventi in NYC even though my profile says no paper. So, if you want mine, you're welcome to it....

There is a newspaper benefit? I'll start asking for it

We'll be at Eventi next week; looking forward to it. We'll take the paper, jewels. Tell them to hold it for us! LOL

Do some hotels still give IC benefits on 3rd party bookings? atleast partially?

Any online method of adding IC number to such an existing reservation? (assuming I have the hotel's conf # for this 3rd party website booking)

They are quite adamant about not awarding IC benefits if you booked third party. It might vary by your kimpton hotel, but staying at the BOS and NYC properties they wouldn't award it to me.

If you find a price cheaper than what Kimpton is advertising, they are very good at price matching as well as adding a 10% discount if you ask.