I would like to add my congratulations to K on his 10,000th post. As I said somewhere else, the man is a posting machine! We are very lucky to have him on FT. Thanks for everything that you contribute.

Well, today marks my 6 year anniversary since I joined FlyerTalk! Wow, how time flies!!

In commemoration of this milestone I thought I would share my best hotel upgrades I have received:

In no particular order:

Four Seasons George V
Premier Room to Duplex Suite upgrade (Thanks to Travel Agent for this one!!)

Hotel Le Bristol, Paris
Deluxe Suite to Terrace Suite (service recovery stay, again thanks to TA!!)

Hotel Bristol, Vienna
Penthouse Jr. Suite to Prince of Wales Suite (SPG points redemption for Jr. Suite)

Waldorf Towers
Waldorf Suite to Specialty "H" suite with large conservatory and direct views of the Chrysler Bldg
Luxury Suite to 2 BR Historic "H" suite (the Paris Hilton suite)

Ritz Carlton Chicago
Dlx FS Exec Suite to Premier Suite

Inter-Continental Singapore
Shophouse Suite to Presidential Suite

I have been very lucky with these fantastic upgrades -- I hope that the next 6 years of FT will bring some more!!

This takes a bit of thought-- my favorite upgrades:
Hemingway Suite at the Gritti Palace, Venice
Windsor Suite at the Ritz in Paris
Presidential Suite at the Hassler in Rome with my family. Oh, that glorious terrace where Eleanor Roosevelt painted, grape vines grow and my four young sons were treated as little princes. To this day, they love looking at photographs of the Spanish Steps as their terrace is on every photograph & postcard. I like this topic; makes me think and revisit great hotels, experiences and upgrades.

Kage...10,000 posts...really?!? Congrats.
I've now started to look at other people's post #s and I realize I have a lot of catching up to do!

Kage...10,000 points congrats on the milestone, but perhaps more important *thank you* for all of your great information. It is members like you who make flyertalk *the* place to find information about luxury hotel.

I have been following the thread on Hamburgers (and Club sandwiches) from room service and it started me thinking about my most memorable room service meals. I thought I would share some of these with you:

Best soup: (tie)
Velout� de volaille (cream of chicken), Hotel de Crillon, Paris
French Onion, Four Seasons George V, Paris

US Thanksgiving:
Full turkey meal with all the trimmings, Four Seasons San Francisco (served course by course)

Christmas Dinner:
Turkey, beef fillet, stuffing, mashed potatoes, ginger carrots, brussel sprouts, salads, rolls, gravy, dessert -- Waldorf Towers, NYC

Best Fish and Chips:
Ritz Carlton Chicago, a Four Seasons Hotel

Best Spaghetti Bolognaise:
Hotel Majestic Barriere, Cannes

Best Room Service Breakfast:
Japanese Breakfast, Four Seasons Tokyo @ Marunouchi
Full breakfast, One Aldwych, London, for quality
Full breakfast, Lanesborough, London, for volume of food (eggs, breakfast meats, toast, pastries, potatoes, fruit plate, cereal, coffee/tea, juice, AND oatmeal.

Best Burger:
Ritz Carlton Chicago, a Four Seasons Hotel

The best hotel breakfast I have had (non-room service) is:

Peninsula Bangkok (Tie): for the riverside setting
Four Seasons Bangkok (Tie): for the quality

Best Sunday Brunch (tie):

Peacock Alley Sunday Brunch, Waldorf Astoria, NYC
Sunday Brunch, Four Seasons Bangkok

Best Hotel Afternoon tea:

Service: Swann Lounge, Four Seasons Philadelphia
Quality: Dorchester, London
Ambiance: Le Gallerie, Four Seasons George V, Paris and
Hotel de Crillon, Paris (for the harp music)

Best Hotel Spa Treatments:

La Prairie, Ritz Carlton Central Park, NYC
Spa, InterContinental San Francisco
Spa, Four Seasons Las Vegas
Spa, Four Seasons Whistler

Very good idea and nice thread full of interesting and helpful contributors!

Best breakfast - Sunday at the IC Hong Kong.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best breakfast by a mile : On the terrace at Rayavadee, we ordered our hot breakfast from an excellent a la carte menu, then chose from a vast buffet of various breakfast items and amazing fresh pastries. It was superior to The much offended Oriental and Amanpuri (only just!)

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.2; U; Series60/3.1 NokiaE71-2/100.07.76; Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

Best soup: The St. Regis NYC. Butternut squash soup (garnished with duck and foie gras) was the best soup I've ever had, room service or elsewhere. The same soup was also featured on the menu of Lespinasse in its heyday.

Best homemade yogurt - Chateau Les Crayeres
Best mango - Hotel Bora Bora
Best fried chicken - Blackberry Farm
Best most labor-intensive drink - hand-squeezed calamansi juice at Amanpulo

Best private dining experience - candlelit chatri dinner at Amanbagh

Best spa treatment - 4-handed Shirodhara at FS LG, Maldives
Best spa atmosphere - "private island" spa at FS KH, Maldives

Best real wood fire - Twin Farms

Best "rustic" room - (tie) Aman-i-Khas tent and Jao Camp tent

I have to say that soup sounds truly incredible. I was thinking about looking for a recipe, but on reflection, realized I would never, in a million years, cook that at home.

Congratulations on reaching the 10,000 posts! FT Forums are interesting reads, and a wealth of knowledge and opinions.

Best buffets (breakfast, lunch & dinner):
Anantara Qsar al Sarab, Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi.
Four Seasons Buenos Aires Sunday brunch.

Best Spa treatments:
Amanbagh.
Four Seasons Langkawi.
Four Seasons Provence.
Taj Lake Palace Udaipur.
Umaid Bhawan Palace Jodhpur.

Best Club Sandwich:
Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva.

Best bed:
Anantara Qsar al Sarab, Liwa Desert, Abu Dhabi.
Four Seasons Tented Camp at Golden Triangle.

Best GM:
John Stauss, FS London.
Chris Norton, FS George V.
William Mackay, FS HK.

Oh, and a thousand other things that will probably occur to me as soon as I post this......

Seasons greetings to you all and thank you for a very informative and enjoyable year of Luxury Hotels!

Vuittons

How interesting. I only have exposure to luxury hotels in Asia. But I will like to add my 2cents

Best Breakfast
- St Regis Bali ( buffet for cold dish and bread, hot items from Ala Carte ).
- Landmark Mandarin Oriental Amber Restaurant ( BF fine dinnnig style! )
- Westin Kuala Lumpur Buffet Breakfast ( for sheer variety and great value if not quality )


Best Hotel Club Lounge
- Four Seasons Hong Kong


Best Hotel Suite
- Four Seasons Hong Kong Executive Suite
- Landmark Mandarin Oriental L900 Suite
- St Regis Singapore Manhattan Suite


Best Bed
- Definitely the Peninsula Tokyo, Frette linens!


Best Burger ( Room Service )
- Again the Peninsula Tokyo, Wagyu Terriyaki Burger


Best Shower
- Park Hyatt Shanghai Skyshower at max water pressure. Fabulous!


Best Spa
- None. I simply have no patience for Spa treatments


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2010!