MSPeconomist

I stayed at the Grand Bretagne before it became a Starwood/LC and I wasn't impressed, although the location and style of my room were fun. I still remember them forgetting my wake up call, which put me at risk of missing my TATL flight, yet nevertheless as I wear getting into the taxi, some staff member came running after me to sign the bill. [I had arranged for express checkout upon arrival, had no additional charges, and had given them the same credit card as the one on the reservation.] No apologies.

EuropeanPete

As a Platinum nowadays you wouldn't even speak to the front desk as all your needs would be handled by the Concierge team.

schley

Well I have only stayed once, but know several Greeks who swear by this place, and they can be critical when needed. It was one of my top 5 stays worldwide for the breakfast and view almost single handedly.

Sorry for your experience, but it would seem to be an outlier.

schley

BTW I forgot the Grosvenor House Dubai. This lounge is one of the top in the entire SPG system. Love this property as it is my favorite in Dubai.

unclepants

Three absolute standouts for me:

1) Sheraton Grande Sukhumvhit. We visited in the summer of 2015 and my children and spouse talk about it with excitement to this day.
2) Tambo Del Inka: an amazing and unique venue, with large, comfortable rooms and stellar service.
3) Palacio Del Inka: perhaps the most interesting building I've ever stayed in, anywhere. Superb service and location, too.

SHLTP

Not fair or relevant to criticize Grand Bretagne from your experience before the property even became part of Starwood, esp for service failures (location ok as that doesn't change) as the mgt and team probably quite different. I am not sure the point

SHLTP

PDG in Paris wonderful aside from pathetically poor breakfast
SGS is incredible service though hardware so so.
Athenee is great
Royal Begonia Sanya is stunning. Absolutely stunning
Checking out Vana Belle in a few weeks so hoping that will be good.

In general LC is our favorite Starwood chain. Unfortunately there are some standardization issues (Sheraton Imperial before it was dropped out of LC and HOngta Shanghai). BUt the good ones really are good.

bhrubin

I've stayed at and/or dined and checked out tons of Luxury Collection properties over the years.

Absolute best, among our best 13 hotel stays of all time:

Gritti Palace, Venice--would stay here over Aman Venice
Hotel Imperial, Vienna--would come back to Vienna just to stay here again

Absolutely superb, wouldn't think twice staying again:

Prince de Galles, Paris--amazing hard product
Hotel Alfonso XIII
SLS Beverly Hillls--amazing soft product
Augustine, Prague
Excelsior Gallia, Milan--amazing hard product especially
Tambo del Inka, Sacred Valley Peru
Las Alcobas, Mexico City
The Chatwal, New York--my all-time fave in NYC

Very good:

SLS Beverly Hills--curious room decor/hard product, about to be renovated so optimistic
The Nines, Portland--some great rooms, some tiny rooms, very good service, very good dining, excellent location.
US Grant, San Diego--traditional, varying size rooms and decor, excellent service, food, location
Hotel Danielli--I know some will disagree, but felt too big and mass market to us, but beautiful property, nice rooms/suites, some refurb needed, good dining and location

Good:

Hotel Bristol, Vienna--needs a rooms/suites refurbishment/renovation ASAP
ITC Mughal, Agra--big and corporate, dated rooms, nice service, good food, decent location
ITC Maurya, New Delhi--big and corporate, good dining, central location
Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu--lacks luxury feel, big, feels crowded, good dining and location
The Liberty, Boston--amazing rooms, amazing food/beverage, amazing scene, good location, but too many service issues for me
Palace Hotel, San Francisco--renovation nice, good service, rooms ok, nice location, rates sometimes too high
The Ballantyne, Charlotte--feels luxury but a bit traditional/dated, good service and dining but all about golf location

Never again

Park Tower Knightsbridge, London--dated rooms, feels like Sheraton, need rooms/suites refurbishment stat, some service issues


Bucket list:

Las Alcobas, Napa--maybe going Feb 2018 to help economy post-fires
Prince Gallery Kioicho Tokyo--going May 2018
Suiran, Kyoto--going May 2018
Mystique, Santorini--going Oct 2018
Grand Bretagne, Athens--going Oct 2018
Schloss Fuschl, Salzburg
Hotel Marques de Riscal, Spain
Caresse, Turkey

EuropeanPete

The SLS appeared twice in your list! You'll notice that it didn't appear in mine

bhrubin

Good catch. The soft product was so good that I had to rate it higher than the currently odd room layout/hard product. Of course, the rooms are being renovated soon...

helvetic

I had a pretty mixed experience at the SLS in LA:

- At checkin, my room / suite wasn't ready until 8pm. They had _nothing_ to put me into at all. They kept apologizing (the previous guest didn't leave on time apparently) and giving me more comps at the bar to make up for it. They tried to get me into the presidential suite but apparently they found out they couldn't assign it to anyone because the previous guests had absolutely trashed it and housekeeping only wasn't gonna cut it,
- The pool was pretty mellow—this was a fun weekend stay and I would've liked a bit more of a party scene.
- Got a pretty decent sized suite but zero views.
- Breakfast was mediocre.
- Staff was very nice, though.
- Loved the decor.

So I liked it, but despite the staff's best intentions it wasn't the most pleasant experience. The $200 in F&B comps helped make up for it.

MSPeconomist

The rooms at the Hotel Bristol were renovated just a couple years ago. I don't know whether they did anything to the public areas as the room renovations were ongoing when I stayed.

I'd love to go back to the Imperial and see all the renovations, but I think the Bristol has a better location.

Alfonso whatever number is wonderful, a great historic building in a great location.

I was disappointed by Schloss Fuscl as it seemed to be mobbed by tour bus groups that the hotel was incapable of handling efficiently. This was during the music festival, so it might have been an outlier, but never again for me. It's the sort of hotel where I don't see the point of going twice.

bhrubin

EDIT--Expert Reviews are back up and running. Here is my Expert Review comparing the Imperial vs Bristol:

https://www.flyertalk.com/hotel-revi...in-vienna-2207

The photos of the many rooms and suites at the Bristol clearly show very kitschy and outrageously dated room decor and furnishings, horribly tired and dated baths, and some very strange layouts. Those clearly were not renovated or refurbished--and if they were, somebody's head should roll, because they looked like something from the late 90s. Maybe they did update some rooms, but they clearly need to update them all. Badly.

I'm confused? There's literally a 3 min walk of about 300 meters between the Imperial and Bristol. Hard to say there's much difference in location--unless looking down onto the roof of the Opera House is important to you.

bhrubin

I appreciate that you had a poor experience...but even you must admit that it was highly circumstantial.

Obviously they were sold out or they could've given you a room. They even tried to give you their Presidential Suite, echoing how wonderful their service recovery can be and was for us during our stay. They clearly tried to make up for it, despite a guest not leaving on time and someone trashing the Presidential not being in their control. Bad circumstances again. Not the breakfast, though.

We'd be happy to return. Sorry you didn't have a nice experience.

helvetic

Yeah, totally. I don't fault them for the situation at all… like I said, I thought the service was great and their attempts at recovery were genuine.