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Park Hyatt London to open as Category 5?!
In terms of the most anticipated hotels in 2024, Park Hyatt London River Thames has to have one seat. To be honest I find its choice of location a bit odd, but a Park Hyatt is long overdue in London, and I’m curious to see how it pans out.
On their website it is still “opening in late 2024”. When you search for hotels in London, the Park Hyatt is listed already, but not bookable yet.
Shockingly it is suggested as a Category 5 hotel. To put in into context, there are two Category-5 Hyatt Regencies in London, whereas the Churchill, Great Scotland Yard and Andaz are all in Category 6.
It’s hard to believe if Park Hyatt comes out as anything below Category 7. I will definitely watch closely though, and ifs it becomes bookable as Category 5 I need to bag a few nights as soon as possible…
Get instant Diamond status with Sandman / Sutton Place hotels
RSVP Rewards is a Canadian hotel rewards program. Two brands operate under the scheme: Sandman which is midscale and The Sutton Place which is upscale. Outside Canada they run two hotels in Texas and four hotels in the UK: London Gatwick, Newcastle, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
RSVP Rewards have four membership tiers: Red, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Both Platinum and Diamond tiers have the following benefits:
- Room upgrade
- Early check-in
- Late check-out
- Breakfast box or credit
- Corporate lounge access
The breakfast benefit seems to apply in Canada only. I didn’t figure out what the “corporate lounge” is – I thought it’s like the club lounge at other hotel chains, but couldn’t find any relevant information although I checked quite a few hotels.
RSVP Rewards has a partnership with Visa Canada:
- Visa Infinite cardholders receive instant Platinum status
- Visa Infinite Privilege cardholders receive instant Diamond status
Only cards issued in Canada are eligible. The gifted status seems to be valid as long as the partnership lasts, not just limited to the first year.
On the sign-up page there’s a Check Eligibility button, and you’ll need to verify with the full 16-digit number. A hint for you: both 451504 and 450003 are valid bins, although I don’t know whether they are Privilege cards or not.
If you are based in Canada, or have a plan to visit their hotels in the UK, the status might be useful.
My review of Fairmont Amman
For my visit to Jordan I’m spending most of my time in the capital Amman – unorthodox I know but I’m just too lazy! My original plan was to spend four nights at the InterContinental, costing a total of less than 70k points thanks to my Chase card.
I decided in favour of the Fairmont in the end, because:
- It is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor
- I’ve never stayed at a Fairmont hotel before
- The Accor Step rate is very attractive: 3-for-2 + breakfast + $100 spend and more
I booked a Fairmont Gold room for three nights for less than £500.
I arrived in Royal Jordanian’s chauffeur. Ride from the airport takes about 40 minutes.
Lots of festive decorations in the hotel, and many “Merry Christmas” greetings from the staff.
The lady at the front desk explained to me about the breakfast, welcome drink, and $100 credit. They don’t have a brochure about restaurants and facilities, which I think can be improved.
Safety is taken seriously in this country. Vehicles and guests must go through security check when entering the hotel. The key card is programmed to work for the public floor and your floor only.
Floor 14, 15 and 16 are Fairmont Gold floors.
I got no upgrade at all, despite being an Accor Gold member booking the Step rate. Considering I probably paid less than most standard-room guests, I will not complain.
It is a corner room though, so might be slightly bigger.
It’s got a small vestibule and wardrobe. They use the space fairly well and the room is very well appointed.
There’s even a small office at the back.
The TV set supports Miracast, not as good as Chromecast but usable.
The bathroom is spacious with separate toilet and shower cabins.
There are two nuisances though. Cover on the flush button is falling off, and there’s only one set of body wash and shampoo fixated to the wall in the shower cabin, which is a hassle when you are bathing in the tub.
Fairmont, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Sheraton occupies the four corners of the intersection. It is probably one of the most affluent areas of Amman.
Welcome amenity:
I was told about the closure of the Fairmont Gold lounge (for renovation) at check-in. It was neither communicated on their website or prior to my stay, which feels unprofessional.
Breakfast is served in the Lebanese restaurant Nur.
It is all buffet and no a-la-carte dining. I haven’t had the best experience in terms of breakfast in the Middle East, and Fairmont Amman didn’t change that. There are some international options such as chow mien and fried rice, but I’m not impressed by the quality either.
The egg station:
Afternoon tea is served at the Crystal Lounge, between 2pm and 4pm.
Happy Hour is hosted at the Caprice restaurant, between 5pm and 7pm.
The menu this time is very solid!
You’ve got multiple options for appetisers, mains and desserts. You won’t be short of alcohol supply either.
This kind of dinner easily sets you back £50+ pp in London, so Fairmont Gold pays off.
To spend the $100 credit I had two lunches in the hotel too. First one is Lebanese at Nur.
The lamb wrap is decent. Another meal is at the Asian restaurant Tsuki. The Korean fried chicken and lobster laksa are pretty good.
Spa and gym is at floor 3.
The outdoor swimming pool is closed in the winter, and the only spa facility most guests can use is a steam room. If you staying at the Gold floor however, there’s an exclusive VIP area reserved for you. You’ll find a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room in the changing room.
In the public area there’s another jacuzzi and a swimming pool.
There’s a also relaxation room with snacks and tea.
The spa (for Fairmont Gold) is great. Weather was pretty bad for my first two days so I mostly stayed in except for purchasing some essentials, and I spent a lot of time here.
The staff on the other hand, are lacking in profession. No one mentioned the Fairmont Gold spa to me at all, even when I inquired they mentioned only the regular steam room to me, without considering the possibility that I was on the Gold floor. Thankfully I asked a cleaner who was very keen on showing it to me.
When I asked about late check-out the front desk was also very rigid, saying that it would be upon availability on the day of checking out. On the last day however it was the (suspected) deputy manager who served me, and she was much more friendly and professional. She didn’t even look in the system before agreeing to my late check-out request, and proactively gave me half an hour more to “enjoy the lunch”.
When I saw a #1 hotel with top TripAdvisor rating I was expecting a flawless experience, but Fairmont Amman didn’t live up to that expectation. It is however still an upscale and decent property, on a par with some of the Waldorf Astoria and St Regis hotels that I’ve stayed at.
HK Express Full Miles offer, redemption from 2,000 Cathay miles
Hong Kong Express, a budget airline which is now a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, has a regular-ish promotion named Full Miles, where you can redeem award tickets at a very low cost.
A new iteration just came live:
- Valid between Hong Kong and Beijing / Ningbo (China)
- One-way redemption costs 3,500 miles / 2,000 miles respectively
- Book by February 22
- Travel between March 12 and July 11
You’ll need to pay ~400 HKD in fees per way. Availability is decent:
To book, create a new HK express account by linking your Cathay Pacific account, so that it has access to your Cathay miles.
It is not a continuous promotion, and I’m not sure when the next round will start, but probably in one or two months. If I remember correctly they included some routes to Southeast Asia (Thailand?) last time.
The catch is, as it’s a budget airline no baggage allowance is included. Your Oneworld benefits also won’t apply.
Flash sale: £25 / £50 off flights on Trip.com
Trip.com has a very good flight discount again, for all ex-UK flights. You can check the offer details here.
- Book by February 28th
- Travel by August 31st
- Valid for all flight tickets departing from the UK
- Two promo codes available: £25 off £175 & £50 off £350
- Codes are released in three batches on the 15th, 16th and 23rd
- You need to pay with Mastercard
Trip.com had a few promotions with Virgin Atlantic recently offering a £100 discount, and they went off quickly. This offer is not as strong, but applicable to all flights, so I don’t think they’ll last either. It is not publicised yet (I got an early bird email from Monese), so book before others get in.
London to New York:
London to Luxembourg (business), for those who are doing a BA tier points run:
As you can see, they stack with the in-app £10 discount as well, so you can save up to £60 on one ticket!
Free eSIM with 1GB data roaming
Just saw this deal on hotukdeals, which might be useful to our readers.
It is a promotion run by Better Roaming, a company that provides eSIM service. If you scan the QR code below with your phone, you will be redirected to installing an eSIM:
Once activated, the eSIM comes with a 30-day plan including 1GB data. The package is valid at 148 countries, full list here.
It is a pretty good offer (and most importantly free). If you need more packages, you could consider Airalo as well which I’ve been using extensively in the last two years.
My review of Gritti Palace and St Regis Venice
My friend had an expiring 85K Marriott FNC from the Amex card and we were trying to redeem it together. We sifted through the high-end hotels in Europe and agreed on Venice, as it was easy to get to by flight and we could try out both the St Regis and the Luxury Collection hotels.
Both hotels are near the San Marco Square in the main island. From the Venice airport you could do either 20 minutes by bus (€20) + 30 minutes’ walk, or 80 minutes by boat transfer (€15) + 10 minutes’ walk. There’s no car inside the island, so the last option is “water taxi”, which will set you back €150!
Venice is very pact so hotels tend not to occupy a lot of space. The Gritti Palace hotel, part of the Luxury Collection, has quite a small entrance and you wouldn’t spot it easily.
Gritti Palace has a very long history that dates back the 14th century. It turned into a hotel in the 19th century.
I’ve stayed at my due share of “palaces” in Europe, and I’m still astonished at how beautiful this hotel is, which I guess is from the Venetian school.
The suite night award cleared into a one-bedroom suite.
Their bathroom amenity is from Acqua di Parma, and my friend loves them a lot. He took all of them before the turndown service however the housekeeping didn’t bring in any more supplies, and I couldn’t stop laughing…
It’s my birthday in couple of days and we left note. The hotel has kindly prepared a cake and champagne.
Have a look at the gorgeous restaurant:
Breakfast buffet:
A-la-carte menu:
I was wondering whether the complimentary breakfast covers all items, until I saw the caviar… Food is generally good especially the pastries.
My friend had a spa treatment and here’s a photo:
There’s another restaurant with an outdoor terrace, but probably seasonal and closed during the winter.
The hotel’s concierge is very friendly and professional. When we came back from sightseeing the second day he chased and told us that there’s a free tour to a glass factory, and he could coordinate with the St Regis if necessary. We declined the offer but really appreciated the gesture.
Our next night is at the St Regis, which is closer to San Marco and the port. Its entrance is in a hidden courtyard and very quiet.
In contrast with Gritti Palace it is a very modern hotel. The property was recently renovated and upgraded from the Westin brand – quite a climb up the ladder!
Interestingly I found this sculpture, which is the work of Jaume Plense like the one I saw at At Six.
The hotel has four buildings, however according to the staff they don’t really differ in terms of room types or themes. Our suite night award materialised as a Venetian Suite, which is a suite in one of the lower categories.
It is new and reminiscent of an upscale, expensive apartments. Made aware of my birthday they added some decoration in the bedroom.
Acqua di Parma again – this time my friend left a €5 tip and housekeeping brought two sets of amenities :p
Champagne and cake, but the cake from Gritti Palace is much more delicious.
Restaurant:
Breakfast buffet and menu:
The plates are so delicate and I love them, food quality not so much.
Couple of photos of the gym. Neither hotel has a swimming pool.
If I need to choose between the two I’ll go for Gritti Palace at the drop of a hat, as it’s got much more of a character and the service is also better. We had a coffee at the Aman as well, and I must say I was truly impressed.
My review of Goldair and Skyserv Lounges Athens, and a BA upgrade
After a nice week in Athens I’m setting off to the cold London. I used my Avios for an economy flight, and thanks to my BA status I could still use the fast track facility.
All non-Schengen flights depart from Hall A, and you pass border control first followed by the security check. Massive queue for non-EU passport, but I went through fast track in a breeze!
There are a few lounge options, all next to each other.
Aegean operates their own (Star-Alliance) lounge, and other airlines work with one of the three third-party lounges. British Airways partners with Skyserv, but after having read some reviews I decided to try out the Goldair Handling Lounge instead.
The lounge is a massive hall itself.
It is quite bright. There appears to be an outdoor area but that’s for emergency exit only. Here is the working zone:
And let’s have a look at the food and drinks:
Hot food of the day include:
- Orzo with mushrooms
- Turkish meatballs
- Vegetable soup
- Rice
Desserts look quite tasty.
I’m quite impressed by the fact that they have a dedicated shower & bathroom facility right across the alley. To be honest it looks even fancier than the lounge itself.
As I had enough time, I went for a sneak peek into the Skyserv Lounge as well. They do accept both Priority Pass and Dragonpass too.
A few random pictures:
It’s actually more beautiful than the Goldair – the different tones of blue and wavy decorations make you feel like in the Aegean sea. It is however a lot busier, probably because of its broader range of airline partners.
The buffet area is a quite small selection, with the following hot items:
- Turkish burger
- Veal with peas
- Rice
Having visited both lounges I made my way to the gate. The flight was slightly delayed so I checked BA’s app again to make sure. At this point I noticed a change to my assigned seat – I got upgraded to Club Europe!
It was a pretty full flight, so the upgrade made sense. But in case you didn’t know, the business class setup on intra-Europe flights is laughable – it’s basically exactly the same seat, but with the middle seat blocked.
There are *12* rows of business class on this flight, and I’m seated at row 7. My original seat at the exit row would have been better.
Good news is I’ve got free food and drinks for this four-hour journey. BA’s upgrade strategy is intriguing: I have been upgraded three times (the previous two on long-hauls) as Silver and Bronze, but never once whilst being Gold!