Le Meridien is a legacy brand brought over to Marriott Bonvoy from the SPG programme. I’ve stayed at two Le Merdiens in the past (Marrakesh and Munich) and neither experience was great.

I’m going to give the London one – Le Meridien Piccadilly a try this time, partly because it is the last chance remaining – the hotel is leaving the Marriott group at the end of November.

Its location at the very centre of London is excellent. You could walk to so many major attractions from this point, and the tube can bring you non-stop to many spots, including Heathrow airport.

I was upgraded to a Junior Suite on the 7th floor, from a standard room.

Although not having a separate living room, it comes with a study, and the bedroom is huge. I think “junior” is really an understatement.

The bathroom is likewise fairly big, with both a shower and a tub. Although aged, the shower has great water pressure and it’s got multiple little shower heads from different angles that makes sure you are cleaned very well…

Its prime location doesn’t only come with benefits though – windows are not facing the main street but there are still notable noises.

The hotel is very old and I don’t know when’s the last time refurbishment happened. One major issue is, although my room is not lacking in socket-outlets, most of them are of an obsolete design and incompatible with modern devices:

I could find only two usable ones, both of them in the study.

Breakfast is served in the restaurant. I really like its design, especially the glass ceiling / window which allows lots of natural light pouring in.

It’s a Saturday, and I was shocked by the fact that I was the only guest throughout my entire meal. You could order a set of Full English, Fitness or Continental breakfast, and there are other items that are payable.

The executive lounge is still closed, which is the case for many hotels in the UK and Europe. To my surprise, this hotel has decided to offer proper compensation for it: free soft drinks are provided to lounge guests all day, and select items from the menu are free from 5pm to 7pm – this includes starters, burgers, sandwiches and pizza. I guess it must be much better than the usual lounge offerings!

It is by far the best Le Meridien I’ve ever stayed, and it’s a shame to see it leave Marriott. I was told by the front desk that the hotel is joining Kew Green – however I found that it’s just a management team, not a franchise, but it’s not joining any major brand that’s for sure.

Spending a weekend in Bath, I have a choice between the Abbey hotel and the Indigo. Although the latter being a brand new property that opened just days ago, I was inclined towards the former because:

• I’m a not big fan of Indigo hotels (small rooms and minimal elite recognition)
• I get free breakfast at Tribute hotels
• A couple of friends stayed at the Abbey hotel and really liked it

So I ended up paying 50,000 Marriott points for two nights at the Abbey hotel. Remember that Marriott hotels are no longer obliged to open all standard rooms for award nights, and this hotel does remove its award availability on a few Saturdays.

It’s located at the edge of the city centre, just 5-minute’s walk from the train station. Staying here, You could easily go anywhere on foot.

My room was ready at 12:30pm and 4pm late check-out was granted without any question. As a Platinum member, I was offered daily breakfast or 1,000 points, and it’s not difficult to choose!

My room was upgraded to a Cinematography Room a week in advance(!), and then a Gallery Room the day before my arrival. There’s no suite in this hotel and Gallery Room is the highest room category already.

The room is around 330 sqft, which is decent for a UK city hotel. It’s got a very boutique design to it (cinema-themed it seems) – I’d imagine the idea of Tribute hotels is similar to that of MGallery and Indigo, although individual hotels may have more independent characters.

I was given a chocolate box as welcome gift.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few teething issues with the room. To start with the desk is tiny: as you can see there’s more than enough space to put a much larger desk, so I’m unsure why they designed it like this. It’s impossible to use the desk for any activity, so think twice before using this hotel as a home office.

The basin is also tiny.

A few minutes after I settled in I heard weird tic-tac noises. Upon inspection I found the window was leading water (it’s raining outside), and I had to stuff a towel under the window to absorb the dripping water.

The worst thing is, the room is not soundproof at all. I could constantly hear guests in the next room talking. It’s worth noting that they were speaking in normal volume, so it’s not like they were shouting or anything.

Breakfast is served in the restaurant, which is nicely decorated.

You choose one hot plate from the menu, and there are takeaway bags of continental items. Food quality is good.

I thought it’s a new hotel – however despite it joined the Marriott family fairly recently, the Abbey Hotel Bath has been operating for many years and don’t forget it’s an 18th century building, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the various glitches I found.

To be fair, its location and service are great, and the presentation of the hotel as well as the rooms is decent too. The next time I come to Bath though, I might give the Hotel Indigo a try instead.