My review of Metropol Palace, Belgrade
I’m spending four nights in Belgrade and decided to split it into two stays. In terms of hotel chains there aren’t that many options in Belgrade:
- Crowne Plaza and Hyatt Regency are in the new town, so not ideal for tourists. The Hyatt Regency is a Category 1 property though so great value for spending points
- Hilton and Metropol are in the old town, both old and uninspiring from the pictures I’ve found
- Hotel Indigo and Courtyard are new and extremely central
- Square Nine (a LHW hotel) looks very fancy but also is very expensive
I went with two nights at the Metropol Palace and two nights at the Hotel Indigo in the end. The Metropol Palace, branded Luxury Collection, has been a very popular property with the Marriott audience for long time as it used to cost as low as 2,000 points in the good old SPG days.
It’s no longer that cheap though, and paying cash is often better as the rate usually hovers around just €100. If you book via the Marriott Stars & Luminous program you get €100 credit to spend as well which is fantastic.
It’s a half-an-hour ride from the airport by taxi. The location isn’t super central as it takes you about 20 minutes to walk into the town centre, however it’s by the main road so easy to find a restaurant or shop etc.
The hotel building and its lobby look very “retro”. Online reports suggest wide range of welcome amenities including fruit basket, wine and spa voucher but I didn’t receive anything.
They don’t accept Marriott’s suite night award, but it’s a very big hotel so upgrade tends to be generous. I received a Family Suite in the end, which is one level above Junior Suite. It’s essentially still a Junior Suite but slightly larger.
It’s very dark so pictures probably don’t fully do the room justice, but trust me they are not much better in real life.
The bathroom has a long and narrow shape which is strange. There is no bathtub.
My room is on the third floor with no view. I read some reviews afterwards and some of the rooms have a great view of the old town. I probably should have enquired about a better room at check-in.
Breakfast on Sunday morning is total chaos. I’m basically on my own trying to find any empty seat and cutleries.
Food is also mediocre at best and not replenished quickly enough, which is disappointing as it’s a five-star hotel serving hundreds of guests. The only highlight is probably the Prosecco, which you don’t see often on a breakfast table.
It’s much more organised the next day when the breakfast is less busier.
The hotel has a rooftop restaurant but I didn’t try it. When I arrived in the evening I was fairly hungry, and the in-room dining menu looks reasonably priced so I ordered beef soup, croquettes and beef linguine. They taste good and the total is about £28.
The spa is one main reason I chose this hotel. The swimming pool is very cool:
The jacuzzi is a bit too small and fits only three people.
Steam room and sauna:
In summary I think the Metropol Palace meets my expectations as a cheap-ish old five-star hotel, and if you have a booking with $100 credit it’s a great deal. However, in my mind the Luxury Collection should be on a par with St Regis and Ritz Carlton, but the Metropol Palace is obviously a long shot from that standard.
Impressive deal: 1088 HKD for Accor Plus membership and a free night!
You probably know Accor, but not Accor Plus unless you live in Asia Pacific. Accor Plus is a paid membership that targets specific countries in that region which offers dining discount amongst other benefits.
Accor Plus Hong Kong is running an impressive deal, probably as a double-eleven promotion but it’s unclear when it ends. If you are interested, purchase the Explorer package that costs 1088 HKD (~£117 or $139) as it includes one complimentary night at participating hotels.
(UPDATE: Accor Plus Malaysia sells a membership that includes two complimentary nights for 1090 MYR / £199 / $235)
You may redeem the free night at almost all hotels in Asia Pacific, including the aspirational properties such as Sofitel Legend Hanoi and Fairmont Singapore. Availability may not be great though, and unfortunately it’s impossible to check unless you have an active membership.
The Accor Plus membership is valid for one year at countries such as Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Personally I think its most valuable benefits are:
- Red Hot Rooms: hotels on sale could offer up to 50% off, exclusive to Accor Plus members
- Dining Discount: one-person-free when dining at participating restaurants, or 25%-off if it’s a one person only. It works best for two people as it’s essentially half-price
You also get free Accor Silver status but it’s not really useful. If you plan to visit Asia in the next 12 months I think you should seriously consider signing up.
You need a Hong Kong address to sign up, however as you only need an electronic membership card I don’t think that’s a blocker.
Save 50% off your restaurant bill with TheFork
You probably have heard of or even used OpenTable and SquareMeal, which are famous online restaurant booking platforms. One of their competitors just came into my attention recently, and they are running a very good promotion which covers London and other UK cities.
TheFork, backed by TripAdvisor, is a restaurant reservation platform that was founded in Australia but now supports dozens of countries in Europe and Americas. It works in a very similar way to OpenTable.
They are now running an event called TheFork Festival that ends on November 27th. Participating restaurants may offer up to 50% off your food bill!
Some of the names in London are:
- Hard Rock Cafe Oxford Street
- Clermont Charing Cross
- Harrods Social
- Podium Restaurant at London Hilton Park Lane
- Sushi Salsa (Japanese)
- Happy Lamb Bayswater (Chinese)
- Sticky Mango (Malaysian)
Some popular venues may have very limited 50%-off slots and offer 20%-off or 30%-off instead, but more availability could turn up closing in. I made a 50%-off reservation myself and the saving was impressive!
TheFork also runs a loyalty program where you collect yums by making reservations and they can be redeemed against your future bills at select restaurants. If you use my referral code 83720151 on your first booking you’ll earn 1,000 yums which is worth £20.
My review of Air Serbia A319 business class
After almost ten phone calls to Air Serbia’s call centre, I finally managed to book my business class ticket from Heathrow to Belgrade using Etihad Guest miles. I don’t think many people have ever travelled with them, so it’s worth writing a brief trip review.
(more…)Pan Pacific Hotels 40% off flash sale
It’s almost Double-11 (China’s equivalent of Black Friday) and there are some attractive airline and hotel deals that have turned up. Pan Pacific Hotels (GHA member) for example is running an interesting sale.
- Book by November 11
- Stay by September 30, 2023
- A minimum two-night stay required
- GHA Discovery members save 40% off Best Flexible Rate
- Bookings are non-refundable
The new Pan Pacific London is participating:
Pan Pacific has a few properties in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, as well as a handful in Canada and the United States.
The discount is deep, but beware that they are non-refundable.
My review of Plaza Premium Lounge, London Heathrow T4 (Departure)
When travelling from Heathrow, most of the time my flight would depart from T5 or T3, so I haven’t been to T4 or T2 that often at all. Due to their close ties with Etihad Airways, Air Serbia operates at Terminal 4 which gives me a chance to refresh my memories before my flight to Belgrade.
Air Serbia business class passengers and Etihad Guest elite members are invited to relax in the Plaza Premium Lounge before taking off. T4 also has a very good Plaza Premium Arrival Lounge – I didn’t have the time to revisit it but will try to review next time.
The entrance is right by the Qatar Airways Lounge.
I’ve been to the Skyteam Lounge a long time ago when travelling on Air France. It was in the Priority Pass network, closed during the pandemic and then permanently. Strangely enough but It means that Skyteam no longer has a lounge at London Heathrow.
Plaza Premium also terminated their cooperation with Priority Pass recently, but you get still get in with Amex Platinum or Dragonpass.
I arrived at around 12pm and the lounge is really quiet.
It’s got a lot of space, and different areas are carefully curated. Plaza Premium Group is headquartered in Hong Kong and there are definitely some Asian influences in their interior design, for example the orchids.
These semi-private booths remind me of my overnight stay at the Plaza Premium Lounge at HKG…
The buffet area looks like an open-plan kitchen, but it isn’t.
The following hot food options are available:
- Penne pasta with broccoli pesto sauce
- Chicken tikka masala
- Chickpea sweet potato and pepper tagine
- Carrot coriander soup
- Steamed rice
- Peach crumble
I had some chicken tikka masala and pasta and they were really good.
There is a bar on the other side of the lounge but at that time it doesn’t seem to be manned.
As an Air Serbia guest I can order one premium drink for free.
As always I’m very satisfied by this Plaza Premium lounge, although my complaint would be the bar doesn’t get any natural light and isn’t as live as its T5 sibling. I definitely think it’s a better hard product than the Skyteam Lounge, and would also like to check out the Qatar Airways Lounge some day.
Aeroplan: the best flight redemption between UK / Europe and Middle East
I’ve been in the miles and points game for like eight years now, and my international background / connections mean that I dip into loyalty programs of countries besides the UK. Yet Air Canada’s Aeroplan never entered my horizons until very recently, and it turned out to be an excellent redemption program for people living in the UK or Europe.
My friend told me about Aeroplan when he booked Bangkok – London in Oman Air’s first class for only 100k points. I will only focus on the Middle East redemption today however, as I think that’s where Aeroplan’s biggest edge lies.
[The Advantages]
Aeroplan has the the following advantages when it comes to flight redemptions:
- Extensive partner network, including many non Star Alliance carriers
- Easy to book online
- No carrier-imposed surcharges
- Adding a stopover for only 5,000 points
I don’t want to expand too much here, but not charging YQ alone can save you at least £300 for a long-haul return flight compared to British Airways and Etihad Guest etc.
[Getting Points]
I have the US Amex Platinum card through global transfer, and Aeroplan is a Membership Rewards conversion partner in the United States. I can transfer my MR points to Aeroplan at 1:1 ratio and it’s instant.
Aeroplan is not a MR conversion partner in the UK. However, it is with Marriott Bonvoy (60,000 Marriott points = 25,000 Aeroplan points) which is accessible globally.
[Pricing]
You can find Aeroplan’s redemption chart here. Europe and the Middle East both fall into the Atlantic Zone, so the following pricing applies:
Depart from UK or Europe, you are most likely looking at the 2,001 – 4,000 miles range, which means a one-way business class redemption costs only 45,000 points.
Most importantly, you can book the following carries on Aeroplan’s website, and availability is usually pretty good:
- Etihad
- Oman Air
- Gulf Air
- Egypt Air
Obviously Star Alliance carriers such as Lufthansa and Swiss are also available, but they are probably less exciting and availability is worse.
For a LHR – DXB / AUH business class return redemption, here’s roughly what each program wants:
- Aeroplan: 90k points + £313
- British Airways: 100k Avios + £717
- Etihad Guest: 125k miles + £687
- Emirates Skywards: 117.5k miles + £931
Assuming that 1 Avios / point = 1p, two people travelling together on BA’s 2-for-1 voucher is still no better deal than Aeroplan. It contrasts even more sharply if you look at the one-way UK inbound flight only.
I booked my Dubai flight on Egypt Air departing right before Christmas. There’s one Etihad flight with empty business class seats left but unfortunately the arrival time is inconvenient. I’m still quite happy though to find any available for the festive period.
You can also redeem in first class for 60,000 points per way, but availability is much harder to find.
[The Catch]
Aeroplan charges up to C$100 (£64) for changing your ticket, and C$150 (£96) for cancellation. It is much more expensive than Avios tickets with British Airways, although still manageable. Flexible Rewards are possible at the time of booking which can be changed / cancelled for free, however they are at least 20% more expensive which kind of defeats the purpose.
You can cancel your booking for free within 24 hours, which is inline with the other programs.
My review of Bankside Hotel, Autograph Collection
My Amex Marriott card has a nice Spend £250 Get £100 back offer for booking Marriott hotels, so I’m ready to try out another new Marriott hotel in London. I need to be near the Shard for dinner (burning my expiring Shangri-La voucher), so the Bankside Hotel stands out.
The hotel is roughly 8 minutes from either the Blackfriars or the Southwark tube station. The south bank is perfect for walking along the Thames and exploring the likes of Tate Modern, Tower Bridge and London Eye, but not as convenient in terms of public transport.
The hotel is new and chic.
Titanium members get 1,000 points as a welcome amenity, and can choose between breakfast and an £8 F&B voucher in addition.
All guest floors feature a vending machine, plus a refill station with both still and sparkling water.
I received a one-level upgrade to an Ample room, which isn’t particularly generous. I submitted my suite night award for the largest suite, but it was unfortunately declined.
The room is pretty smart.
Popcorns, bottled water and a small chocolate bar are complimentary. There’s also a small plate of deserts as my welcome gift.
Breakfast is served in the restaurant on the ground floor.
The buffet is good.
You can pay a £5 supplement for the a-la-carte items, which is a fair price.
I like the hotel and its location. However, being a boutique hotel it has no gym, pool or club lounge. If those are important you should probably consider the Hilton instead.