I’ve had a bit of a weird sleep schedule since getting back from Shanghai (I slept from 4PM to 2AM last night), and unfortunately my weird sleep schedule came with some pretty weird dreams.

My first dream was actually totally awesome. I was flying from Tampa to Miami on American, and there was an aircraft substitution… to a Lufthansa Airbus 380! Due to the aircraft substitution Lufthansa built a temporary First Class Terminal in Tampa, and I was driven to the plane in a Porsche Cayenne. As it turned out they forgot to cater the caviar for the first class cabin, so the purser proactively offered me two American systemwide upgrades as compensation. Boy, my dreams are vivid.

And then there was my second dream, and I just can’t help myself with bringing this one up. In my dream I was at a 7-11 and happened to start talking to someone about Le Meridien hotels. I had mentioned I stayed at the Le Meridien in Vienna, and he nearly had a heart attack at my use of “the” given that “le” is the French equivalent of “the.” Now, my use of “the” and “Le Meridien” in the same sentence is something many blog readers have called me out on, and as a result I’ve dropped “the,” and just said “Le Meridien.”

That being said, I’m still not convinced that’s correct. Grammar is my weak point, so please accept my apologies in advance if I’m making a fool of myself. But “Le Meridien” is a proper noun (nobody would say “oh, I’m staying at The Meridien tonight”), so is it really wrong to say I’m staying at the Le Meridien tonight? Last I checked, mixing languages in the same sentence is a big no-no, so I’m not sure why it would be wrong to say “the Le Meridien.” I’d argue either way is fine depending on context, though is it really wrong to use “the” in front of “Le Meridien?”

Grammar experts, liberate me, please!

A couple of weeks ago I needed to spend a night in San Francisco in order to get my Chinese visa, and unfortunately hotels were outrageously expensive. After looking at all of the options I ended up booking Le Meridien for $269 per night through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts. By booking through Fine Hotels & Resorts I received a $100 food and beverage credit, complimentary continental breakfast, a room upgrade, and 4PM late check-out. As was the case with my stay at the Westin Grand Frankfurt, the food and beverage credit are incredibly valuable to me, while the room upgrade and 4PM late check-out benefit aren’t worth much to me, since I get those anyway as a Starwood Platinum member.

I made it to the hotel at 3PM and was promptly helped at check-in. All of the Fine Hotels & Resorts benefits were explained, and the agent commented that I would be getting a great room upgrade with “more room than [I'll] know what to do with.”

Lobby

Sure enough I did get an upgrade to a “named” suite on the 18th floor, the “Villa Magna Suite.” Starwood technically excludes “named” suites from Platinum upgrades, so this was the first Starwood stay I’ve ever had where I got a suite upgrade without asking, let alone an upgrade to a suite I wasn’t technically entitled to. So kudos to the hotel for that.

Room entrance

And the room was indeed massive. It wasn’t a traditional two-room suite but rather a huge single room with a small divider in the center.

Bed and desk

The divider in the center of the room had a flat screen TV facing the bed, and then on the other side was the living room.

TV

Desk and seat with ottoman

The living room was huge with a three piece sofa set.

Living room

Living room

The room boasted views of nearby buildings in the Financial District.

View from room

The bathroom featured a single sink, shower/tub, and toilet.

Bathroom

Sink

Shower

Since I had a $100 food and beverage credit and was alone, I decided to order room service. I had some crab cakes and mushroom ravioli. Both were good, though neither great. I wouldn’t order either without a food and beverage credit.

Room service

The following morning I had my “continental breakfast” in the restaurant, Park Grill. While the restaurant was decorated nicely, I was surprised to find out that “continental breakfast” consisted of coffee, juice, and a croissant OR toast. Instead of getting into a discussion of that here, see my previous post on the subject to chime in.

Park Grill

Continental breakfast

Overall I was very pleased with the upgrade I received, and compared to the rates the competition were charging, I think I got a fairly good deal. That being said, there was some element of “shabbiness” to this hotel that I can’t quite put my finger on. I love Le Meridien as a brand, but this hotel didn’t quite live up to the other great hotels they have, in my opinion (I loved my stay at Le Meridien Vienna, just as a comparison). In San Francisco my go to hotel remains the InterContinental, and I’ll continue to stay there whenever possible. But with a decent rate (<$150) I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this hotel as being a good value.

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Out of habit I’ve been staying at the InterContinental for years now when visiting Frankfurt, including during the outbound overnight of this trip. It’s a fine hotel – by no means exciting, but always reasonably priced and they take good care of Royal Ambassadors.

Then last year I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mainz. While Hyatt doesn’t have a hotel in Frankfurt, they do have one in neighboring Mainz, which is where my aunt lives (which in and of itself is a reason to avoid Mainz).

It’s a very nice hotel if you want to be in the area, though given that we had about a 18-hour overnight I preferred to stick to Frankfurt.

So I figured it was about time to try out one of the Starwood hotels, and decided on the Westin. The Westin is actually an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property (though not Virtuoso), so I booked through them. The rate was 169 Euros for the night (the same as the rate being charged directly by Starwood), except the Fine Hotels & Resorts amenities were an 85 Euro food and beverage credit, complimentary breakfast for two, 4PM late check-out, and a room upgrade.

The last two amenities aren’t worth anything to me given that I’m a Starwood Platinum member and get those benefits anyway. The 85 Euro food and beverage credit and restaurant breakfast are awesome, though.

We took a cab from Frankfurt Airport at around 3PM, and the ride to the hotel took about 20 minutes and cost about 25 Euros.

The exterior isn’t as “grand” as the hotel’s name suggests, though the lobby was quite nice, if not a bit neon-y.

Lobby

The front desk agent was polite and advised me we had been upgraded to an executive room, though I asked about the possibility of a suite upgrade. After getting the front desk manager’s approval we were assigned a junior suite without any argument. While it’s frustrating that you have to ask at Starwood hotels for an upgrade (even though it should be automatic), it works out in the favor of savvy Platinum members, since it leaves more upgrades for us. What I take issue with is when you have to argue. So this experience was perfectly pleasant.

Our room was a junior suite on the 4th floor, all the way at the end of the hallway.

Hallway

The room featured a nice sized living room with a couch, two chairs, and flat screen TV.

Living room

Living room

That led to a smaller room with a desk.

Desk

To the left was the bedroom, and to the right was the bathroom, featuring a shower tub and double sinks.

Bedroom

Bathroom

Shower

Now here’s where it gets embarrassing for me as someone that stays at hotels partly for the purposes of reviewing them – I didn’t visit the club lounge once, and I didn’t use any part of the 85 Euro food and beverage credit.

I was so tired when I landed that I slept from 6PM to 11:30PM, at which point I went outside to see the fireworks. Then I went back to bed at about 1AM and slept till about 8AM, at which point I headed to the airport.

So yeah, the food and beverage credit and club lounge went to waste.

I will say this, though – this is definitely my go to hotel in Frankfurt now. I thought the rooms were very nicely decorated, not to mention modern, and it seems that suite upgrades are fairly easy to come by. The other Starwood property in town is the Le Meridien, and it’s much more “old world” than this place.

So there’s no doubt that the Westin will replace the InterContinental for me (a hotel that doesn’t even have wifi or flat screen TVs), and being able to book through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts and get an 85 Euro food and beverage credit per stay plus daily restaurant breakfast is just the icing on the cake.

I’m told that in the housing market there are three things that are important to buyers — location, location, and location. Well, in the afternoon tea market, there are also three things that are important — view, view, and view.

Yesterday I met a blog reader and in addition to exploring the city for a while, we had afternoon tea in the 87th floor lobby lounge at the Park Hyatt Shanghai.

While afternoon tea was rather expensive (not as bad as at the Burj Al Arab, but still), it was well worth it given the panoramic views of Shanghai from the lounge. To say the views were heavenly would be an understatement. Here are just a few pictures:

Afternoon tea

View in one direction

View in another direction

Via Deals We Like:

Yup, another Facebook promotion! The Westin Charlotte is giving away 250 starpoints for signing up for the “Charlotte Insider eClub” via their Facebook page.

You must sign up by February 1, 2012, but as we’ve seen before, Facebook promos can sometimes get pulled fast – DO NOT DELAY. These points won’t get you a free night, but every little bit counts.

The terms state that the bonus points will be awarded to your account by March 1, 2012.

Let’s hope they do a better job managing this promotion than they did last time. Based on the comments section of the post, it seems like they don’t ask for your SPG number, though I suspect they’ll email you at some point to request it (or make you email them).

Now I would’ve written this post on my own, but unfortunately I’m in the great People’s Republic of China, which means I can’t use Facebook, Twitter, etc. I was going to go on Twitter to bitch about not being able to use Facebook, but then I realized they blocked that too.

Here’s a great idea for a reality TV show. Instead of locking 12 strangers in a house for months, how about sending a dozen Generation Y’ers to China and seeing how long they last without being able to update their Twitter or Facebook? I’m not even that addicted to Facebook or Twitter, though I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms after just 12 hours. So if you try to talk to me on Facebook or Twitter, my apologies for not responding over the next few days.

I’m ashamed to admit that my second most embarrassing travel moment happened tonight in the privacy of my hotel room (my most embarrassing moment still has to be my pajamas incident at Singapore Airport). I feel mildly violated (by myself).

I checked in at the amazing Park Hyatt Shanghai (lobby is on the 87th floor — crazy!), and the front desk agent escorted me to my Park Suite. He gave me a quick tour of the room, and as I opened the bathroom door I screamed squealed jumped up expressed surprise.

I should mention that I can appreciate a good high tech toilet, and would like to think I’ve seen them all in Japan. But none have been to the level of the Park Hyatt Shanghai, which has a motion sensor that automatically raises the lid when you get within a few feet of it, and damn near sounds like a rifle being loaded.

I was only a little bit embarrassed when the agent had to comfort me and say “it’s alright sir, it’s only the toilet.”