Starwood has just announced the details of their first quarter 2012 promotion, “Better By the Night,” which runs from January 9 to April 8, 2012. Through this promotion they’re offering two bonus points per dollar spent on stays of at least two nights, and three bonus points per dollar spent on stays of at least three nights.

As a Starwood member you earn two points per dollar, plus you earn one bonus point per dollar if you’re a Gold or Platinum member, for a total of three points per dollar. Then if you use the Starwood American Express you earn another two points per dollar spent.

Therefore through this promotion you’re earning seven points per dollar on a two night stay if you’re an elite member paying with the Starwood American Express, or eight points per dollar on a three or more night stay. Starwood points are worth at least two cents each, so that’s a return of at least 14-16%.

Lastly, there’s a pretty big list of excluded hotels, which The Points Guy posted here. That’s one thing that really irks me about Starwood. So many of their hotels seem to only participate in SPG very half-a$$ed, be it regarding participation in promotions or taking good care of elite members.

Better than nothing, though I’ll be curious to see what Hyatt comes up with…

Via Gary, American Express is offering a 30,000 point sign-up bonus on both their co-branded personal and small business Starwood credit cards through December 12, 2011. Through this offer you earn 10,000 points after the first purchase and 20,000 points after spending $5,000 within six months. As Gary says this is no earth shattering deal, though this bonus is 5,000 points better than their usual sign-up bonus. That being said, the Starwood American Express isn’t a card you get for the sign-up bonus, but rather one you get for everyday spend, as Starwood points are incredibly flexible and valuable.

The Westin Laungamar Ocean Resort Villas in Cancun, Mexico, has some excellent deals available, with rooms starting at just 129 MXN, or 147 MXN all-in (that’s under $11USD) per night.

It’s probably just a really good Cyber Monday deal, so I doubt it will last for long!

(Tip of the hat to Chris)

Trip Report Index

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After a fairly long drive from Salzburg we made it to Munich around 4PM. The Sheraton is locateed in Arabellapark, which is located in a business development consisting mostly of office buildings, though it’s only a quick subway ride from the heart of Munich.

We had only booked the trip about a week in advance and the Le Meridien was sold out. Between my Starwood, InterContinental, and Hyatt status, the next best thing was the Sheraton, which was 109 Euros per night. Munich really is lacking good hotels between those three brands!

At the door the porter helped us with our bags.

Hotel exterior

It’s obvious the hotel is on the older side based on the exterior, though it was recently renovated.

Lobby

Within a few moments we were helped by an agent who informed us we had been upgraded on account of my Starwood Platinum status. We headed up to our room, where we once again found a (more or less) standard room. I connected to the wifi and saw they were still selling junior suites, so I decided to head back down to the front desk.

I got the same agent again, and just nicely showed her spg.com, which was still selling suites. After talking briefly to her supervisor she upgraded me to a junior suite with apologies. So at least I can appreciate that there was no attitude when I confronted her about it.

We had been upgraded to room 1252, a corner suiteon the 12th floor. It looks like they skimped out on the renovations a bit for the hallways, as they looked ancient.

Hallway

Room

Anyway, the room itself was perfectly nice, typical of a Sheraton hotel. It was by no means luxurious, though modern, clean, and well appointed, which is all I expect given our rate.

The living room featured a couch, desk, and flat screen TV, along with the bathroom (I found it a bit weird that the bathroom was connected to the living room instead of the bedroom).

Living room

TV

Desk

Bathroom

Shower

The living room lead out to the balcony, which somehow felt a bit like a prison between the netting and dirty tiles.

Balcony

The balcony overlooked the Westin (which is located right across the street) and in the distance Munich.

View from balcony

The bedroom featured two twin beds pushed together, as is often the case in Europe.

Bedroom

TV

Because I’m a Platinum member we also had access to the club lounge, which is located on the top floor.

Club lounge entrance

The lounge is fairly small though was never too crowded. It featured a nice couch area and also several tables.

Club lounge

Club lounge

The evening spread in the club lounge was one of the most bizarre I’ve ever seen. They had a hot dish, which was nice, and also had chips, nuts, etc. But the weird thing was that the other half of the spread looked like breakfast — yogurt, fruit, croissants, pastries, etc.

The service was friendly and attentive, though. The server let me have all of the Fanta my heart desired.

Evening snacks

Evening spread

The spread in the morning was also pretty decent, consisting mostly of pastries, yogurt, fruit, and scrambled eggs.

Morning spread

The most interesting feature of the hotel had to be the pool on the top floor, which I also found a bit strange with fake palm trees and rocks. Not what you expect in Munich!

Pool

On the whole I had a perfectly pleasant stay. The Sheraton is by no means a luxury hotel, though you can’t beat 109 Euros per night for a suite with club access in summer as a Platinum member. The hotel was only a few minutes from the city by subway, and the subway stop was only about a five minute walk.

When I return to Munich I’ll probably give the Le Meridien a try availability permitting, though I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at the Sheraton again.

Trip Report Index

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After an amazing stay at the InterContinental Berchtesgaden, I was quite looking forward to trying the Schloss Fuschl hotel (a Starwood Luxury Collection property), which is located about 20 minutes from Salzburg, Austria. I had booked our two night stay using “free nights” from Starwood’s second quarter promotion, whereby one could earn one free resort night after every three Starwood stays.

The hotel retailed for 550 Euros per night, so I was quite looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about, given that it’s about triple the price of the InterContinental we stayed at the night before.

After a one hour drive from Berchtesgaden we made it to the hotel, which is located down in a valley right on Fuschlsee, a very nice lake.

The hotel is stunning from the outside, given that it’s a several hundred year old hunting lodge which was transformed into a hotel. While the InterContinental was modern, this hotel was much more classic. Generally I prefer modern, though it was clear that this hotel was also well maintained.

Hotel exterior

Hotel exterior

Hotel exterior

Hotel exterior

At the entrance the bellman helped us with our bags and parked our car. Valet parking is complimentary at the hotel, which is a big plus.

Hotel entrance

The lobby in the hotel is small though nicely appointed. It was rather busy as there are only two agents working the “front desk,” though within a few minutes we were helped.

Lobby

The agent that helped us was efficient and professional, though in no way “warm.” She informed us that as a Starwood Platinum we had “of course received a room upgrade,” and gave us our key. The keys are magnetic, though they attach them to a big keychain to make them look more “classic.” It’s nice in theory, though in practice it’s a pain to lug around.

Key

We took the stairs down to the first floor where our room was located.

Stairs

Hallway

When we made it to our room it seemed a whole lot like we were assigned a standard room. After a few minutes I decided to go to the front desk and just ask if a further room upgrade might be available. If they said they didn’t have it available I wouldn’t have held it against them, though it certainly can’t hurt to ask.

I went to the front desk and after waiting for a few minutes was helped by the other agent. I just asked if they might have any better rooms available for upgrade on account of my Platinum status. After typing in the computer for a few seconds he responded with “we have already upgraded you.” I said “well it seems like a standard room, what kind of an upgrade is it?” He explained it was a deluxe room, so I asked him if there was maybe a nicer room available, since Starwood Platinum entitles one to the best available room, up to a standard suite.

I would have dropped it if he said “no, nothing else is available,” though instead he responded with “well since you’re on a free stay we have the discretion of how far we want to upgrade you.” Aw, hell no.

He wanted to go down that road, so I was ready to play. For those of you not familiar with how loyalty programs work, there is no such thing as a “free” stay. Starwood Preferred Guest (the loyalty program) pays the hotel for every award stay above marginal cost, and if the hotel has high occupancy that night they pay them close to the flexible rate for an award stay. So given that the hotel was fairly full, the hotel was probably making more off of us than most guests — not what I call a “free” stay as far as the hotel is concerned by any stretch of the imagination. It’s like telling a business traveler that their stay is “free” because their company is paying for it.

After explaining to the agent that Starwood’s terms and conditions don’t distinguish between “free” and revenue stays he simply gave me a blank look, so I left and did what any reasonably intelligent person would do in the situation — tweeted @SPGInsider.

15 minutes later I had a call in our room from the manager on duty, saying that she “heard on the Twitter that [I] am not satisifed with [my] room.” I explained the situation, and within five minutes she assigned us a junior suite instead. God bless Twitter…

While the junior suite was on the “junior” side, it was still very nice.

It featured a king sized bed and then down a couple of steps a sofa, chair with ottoman, and table.

Junior suite

Bed

TV

Sitting area

Junior suite from other side

The bathroom featured a shower, tub, double sinks, and toilet.

Bathroom

Toilet

On the whole the room was nicely decorated. It was “classic” yet well maintained with modern technology.

One of the cool things about the hotel is that minibar soft drinks were free, which included water, soda, and juice.

Minibar drinks

Minibar

The room featured views of Fuschlsee. Not quite as scenic as Berchtesgaden, though it was still fairly nice.

View from room

The second day a fruit and chocolate plate along with a card from the GM was left in our room. I’m not sure if this was a standard Platinum amenity or if it was on account of me being a member of “the Twitter.”

Fruit/chocolate plate

There were a few other nice touches, like at night during turndown service they left Mozart chocolates.

Turndown service

While the hotel’s facilities were nice, I really just didn’t feel comfortable staying here. We were the youngest people staying here probably by over 40 years. I’m perfectly fine with that, other than the fact that it was nothing but “upper society” retired German folks. In other words, you were scoffed at if you wore anything short of slacks and a polo shirt in public.

So while I like elegant and luxury hotels, I don’t like ones that you have to dress up to enjoy. It takes some of the fun out of it, in my opinion. And I don’t hold that against the other guests, because clearly this hotel was designed for them, and that’s totally fine. But it’s not my “style” of hotel, much like Andaz hotels might not be their style.

The hotel did feature a nice spa/pool area, with a decent sized indoor pool, sauna, and even an outdoor hot tub.

Spa

Pool

At the same time I was mildly entertained by the sign at the entrance.

No street clothes!

Then there’s the actual lake, which is beautiful, and apparently they have boats you can rent, though whenever we went down there everything was empty. The weather wasn’t nice for most of our stay, which may have something to do with it.

Fuschlsee

Other hotel activities included watching the automatic lawnmower do it’s thang…

Hey, it’s kinda cool

Salzburg is an awesome city that’s about 20 minutes from the hotel, but I found parking in the city to be an absolute nightmare, so if I were to return to visit the city I would want to stay in the city center.

One other area I quite enjoyed was the town also located on Fuschlsee, just a couple of minutes from the hotel. It was called Fuschl am See, and featured some pretty “quaint” restaurants and shopping. The hotel food was way overpriced, so we ate there both days instead.

Fuschl am See

Fuschl am See

Restaurant

Ice cream

To sum it up, the hotel has a target demographic, and obviously I’m not part of it. Even for their target demographic I can’t see how the hotel is worth the money ($700USD+/night), but then again based on the cars I saw at the hotel I doubt money is much of an issue.

The rooms were nice. The service was okay at best. Everything was very formal.

I’d return to the InterContinental Berchtesgaden in a heartbeat, though this place, not so much. But if you’re part of their target demographic (and money isn’t an issue), I’m sure you’ll have a nice stay.

Through December 30, Starwood is offering a 20% discount on purchased and gifted points, which they seem to do a couple of times a year. With the 20% discount, points come out to 2.8 cents each, with a maximum of 20,000 points that can be purchased per account per calendar year. Accounts have to be active for a minimum of 30 days to take advantage of this promotion.

Starwood points are probably the most valuable points currency out there. Even so, in most instances this isn’t a steal for someone just wanting to outright purchase points. But if you’re trying to top off an account for an award redemption or mileage transfer, this is a fairly good deal.

Now that award stays count towards elite status, it might actually be more lucrative to outright buy points for a cash and points stay and still earn elite credit, as opposed to paying.

Or ultimately 20,000 Starwood points converts to 25,000 miles in over a dozen airline programs, so that translates to 2.24 cents per mile. Again, not a steal, but not a bad value for topping off an account either.

Trip Report Index

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We had booked a car transfer from the Westin to Le Meridien for 2PM at a cost of 2,700THB (about $87USD). They informed us the ride would take about two hours, which it did, so we arrived at Le Meridien at around 4PM.

Hotel entrance

Car transfer

Hotel entrance

We were welcomed in the open air lobby and invited to sit down in the lobby lounge, where we were offered welcome drinks, cold towels, and flower wristbands.

Lobby

Lobby lounge

The lobby boasted views of the rest of the resort, overlooking the pools and then the beach in the distance.

View of resort from lobby

Welcome drinks and towels

One of the reasons we had booked Le Meridien Khao Lak is because they have among the most affordable villas of any hotel I’ve seen. While they have “normal” rooms and suites, they also have reasonably priced villas. We had booked a villa for 6,300THB all-in (about $203USD) per night for four nights, which included two spa treatments.

After about a 20 minute check-in process we were driven to our villa in a golf cart. We were pretty disappointed when we got to the villa, and it’s probably entirely my fault for doing an awful job managing my expectations. When I think “villa” in the context of a resort, I think of a room with a private backyard and/or plunge pool, or at least something a bit more secluded.

While the room itself was quite nice, this was the extent of our backyard:

Backyard

Again, I guess I shouldn’t have made any assumptions, though I couldn’t figure out why I would pay a premium for a room like this. The room wasn’t that big, and if I had booked a standard room as a Platinum member I would have been upgraded to a suite or possibly this exact villa (according to the host that brought us to our room). At the same time, the hotel doesn’t upgrade Platinum members to a higher level villa, which in fairness is completely within the terms and conditions of the Starwood program. So I just fail to see what makes this sort of villa different than any other type of room.

So we expressed our disappointed since we legitimately thought we booked a villa with a pool and/or private backyard, though the host just stood there and didn’t say anything. The host had mentioned the hotel was less than half full so we asked how much it would cost to upgrade. Eventually we agreed on the price of 1,000THB extra per night (about $33USD) for a pool villa. In the end I guess it all worked out, though I was a bit disappointed in the way they handled the situation based on our interactions.

The host suggested we go to the pool as they prepare the other villa, and in about an hour he found us to bring us to the new villa.

While the villa itself was the same size, the backyard was much nicer and well worth the premium.

The villa features a main room with king sized bed, couch, and desk.

Villa

Villa

Couch

On the table was a welcome gift consisting of fruit and pralines.

Platinum welcome gift

Then the bathroom features a sink on each side, a bathtub in the middle, and both an indoor and outdoor shower.

Bathroom

Toilet

Indoor shower

Outdoor shower

This was my first time staying in a villa. The backyard was beautiful with a plunge pool, day bed, and a couple of lounge chairs. In the end we didn’t get a whole lot out of it since I far preferred the main resort pool, though it was still nice to feel like you have some private space.

Private pool

Private pool

Outdoor day bed

The resort itself has three pools. There’s the main pool near the beach, a quieter spa pool, and then a “river” pool. I spent most of my time at the main pool.

Main pool

“River” pool

Spa pool

And unlike the Westin Siray Bay, Le Meridien has a very nice beach with white sand and (mostly) turquoise water.

Beach

Beach

Beach

While I wasn’t a huge fan of the spa at the Westin, Le Meridien has a very nice spa. The prices were more reasonable for the treatments (around $60USD for an hour-long massage) and the treatment rooms were nicer and staff seemed much more genuine.

Spa entrance

Spa welcome area

Spa treatment room

The hotel also has a well equipped gym and also some ping pong tables. Lucky loves ping pong!

Gym

As a Platinum member daily buffet breakfast was included which was served daily from 6:30AM to 10:30AM. The spread was even better than at the Westin, featuring everything you could possibly want and then some.

Buffet restaurant

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Made-to-order anything

Every night the hotel had a different themed dinner buffet in one of the restaurants. One night it was at Bangsak Grill, which is the hotel’s Italian restaurant. When the host had brought us to our villa the first day he told us Bangsak Grill was rated one of the best Italian restaurants in Thailand, and I had a hard time not rolling my eyes. I was wrong. It was literally the best Italian food I’ve had outside of Italy. The buffet featured salad, pizza, pasta, and dessert, and was under $20USD per person.

Bangsak Grill

View from Bangsak Grill

Salad buffet

Pizza

Dessert

The food was so good that we came back the last night of our stay even when they didn’t have a buffet. My friend had the pizza while I had the meat lasagna, both of which were excellent.

Pizza

Lasagna

Dessert

Another night they had a Thai buffet at Baan Thai restaurant. I really like Thai food (and I don’t just mean “fake” Thai food in the US, but also real Thai food in Thailand after many visits), but I wasn’t a huge fan of the buffet.

Baan Thai Restaurant

Baan Thai Restaurant

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

As a Platinum member we also received a couple of drink vouchers for the bar on the beach, Bamboo Bar. One afternoon we had some drinks and a chicken noodle dish.

Pina Colada at Bamboo Grill

Bamboo Bar dining

The hotel is located about 10 minutes by taxi from Khao Lak town. They have a bit of a “taxi mafia” going on, so expect to pay as much for the ride as you would in a Tokyo cab based on the distance.

While I usually love small towns in Asia, Khao Lak town wasn’t especially interesting. It featured little more than cheesy tourist shops without all that much substance.

Khao Lak town

On the whole the hotel was nice. While villas are nice in theory, I can’t say we made all that much use of it. If I returned I would probably just book a standard room and hope for a suite upgrade, since it suits my needs just as well. I assume a villa would be a lot more interesting for a family traveling with kids since you can just hang out in the “backyard.”

The service was pretty good at the resort on the whole. It seemed much more genuine than at the Westin Siray Bay.

It’s also worth noting that this place has a lot of “nature,” from massive lizards to crabs to the occasional snake. Given the location of the hotel this shouldn’t surprise anyone, though just keep that in mind, as you’ll want to leave your suitcase zipped. The lizards even have ways of crawling through the cracks in the windows.

Anyway, on the whole it was a nice hotel. I’m happy to have visited the hotel and see all there is(n’t) to see in Khao Lak town, and I enjoyed the resort as such. For me it’s one of those “been there, done that, what’s next?” places. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t go.

Via Loyalty Traveler, Starwood has launched a pretty cutting-edge new feature yesterday — the ability to write hotel reviews directly on the hotel’s website. If you go to any hotel’s page on spg.com you’ll notice a link at the bottom left which reads “Write the first review.”

So what makes it different than Trip Advisor or the like? For one, they actually verify that you stayed at the hotel in the past 18 months. You have to log-in and provide your account information or confirmation number, so that they know you actually stayed at the hotel. Second, they only publish the reviews if there are at least five written. So even if you write a review now, it might be weeks (or months… or years…) before your review is published.

They claim they’ll publish all reviews that conform to their guidelines, and even give hotels a star rating based on guest reviews.

I don’t know how useful this is, but this is very, very bold on their part, in my opinion. While social media in general is “bold” (it can really hurt companies that don’t use it well, and help companies that do use it well), this is much more bold, given that these reviews make up a permanent part of peoples’ perception of the hotel. If I “tweet” negatively about a hotel others can see it, but it won’t be staring me in the face like a one star rating for the hotel directly on their own website.

While I doubt this will be all that useful in determining how good a hotel is, this might be a very powerful tool. People don’t tend to leave reviews for okay stays, but rather only for exception or awful stays. I suspect this has a lot of potential to create change at hotels that consistently don’t upgrade Platinum members outside of the terms and conditions of the SPG program, for example. If members consistently left reviews on the sites of stingy hotels, I’m pretty sure those hotels would want to eventually change their one or two star rating, because it could be costing them dearly.

Which makes me wonder if hotels can “opt out” of this at a certain point…

Anyway, more power in the hands of the consumer is always a good thing, so kudos to Starwood!

Trip Report Index

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I had emailed the hotel in advance to set up a car transfer to the hotel. A Mercedes transfer to the hotel cost 2,000THB (about $65USD) and took about 40 minutes. For what it’s worth, a Toyota Camry transfer was offered for half as much.

At the airport there was someone waiting with a Westin sign, who helped us with our bags and directed us to the waiting car.

Airport arrivals area

Car service

Upon arrival at the hotel we were helped with our bags and directed to the open air lobby. One of the agents asked us to take a seat as we gave him our passports and credit card.

Lobby

Lobby

We were offered cold towels and some sort of lemongrass tea as they processed our check-in, which took forever. The agents were very friendly, though we sat there for about 20 minutes before getting our room keys.

The lobby overlooks Siray Bay, which frankly looked pretty dirty — certainly not somewhere I’d want to swim!

Cold towels and tea

Siray Bay

Our rate was about 3,500THB all-in (about $112USD) per night for our two night stay and they had upgraded us to a splash suite.

Before heading to the room we took a quick tour of the hotel. First we walked down to the beach. The hotel offers guests free non-motorized watersport activities, though both the beach and the water weren’t all that appealing. I’m not much of a beach person so that’s fine by me (I’m more for lounging around a pool than at a beach), though this definitely isn’t a place to stay if you want a beach destination.

Beach

Rooms and villas are located along the whole property on several levels with varying levels or privacy.

Walkway

The pools at this hotel are really nice. There’s one main infinity pool overlooking the bay.

Pool

Just above that was what I assumed was a hot tub, though it was actually a cold… well, mini-pool. I’m not totally sure I understand the purpose.

Pool

Then over on the right side was another pool, which seemed to be occupied mostly by kids when I was there.

Pool

We were driven to our room in a golf cart up a steep hill. I’m kind of surprised these golf carts can drive up these steep hills, since at times the incline was about 15-20 degrees.

Walkway to room

We were assigned room 4221, which was located in a small room “cluster.”

Room entrance

The suite itself was beautiful. Upon entering was the dining room and living room. The dining room featured a table with four chairs, and the living room featured a pull-out sofa and armchair facing a flat screen TV.

Suite living room

Living room

Living room TV

There was also a half bath right at the entrance.

Half bath

Outside the living room was a balcony with furniture boasting a great view of the resort and bay.

Balcony

View from balcony

Next to the living room was the bedroom featuring a Westin Heavenly Bed. I love Westin Heavenly Beds, so having one of these in Asia where beds are usually a bit too hard for my liking was awesome.

The bedroom also featured a couch and balcony with equally good views.

Bedroom

Bedroom couch

The bathroom featured a sink, bathtub, shower, and bathroom, all with Westin bath amenities. While the bathtub had a huge window, it overlooked the road, so I doubt anyone could take a bath without closing the curtains unless they were into that kind of stuff. Kind of eliminates the concept of a bathtub with a view.

Bathroom

Bathtub

Shower

On the whole I thought the room was spectacular. Not only was it nicely appointed, but for the rate we paid this was an amazing upgrade (and seems to be their standard Platinum upgrade based upon availability).

One other thing worth noting is that the room had a ton of free bottled water. I counted at least 16 bottles.

Bottled water

The hotel boasts a Westin Spa, which I found to be overpriced. One of the things I love about traveling to Thailand is reasonably priced massages. I realize when you stay at western hotels you pay western prices on things, so I think my price expectations are pretty reasonable. In Thailand I’m used to seeing hour-long massages go for $60-70 per hour on average at western hotels (similar to the prices at the Le Meridien Kaoh Lak, where we stayed immediately after), though at the Westin they were about 50% more expensive than that.

I ended up getting one massage and it was mediocre at best. The treatment rooms weren’t nice and the staff seemed to have adopted a bit of a “lazy” attitude. For example, part of the massage was a facial, so after applying the cream the masseuse left the room for what must have been 10-15 minutes instead of doing a neck or shoulder massage. I’m not paying $2/minute to have cream sit on my face. Anyway, I doubt I’d return to the spa, though that’s only one aspect of the resort.

Spa

While the hotel doesn’t have a club lounge, they do offer Platinum members free happy hour every evening from 6PM to 7PM at the MIX Lounge. As I mentioned earlier the hotel is located on a hill, and the MIX Lounge is located at the very “top” of the resort. So as much as I ate on this trip, I’m pretty sure I lost weight due to the amount of step climbing I had to do.

Steps

At the top of the resort (where I believe most of the villas are) is yet another pool right next to the MIX Lounge.

Pool

The MIX Lounge does offer great sunset views, though both nights we were there it was very crowded, so I suggest coming early, because at around 6:30PM there was no more seating available and people were turned away. The lounge features live music (think karaoke at best). While they have an extensive drink menu, the one from which Platinum members can order for free is much more limited (no Pina Coladas, Strawberry Daquiries, etc.).

MIX Lounge

Drink in MIX Lounge

View from bar

Platinum members also get complimentary breakfast at Seasonal Tastes, the biggest of the hotel restaurants. The restaurant offered both indoor and outdoor seating, though because the temperatures were still moderate in the mornings we ate outside.

Outside dining at Seasonal Tastes

The breakfast spread was phenomenal. They had everything you could possibly want from western to Asian options. They also had Thai iced tea which I highly recommend (you have to order it through a waiter). The service in the restaurant was a bit lackluster, however, as very rarely were plates cleared or drink refills offered without specifically requesting it. While they were friendly, most of the employees I interacted with didn’t come across as all that “genuine.”

Breakfast spread

Juice selection

Breakfast spread

Breakfast spread

Breakfast spread

One night we had dinner in EEST Restaurant, which serves food from all over Asia. We had chicken satay to start, and then I had a chicken fried rice dish as my main course. Both were very good.

EEST Restaurant

Satay

Main course

None of the dessert options interested us, so we went over to the Italian restaurant for dessert. Prego is an open-air restaurant so I was happy we didn’t have our entire dinner there, as it was quite hot. That being said, it was well worth it for the dessert, which was delicious.

Prego Italian Restaurant

Dessert

Resort at night

The property itself really is quite stunning given the setting on a hill, especially at night. For $112 per night, the hotel was an absolute bargain, especially with the upgrade we received and free breakfast. This is by no means a beach hotel, though it is a fun place to just hang around. The room was great, especially given the Westin Heavenly Bed, and the grounds were really well maintained.

Would I return? I’d certainly consider returning for two days (though not longer). At the same time there are a lot of amazing resorts out there, so I don’t see myself returning anytime soon. I’d still (moderately) recommend the hotel, though, especially if you’re a Platinum member.

Resort at night

Trip Report Index

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One of the things I’ve been looking forward to most as a newly minted Starwood Platinum member is stays at Starwood hotels in Asia, since they’re apparently very generous with elite benefits. I had read good things about Le Meridien so booked it using cash and points for 2,800 points plus $45.

Upon arrival at Le Meridien we proceeded straight through the modern lobby to check-in, where there was no line.

Hotel exterior

Lobby

They informed me that as a Platinum member I had been upgraded to a suite, and that we could have complimentary breakfast in the restaurant (Latest Recipe) and drinks in the bar (Bamboo Chic) in the evening between 5:30PM and 7:30PM. We were also offered some sort of a frappuchino-tasting welcome drink. One of the issues with suite upgrades and traveling with a friend is that most suites have just one bed. So when traveling with a friend you have the option of either sticking to a close to standard room and getting two beds, or going for a suite with a king bed and a pull out sofa (usually). I’d much rather have the latter.

Our suite was on the 12th floor at the end of the hallway, room 1223.

Hallway

The suite was modern, with a living room at the entrance featuring a desk, guest bathroom, and comfortable couch and daybed facing a large flat screen TV.

Bookshelf at entrance

Living room

Desk

Flat screen TV

Waiting for me on the desk was a welcome amenity consisting of teriyaki spiced almonds and raspberry chocolate, along with a handwritten welcome note.

Welcome amenity

The bedroom was also large, featuring a king size bed and desk.

Bedroom

Bedroom

The bedroom led to the bathroom, which featured double sinks, a tub and shower, and separate toilet.

Sinks

Shower and tub

Bathroom

The view from the room wasn’t especially nice. I prefer the location of the InterContinental or Peninsula, though Le Meridien is very close to public transportation.

View from the room

My favorite part about the room has to be the number of bottles of complimentary bottled water it had. I counted at least a dozen bottles.

By the time we showered and caught up on email a bit it was 6PM, so we headed down to Bamboo Chic to see what the drink selection was like.

Bamboo Chic

Upon asking the host that seated us about the Platinum happy hour she told us we could order any drinks off the menu. I’m not much of a drinker but at the same time didn’t want a Diet Coke with lime, so went with the only blended drink I saw on the menu. The drinks were served with a small appetizer consisting of octopus and something else, which I passed on.

Happy hour

We were offered further drinks though declined since we wanted to walk around a bit outside.

The pool also looked quite nice and was located just outside the door by Bamboo Chic.

Pool

Le Meridien is especially well located for the night market, where you can buy anything from a Happy Gilmore t-shirt to a happy ending.

The night market is always very entertaining on many levels. If you haven’t been, it’s mostly stalls consisting of fake t-shirts/handbags, etc. Sprinkled in are strip clubs every few feet with strippers very visible on the polls dancing to Lady Gaga songs. And if that’s not enough, as a male tourist you’re approached every two feet to see if they can interest you in a “good time.” No thanks.

Night market

Night market

My friend had never been to Asia before, so perhaps I scarred him a bit by having his first exposure to the continent be a Bangkok night market, but I guess in comparison everything else will seem “normal.”

After walking around for a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel dead tired after one long journey around the world (the long way).

The next morning at around 8AM we went to Latest Recipe for breakfast.

Latest Recipe

I’m not sure whether I love or hate Asian breakfast buffets. They have so much food from so many places that it could reasonably comprise breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hell, they even have a dessert spread… for breakfast!

Buffet spread

Buffet spread

Buffet spread

Buffet spread

Buffet spread

At the same time, I hate them with a passion because I just have no self control at breakfast buffets in Asia. I just have to have everything every time. I’m full? Who the hell cares. If the world comes to an end I’ll be better off having eaten two pounds of fried rice and 16 croissants.

Anyway, at around 9:30AM we headed to the airport for our 12:25PM flight. Check-out took forever. In the US checking out of hotels is so efficient. Heck, you don’t have to check out of hotels, you can just leave. After about 10 minutes at check-out we were in a cab on our way back to the airport.

On the whole I had a great stay at the Le Meridien. It’s a great hotel with great elite recognition. The thing about Bangkok is that there are so many great luxury hotels at reasonable prices, that I have a hard time returning to any particular hotel, no matter how great a stay is. But I do highly recommend this hotel.