Posted by Seth on January 25, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports | 
Booking a hotel on the morning of arrival can limit the options available somewhat. That said, I’ve actually been pretty lucky in general with such an approach, scanning a list of available properties and sussing out a quality hotel at a bargain price. That’s just what I discovered at the Hotel Eurostars Berlin. A beautiful, brand new property with a comfortable room adjacent to the Friedrichstrasse train station in the heart of Berlin and it was less than $100 for the night and earned points in the Welcome Rewards program from hotels.com.
I tend to avoid hotel chains a bit, but this was an exception to that. Partly because it isn’t a chain I had ever heard of and partly because the reason I avoid them – generally overpriced – didn’t apply. I’m glad I did as the hotel was near perfect for my needs.
The property is new construction which opened in April 2011. It is clean and fresh, with a relatively modern vibe. If they installed dimmer switches in the halls and upped the music levels in the lobby I could almost see it being a W hotel. It isn’t quite that trendy, which is a good thing in my book, but the décor definitely has that vibe in some ways.
The room itself was great. Plenty of space to move around (this was definitely the largest room I had through the week in Europe) and the bed was quite comfortable. The TV offered up a pretty good selection of channels and the desk had plenty of outlets, though strangely there was no chair. Not sure if that was an oversight or on purpose. I just used the chair in the corner and it was fine, but that was definitely an interesting discovery.
The bathroom was relatively huge and nicely appointed, particularly the shower.
Add in complimentary WiFi – the front desk clerk asked how many devices I had so she could give me the correct number of vouchers – and being directly adjacent to a major train station only one stop down the line from the Hbf and I was quite happy with pretty much everything about the place. It served as a great base of operations. Walking to the Brandenburg Gate area was about 10 minutes and connections to the TXL Airport Bus at the Hbf were incredibly easy. That’s not to say I didn’t get lost in the Hbf for about 30 minutes on my arrival, but the departure was much less a problem.
Overall, I’d recommend this hotel without hesitation, even for folks who aren’t quite as "aggressive" in their hotel budget efforts. It is a full service hotel in a prime location at a very reasonable price.
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
Like many of my stays these days my goal in Stockholm was to find a room which balances a convenient location and decent price with being clean and functional. I didn’t have too much to go on in terms of guidance, other than knowing that the western-branded chains were asking far more than I normally like to pay for a night so I went to my usual resource, hotels.com, and popped in my dates.
Serving up a room for two at about $100/night, Frey’s Hotel passed the sniff test and I booked, hoping for the best. The location was great, directly across from the train and bus station and a block from the metro entrance.
The room was small. There’s no getting around that. One of the beds was more like a couch converted to have a mattress instead of cushions, but it was basically the same as the other bed so no big deal there. And there was enough room to move around in the room and to stow our bags, though not much more than that. Not quite a shoebox, but we certainly wouldn’t be hosting parties in there.
The bathroom was a bit more cramped but, again, they made it work. The shower doors swing out of the way when not in use to allow a bit of room to move around though when actually using the shower there isn’t a ton of space.
The room rate also included a buffet breakfast which was pretty substantial. A variety of meats, cheeses and breads were available. There were also eggs and breakfast meats. I’m not a huge breakfast guy but I definitely hit the buffet hard our first morning to fortify for the long day and to hedge against the high food prices in Stockholm. The second morning I managed to sleep through breakfast (and almost through checkout) thanks to a great night out, but I’m assuming the meal service was quite similar.
Overall, the room matched our needs pretty well. I got a few points in my Welcome Rewards account and saved a chunk of cash over the other options. I also saw two rooms at the Sheraton (about 3-5 minutes down the block) and they were certainly a bit larger and a bit nicer, but they were also quite a bit more expensive (though I didn’t run through my list of corporate rates to compare completely) and I’m not so sure it was worth the extra cash. Plus, a bunch of friends were staying there so I got to crash the party in the lounge one night anyways.
Posted by Seth on January 20, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
I love the arrivals service offered as part of the BusinessFirst service from United Airlines at most of their legacy Continental routes. I’m a firm believer in the power of a shower and a beer to help reset the body clock towards something approximating normal and the arrivals facilities generally make that work out quite nicely. Our request for the service apparently made it to the agent in Stockholm – she acknowledged such in the jetway – but not all the way to the hotel. That delayed our access by about 15 minutes but it was resolved quickly enough.
After our flight in to Stockholm from Newark we were all a bit out of it (I actually managed to forget my laptop on the plane, though I was quickly reunited with it) so having a nap also played into our plans. The arrivals service is Stockholm is a day room provided at the Radisson Blu hotel in the airport so we had the opportunity to get that nap, along with the shower; the beer had to wait until lunch.
The rooms we got were configured with two beds, two very small beds. They’re singles, rather common in Scandinavia, but it was entertaining to hear some of the stories from our group about trying to make that work for multiple people in the room.
Beyond the beds (which I was actually quite comfortable sleeping on), the rooms were reasonably well appointed, if not a bit small. Sliding the chair out from the desk, for example, resulted in hitting the bed situated adjacent to it. That said, it was not the smallest room I had during the week, not by a long shot.
The bathroom was reasonably nice, too, with all the expected/usual amenities provided.
One rather strange bit about the hotel is that the rooms (on at least one side of the hall) overlooked the terminal rather than the outside world (though you could see outside through the terminal windows). That was definitely a bit different for me. I think that contributed to the hotel not using black-out curtains in the windows (the photo above is as dark as the curtains got). I was tired enough that sleep came anyways, but I can imagine that being an issue during the summer when darkness is harder to come by in the region.
In short, it was a very typical and very serviceable business hotel at the airport. It did have the advantage of being literally in the airport making it incredibly convenient, and also allowing for a premium to be charged on the pricing for rooms that I saw in a quick search. Still, faced with an early morning departure I’d either be sleeping there or in the nearby jumbo jet.
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Posted by Seth on January 13, 2012 under Hotel, News |
Airlines have not been shy in recent months about trying to shift the booking channel to a direct model, avoiding online travel agencies or other middlemen. At the same time the hotel industry has been mostly quiet, moving along with the status quo. That changed this week, however, as a group of hotel chains teamed up to build a new hotel search engine, RoomKey.com.
The new site is a collaborative effort between six major hotel brands and features only their properties in the results. And that’s only one of the "features" that’s not so useful with the site. I gave it a quick spin and the initial results were not too impressive for me.
The main search screen is reasonably clean, though the emoticons in the date bits are arguably a bit too cutesy.
The search results page has many of the familiar slider style filters on top, covering price, rating, date and distance. All functional and such, but not particularly different than many other sites out there.
What is different about the search results is the grid view results display. Of all the different sorts of search results views I’ve seen, I truly believe this is the most confusing and least intuitive. Trying to compare features, location or prices of the properties is painfully difficult, though I suppose the bigger pictures are nice.
There is a list view as well, which at least makes the comparison bits easier. That said, I was surprised by the number of "One Single Bed" results that were returned when I did a search for a room for two adults. Maybe they want me to feel nostalgic for my days as a college freshman in the dorm.
Booking is farmed out to the direct channel sites of the brand so transactions are not handled by the site. Given their goal of reducing costs to the brands and allowing direct control over price and inventory this isn’t too surprising. But it also speaks to my biggest beef with the site: limited choice. Somewhat ironic in that a major benefit the brands are touting is that it expands choice.
Steve Sickel, senior vice president, distribution and relationship marketing for IHG, agrees. “Room Key came together because we have a common need in the market; we know it’s nothing unique to IHG, Choice or Marriott,” he says. “Travelers like to shop, and while each of our IHG brand websites has the best price guarantee and the information to find a great hotel, guests only see the choice of our brands. We know that customers like multiple choices, but they want to be able to book direct as well, so we all saw the common need that led to a common solution.”
I can understand the hotels (and the airlines) trying to cut out middlemen; it costs them money and limits their flexibility. At the same time, however, it isn’t as good for the consumer. There is never going to be a site that can show all the hotel options in a particular location – there are simply too many independent properties for that to be feasible – but a site like this is even more limited. On the plus side, there is a decent mix of brands that are included in the listings, but there are still only a tiny fraction of the options listed, especially compared to an OTA site that is more brand agnostic.
USA Today’s hotel guru, Barbara Delollois, posted about the new site on her FaceBook page and it introduced an interesting conversation between hoteliers and customers, a/k/a me. The hoteliers love the new site for all the obvious reasons. The costs to them are dramatically lower. This allows them to invest more in their product or offer better rates to the customer (though none of them suggested the latter in the discussion). As a consumer, however, I dislike options that limit choice. I dislike options that reduce transparency. And I dislike options that pretend they’re doing me a favor when they aren’t. Simply being able to say that there’s at least an option or three in even smaller markets doesn’t do me so much good when I know there are dozens more options beyond those brand walls.
It is a pretty site (except that grid view) and it is certainly a cheaper site for the hotels in terms of distribution costs. But it isn’t likely to sway me from broader search tools such as hotels.com anytime soon.
Posted by Seth on January 5, 2012 under Dining, Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
On our second stay in Chennai on this trip we wanted to be more in the center of town than the Radisson Blu at the airport could offer. There were a few options available to us towards the center of the sprawling metropolis and, on the recommendation of a good friend, we chose the GRT Grand hotel.
The GRT Grand is a mid-range, utilitarian business-class hotel located in a reasonably busy area of town. It is not far from a number of western branded hotels (we could see the brand new Hyatt from our window and had drinks there on a couple of the nights) but doesn’t suffer from the same pricing issues those seem to (we were in for about $130/night including tax via hotels.com; could have booked slightly cheaper as a non-refundable rate directly with the hotel but wanted the flexibility). Not being a western brand also means a bit of character that I nearly always find lacking in those hotels, charms I usually enjoy.
The hotel itself is pretty big, with three restaurants, a night club and a huge atrium that extends up the entire interior of the building.
The check-in process was a bit frazzled as they were swapping our room and that of another guy around because he needed an extra bed but it was eventually squared away and we were escorted up to our room on the 6th floor. I’m not sure if they have upgrades or suites but the superior room we were booked in to was decently sized, with a separate tiny couch (both of us on it was a bit tight) and desk area.
Yes, the décor is a bit dated, but it was a pretty comfy bed and the desk had outlets above, not below, for charging my gear.
The bathroom was similarly dated in style but functional in its facilities.
We had meals at all of the restaurants on the property. Breakfast each morning (included in the rate) was a at the all day lobby buffet. It was passable, barely. Cooked to order eggs was a bit of a saving grace there, really, giving us enough sustenance to get out on the road and find other options.
We dined at the Indian restaurant for lunch on two days. The menu is vast, inspiring great curiosity in how all of it could be good and challenging us to guess at what might be. I don’t know that we guessed right either time but we also didn’t guess particularly wrong. The food was fine, though hardly memorable. I actually don’t remember now what we had, but I know it wasn’t so great that I needed to.
Finally, they gave us coupons at check in for the Mediterranean restaurant in the hotel. Figuring that we wanted a bit of variety (but not so much that we were willing to venture out into the rains of Cyclone Thane) we gave it a try. It was surprisingly delicious. We learned why about half-way through the meal when the chef came out to say hi and ask how things were. He’s a native of Turkey and has spent a few years in Uzbekistan, too. The menu here was even broader than in the Indian restaurant; it is literally a bound book about 80 pages long including sections on the history and cuisine of the various countries around the Med that they are serving from. We were, again, hesitant, but the choices we tried were all delicious. Oh, and there was a weird stage show at various points throughout dinner where a young woman came in and danced a bit in a relatively skimpy outfit. Best we could figure is that it was their version of the Moroccan belly dancer option; it was a bit strange but didn’t detract from the food.
My only real complaint about the property was some frustration that I had with the travel desk and concierge services. Not surprisingly they don’t like their guests going out of their purview for day trips or really anything else and they were less than helpful in making arrangements. When it came to things like getting movie tickets – something that I was told the hotel guys should be able to handle quickly and easily – it actually turned into a bit of a fiasco with promises of seats three different times which were never delivered upon. We eventually figured that out on our own via a pretty web booking engine; I’m shocked that the guy didn’t know it existed and they had a computer sitting there for them to use. On the plus side, they did have an umbrella to loan us when we headed out into the Cyclone.
And even on the day trips front, the driver was less than stellar. Our tour was supposed to include all tolls and parking. The driver insisted we pay. I didn’t mind as I was collecting the receipts and that would be enough to get it handled back at the hotel. But I also called to make sure I understood the tour correctly as I didn’t want any more surprises. When we got back in the car the driver insisted on paying us back immediately (admission of first attempt to screw us) and then tried to short-change me on the reimbursement. Funny thing is that trying to screw me out of 10 rupees cost him 50 times that in tip; I had intended on giving a rather generous tip but that plan went out the window in a hurry as soon as the guy tried to short-change me. On the plus side, he did a great job of getting us to and from our intended destination without any incidents on the road.
Overall the hotel was pretty much exactly as I expected and it was perfectly functional and the price was right. Even the couple minor inconveniences were trivial relative to the value we got. I still think that the Radisson Blu was a much nicer property near the same price point, but the location – all the way out at the airport – isn’t great for being a tourist in town.
Posted by Seth on December 29, 2011 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
It generally takes a very special situation for me to consider dropping $300+ per night on a hotel room. I rarely see the value in that high a spend for what is essentially a bed and shower in most cases. And when I do stay at such hotels I certainly have higher expectations of them. After all, for that much more money there must be something more that comes with it, right?
The Vivanta by Taj, Malabar Cochin is generally the most expensive property in Kochi and it was certainly not in my price range for the trip. But when things got screwed up at the hotel I was actually booked at and we ended up there I was certainly willing to give it a look and see how the other half lives.
First impressions were solid. The fact that we arrived on foot certainly confused them a bit but they barely missed a beat, welcoming us in and getting us situated in our room reasonably quickly. The room was, by nearly every measure, quite lovely.
Well appointed and the fainting couch rather than a regular chair was a nice touch. Ditto on it being large enough that the desk could face out the window rather than into the wall.
OK, the view could’ve been a bit better, but someone has to get the lesser sight lines and I cannot really complain too much there.
The window in the bathroom was a little strange, but we lowered the shade and took care of that.
So the room was fine. Probably not 8x better than the room we were in prior, but definitely better. What else should come with the higher rate? Location and service are two bits I definitely expect.
The location and views were top notch, so long as you didn’t want to leave the property. If you wanted to visit Fort Cochin, where the history really is, that’s a ferry ride away and not necessarily an easy one to get to (though we arrived on it just fine). I also heard rumors of a private boat shuttle over to the Fort but I never actually saw it in action so I don’t really know.
Service was mostly good, though there were definitely some holes as well. Being greeted by name from a staff member to whom I hadn’t introduced myself was a nice touch. The pool staff rarely cleaning up the area when guests left, routinely running out of towels and being slow on the beer service was notably less impressive. When it was good it was a solid product. But when it was bad, it was pretty insulting considering the prices being charged.
The other thing that was surprisingly disappointing was the quality of the basic amenities. Things like towels that were more scratchy than soft. Yeah, it is a little thing and I certainly still ended up dry at the end of my shower, but those little things are where a hotel that wants to be a true luxury property should shine.
The food at the couple on-site restaurants we tried was pretty good, though not the best meals we had in town. Not particularly surprising given that there were a couple very good restaurants available. Not sure that I really expected more (or if I should have), but it wasn’t amazing. Some decent flavors at least in most meals.
Oh, and they gave us little gifts at check-out. I got a collection of local spices and my wife a ceramic beaded necklace. Definitely a nice touch and a mark in the plus column.
The Vivanta Malabar was nice. It was even great in some areas. But it definitely didn’t demand the rates they were charging. Neither the location, service nor rooms were that much better than other options in town. Then again, it did have rooms and I needed one, so I suppose there’s something to be said for that level of value.
Posted by Seth on December 28, 2011 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
I’ve probably bored just about everyone into submission with the tales of woe involving our hotel arrangements while in Kochi (read here and here if I haven’t). We wanted to be in the Fort Cochin area (the old part of town) and we wanted to not pay a fortune. I tried a few places and struck out. I was leery of the Sonnetta Residency, mostly because it was pitched at a price point (~$45/night, including air conditioning, booked via hotels.com) that could be a great value or a horrible nightmare. Fortunately our stay was mostly the former.
We had arranged in advance to have a car from the hotel meet us at the Cochin airport upon arrival. I didn’t see anyone when we came out so I called. The owner insisted that the driver was there so we waded back through the ranks of drivers and found one with my pseudonym, Manuel Mueller, and the name of the hotel. Well, maybe they misspelled my name, but so long as they got us to the hotel I wasn’t complaining. Turns out there was also a Manuel Mueller checking in that day and we stole his car; I didn’t run in to him during our stay but I hope my driver was there for him when he landed.
The hotel itself is a small property located in the heart of the old Fort Cochin area. It is on a small street between the park at the waterfront and the Basilica. Really a great location for basing explorations of the area. Then again, the neighborhood is pretty small so it would be hard to be there and in a bad location. With only 8 rooms and the owner living and working on-site it is easy to feel at home while at the Sonnetta. They were incredibly friendly and happy to help with arranging tours and such as requested.
The room was nothing special, but it was exactly what I expected at that price point. It was clean, the air conditioning was cold and only slightly too loud, and the bathroom was functional. And pink.
The beds were firm, but still had some cushion to them. My main complaint is that the wifi didn’t reach back to our room from the lobby, and the repeater access point was obviously missing on the wall where it would have worked. The included breakfast was just OK – a fried egg and some toast – but there are plenty of better food options for <$3/person in the area so that wasn’t a huge drawback at all. Plus he offered us up shots of his homemade hooch to celebrate Christmas morning alongside the breakfast.
Oh, and the proprietor screwed up our reservation.
Getting a room in one place for four nights across Christmas was a challenge. I thought we had scored big when the Sonnetta was available and we got it booked. And I was really happy with the room at that price point. But when the owner asked us to pack up and move out on day three of our stay it was quite a surprise. We ended up moving to the Vivanta by Taj, a much fancier hotel thanks to hotels.com taking care of us, but that wasn’t what the owner had originally planned.
As we were headed out to catch the ferry he finally figured out where things had gone wrong. Knowing that he was overbooked for that night he had arranged with another hotel to take us on for the one night, expecting that we would happily move over there and then come back for night number four. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the value of mattress running, but this wasn’t that situation. And the fact that he hadn’t asked if it was okay nor informed us in advance was rather inappropriate in my view.
The room was great, the location was great and the price was certainly right. Sadly, however, the SNAFU with the rooms was a rather noticeable strike against the place. Probably not enough to stop me from booking in again, but it was not as positive an ending to the stay as I’d expected.
Posted by Seth on December 27, 2011 under frequent flyer, Hotel, points, Review, Trip Reports |
Our Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt landed at Chennai’s international airport a few minutes prior to midnight. Our flight the following morning to Kochi was at 6:15am. We needed sleep, we needed it near the airport and, after having been traveling for more than 20 hours by that point, we wanted a good bed. The only regret I have about our stay at the Radisson Blu GRT at the Chennai airport is that we only had 4.5 hours there.
That we even had that much time was somewhat amazing. We cleared immigration in minutes and with no checked bags we were outside at the curb in a flash. The mass of people standing at the barricade, awaiting incoming passengers is always an enjoyable scene for me. Still, I’m quite glad that we had arranged in advance with the hotel to have their complementary shuttle service collect us at the airport. A uniformed agent was standing inside the arrivals barricade and escorted us to the area where the drivers were waiting.
Rather than a shared van service the shuttle is a private car. Cold water available once inside and, much to my surprise, check-in service as well. The driver presented us with our room keys, chits for drinks and breakfast during the stay and a welcome letter from the GM – including his mobile number – as we headed up the highway to the hotel. We still had to stop by the front desk to have our passports copied per federal law, but taking care of the details while in the car definitely saved time. Approximately 35 minutes after we had landed we were in our room.
The room was quite nicely appointed. A comfy bed, nice work area and a chair to lounge in. Typical, but all quite comfortable, too. Plus a plate of fruit awaiting us.
There was an LCD TV that I’m guessing had many channels of satellite service available but we were only interested in a shower and sleeping.
Speaking of a shower, the bathroom was similarly nice. Nothing over the top, to be sure, but it had both a rain shower overhead and a hand-held shower in the tub.
Oh, and slippers bed-side.
Also during the check-in process the gentleman working the counter pulled out an embossed card for Carlson Club, the loyalty program associated with the hotel chain. I was able to provide him with my number as I already had one but this was the first time ever that I had seen the real card handed to a guest upon enrollment while at the property. He had even started to explain the program details to me before I realized what was going on and provided him with my number instead. I was impressed.
Alas, 4:30am came all too soon and we were up, packed and back in the lobby shortly thereafter. It was a quick ride back to the airport and we were off again. We didn’t get to use the breakfast or drink chits. We also missed out on the free 15 minute foot massages at the spa in the basement. And we didn’t get to try the kebab restaurant (really a shish restaurant, but that’s a whole different rant…) that is supposedly quite good. We did, however, get a pretty good night’s sleep and thoroughly enjoyed the service at the property. As it is located near the airport it is not particularly convenient for actually being in town. But should it be an airport property you need, this is near the top of my list. I paid about $130/night including taxes via hotels.com for the room. Between the prompt and excellent shuttle service and the comfy bed it was definitely worth that rate that night. With the other bits that we didn’t get to try it would likely be a tremendous value.
Posted by Seth on December 27, 2011 under Trip Reports |
The first few days of this trip seemed too easy. Yes, there were the typical problems that happen, mostly associated with my being an awful negotiator, but overall the trip was going pretty well. It was a far cry from our first trip to India six years ago when things just seemed a lot harder. Maybe it was because we weren’t taking public transportation. But that trip was only one train ride and the rest basically the same as this one. Maybe it was because India had chilled out in the past 6 years. Or maybe because I’m a better traveler. Neither of those really seemed likely either.
And then we made the hop from Kochi to Chennai and reality came rushing back in a hurry. The two hours of traffic to travel the 43 kilometers from our hotel to the airport in Kochi was just the beginning. The flight was actually fine and the transfer from the airport to the hotel was lovely. Then we tried to get out of the hotel and do some other things. Maybe a trip to the beach, or just to wander around the neighborhood and over to the mall a kilometer away. Not so fast.
Getting a car was either ridiculously expensive or going to take hours, so that was no good. We did end up making the walk over to the mall which had only 3 stores open. Sure, one of them is selling out all the leftover inventory of tulip-liveried United Airlines models in the toys section, but that’s not really going to get me very far. We did head to the bar at the brand new Hyatt in the same building (quite lovely), but even that portion of the trip had its own collection of fun, like all the beggars that apparently are kept out of Fort Cochin were trucked in here. Or the tuk tuk driver who stalked us for a few blocks, waiting for us to give up and hop in. The roads were chaotic and the crowds much crazier. It was the India I remember, the India I love.
I love that it is a harder experience. I love that the ride back on the tuk tuk took us by some less than elegant neighborhoods and that we saw not just the sanitized version but also the real bits of life on the streets here. Those experiences are what make travel so amazing to me. I can get mediocre quality hotel food anywhere in the world; getting out and seeing what’s actually happening on the streets means a few more risks, a few more challenges and tremendously greater reward.
Kerala is relatively easy travel. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it also just isn’t quite the same. I’m happy to get to experience the challenge again. I’ve got two more days of it and I cannot wait. Game on!
Posted by Seth on December 25, 2011 under Hotel, Trip Reports |
Mr. Seth, you are checking out this morning, yes?
Considering that we were booked for two more nights this was not exactly the Christmas morning greeting I was expecting after breakfast this morning at our hotel in Kochi. And considering the troubles we had actually getting a room booked at a reasonable rate for the four nights we are here, it was not a development I was particularly happy with. Oh, and it is peak season here in town so most of the hotels are fully booked.
Some folks would see this sort of situation as a terrible problem. They are the the weak. This was an opportunity for greatness. It was my moment to rise up and make the best of a challenging circumstance. And I would settle for nothing less than greatness.
Our host was working his phones, calling the other guest houses in the area to see if any had a room. I whipped out my laptop, fired up the Skype client and called the OTA we booked through, hotels.com. The agent quickly confirmed that we had booked for the four nights and then he called the hotel to confirm that things were as messed up as I claimed. As I was sitting in the lobby I heard half the conversation, with my version of the story quickly confirmed. At that point the CSR agreed that they needed to find us alternate accommodations.
I had the web page open while chatting with the agent and I was looking at the same options he was. The first suggestion was an airport hotel. With the airport about 90 minutes from town that was simply not going to work. There was only one other hotel in the area that still had rooms available, the Vivanta by Taj – Malabar Cochin.
I had previously experienced issues with bookings made via hotels.com for this trip and at that time my suggestion of switching us to the Vivanta, a rather expensive option, was rejected. No surprise, really, as it is quite pricey. This morning, however, there weren’t really too many alternatives available and the CSR acknowledged the bind we were in. He went off to make a few calls and promised to give me a ring back once things were sorted out. About 15 minutes later, after he made confirmation calls to the hotel directly (I didn’t really trust the online inventory and neither did he) he called us back with the good news. We were booked in for two nights at one of the nicest hotels in town, with hotels.com picking up the tab. Big win.
We headed out from the original hotel, hopped in a tuk tuk and then on to the ferry to Wellingdon Island and then walked the 5 minutes from the ferry dock to the front doors of the hotel. I’m guessing that most guests don’t arrive on foot – they seemed mildly surprised – but we were soon escorted to our room with a semi-obstructed view of the harbor and briefed by the receptionist on the properties amenities and facilities. Only one really mattered at that moment, the pool.
So today’s schedule changed rather dramatically from the original plan. Rather than running around Fort Cochin and checking out parts of the Cochin Carnival we’re lounging pool-side at the Taj. Definitely not part of the original plan, but we’re making the best of it.
Part of me feels a bit guilty having paid so little and received so much. But it isn’t my fault that three separate times the inventory we booked through hotels.com was a mess. This time it was also party the hotel’s fault, but it was still a mess. In the end I think that them fixing it this way was the only reasonably option available. An unexpected, but also rather nice, Christmas present indeed.
Posted by Seth on December 18, 2011 under News |
Star Alliance and the Global Hotel Alliance have teamed up to give away a pretty awesome RTW award to one lucky winner. The prize is a pair of business class RTW tickets and 30 nights worth of hotel accommodations in member hotels. Yeah, I’d enjoy winning that.
The contest is pretty simple. They release one clue per day via Facebook and you pick the correct city the clue refers to for that entry. Get all 11 correct and you get entered into the random draw to win the prize. So, yeah, you need to have a Facebook account and authorize the app to win, but it is worth a try. Entries must be submitted by 9am GMT on 21 December 2011.
If you don’t want to go through the effort of looking up the answers (or guessing) I’ve got my responses listed out below. I put them in white text just in case someone doesn’t want the spoiler so just highlight the list below to see the answers I’m using.
Good luck!
Start here: https://apps.facebook.com/global-pursuit/
Suggested answers:
- Washington DC
- Rome
- Stockholm
- Cairo
- Delhi
- Bangkok
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Sydney
- São Paulo
- Los Angeles
Good luck!
I tend to avoid hotel chains a bit, but this was an exception to that. Partly because it isn’t a chain I had ever heard of and partly because the reason I avoid them – generally overpriced – didn’t apply. I’m glad I did as the hotel was near perfect for my needs.
