Best Hotel you have stayed!!!

[lahlee]

I'm so happy to see the E&O got mentioned by several people. It's my happy place too - I stayed there in 2014, 2016 & 2022. I love the colonial, slightly faded glamour of the place. Their breakfast is brilliant (custom made banana rotis and bread and butter pudding) and the pool in the Victory Annex has heaps of shaded places to laze about.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh also looks pretty good.

 

[GDSman]

I'm enjoying this thread...some good ideas for the future!
For me, the most outrageous hotel I've stayed in by far is The Empire in Brunei - not a heavily visited destination (I was there for work) but it sure is opulent - worth a google search. For family trips I loved the Chedi Club in Ubud and the simplicity of Navini Island in Fiji. When I was a kid at boarding school my father used to stay at Chewton Glen near the New Forest in England when he visited - beautiful manor house. The Dorchester in London was always very nice too. Those were both years ago so not sure how well they've aged.

 

[Flyingwombat]

I'm enjoying this thread...some good ideas for the future!
For me, the most outrageous hotel I've stayed in by far is The Empire in Brunei - not a heavily visited destination (I was there for work) but it sure is opulent - worth a google search. For family trips I loved the Chedi Club in Ubud and the simplicity of Navini Island in Fiji. When I was a kid at boarding school my father used to stay at Chewton Glen near the New Forest in England when he visited - beautiful manor house. The Dorchester in London was always very nice too. Those were both years ago so not sure how well they've aged.

We did the Empire a while ago now. Over the top fun… Great sunsets

 

[OZDUCK]

We were taken for a look around it and by my wifes relatives who live in Brunei. Definitely outrageous. As usual it shows that wealth does not bring good taste. But I am sure it would be an extremely comfortable place to stay and very quiet. There seemed to be hectares of pool areas with no-one swimming. But we did have some nice cakes there.

 

[bussyboy]

Narendra Bhawan [Bikaner, IN] is the most impressive I've stayed at, back in April 2022. Taj Agra likely would have taken the gong following an upgrade to a massive suite, but I wasn't there long enough to enjoy the whole experience. Plenty of other amazing places in between


Domestically, I'd always enjoyed the (now JW) Marriott Surfers Paradise - but haven't been since a few years before the rebrand.

 

[csg001]

Found this thread from the recent Article: Once-In-A-Lifetime or Feels Like Home: How Do You Holiday? I loved reading all the experiences of other members, and it clearly shows everyone has different tastes and needs when travelling.

My personal favourite hotel is a bit of an odd one and probably not on most foreigner's radar in Shanghai.

It is in the Guang Fu Lin Cultural Relic Park site in Songjiang district in Shanghai, and goes by many different names in English - Guangfulin Prime Minister's Residence, Guangfulin Prime Hotel, Guangfulin Chancellor's Court, but the official Chinese name is 上海松江廣富林宰相府酒店.

You can find this hotel on most Chinese-based travel booking sites like Trip.com.

The hotel is in traditional Chinese Shikumen architecture style and is very classy. You can easily spend half a day exploring the hotel itself before venturing to the Cultural Relic Park next door. The breakfast spread is huge and great quality, catering to both Western and Eastern palettes, as well as pancakes/waffles/ice cream for the kids, and afternoon tea desserts are very well made.

The biggest letdown however was the staff, whom while professional and courteous, are just not at the level one would expect for a property of this calibre. The staff are clearly employed to cater to typical Mainland Chinese tourists rather than Western tourists, the latter whom would more likely stay at the Hilton on the other side of the Cultural Relic Park.

If one was not concerned about having five star polished butler service, and instead enjoy being in awe of grand Chinese architecture and history, this hotel would definitely fit the bill.