How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[Horatio]

Property: Novotel Sydney Darling Square
Status: Gold
Room booked: Superior Room, 1 King Size Bed
Rate: Flexible $264 AUD per night, but used Stay Plus, so 2 nights for $264 total
Room Upgrade: No
Free internet: Yes
Early check in / late out: Didn't need early check-in. Asked for a late check-out, given 12.30pm
Welcome drink: Yes x 2 in app
Welcome Gift: No
Recommend: Yes, a nice stay, very quiet room despte being next to an elevator

We were happy at the Darling Square, and would definitely stay there again. And while it was no real problem, we didn't get any sort of welcome on check-in. It felt like the clerk was perhaps pretty new. The 12.30 check-out was given grudgingly, as though it was a personal favour she really shouldn't be doing. But it was very pleasant stay, and the room had a nice view over the Chinese Garden of Friendship.

One night we went to the nearby Novotel Darling Harbour to eat at The Ternary Restaurant. Outstanding experience sitting at the open kitchen, and super value with the Accor+ discount.

 

[Zanzaid]

Property: TRIBE Kuta
Status: Explorer Platinum
Room booked: TRIBE comfort king
Rate: RHR rate, $81 a night
Room Upgrade: Yes, TRIBE comfort XL king with balcony
Free internet: Yes, high speed
Early check in / late out: Room wasn't ready by check in but seemed like a busy hotel, was in by 3pm, spent an hour at lunch at the rooftop restaurant. Asked for 3pm.late checkout and granted.
Welcome drink: Yes x 2 in app
Welcome Gift: No but they did try to bring a fruit basket the next day which I declined as I wouldn't have the time.
Recommend: 100% yes but you need to be okay with some noises from the hallway (mostly in the morning).

This hotel was fantastic! Bit more budget than other hotels in Bali but I was super happy with the stay, besides one minor issue.

Fairly new and modern hotel, tucked into the main beach strip along Kuta/Legian. Restaurant is on the 6th floor rooftop, with a view overlooking Kuta beach. The small pool is up here too. The breakfast buffet range was fairly extensive and definitely something for everyone. Their lunch/dinner is pretty good too, up their with my favourite pizza but I know that's subjective! Welcome drink menu is rather small and they did forget my drink but maybe because I was lounging by the pool.

My upgraded room was quite spacious! Quite clean and comfy bed to go with. I was asked if I wanted balcony or no balcony and I chose balcony thinking it might be nice to chill on but really it was quite tiny and the view was just of another building, besides a tiny bit of beach in the distance haha.

As I said above, the one downside is that you can hear sounds from the hallway, especially the cleaners clashing and bashing in the morning. I was placed quite far from the elevator at least so it was fine but I could see it being rough if you're in the main mix of rooms. I was on the 5th floor and rarely heard music from outside, even when live music was being played on the rooftop. Probably got lucky with only one brief fireworks going off before it rained the night away.

Location is great if you're after more of a city stay, supermarket and mini mart just 20m away. Beach across the road and beachwalk shops/cinema not far away either. Traffic getting out is rough though!

Would definitely stay again, especially if it has RHR rate again! I can't compare with the higher end properties though.

 

[sap1l]

Property: Pullman Cairns International
Status: Explorer Diamond
Room booked: Superior city view king
Rate: Stay 3 nights for 2, ~$600
Room Upgrade: Yes, Deluxe harbour view king
Free breakfast: Yes, decent spread
Early check in / late out: Early check in not required. Late check out till 1pm.
Welcome drink: Yes, x2 in app. I asked for non-alcoholic drinks, and when they asked for my status they said I could get anything on the menu. Not sure if this extends to alcohol
Welcome Gift: Yes, a nice cheese and fruit platter with some macarons. Also a bottle of Sav Blanc.
Recommend: Yes, the renovated rooms are excellent and the property and staff are lovely. The only small downsides IMO are that breakfast isn’t amazing and the on-site restaurant was pricey and not nice enough for what you pay. But the actual hotel (and pool) are great.

I popped up to Cairns for a weekend because fares were cheap and I needed wanted to do a status run. This Pullman was almost 40% cheaper than the Casino, so I decided to stay here.

The new rooms are really nice without feeling too modern. For those who hate touch switches, these ones have regular ones

I was given a corner room, which as far as I can tell doesn’t actually have a bigger balcony, but you don’t look into anyone else’s.

The bed was comfy and the pillows were nice, although I started with a really lumpy one that I exchanged.

The bathroom had lots of space, and a rain shower - although water pressure was a tad low. Also compared to Casino, there’s no bathtub here (which I’d take over a shub).

The one weird thing about the room was the TV - it was a smart TV but casting was disabled. So free to air TV only. There is a HDMI port though that you can plug a device into, but the hotel didn’t have HDMI cables for guests to borrow either… I left this as a piece of feedback for them, and they said that it’s a common complaint.

Breakfast was also not bad, but not amazing. I’d rate it about on par with the Ibis/Novotel Melbourne Central. There are made to order eggs and free coffee for Plats+, but any lower and they ask you to pay for barista coffee!

The pool is really nice albeit cold. There were some remnants of construction, but nothing major.

Not entirely related, but I went to try the restaurant at the Novotel nearby. It’s really weird as a non-guest as you have to pay $30 to eat unless you have Explorer? And the Novotel pool was incredibly full of screaming kids, so I’m not coming here over any form of school holidays!