How does Accor treat you as an Elite guest?

[elanshin]

Property: Grand Mercure Biedermeier Wien
Status: Accor Explorere Platinum
Room booked: Classic Double with Queen
Room upgraded/type: Yes - Quiet mezzanine Family Suite* see comments
Rate: 1 Night at 99.71 Euro ($176.49)
Early check in/late out: No to Early Check in at 11am, Not needed for check out.
Welcome drink: In app, available from Hotel Restaurant / Bar
Welcome gift: Chocolates and note.
Comments: Ok, this is an interesting hotel. Firstly I selected it for the location being closer to Wien Mitte-Landstraße which we would need to access to get to the Airport. It's a bout a 7-8min walk from the station with luggage. The area is a lot more local than it is tourists so the shops are a lot more "genuine" than if we had stayed in the main Vienna area. The hotel itself is down a long narrow alleyway is actually on both sides of the alley in the upper floors. There's quite a charming restaurant attached as well.

Now heres the part for the *. I actually would've just preferred them not upgrading us to the suite given what it was and our needs. The suite we were given 337 is smack bang in the middle of the building which meant a long walk from the elevators and also up a set of stairs. The suite itself also has a stair case in it and has sloping roof intruding on the side of it. For our purposes which was just a tired couple after a big day out in freezing conditions, we didn't really want to have basically a 2 bedroom, 2 living room apartment that had stairs in it. If you were travelling with a family then this would be a reasonable option. Oh and it had the worst bathroom design I've ever seen - they need to knock it out and redo it asap. Huge bathroom floor space - we're talking probably triple or quadruple your normal bathroom floor space, but for some strange reason they put the tub right up against the wall, next to the sloping roof. There isn't a separate shower which meant I can't actually stand up to shower without my head hitting the side of the roof. There was lots of space to have the bathtub elsewhere or even another shower or heck even a second full bathroom as theres a walk in closet downstairs next to the entrance toilet.

Also have your shorter partner sleep on one side of the bed as you may accidently hit your head on the sloping roof if a taller person gets up too quickly.

Otherwise, there's a lot of charm in the older room, but it's probably due for some renovations soon. I'd probably look to stay elsewhere in Vienna next time.

 

[elanshin]

We stayed there about 10 years ago and found it ok. We had a hire car and found it almost impossible to get to the hotel as the roads around it were one way and the GPS was leading us up the garden path. In the end I parked a block away and walked to reception and they told me that to enter the hotel car park you had to drive about 150m the wrong way down a one way road

Ah yes, I think I know what you're referring to - I saw the carpark entrance when I was walking back one night. It took me a moment to actually find the hotel as their sign wasn't lit up but I did remeber they were attached to the ibis and that light was on.

I'll post photos in the TR later, but room design looks super modern so I assume they mustve renovated it. I don't think I've come across too many room that just use LED light bars as the main lights.

 

[Daver6]

Property: Sofitel Wentworth Sydney
Status: Accor Explorere Platinum
Room booked: base
Room upgraded/type: luxury room
Rate: flex
Early check in/late out: Late checkout of midday request, given 12:30pm but see below
Welcome drink: In app, didn't use
Welcome gift: opted for 300 points
Recommend: probably not

Not a great stay with several failings, one major IMHO.

A few days prior, received an email telling me to check-in on level 5 in the lounge. Also the offer of 300 points instead of a welcome gift. I accepted and also fired off a question. That was never responded to.

Lobby level has kiosks as well as a desk to check-in. Regardless, went to the lounge where there was a single person (despite two desks) working and already checking another guest it. It was incredibly slow and I realised I should have just checked in downstairs. What really annoyed me is a second staff member went to the other desk, did something and left when I was clearly waiting.

Was upgraded to a luxury room. I have a feeling they're all the same, just different views. I knew what to expect in terms of this being an older building. However, during the night it was clear that the window frame didn't seal so I got all the noise from outside. That ruined my sleep. It breakfast I mentioned this in the lounge and the lady was quite dismissive and surprised. I just asked her to get someone out to check it out and fix it. Needless to say, when I got back to my room after dinner that night, it hadn't been done. Another sleepless night. I think there was a particular problem with my room, not a general issue.

Checkout was at 11am but I had a late checkout. Despite the do not disturb sign up, someone knocked on my door at 11:30am to ask if I was going to be checking out. Needless to say, unimpressed.

On the plus side, the lounge food and service is much improved. Food was Delta Rue for dinner was great with discounts applied. It's quite convenient by car to and from the airport being really close to the motorway exists.

I won't be in a rush to stay here again. The lounge is a big step up in service and food quality from the Swissotel though. The new outdoor area also looks great! Oh and they now have a very well equipped gym. Better than most hotels.

 

[elanshin]

Property: Movenpick Amsterdam City Centre
Status: Accor Explorerer Platinum
Room booked: Classic King
Room upgraded/type: Yes - Junior Suite
Rate: 1 Night at 107.90 Euro ($190.99)
Early check in/late out: Not needed for both.
Welcome drink: In app, available from Hotel Restaurant / Bar
Welcome gift: Note + box of their Wine flavoured Gummy (alcohol free). Mini Bar available
Comments: Picked this because on paper it didn't look too far from Amsterdam Centraal (it is) and it was the same price as the Ibis near Centraal. Got upgrade to the Suite at Check-in although they didn't explicitly say it (just did photo comparisons). Reasonable view out over the city and the room itself was functional and sizeable. 2 TVs that were easy to connect to as well. Mini bar was stocked with juice, Heineken, sparking water, mini wine bottles. Being a Movenpick it had chocolate hour (which we didn't participate in) at 3pm and there was a cute self serve convenient mart in the lobby.

The hotel itself is right by the cruise bay so if you're taking a cruise at Amsterdam, I would defintely recommend it, but if for Amsterdam city itself, it's a bit of a walk to either the tram stop (about 7-8 mins) or Amsterdam Centraal (about 15-20 mins) as Centraal is a very long station. I think for our purposes if were to redo it, I'd stay at AMS Schipol (as we were just spending a day and then using the airport the next day). For exploring Amsterdam, it's Ok if you're prepared to walk a little at the end of the day. Hotel itself is great, just the location of it which is probably why its cheaper or on par with the ibis that are more in the city centre.

 

[elanshin]

Property: Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara
Status: Accor Explorer Platinum
Room booked: Luxury Room- King
Room upgraded/type: Yes - Junior Suite
Rate: 1 Night at 536.76 MYR ($197.73) RHR Last minute.
Early check in/late out: Not needed for check in, asked for (and got) 1pm departure.
Welcome drink: In app, available from Hotel Restaurant / Bar
Welcome gift: Note + 4 Chocolates.
Comments: Had to book this as we were on the plane flying to Qatar due to our flight changes (+1 day in KL, -1 Day in HKG). Decided we didn't want to explore KL and just be semi couch potatoes. Suite is spacious and comfortable. Nice tub and multiple restaurants attached. There are 2 malls nearby although one feels like they're in the process of a major revamp (or opening?) as there are a lot of "coming soon in December" stuff opening up there. Google maps is also useless as it didnt recognise the MRT station nearby but given our goal was to try and readjust to asia/australia timezones, this served our purpose reasonably well. I think if my goal is to go around KL and explore I'd probably move to a more central location but for our goals this was more than fine - I also had an incling the junior suite upgrade was coming given there was a RHR on the junior suite too.

We missed both afternoon tea (2-4pm) at club millesime and evening canapes (5-7pm). Chose to go downstairs to the main buffet for breakfast and I'll give it a big thumbs up. I don't think too many places can top a breakfast buffer that serves freshly fried chicken at a DIY nasi lemak station. Teh Tarik on tap too. The only problem is, you have to pick a seat with a view of the plate. I watched it get refilled from the kitchen and 2 minutes later was it was 80% all gone. Everyone just descended upon freshly fried chicken.

 

[elanshin]

Property: Swissotel the Stamford Singapore
Status: Accor Explorer Platinum
Room booked: Premier room City View
Room upgraded/type: Yes - Executive Room City View High Floor
Rate: 4 Nights at $1479.81 SGD ($1737.14)
Early check in/late out: No need for check in, 2 pm late checkout granted despite being very full.
Welcome drink: In app, available from multiple bars (except the restaurants and bars on L70)
Welcome gift: Note + fruit bowl.
Comments: If you have access to the EL here whether that's Platinum or view room booked, always check in at the lounge. Usually I don't bother because the front's faster and there's often nothing too crazy at the lounge. This is the exception. One of the best views of MBS around from the lounge and the regular check in is a self check in computer and it can be quite busy.


Lounge canapes itself is solid at night between 5:30pm - 7:30pm. Modest alcohol selection - but hey free alcohol in SG is free. You can definitely fill up here for dinner if you wish too. First night we came up they were serving Chilli Crab sauce with Mantous. 3rd night they had Singapore Laksa. some cold cuts of meats, cheeses, breads fruit / dessert and a few other hot dishes. Staff were lovely and very genuine in the lounge. One of the older guys at the station genuinely likes to have chats with the guests and the door staff recognised us pretty quickly as well (bad if you want to take other friends up to share the view though haha). If you want a good seat by the windows, come before canapes start.

Breakfast at the lounge is solid, but if there's space I'd prefer Asian Market on Level 2. Clove is the other option but we chose not to go in as there was a line out the door. Also I prefer Asian breakfasts too (and they had some amounts of bacon, sausages and hashbrowns). Teh Tarik on tap for those that enjoy that is another solid option although the Nasi Lemak station loses to Sofitel KL (I mean whos beating freshly fried chicken at a breakfast buffet). Do note I believe these are shared with Fairmont which is why they can get busy.

Hotel itself is opposite Fairmont (and Raffles) connected to City Hall MRT and situated on top of the Raffles City shopping mall which means you have endless options nearby. It's also connected underground to Esplande MRT station which puts Suntec and Marina Square areas connected underground. Bugis is also a few minute walk away so overall very conveniently located.

ANTI: DOTE is a great bar to use the free drinks voucher. Probably one of the nicest I've been to for hotel bars (attached to Fairmont - they have no problems assigning charges to Swissotel rooms). SKAI bar also has some nice views although it can be busy but you can't use the vouchers. That said the Sling across the road at Long Bar is still better but thats a prestigious 100+ years old bar at Raffles. Note there are some restaurants A+ discount doesnt apply to so take note of those.

Finally my partner is a proud hotel tea thief so she's happy to see TWG everywhere here (there's also a TWG store / tea house in the lobby).

Highly recommend this if it's in your budget especially if you've got Platinum and can access the EL on status.