Status: Lifetime Platinum Elite
Property: Sina Villa Medici, Autograph Collection, Florence, Italy
Booked: Superior room, King Bed
Received: Deluxe room, King bed
Rate: Points
Late checkout: Didnt need one.
We kicked off our Italy trip with Florence and we checked in on Good Friday , so the hotel was completely sold out.
The check in agent apologized for the lack of upgrade. But you are not in Florence to spend much time in your room anyways.
The hotel is in a very nice location, its a 20 min walk to the Doumo and its a nice hotel.
Breakfast was nice but there were no changes at all for the 3 days we were there. Even an omelette would needed to be ordered off the menu which cost like €10.
All in all a nice hotel and would probably stay here again if we ever visited Florence again but felt its not really our vibe as we like nature more than architecture.
Status: Lifetime Platinum Elite
Property: Grotta Guisti Thermal spa Resort Autograph Collection, Tuscany, Italy
Booked: Classic Queen
Received: Classic Garden Queen
Rate: Points
Late checkout: Didnt need one.
After our Florence stay we moved to Tuscany. We got here early and we were given nice Prosecco and given early check in.
We got a one category upgrade but still the room was very small but again we didnt spend much time in the room just like Florence.
We headed out to explore Monsummano Terme which is a beautiful town.
Breakfast was a little better than the Florence hotel but again had to order Omelette off the menu and I used the $10 F&B credit which was given as an arrival gift one day.
The main attraction in this hotel is the Grotto spa but we are not spa people so didnt really explore that part but heard really nice things about it from other folks.
This is a nice hotel but Tuscany is a big area and may be a different area would be better to stay and explore.
Status: Lifetime Platinum Elite
Property: Sheraton Lake Como Hotel, Como, Italy
Booked: Prestige room, King bed
Received: Prestige room Higher floor, King bed
Rate: Points
Late checkout: Asked but was refused as this is a resort and they were full.
From Tuscany we headed to Lake Como and we arrived late as we went to Pisa amd Modena on the way.
Was given an upgrade to the top floor with a nice pool view but you cant really see the lake from the hotel but its a short 10 min walk from the hotel.
We ordered room service that night but we regretted it as the pasta my wife ordered and the burger I ordered were both awful.
The breakfast here though was one of the best we had in Italy with so many options and finally an omelette station
.
Lake como is a really nice area and we really loved it.
Parking here costs €20/day though but its worth it as having a car really helps you to explore the area.
From here we headed to the Lake Victoria Hotel in Menaggio which is about 30 kms to the north of the lake. That is a much much better hotel as its lake front and Menaggio is a nice place.
Status: Lifetime Platinum Elite
Property: Sheraton Milan Malpensa Hotel and Conference Center, Milan, Italy
Booked: Classic room, King bed
Received: Executive room Club lounge access, King bed
Rate: Points
Late checkout: Didnt need one.
We were flying out of Malpensa Airport at noon and the airport is quite far from the city so we decided to stay at the airport hotel plus with luggage it was easy to just not worry about taking the train.
We checked in to the hotel at noon and were offered early check in.
We checked in and headed off to explore the city. The train station is attached right to the hotel and u can be at the city centre in about 30 mins if you get the express train.
Milan is a nice city but u can explore the whole city in a day. We dropped by the lounge at the end of the day and they had some nice hors d'oeuvre and free drinks.
Breakfast was nice with good options and an omelette station.
Our flight was from T1 and u can just walk to the check in area from the hotel in about 6-8 mins.
The highlight of the trip was Cinque Terre and it was an amazing place - there are no chain hotels in that area but I ended up using the $400 amex travel credit from my amex explorer card.
