By Beach Bungalow vs Conrad Koh Samui. Same-Same, but different

Posted by Caleb | June 1, 2016

Quite possibly the most interesting part of our trip is the rags to riches, then back down to rags accommodation that we consistently stay at.  One night I am waiting in the hotel check-in line behind a Wall Street millionaire spattering on his cell phone about his private plane and ugly slicked back hair (I may be jealous of the hair), the next night I am spending the first 15 minutes in our local guesthouse room shooing and growling at the lizards that are hiding in the bathroom.  The epitome of this situation came during our stay on the Thai island of Koh Samui.  Long before arriving we had booked two separate reservations for our time on the island, one at the appropriately named guesthouse, By Beach.  The other at the cult famous Conrad Koh Samui by Hilton.  There are a few similarities and a few differences and who is to say which one is better…it is comparing apples to genetically modified monster oranges that taste like heaven.

Check In

By Beach Guesthouse

We arrived there by local taxi after coming in on the Koh Phangan ferry.  I wouldn’t call it a scenic entrance but after walking past the three retired cars  there was someone at the front desk waiting who greeted us with a big smile and pretty good English.  We had used American Express Membership Rewards points to book the reservation and were escorted to bungalow 2, which was about 20 yards away from the beach, hence the name… ‘By Beach.’

Conrad Koh Samui

As we pulled up through the secured hotel gate, even our local taxi driver we had hailed was impressed as he stopped the car unprompted to try to take a cell phone pic of the view from the check in area.  Overlooking the nearby Ang Thong National Marine Park, it has to be one of the most impressive entries to any hotel in the world.  We were greeted by a host of different people, one grabbing our bags, another taking our passports and the last leading us to a cliffside seat and providing an ice cold welcome drink.  We again knew we were a bit out of place as our tattered backpacks and bags of supermarket groceries were placed in the waiting area next to a host of others’ proper luggage.  We had read the food was super expensive so we stopped at a store ahead of time to stock up on meals we could make in our room.  Overly frugal or savvy…you make the call.

The Room

By Beach

Advertised as a beach bungalow with fan, we were given just that.  The room included a queen bed (only box spring with comforter and sheet), a separate sitting area of floor mats and a spacious indoor/outdoor bathroom.  There was a very nice sitting porch that on purpose or not had some trendy distressed furniture and a little table.  The view looked out over…the yard and a few mangling bushes…even a turtle one day.

Conrad Koh Samui

We were escorted to the room by buggy as walking is deemed “impossible” due to the literal cliffside location of each bungalow.  In reality it is very much possible but the on-call buggy service was very helpful.  The pictures below are the best way to describe the room.  Every person that stays at the hotel is given their own bungalow, complete with their own personal infinity pool, soaking tub, iPad and multiple giant televisions.  Our room was on the third level or cliff, thus we couldn’t actually walk to the beach as we could the night before, but the view was nice.  Being that we were staying in this hotel for free (on points), Beth and I were both on a relative points high for about the first three hours.  These highs usually include elevated levels of celebratory fist pumping or a ensemble of 1990’s rap music, in this case it was both, the latter blaring through the room’s BOSE surround sound system.

Activities

By Beach

By Beach was full of great things to do, though the actual beach next to us was full of seaweed and signs to “Beware of Sea Urchins”.  I passed on getting into the water too often as I am not big on things tickling my feet, nor am I a fan of sea urchins.  If you wanted to stay fit there were also free kayaks and snorkeling masks to rent, which a few folks utilized.  They also had bean bags lining the sand that allowed us to post up for sunset next to the four or five stray dogs.

Swing, exercise room, general entertainment

Conrad Koh Samui

Being there for two full days we didn’t have a ton of time to take everything in but we were able to explore some of the resort.  We found the fitness center the first day and were also able to take a free Muay Thai boxing class at the beachside ring the next morning.  The actual beach next to the hotel is similar to all the beaches we experienced on Samui, relatively full of seaweed and rocks and not particularly great for swimming.  To combat that, they employ a full time beach supervisor to fit you for water shoes and direct you around.  They also run a free speed boat to take guests 15 minutes away to a remote island with a nicer swimming beach.  For cheapskates such as ourselves, all these free options are welcome add-ons. If you have young children with you there are also of plenty of family friendly activities set up along the pool.

Food and Drink

By Beach

This is where things start to shift a bit.  The attached restaurant was a beach front, affordable eatery with the traditional grub that Thai people think us Western folk like.  Fully equipped with big glasses of fresh juices and plates of heaping stir fried vegetables, it was a great to have so close.  The waiters and waitresses also moonlighted first as the owners of the resort, second as massage therapists which Beth tried out one evening.

Conrad Koh Samui

Not much to say here as we only tried the breakfast buffet.  The prices were as advertised, $20-$30 USD for a dinner meal, compared to the $2-$3 everywhere else on the island, we couldn’t get ourselves to purchase.  We did get a killer free breakfast because Beth has Diamond Member status with Hilton. You can imagine the amount of food I attempted to consume at said breakfast as the night before we had only eaten fruit and muesli for dinner.

The View

By Beach

Conrad

Sometimes I get bored and play out a scenario in which I am on that house hunters show and I must pick between the Charming beachside bungalow in our price range or the Upscale condo that breaks the budget.  Not really applicable in our situation as we are using points for everything but if we had to pay for either we of course would choose By Beach ($19 versus around $1,000 per night) as the room was more than fine, the beach access was relaxing and the staff was a nice bunch of local folk.  The stray dogs, drunk neighbors and chirping lizards all make it memorable.  However, due to the fact I live with a wizard that magically makes hotel rooms free, we do not have pay and thus I will continue to choose cliffside resorts with private pools and cloud soft fleece robes that make me feel like a I am in a shampoo commercial.

 

Finding the Club Carlson “Goldilocks” points redemption in Cape Town

Posted by Beth | May 1, 2016

As you know by now if you’ve been following our blog even in the slightest, our nine-month round-the-world trip would not be possible if it weren’t for the millions of hotel points we redeemed for hundreds of free nights. Thanks to generous sign up bonuses on the US Bank branded cards, Club Carlson points were our top currency. So our booking strategy typically involved first checking to see if Club Carlson was an option. Luckily for us in Cape Town there were four different properties.

The Radisson Blu Waterfront is the grand daddy of all Club Carlson hotels in Cape Town, topping out at 70,000 points per night. (Photo from Radisson website).

For whatever crazy reason I decided to save a few points by splitting up our stay in two different hotels, the new(ish) Radisson Blu Le Vendome Hotel (38,000 points per night) and the Park Inn Foreshore (28,000 points per night). At the time of booking, we were still able to redeem the bonus award nights, which are no longer available as a perk on the credit card unfortunately, so our grand total for four nights ended up being 66,000 points. Right before our Cape Town arrival we ended up actually extending our trip to five nights and redeemed a free night certificate from Club Carlson (sent to cardholders as an apology essentially when all the negative card changes went down). For our fifth night we transferred to the most expensive hotel, the Radisson Blu Waterfront.

Though it was clearly less convenient to switch hotels not once but twice in Cape Town, it did give us the unique perspective to compare three different properties and explore different neighborhoods. We did have a rental car, which made the transition smoother.

In the end our clear favorite was the Radisson Blu Le Vendome hotel. Preferring the mid-range option is consistent with our overall points redemption experience across all hotel brands on this trip so far. We have found that we have been the most comfortable, received the greatest value from our points, and typically benefits from our status when redeeming points for hotels somewhere in the lower-middle of the award chart. This is what we’ve come to term our “Goldilocks” redemption. I.e. this hotel cost very few points but is crappy, this hotel is way too fancy and we feel out of place, but this hotel is just right. And for us in Cape Town that was the Radisson Blu Le Vendome.

We could have been partially influenced that this was our first hotel and we fell in love with the city from the moment our plane touched down. Driving along the coast and up to our hotel, being greeted with a free cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc and escorted to our room with a balcony and ocean view put us on a pretty big points high. The hotel offered free covered parking and was only a few minutes walk to the beach in Sea Point as well as a trendy restaurant street in the other direction. There was a nice pool and outdoor bar area, and prices at the restaurant were surprisingly affordable.

For our third and fourth night we stayed at the Park Inn by Radisson Foreshore. This hotel was in the heart of the downtown business district. There were some good restaurants within walking distance, but generally the area is not considered safe at night. Parking is paid, but we luckily found free street parking right out front (just had to be out by 8 a.m.). I had expected there to be free breakfast for gold members since it was a Park Inn (had read online there was), but we were told it was not included. There was a small bottle of wine and cheese plate in the room, which was a nice touch. Our biggest beef in the room was the air conditioner never really worked very well, even after maintenance had come to look at it. There was supposedly a pool on the rooftop but it was basically the size of a fish tank and was closed for a “private party” the whole time. By no means was this hotel a shit-hole, we were just slightly disappointed coming off our great experience at the Le Vendome. The extra 10,000 points a night to stay there instead would absolutely be worth it.

Finally, our fifth night we stayed in the Radisson Blu Waterfront. It was in a great area right on the water, within a short walk (or free hotel shuttle) to the V&A Waterfront, a major Cape Town attraction. Though this hotel was fabulous, it was almost a little too nice for us. We felt underdressed walking in our backpacker attire and couldn’t afford the food at the restaurant. The infinity pool overlooking the ocean was pretty dang cool, but not enough to justify spending 70,000 points a night (nearly double!) to stay here versus the Le Vendome. Our room at this property was the smallest yet, and we weren’t offered any type of upgrade or amenity as gold members.

Photo from Radisson’s website

Typically all a hotel has to do for us to like them is to give us a bottle of wine or free food/drink vouchers. Our experience at other chains as well is that mid-range hotels are most likely to honor status by providing special touches. Using Hyatt as an example, a Hyatt House or Hyatt Place won’t typically offer Diamonds anything that isn’t available for all guests anyway, and the Park Hyatt or sometimes even Grand Hyatt won’t typically have a lounge or offer a lot of perks since most guests are either top-tier status or have paid a lot for their room. So with Hyatt our “sweet spot” or “Goldilocks redemption” is usually a Hyatt Regency. Almost all have a lounge, which means free drinks and snacks, above and beyond the free breakfast. As a funny story, when we walked in to our very first hotel of the trip, the Grand Hyatt Santiago, with our big backpacks on and a sweaty mess from attempting public transit from the airport, the bellman gently asked if we were instead looking for the Hyatt Place hotel. We kindly told him no, we were looking for the Diamond check-in at this hotel and he sent us straight upstairs to the lounge. And that hotel is one of our favorites yet!

Enjoying the sunset from Sea Point beach, a short walk from the Cape Town Radisson Blu Le Vendome.

So to wrap up this somewhat pointless, rambling post, the best points redemptions are the ones that work best for the individual traveler. Some prefer to make points go as far as possible by always redeeming the lowest available property, and some travelers prefer to splurge on the fanciest hotels no matter how many points it cost. While we certainly swing both ways on this trip, we prefer to land somewhere in the middle, maximizing comfort and freebies while also strategically redeeming points to last the length of our trip.

One final word of advice is to do a bit of research before booking award nights if there are various options available with your preferred hotel chain in that city. You can usually find threads on Flyer Talk breaking down the amenities and features of each hotel if that’s helpful for you. For us hotels that offer free meals, drinks, shuttles, etc. are most valuable because that saves cold hard cash versus just having a bigger room, nicer pool or better view. Recently when we had to spend an extra two nights in Queenstown, New Zealand and were able to redeem Hilton points at the last-minute to stay at the Double Tree. This particular property was attached to the Queenstown Hilton and shared all the same facilities, including pool, spa, fitness center, restaurants (for free gold or diamond breakfast) but was 20,000 points less a night, and the Double Tree included our own kitchen, which saved us money when Caleb made us a killer salmon and stir fry dinner.

Our Interesting Experience at the Paracas Double Tree Resort

Posted by Beth | January 5, 2016

Our first official stop in Peru was in the small beach town of Paracas. Our main reason for visiting Paracas was to explore the nearby Paracas National Reserve and the Islas de las Ballestas. Caleb wrote yesterday about our adventures riding ATVs through the desert.

We redeemed 41,800 Hilton points to stay at the Double Tree Resort right on the beach. We burned extra points for an upgrade to an oceanfront room. Something we normally don’t do, but a small splurge after several weeks of hiking.

 

A few days before our arrival date we started to receive emails from the hotel warning us of a large conference happening at the hotel during the stay and essentially trying to get us to rebook our stay it seemed.

Media gathered around the former vice president of Peru in the lobby of the hotel

It didn’t work for us to move our stay because it would have screwed up future bookings, but we were still a little schocked at how big and important the conference was when we rolled up. There were hundreds of the most important business and political leaders in Peru in attendance, including CEOs, the former president, the current vice president and all of the new presidential candidates. Our hotel had been completely taken over for this event, with a huge temporary tent set up, unfortunately right outside of our room on the beach.

I (very politely) asked the hotel if there was anything they could do to make up for the fact that our oceanfront view was, well, not so much. All we were hoping for was another free round of pisco sours (the two free served as welcome drinks were delicious), but the hotel ended up buying us dinner at the restaurant. We were the only people in the dining room (possibly only people at hotel not there for conference), but enjoyed delicious meals and a nice change of pace with being able to order anything we wanted without considering our budget.

We ordered parmesan crusted scallops as an appetizer

Because we are Hilton gold members (thanks to the Citi Hilton Reserve card and the Amex Hilton Surpass card) we also enjoyed a free breakfast buffet at the hotel the next morning, and we both agreed it was the best breakfast we’ve had the entire trip.

Despite the hotel being swarmed with conference participants and media, we ended up having a very nice stay and wished we could have spent another night. The hotel featured typical Double Tree benefits, including two bedroom suites and warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in. We were even able to check in at noon, though we had been told via email it wouldn’t be possible. Another thing we loved about the hotel was free kayak and catamaran rentals.

The two disadvantages to this hotel is it’s on the very edge of town so you’ll have to take cabs from the bus station, to other restaurants, etc. Also, the concierge was not super helpful in getting our activities booked. Luckily a bilingual woman in the bar area heard us struggling to communicate via Skype with the ATV company and made some calls for us.

Paracas is a very cool little town with lots to do and should not be skipped when designing your Peruvian itinerary. The Hilton DoubleTree Resort is a great option for a points stay, and if we could do it again we’d book it for two days: one day to enjoy the local attractions and one to just relax on the beach/at the pool.

Park Hyatt Mendoza Review

We redeemed 28,000 Hyatt points and paid $37 USD to stay four nights at the Park Hyatt in Mendoza, Argentina.

This is a steal at only a category 2 property on the Hyatt chart, with each night costing only 8,000 points. Similar to what we did at the Grand Hyatt Santiago, we booked two separate reservations. The first night was booked with points + cash and a Diamond suite upgrade. So for 4,000 points and $55 (actually only ended up being about $37 USD because we paid in Argentina pesos with money exchanged at blue dollar rate) we stayed in the diplomat corner suite on the top floor. Unfortunately they did not let us stay in the suite for our second reservation, which was booked solely on points. We mostly earned our Hyatt points from work stays but transferred a few from our Ultimate Rewards account.

Location: One of the biggest perks of the hotel was its location right smack on the main square, Plaza Independcia, so it was an easy walk anywhere. The cab from the bus terminal to the hotel was only $2.

Check-In: The guest experience coordinator happened to check us in and she was very friendly and walked us up to our suite, calling us her “honored guests.” The welcome amenity was a bottle of wine (sent up a few hours later) for Diamond members. There was also a fruit plate in the room and dessert sent up every night of our stay.

Concierge: We found Jessica to be the most helpful. She offered suggestions for wineries to visit and booked our paragliding trip for us.

Free Wine Tasting: The Park Hyatt offers a complimentary wine tasting in their wine bar, Uvas, every evening from 6:30-7 p.m. The wines are pretty affordable by the glass (certainly for a Park Hyatt) as well as buy the bottle.

Breakfast: Since there’s no lounge, Diamond guests are invited to enjoy the breakfast buffet in the restaurant. You could get eggs cooked any way you’d like and there were plenty of other hot and cold items along with fresh-squeezed juices.

Won a little over $1 on the slot machines.

Casino: There’s a casino attached to the hotel and guests are given a $5 voucher to spend along with some 25% coupons for casino bar. We went down for a few minutes to play the slots with our free money and walked away a dollar richer.

Pool, Spa & Fitness Center: There’s a small but more than adequate exercise facility on the second floor. I loved that they had a TRX band! Attached is a the spa, and guests are allowed to use the cold and hot soaking tubs, sauna and steam room, which are in the locker rooms. After spending a few hours by the pool I went in to use the hot tub but it unfortunately was only lukewarm. There is an attendant by the pool who will bring you towels and servers if you want any food or drink.

A TV and fresh flowers in the master bathroom

Suite: The diplomat suite was awesome. I wish we could have been in it for our whole stay but it didn’t make sense for us to pay additional money when we had the points. Had I thought through the blue dollar savings, I might have applied the suite upgrade to our entire stay though. There was a TV in our bathroom, full sized bottles of wine-scented soaps and a table with seating for eight people in the living room. There was also a second bathroom, which we used to store Caleb’s smelly shoes.

Very spacious living, dining and office areas in the diplomat suite.

Though the Park Hyatt is an expensive, luxury hotel, we were able to stay there very cheaply thanks to points. The free breakfast and free wine-tastings saved us a considerable amount of money. Mendoza was a ton of fun and is a trip I would encourage all wine-lovers to make!

Grand Hyatt Santiago Hotel Review

Our first three nights of our trip we were fortunate enough to “ease into” the travelers’ life by staying at the very luxurious Grand Hyatt Santiago. It was one of the best hotel experiences we’ve ever had, mostly because they treated us like royalty. We do have Hyatt Diamond status thanks to a challenge I completed last year. These types of challenges come and go, but essentially all I had to do was stay 12 nights within a 60 day period (made possible thanks to my work travel) to be upgraded to Hyatt’s top-tier of elite status.

Because of our Diamond status, we received full access to the club lounge on the 16th floor. When we pulled up they sent us directly upstairs to check us in and brought us coffee and sparkling water. We received a room on the club floor right around the corner from the lounge, which was quite convenient. The lounge offered free breakfast from 7-10 a.m. daily, coffee and snacks throughout the day, then an evening reception from 5-8 p.m. with champagne, wine and liquor cocktails, in addition to a pretty hearty spread of food from the four different restaurants in the hotel. There was usually a small hot food option, bread, meats, cheeses, sushi and plenty of fruit and vegetables with dips. It was plenty of food for us to turn it in to dinner. Having two free meals a day essentially saved us a ton of money, and helped us to only spend about $100 total in Santiago.

Breakfast spread usually included fresh squeezed juices, pastries, cereal, fruit, eggs and bacon.

Amazing views from the 16th floor club lounge.

We actually stayed in two different rooms during our stay. One of the benefits of Diamond status is four free suite upgrade certificates per year, but the downside is they can’t be used on points stays alone. They are allowed on points + cash rates, but if we were to book our whole stay on points + cash it would have cost us $160 + 12,000 points. We would really prefer not to spend any cash when we have the points to burn, but did want to try the possibility of booking one night in a suite in hopes that we may be able to stay in the suite the whole time. Unfortunately the hotel was fully booked, so that wasn’t possible. In the end we actually liked our non-suite room a little better thanks to the views from the 16th floor versus the 2nd and the more “open concept feel.” Changing rooms was not a huge deal as they moved our bags down for us while we were out.

Our total cost for the hotel for three nights was 20,000 points + $55. The breakdown was two reward nights @ 8,000 points each and one points + cash night for 4,000 points + $55, which was covered by our Barclaycard Arrival points, bringing the total out of pocket cost to $0. We earned our Hyatt points mostly through actual stays during business travel, but they can also be transferred from Ultimate Rewards.

The only downside to this hotel was it was not very close to the center of the city, where most of the tourist attractions are found. It is in a very nice neighborhood with lots of newer office buildings and lofts, but it took about 20 minutes on the subway to get anywhere. The subway station was about one mile away from the hotel, so it took another 15-20 minutes to walk to the subway station every time as well, making it harder to come and go and involved a little bit more planning.

Waldorf Astoria New York City Review

We redeemed a Hilton free weekend night certificate from the Citi Hilton Reserve card to stay at the iconic Waldorf Astoria property on our recent trip to New York.

Photo from Hotel Discount

Positives:             

• The best part is probably just the charm of this historic hotel.
• Free water bottles and free Wi-Fi for Hilton gold members.
• Two free drink vouchers to use at any of the hotel’s bars or restaurants. Up to a $20 value each, and included tax and gratuity. We used ours at the Bull and Bear, because around 10 p.m. on Sunday it was the only one still open.
• Great Midtown location, with several subway stations only a block or two away.

Park Hyatt New York: Is it worth it?

 

One of the best things about points and miles and free nights from credit card sign ups is they allow us to stay at hotels that we could never actually afford. The Park Hyatt New York is a new hotel, and one of only two category seven hotels in the US, the top tier on Hyatt’s award chart (the other is the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek).

View of the Park Hyatt (super tall building) from Columbus Circle

We were in a Park Deluxe King (a standard room). Average nightly rates for this room type during our Saturday night stay were over $800, but our stay was completely free thanks to one of the free night awards we received for signing up for the Hyatt Visa credit card from Chase. If you’re interested in getting the card yourself, now is a great time. If you can spend a minimum of $3,000, then you’ll receive two free nights at any Hyatt in the world, 5,000 Hyatt points and a $50 statement credit. Application link for the offer can be found here.

Using the Kimpton free night offer at The Goodland Hotel in Santa Barbara

I am full-out obsessed with Kimpton hotels and have a personal goal to try to take advantage of as many of the “New Hotel Offer” free nights as possible. This is an awesome benefit for Inner Circle members, which I am because I’m a badass. Actually I just matched to it from Hyatt’s Diamond Status through a Challenge, which is BACK, by the way, and you should totally do it if you can swing 12 nights in a six-week period.

Anyway, the new hotel offer is an almost too-good-to-be-true benefit offering Inner Circle members a free night at all new Kimpton properties AND a $50 food and beverage credit to try out the restaurant. In addition to their boutique rooms and stellar service, Kimpton is known for having great restaurants, often with popular chefs and experienced bartenders.

My first opportunity to utilize this offer was with The Goodland Hotel, a new property in Santa Barbara, CA. I invited my girlfriends to tag along and then there were three. They were Kimpton virgins but I’m pretty sure by the end of the stay they were hooked!

Using some available props for an #adorethyselfie contest pic

Experiencing Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and Country Inn and Suites French Quarter Review

New Orleans was one of the only bigger cities in the U.S. that I had never visited, so recently it’s been near the top of my domestic vacation spots list. Though The Villain’s been several times, he’d never experienced the city during Mardi Gras so we headed there last weekend. Thanks to Southwest and Club Carlson points we were able to take a fairly affordable weekend getaway to New Orleans and stay right in the French Quarter during Mardi Gras.

We redeemed 44,000 Club Carlson points for a two night stay at the Country Inn & Suites on Magazine Street, thanks to the bonus award night with the Club Carlson Visa from US Bank.  It was definitely one of the more upscale Country Inn & Suites I’ve been to before. The hotel was in a great location, just a few minutes walk from the parade routes and the French Quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

Our room itself was quite small, with the king size bed taking up most of the room, but it did have a mini-fridge, a nice TV and a decent sized bathroom. We were there to experience Mardi Gras anyway, not lounge around a hotel room. The complimentary breakfast included hot and cold items and there was plenty of seating available even during a busy time. There was a small courtyard with a heated pool. While the hotel was close to the action, it was surprisingly really quiet. The parades didn’t go down our street, but some of the floats seemed to park there afterwards so we got to see some up close. I appreciated that all hotel guests were given a wristband, which were checked at the front door, to ensure that non-registered guests would not be coming in and out of the hotel. This seemed to be the general policy for most hotels during Mardi Gras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a concierge available at the hotel and though they offered suggestions for where and when to watch parades, in general we thought the whole Mardi Gras experience was pretty chaotic and unorganized. There are just so many dang parades and they all have different routes and take forever so it was hard for us to figure out when to be in the right spot to catch them.

One of our biggest surprises was when we arrived close to midnight on Friday night there was still a parade going on! Welcome to Mardi Gras! Our cab driver had to drop us off about eight blocks away from the hotel, but walking was a lot faster than driving. On our way back to the airport on Sunday we again were advised to walk several blocks, crossing a parade route, to hail a cab. Cabs to and from the New Orleans airport are a $33 flat fee. We were told by our concierge to allow at least four hours for getting to the airport, but we got pretty lucky and it didn’t take us too long, which left us at the airport for several hours without lounge access (only a Delta club at MSY).

Some of our highlights of the weekend were the parades, eating delicious Cajun food (fried catfish, blackened redfish, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and beignets), strolling down Bourbon Street (fun in the daytime, way too much for us after dark) and meeting up for a late night rendezvous with my friend Nicole, who lived in Nola for awhile and showed us all the good spots, including an iconic piano bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a fabulous weekend in The Big Easy, made possible thanks to our airline and and hotel points. Mardi Gras is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and at times even felt like we were in a foreign country. I can’t say I’d go back again, though it was well worth it once. I would like to return to New Orleans during a different time of year to experience more of the city and some of the neighborhoods outside of the French Quarter.

Apologies for all the weird spacing issues with the photos. Almost a year into this and I still can’t figure out wordpress!

 

Palladian Hotel Review: A brand new Kimpton in Seattle

Last week I was in Seattle for business and took advantage of the opportunity to stay at new Kimptons I’d never been to before, the Hotel Monaco and the brand new Palladian Hotel. Neither disappointed!

The Palladian opened in early February on the edge of the Belltown neighborhood in downtown Seattle. The new hotel offer was a fantastic deal, the hotel bar Pennyroyal was very cozy, and the restaurant Shaker + Spear is apparently one of the hottest new spots in Seattle.

Here’s a run down of the amenities I received and a few photos.

• New Hotel offer: double stay credit, $25 food or beverage credit, 25% off parking, a full-size Theo chocolate bar, and a mini-bottle of local whiskey. (Had to be booked by 1/31).
• Secret password: “Warm woolen mitttens,” valid through March 4= two more of the mini-bottles of whiskey and popcorn from a local company
• Free social hour from 5-6 p.m. In addition to wine, the Palladian’s social hour featured local cocktails. The front desk agent really talked up the social hour, but I mentioned I’d have to miss it and she handed me a coupon for a hand-crafted cocktail at Pennyroyal, worth $13.
• $10 Raid the Bar credit (I combined with $25 credit for a bottle of wine from the bar to take home, as clearly they had given me more free booze than I’d be able to drink on a one-night stay on a work trip)
• Inner Circle Amenity= Champagne, cheese and crackers, white chocolate truffles, sparkling water. They nailed it!
• Upgrade: Booked a King Deluxe Room (rate=$170), but was upgraded to a King Spa room with a clawfoot bathtub.

“I started a fire” cocktail at Pennyroyal

Each guest room features pillows with a celebrity’s face on it.

Small exercise room with two treadmills, one elliptical, one stationary bike and a rack of weights.

Inner Circle + New Hotel Offer amenities