Hilton’s promotion for the second quarter in 2012 is out: You can choose between double Points or double Miles between April 1st and June 30th, 2012.
Here’re the details:
Regards,
Dieter
I am currently booked on three First Class flights with Thai Airways early April this year. This will be my first experience with TG – am loking forward to it! Routes are Bangkok (BKK) – Sydney (SYD), SYD-BKK and BKK – Zurich (ZRH). Apparently all with A340-600.
Just browsed Thai’s website to learn about their in-flight services which includes a pre-order meal. Yummy!
That’s the current menu for BKK-SYD and I can unfortunately only choose one….
I’ll go for the second option – “Beef Rossini”. Should look somewhat like this:
On my way back to BKK I can choose between:
Will try the “Grilled Tournedos”. Unfortunately pics don’t work for this selection.
The last leg BKK-ZRH offers the same choice as the BKK-SYD leg. I chose “Lamb Satimbocca (Lamb)”
Really looking forward to the flights!
Have flown First Class a couple of times with Lufthansa, Swiss, United Airlines, and US Airways but none of them do offer anything similar.
Stay tuned for the travel report while on tour!
Regards,
Dieter
Since I stayed at the Conrad Centennial Singapore for the first time in January last year I consider this hotel as “The Hotel”. Never stayed at any other hotel where I felt as comfortable as there. It was the first impression, it was the second impression, too. It started with a ‘wow’ when I entered the lobby. It’s difficult to describe. It’s the atmosphere. Everybody strives to be friendly and attentive.
Went to the checkin desk but was accompanied to the Executive Lounge for checkin. Was asked to take a seat and a drink while the paperwork was prepared. Got a nice room with a nice view.
Soooooo cute :-)
Got every day two bottles of water, fresh fruits and some chocolates. But unfortunately only one Teddy per stay :-( Ok, just kidding. Can be purchased at the gift shop, too.
The Executive Lounge is very nice, offers a good selection of food and drinks as well as a great view!
Full hot breakfast is complimentary for HHonors Diamond members at the restaurant either on loby level or 4th floor (actually, never tried the 4th floor restaurant). Breakfast is perfect. Ends 10:30 a.m. weekends…
The lobby has phantastic acoustics and at least in the evenings there is a piano player and a singer performing live. Love that!
There’s also a bar. Well…a bit overprized if you ask me…
Sorry for the bad quality.
As in most good hotels there’s a spa. I took advantage of an offer and it was just perfect and relaxing.
Still, my favorite luxury hotel!
Regards,
Dieter
Earlier in February I used a cheap Lufthansa offer to spend a weekend in New York. New York ist always worth a journey. As I choose to fly into Newark EWR airport I decided to stay two nights at the Hilton Newark Gateway at Penn Station. It is located just a few miles away from the airport and conveniently located next to the Newark Penn Station with trains to both Newark Airport and New York Penn Station in Manhattan. Main reason to stay two nights at the same hotel was the current Hilton HHonors promo to earn additional 5000 points for a two night weekend stay at the same property…Typically I do not stay two nights at the same location without any good reason.
Immigration at EWR was easy, friendly (btw. never experienced anything bad during on of my ~40 trips to the U.S.), and fast. Went to Avis to pick up my rental car and drove the few miles to the Hilton. There’s a parking garage which charges $21 per day (can be billed to the Hotel room). Reason why I rented a car for one of the two days was: shopping :-) Went to the Jersey Gardens Mall as well as to Walmart and other stores.
Reception and checkin at the Hilton was friendly. Rooms are not bad. I felt comfortable.
A large bed – that’s how I like it!
…and two bottles of water!
Well…still unsure why they put earplugs in my room?
Standard bathroom amenities.
This hotel does have an Executive Lounge but unfortunately it is closed during weekends. So no chance for me to stop by there.
Luckily they do offer hot breakfast for Gold/Diamond members. It’s something between a continental and a hot breakfast but absolutely sufficient for me. Sorry, no pics.
From the nearby Newark Penn Station Manhattan can be reached within half an hour by train for $5 one way. Please check train schedule, nothing really scheduled every x minutes. But it’s eays, no doubt. Also one can reach Newark EWR airport within minutes for approx. $7
The easy connection to the rail station makes this hotel a perfect alternative to the more expensive hotels in Downtown Manhattan.
Regards,
Dieter
Just want to share the latest Lufthansa Amenity Kits I got on my recent flights.
12.02.2012 LH411 343 JFK-MUC First Class
Hm, well. Quiet different from other LH amenity kits. Looks a bit “cheap”, but it’s from Bogner. The bag can be used as the liquid bag for carry-on.
10.02.2012 LH402 747 FRA-EWR Business Class
15.01.2012 LH779 380 SIN-FRA First Class
12.01.2012 LH790 343 First Class
Regards,
Dieter
Just in case, you’re wondering what Lufthansa servers on a First Class flight I thought it might be of interest to write about it.
First of all, it depends on the actual flight. Lufthansa (as do most other airlines, too) serves different meals on flights from Germany as on flights to Germany.
I flew New York JFK to Munich last night and this was the selection:
German translation:
Not my taste at all but anyways….
Enjoy!
Regards,
Dieter
It’s been two weeks ago since I wrote my review of the Hilton London Olympia. As I am currently staying there again I’ve to add some comments.
New Executive Lounge
Shortly after my last stay mid-January the Hotel opened a completely new Executive Lounge. I really like it and I also appreciate the decision pro a lounge. Good move.
Took two pictures yesterday evening with my Phone:
Offer includes evening drinks and snacks, english breakfast and soft drinks during the day.
Sad part: Devaluation for loyal guests
HHonor’s official rules provide Gold and Diamond status guests continental breakfast in most cases. Some hotels however do honor their loyal guests and allow a full breakfast at the restaurant (or even in the Executive Lounge, depending on the property). So did the Hilton London Olympia in the past. I enjoyed a complimentary full breakfast at the refurnished restaurant mid-January.
At checkin yesterday and upon asking today I was told, that the hotel does no longer grant a full breakfast due to the new Executive Lounge. I tried to address this to the management today but was refused to do so.
That’s a devaluation and I am frustrated about that move and about the lack of communication. For me it was always a big part of my decision to stay at this specific hotel. And believe me, London does have more than just this one hotel.
Literally seconds before publishing this blog post I got a call from the Hotel to discuss my concerns. It was a positive and open conversation but the decision has been made. No more breakfast. To be fair and honest, I got offered a full breakfast for tomorrow as a token of appreciation which I will not take advantage of. It’s not about me. My goal is to address issues and concerns.
Regards,
Dieter
This is my second favorite Steakhouse (apart from Ruth’s Chris in the U.S.)! I’ve been numerous times in their location in London (UK) and always really enjoyed the food and the friendly staff.
It is not cheap there but believe me….it’s worth every pence!
The restaurant in London is next to the Westfield Shopping Centre, adjacent to the Underground Station “Shepherd’s Bush”.
There are also restaurants in Sydney, Tel Aviv area, Middle East and South Africa.
I do not really like to take pictures of food within planes or restaurants but I once took a photo of my favorite Caesar Salad which I usually eat as a starter every time.
It is soooo delicious as is the Steak, of course.
Check the Website if you want to know more: Welcome to The Meat & Wine Co
Enjoy!
Regards,
Dieter
Every now and then I travel to London for Business (yes, unfortunately I’ve to work to earn money…). As I stay at least one night per trip there, I’ve explored a bunch of hotels in London. I liked (hm, well, I still try to like) the Hilton Hotel chain I’ve stayed in many of their properties in the London area over the last couple of years. Maybe London is the main reason why I stopped being enthusiastic about this chain. Most properties do not really care about their (loyal) guests.
One of the Hilton Hotels I really like is the “Hilton London Olympia” next to the Kensington Olympia station. It is an old building and so are the rooms and the equipment. But…and that’s more important to me they have been friendly and attentive to me during my last 15+ stays. And they also always assigned me a reasonable room. Unfortunately, there are no rooms with a King size bed the Queen size beds in this place are sufficient. Don’t ask me why…
Last night I had again a stay at the Hilton Olympia and took a bunch of pictures….sorry for the low quality….did only have my iPhone with me. But I’m sure you’ll be able to get an impression of my room. I got an upgrade to a ‘Suite’, so this room is slightly bigger than the regular rooms.
They always provide me complimentary bottles of water, a bottle of red wine and some chocolates. Always means always. No other Hilton managed to do so.
Room condition, furniture and bath is really old and worn, but hey, that’s London. Hilton London Green Park for example is not different.
The Hilton London Olympia also offers complimentary full breakfast for HHonors Gold and Diamond members. To be fair, all Hilton branded hotels in London where I’ve stayed so far do offer this. Be aware that this is not true for the DoubleTree brand! Will write about that soon.
My last stay there was back in September so I was really surprised yesterday to see refurnishments in the reception area as well as in the restaurant. Well done! Like it.
Fingers crossed that they keep treating me as in the past.
Regards,
Dieter
This is probably more of interest for my friends at Flyertalk or Vielfliegertreff.
Just wanted to share some rare boarding passes from Lufthansa.
That’s me, everything as usual.
A friend of mine who ist ‘only’ FTL but we assigned the HOC (HON Companion) status in case of irregularities or remote position in MUC.
Second friend of mine with a connecting flight in F.
Seoul (ICN) still has red boarding passes for First Class :-) Never got one before that flight.
Regards,
Dieter
