Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
Oct 23, 2009 | In Malaysia | Send feedback »
It was my second visit to Kuala Lumpur. Because I arrived late night I was thinking about either booking the Pan Pacific Airport hotel or a hotel close to Sentral KL station. KL Sentral is the railway station in Kuala Lumpur that tourists arrive at via KLIA Ekspres, the highspeed train connecting KL international airport with the city, a 37 minute ride for the price of 35 Ringit.
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Opposite KL Sentral there is a twin tower building that hosts 2 hotels: The Hilton and Le Meridien. The later is the cheaper of the two so I gave it a try. I booked a club room and was lucky to receive a complimentary upgrade to a jr. suite on one of the top floors as I am Gold SPG member. The room was very nice with a beautiful view of parks and the south of the city (the opposite side of Menara and Petronas towers). Very comfortable bed, good high speed internet and a wonderful bathroom with a corner view. On the downside they would not offer any late check-out and the complimentary water was 'hidden' on an upper shelf in inside the bathroom that made me buy the expensive Evian water out of the mininbar to satisfy my thirst in the middle of the night.
The location of the Kuala Lumpur Le Meridien is perfect when you arrive by air and take the KLIA Ekspres train into town. It's just a short walk across the street.
Holiday Inn Express Buenos Aires
Sep 25, 2009 | In Buenos Aires | Send feedback »
Usually, I prefer to book apartments when staying in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, but for a short 3 day trip I chose to stay at a hotel and picked the Holiday Inn Express in Puerto Madero. It's location is very central with the ferry port and the railway station in walking distance as well as the central down town with shopping centers on Florida Street right around the corner. The hotel is designed for people that just need a bed for the night and don't spend to much time inside the house. The rooms are very small, but comfortable. Their prices are justified by the central location, not by the outfit of the establishment. Breakfast is very basic self service and the gym on the top floor does not allow a magnificent workout. It's a basic brand name hotel in a central location of Buenos Aires - no more and no less. But that's what the Holiday Inn Express brand is supposed to be in the first place, a clean hotel with basic amenities, only. I would stay there again for a night, but I think there are better choices with more luxury for the same price.
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Holiday Inn Golden Mile
Sep 10, 2009 | In Hong Kong | Send feedback »
My first stay in Hong Kong so I wanted to stay in a very central location and picked the Holiday Inn Hotel Golden Mile in Kowloon. What a good choice! The location is hard to beat, right in the middle of Kowloon beside Shim Hsa Tsui Underground station and just a few blocks away from the bay. The rooms are great, very comfortable and equipped with ultra fast internet. The breakfast buffet is fantastic with a wide variety of choices. I liked their wide selection of fruits and bakery products a lot. The staff was very helpful and sophisticated. It's by far the best Holiday Inn hotel I ever stayed in around the globe and I stayed in a lot of them over the past years. Maybe it's because of the tough competition as the house is surrounded by many other first class hotels like the Intercontinental, Sheraton and Shangri La Hong Kong. It has a certain patina, an stylish old touch combined with proven functionality.
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Washington Airport Hilton
Aug 20, 2009 | In IAD | Send feedback »
Some international flight connections are funny, so I ended up spending one night in a Washington hotel on my way from San Jose, Costa Rica to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Believe it or not, but the Hilton IAD Airport hotel was a superb choice for the large detour I had to take on this Star Alliance round the world trip. There is a shuttle picking up passengers from the arrival terminals on IAD Washington International Airport every 30 mins for transportation to Herndon, VA, a 15 minute drive. The rooms are very large and well equipped with king-sized beds and spacious bath rooms. The room service is fast with decent food and their internet connectivity leaves nothing to be desired. I had a wonderful night full of sleep. It's pretty quiet. The next day they arranged a private taxi trip for shopping around Washington for just 50 Dollars. It was a great pleasure to stay at this hotel. I enjoyed the great rooms and the good service. Discount Hotel Booking: Hilton Washington Dulles Airport
Two shots from my Hilton hotel room. Unfortunately, US Airways lost my luggage on the flight from San Jose to IAD so I did not have a good camera with me to shoot any better pix.
Tanawin Resort Puerto Galera
Aug 8, 2009 | In Philippines | Send feedback »
Tropicana Castle Puerto Galera
Jul 31, 2009 | In Philippines | Send feedback »
From the outside it looks like a fortress built by pirates, the inside of the hotel rooms look more like romantic honeymoon suites. I have been revisiting this Puerto Galera Hotel on multiple occasions over the past 10 years and it is impressive how the Austrian owner Paul has build his house into one of the best hotels in Sabang. It's very close to the small Sabang harbour where the bangka ferries leave for Batangas and many divers take off for their daily nitro diving tours. It's a romantic place with a great view of the bay if you have a hotel room or suite on one of the higher floors. While it's so romantic, be aware there are a lot of mosquitos (Lamok) flying around. Bring your lotion with you to avoid their painful bites. The restaurant inside the Tropicana Hotel offers great food, a bit pricey for some. If you like fresh seafood, walk 200 meters to the Sabang market to buy fresh fish and prawns. For a small charge of 50 Piso they will cook and prepare the food for you and you can take it out to eat it on the patio of your hotel room. The minibars are stacked with drinks. A perfect way to chill out the day is to sit on the patio at night time to enjoy cold San Miguel beers while observing the Sabang nightlife from a distance.
Homepage: Tropicana on Facebook
Go here: Make a Reservation for Tropicana Castle
Nightly view of the Tropicana Hotel. It's a pretty romantic place to chill out after sunset.
Sures Belgrano Suites
Jul 12, 2009 | In Buenos Aires | Send feedback »
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I was pretty happy the first night I spent inside the Sures Suites in Belgrano, a suburb in the North of Buenos Aires as I had a light flooded suite with floor heating and all amenities including fast internet connection. The next day I had to move into a rather small room in the back of the building's gound floor as the suite I originally booked was reserved for somebody else. This room as pictured above was small and dark. It could not compare to the suite they showed me when I inquired about a stay at first. The small window was facing a wall, internet speed was very slow.
Agoda Discount Hotel Room Bookings
Jul 2, 2009 | In Reservations
A pretty good online source for discounted online hotel room reservations. Be adviced to book at least 3 days in advance as they require this time frame to accept any booking over the internet. I have used them several times and they are very helpful. Initially, they started out with Asian hotels in Thailand, but pretty fast they expanded to offer discounted hotel rooms from all over the World.
Makati Palace
Jul 1, 2009 | In Philippines | Send feedback »
It's awhile ago that I stayed at the Makati Palace Hotel on Burgos Street. It's conveniently located in the nightlife district of Makati with many bars along P. Burgos Street. Upon exiting the hotel one can chose from establishments such as Bottoms Up, The Bronx, Mascara, Billboard and Rogues to mention just a few Burgos bars from the strip. The Makati Palace is more of a Condotel, some of the rooms are rented out by a hotel type operation while other rooms are advertised and rented by private owners over various ads in daily papers and online media.
A colorful bed cover for this Makati Palace hotel room bed
Cebu Beach Club
Jun 15, 2009 | In Philippines | Send feedback »
Mactan Island is a small Island fronting Cebu City, the main hub of the Visayan Islands in the South of the Philippines. Mactan Island is not one of those beautiful tropical islands of the Philippines, but it's close to Cebu City and it hosts Cebu's international and domestic airport. Don't expect any nice beaches! The beach in front of the hotel is not like the sandy white beach of Boracay at all. Watersports are limited to diving and jet ski. The large shaped hotel pool is the best place to take a swim. The restaurant serves tasty Asian seafood dishes and is mostly visited by tourist groups from Europe and East Asia. The hotel rooms are very basic, but offer a lot of space. Actually, they are a little bit to big for the small air conditioners that are build in. If you are a watersport freak who spends just little time in the hotel, it's a place to stay, but for the little comfort the Cebu Beach Club offers, it appears to be overpriced for my taste. I checked out some other resorts located next to it like the Maribago Blue Water Resort and liked it much better. An outside view of the rooms entrance. The hotel building is shaped like an 'U' around the large swimming pool landscape. The rooms are aligned like a row of small houses, similar to American motels.
Holiday Inn Montevideo
Jun 5, 2009 | In Montevideo | Send feedback »
Crowne Plaza in Kuala Lumpur
May 26, 2009 | In Malaysia | Send feedback »
Back in September 2008 I had to make a short 2 day trip to Kuala Lumpur. One of the best areas to stay in is surrounding the famous Petronas Towers and the KLCC park. Most brand name hotel chains have their hotels aligned around this belt. I stayed a couple of streets off at the Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur. As usual I booked over the IHG website and secured a club room a day in advance. The room was very nice with ample space, open design with sliding dividers between the bathroom and the sleeping area. They offer wired internet access for a fee, but I did not check it this time as my laptop had no ethernet port and there was no wifi signal in my room. I was disappointed about the cleanliness of my Crowne Plaza hotel room. The working desk and the furniture were covered with a fine layer of dust. As I was entitled to a late check out I was very disappointed that they had moved me out of my room during my absence ignoring the DND sign on my door and neglecting the late checkout privilege. They threw all my belongings into my suitcase. Not a nice way of treating a club room customer. The lady in the club lounge reception explained it with a glitch in the housekeeping system and said she was sorry, but it did not sound very convincing. It's a pitty. This hotel is in a great location and the hotel rooms are nicely equipped, but the attitude of staff and cleanliness leave a lot to be desired imho. I will try a different hotel when returning to Kuala Lumpur.
An outside view of the Kuala Lumpur Crowne Plaza hotel on a sunny day.