The A380 needs no introduction. But the Qantas A380 first class experience is one of the most blissful experiences you can ask for: timeless seat, excellent food, even more fabulous wines and the best sleep you can ever get.
Having not been to Johor Bahru for a while, I decided to get away for a weekend to the southernmost city of Malaysia as what most Singaporeans love to do. This time round, my hotel of choice was Renaissance Johor Bahru Hotel, a Marriott property about 15 minutes away from the Causeway (the bridge link to Singapore). You can spot the hotel as you drive down the highway towards Permas Jaya, given its unlikely existence in an industrial estate. The hotel is a two-wing, 17-storey building that is set in a V-shape if you view from the top. The building, while only five years old, is fairly weathered: external walls are showing signs of peeling and browning. The hotel is a standalone property complete with its own car park set as part of the building. The car park is classically basic as with most Malaysian car parks: dimly lit, narrow in most places and looking a little terrifying. However, that impression changes when you first enter the lobby. Rather immaculately decorated, the lobby is voluminous, …
Being incredibly familiar with Bangkok and having stayed at over a dozen properties, I was looking to try out yet another one so I stumbled across Crown Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park, located in the Silom area. Crown Plaza Lumpini is located along the main street of King Rama IV Road, just around the corner from the more popular Silom Road and diagonally across Lumpini Park. Situated less than 100m away from the Silom MRT station and a little further away from the Sala Daeng BTS station, I actually kind of like where the hotel is – near enough to major transport options and yet away from the crazy streets that Silom can be in the evenings. The hotel is co-located with the Ramaland Building, with the office space taking up the lower floors. The hotel technically begins on the 25th floor, and that’s where the lobby and the breakfast restaurant is. Rooms take up floors 26 to 33, with the club rooms on the upper floors. The room For basic rooms, there are essentially only …
IHG Rewards Club have launched the Double Points Plus More promotion, for stays between 16 September 2018 and 16 December 2018. All eligible members will earn double points on every stay (starting from the second) up to 15,000 bonus points during the promotion period. IHG Rewards Club members will remember the Accelerate promotion, where you have to complete a set of activities before earning bonus points. It seems like IHG has renamed the promotion to Double Points Plus More this time round, given the similar mechanism. Members are rewarded with bonus points for each activity completed, and upon completion of all activities, select members may also earn a last set of bonus points. The promotion is supposed to be customised for each member. In the Q2 Accelerate promotion, I earned a total of 30,000 points, but this time round I stand to earn up to 49,200 points. Register for your promotion now here.
While it seemed like a regular weekend, 18 August (or 19 August for this part of the world) was probably the day where members have been looking forward or dreading, depending on which side of the fence you were on. Both Starwood and Marriott reservation engines were down most of the weekend, with SPG pushing out an app refresh. Starwood.com now also points you to a new Marriott site. What happens now that the merger is complete? To recap, this is the key phase where the points, benefits, elite tier qualifications, hotel categories are aligned across all three programmes: Marriott Rewards, SPG and Ritz Carlton Rewards. These are the key changes that you will see: After the merger is completed, your SPG account will be given a new number the first time you try to log in. Once inside, you will see that your balance have tripled (converted on a rate of 1 SPG point to 3 Marriott Rewards points). People who are familiar with Marriott will also notice that the booking flow and design …
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