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  • REVIEW: Hotel Papadopoli Venezia MGallery, Superior Triple room

    REVIEW: Hotel Papadopoli Venezia MGallery, Superior Triple room

    First time to Italy, I thought I’ll try to check out some interesting hotels in the cities that I was going to visit.

    When I was researching for a hotel in Venice, it turned out that most of the major chains’ properties are not on the islands itself, but situated on mainland. I eventually found MGallery Hotel Papadopoli, which was located in Venice itself, but close enough to the train station so that heavy suitcases will not be a problem.

    In this post:
    • Introduction
    • The hotel
    • What’s an MGallery hotel?
    • Location
    • Check-in
    • Welcome drink
    • The room
    • Dining & drinking
    • Final thoughts

    The hotel has a pretty interesting history, based on one account I found online:

    The history of the Hotel Papadopoli Venezia – MGallery by Sofitel is one cast in romance. When the entrepreneurial Count Spiridione Papadopoli purchased the building during the early 19th century, he transformed it into a beautiful palace for his young wife, Teresa Mosconi… The Count eventually sold the building to city officials during the early 20th century, including the stunning gardens adjacent to the building. The Venetian city government later demolished much of the historic garden to build the Rio Novo Canal in 1933, while the palace was converted into a school. At the same time, hoteliers constructed a hotel on what remained of the garden, continuing the legacy of Count Papadopoli and his wife. Several years later, the brilliant landscape architect, Pietro Porcinai, designed a new, marvelous garden within the hotel grounds. Prociani’s masterpiece became the hotel’s lovely Winter Garden.

    Historic Hotels Worldwide

    Whether or not this was true, the hotel was as captivating as the vicinity it serves: Venice.

    The hotel

    Hotel Papadopoli Venezia is an Accor MGallery collection hotel, housed in a single six-storey building property, complete with a beautiful winter garden. With 96 rooms, the beautiful property is in every aspect a boutique hotel. There was no gym nor a swimming pool, but in Venice there’s really no need for either of that, as I soon found out.

    Hotel Papadopoli

    While unassuming from the outside, the hotel is decorated in a very classic Venetian style. Pompous chandeliers, grandiose mirror and bed frames are just some of the consistent styles you find across the hotel, from the lobby through to the rooms.

    The hotel only has four room types and two suite types, namely: superior double, superior triple, deluxe double, deluxe triple, suite and executive suite.

    What’s an MGallery hotel

    MGallery is one of the (too) many brands owned by Accor, and this is one bespoke collection of rather eclectic of boutique hotels. Positioned as high-end options, the hotels are usually unique and styled according to the local culture and heritage.

    According to Accor themselves:

    MGallery is a Collection of high-end hotels all around the world. Each hotel of the Collection stages with talent a unique personality and story, experienced by guests through its architecture, interior design and services. Each hotel is inspired by one of the three typical atmospheres of the Collection. Some hotels present ”Heritage” origins, places filled with history; others reflect an aesthetic universe, a style, the “Signature” of a personality that contributed to their creation or decoration; still others promise a relaxing time, “Serenity” in a natural or urban retreat. All hotels of the Collection invite guests to experience “Memorable Moments”.

    AccorHotels.com

    Location

    The hotel is located on the islands of Venice itself, and is very close to the Grand Canal and Constitution Bridge. The property is about a 10-minute walk to Piazzale Roma and the train station. In terms of walking distance to other attractions within Venice, you are looking at about 20 minutes walking time to Rialto Bridge, or a half hour walk to St Mark’s Square.

    Sunset from Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge)

    Note that public vehicles are not allowed within Venice, so this hotel is arguably one of the closest hotels by road to the main drop-off point at Piazzale Roma where all buses, trams and cars must stop at. Venice is about a 20-minute car ride away from Marco Polo Airport, so from the time I took my luggage, I was checking into the hotel in less than an hour.

    Opt for a boat transfer right to the doorstep of the hotel

    The hotel can arrange for transfer options for you, which include either a private car service from the airport to the public drop-off point at Piazzale Roma for 50 euros, or a 40-minute boat transfer right to the door-step of the hotel for 180 euros from the airport. If you are adventurous and want to try the public bus, it’s 8 euros per person and takes close to an hour.

    Check-in

    Check-in was very fuss free. When I arrived, there was no one at all waiting to check in, which is usually the case for small, boutique properties. My check-in formalities were completed fairly quickly, as I have prepaid my reservation. Note that Italy imposes a city tax per person per night, which needs to be collected on arrival.

    Check in desk

    Very quickly, a porter showed us to the room and arranged for our very heavy bags to be brought to the room.

    Welcome drink

    As an Accor Live Limitless (they have renamed their loyalty programme) Silver member, I was also given a welcome drink voucher, valid for all three of us in the room.

    Welcome drinks can be redeemed either at the bar or the restaurant during the stay, for any drink of your choice except champagnes, vintage wines or spirits. While you can’t get a gin & tonic, you can still either indulge in a prosecco or a good glass of Italian wine.

    The room

    I had two friends with me, so I booked myself into a Superior Triple room, that had a pair of twin beds and a sofa bed.

    Superior Triple Room
    Wardrobe amenities

    The room size isn’t specified on its website, but I estimate it to be about 25 square metres. If you take a look at the floor plans, you may notice that the room sizes very possibility vary a little from room to room, given the unique layout of the property. 

    Regardless, some guests may find the room rather tiny, but we found sufficient space to open up three large suitcases with relative ease to move around. I would reckon that the room is fairly spacious if it only has to hold two people, with a spare couch on the side for you to lounge on.

    Sofa laid out as an extra bed

    The room had a window overlooking the courtyard and doesn’t have its own balcony, so smokers will need to trek down outside the lobby to take their puff.

    View of the Winter Garden from the room

    Despite the small room size, the bathroom was rather generous in space and amenities. For one, I was rather glad that the shower stall was larger than I expected it to be. Apart from a toilet, bidet and a large wash basin, there was still sufficient room for a cushioned stool in the bathroom, good enough for you to place clothes, towels and even a magazine that you want to read on the throne.

    Bathroom

    The hotel uses C.O. Bigelow amenities, a New York brand founded in 1838. C.O. Bigelow is one of America’s oldest pharmacies, and carries a line of very affordable products. The good thing about the products is that the scent isn’t very strong, so that’s good for people who may be sensitive to scented toiletries.

    C.O. Bigelow amenities

    While the room didn’t come with any fancy coffee machine, there was complimentary tea and coffee along with a kettle for in-room use. There were also three bottles of Aqua Panna water for us, which were replenished daily.

    Complimentary water, replaced daily
    Bedside power sockets and USB charging port

    As part of a welcome gift, the hotel also left a box of butter cookies for us. I hastily opened the box, ripped open the plastic packaging and took a bite of the cookie, which was very buttery albeit a little on the hard side, so people with weak teeth beware.

    Dining & Drinking

    Hotel Papadopoli Venezia has an on-site bar and a restaurant at the lobby. 

    The hotel restaurant, Giardino D’inverno, or Winter Garden, is a beautiful restaurant in the middle of the lobby, set with an elaborate gardenscape to look as though you are dining in the wild.

    Giardino D’inverno (photo credit: Tripadvisor)

    I didn’t have breakfast booked with my reservation (breakfast was 10 euros per pax per night if booked together with the room, and 26 euros per pax per day if you walk in), so I didn’t have the chance to review the fare. 

    I took a quick look saw that the restaurant offers all-day dining featuring Italian fare. The restaurant menu can be found here, and is priced on the higher side; expect to spend at least 50 euros on food alone.

    The lounge bar, La Terrazza, sits on the other side of the lobby beside the restaurant. It’s a pretty cosy lounge with ample seating for at least 30 people, including the two large couches in the lobby. 

    Lobby lounge
    More seating areas in the lobby lounge

    Prices for drinks at the hotel bar are predictably more expensive than other restaurants (mostly trattorias) in the area, with coffee going at 5 euros, and a glass of wine starting from 9 euros. If you prefer to dine at the bar (but why?), the restaurant will be happy to serve you there as well.

    Final thoughts

    I really liked the hotel. Despite the relatively high price point, the hotel worked for me in a few ways. First, the location is perfect; people often underestimate the toil of a heavy suitcase, and given the unique restrictions of Venice, having a hotel on the islands and steps away from the main vehicular drop-off point is the most ideal best of both worlds.

    Corridors of the room floors

    Second, the comfort of the hotel. Everything in the hotel works: the layout of the room, the bathroom and the gorgeous decor. You don’t need a large room to be comfortable, you just need everything to work the way it should be and this hotel is just that way. You might argue that this is pretty much a no-frills hotel, but in a city like Venice, why would you be cooped up in the hotel rather than out there exploring the islands?

  • LeClub AccorHotels is now ALL – Accor Live Limitless

    LeClub AccorHotels is now ALL – Accor Live Limitless

    Accor has rebranded – once again – its loyalty programme as ALL, which stands for Accor Live Limitless.

    Earlier this year, Accor has said that it will be launching ALL only in 2020, but it seems like that has been brought forward.

    The key features of the new loyalty programme is supposed to include:

    • Introducing new premium status to reward our most loyal members
    • Enriched benefits according to our augmented hospitality strategy
    • A worldwide connected experience to earn and burn points across the broadest range of brands in the industry, and
    • a New digital app delivering value across work, live & play.

    So what’s really new?

    To be really honest… I’m not sure.

    I’ve played around with the new website. Apart from the usual booking capabilities for hotels and dining reservations, one other significant addition is probably the ability to purchase or book experiences and tours.

    Limitless Experiences is essentially a redemption machine, allowing you to burn Accor points for merchandise, stays or experiences.

    As for tours and activities, Accor has partnered GetYourGuide.com, a tour booking engine. When I played around it, there didn’t seem to be any difference in price for ALL members, or any other exclusive offers.

    Also, it wasn’t clear to me if I’ll earn points on ALL if I book any activities.

    On the other hand, Accor seem to have partnered some other brands to provide bonus points offers when members purchase with the partners.

    For instance, ALL members who subscribe to The Economist through the dedicated link can earn up to 12,500 Rewards points on a 2-year Print & Digital subscription.

    Has my earn rate and benefits changed?

    In short – no.

    A quick comparison on the ‘new’ website confirmed that at the time of writing, the earn rate and benefits remain largely the same. The only enhancement is to the platinum elite level, where there is a one-night suite upgrade available, which must be booked via phone.

    The PR spiel earlier this year promised a new status level, which hasn’t seem to be available online yet.

    Final thoughts

    While Accor has successfully rolled out its ‘new’ loyalty programme ahead of schedule, I’m really not sure if this is merely another cosmetic change or do they really envisage that this is the answer to “deliver value across work, live & play“, as they claimed.

    While large (and growing) companies across all verticals are now trying to blur the boundaries and move into other segments, I’m not sure if any hospitality chain will ever successfully move to deliver what the tourism industry call ‘experiences’, in a bid to boost bottom line. In a closed environment where there are no alternatives, this may seem like a perfect all-in-one solution, but realistically travellers typically like to compare and contrast, so options are always good for consumers.

    Also, loyalty programmes can be a burden, as points are effectively currency. If not managed well, it can either be a huge financial liability to the brand, or become a single source of failure in terms of brand loyalty.

    Honestly I’m not sure what is Accor trying to achieve with this change, but if there’s one thing I like: it’s the new ‘A’ logo, which all Accor property staff are wearing if you look carefully.

  • REVIEW: Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit, Deluxe Room

    REVIEW: Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit, Deluxe Room

    Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit is located walking distance from Terminal 21, which is a fantastic location given it’s at the interchange of Asoke BTS station and Sukhumvit MRT station. This provides quick access to the heart of town and also to many other new places of interests that popped up in the last few years.

    Pullman Grande Bangkok Sukhumvit, Deluxe Room

    When I first arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, I was shocked at how busy and crowded the lobby was. It so happens that there was an event going on, so many of the attendees were simply loitering around lobby.

    Despite that, I got to a check-in agent almost immediately. Check-in was painfully slow, and what made it even more irritating was that many other guests interrupted my check-in process with questions that rightfully belonged to the concierge’s domain (Are there any indian restaurants nearby? How do I get to this place?) and while the check-in agents dealt with these questions professionally, I was pretty much annoyed through no fault of the check-in staff.

    The room

    Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit, Deluxe Room

    The hotel had rooms running all the way to the 26th floor, while mine was on the 16th.

    I had booked myself a deluxe room, the smallest of the 7 room and suite categories available. There are larger rooms available in the hotel, as well as executive club floor rooms from the 22nd to 26th floor, but I didn’t check that out on this trip.

    If you decide to pamper yourself by just going up one category to the premium deluxe room, you will get the same room, but at a higher floor and it comes with six free minibar items each day, plus one free cocktail (redeemable at the bar) and three pieces of free laundry items per stay. Not too bad for an upgrade, if you ask me!

    When I first got to the room, I couldn’t work the light switch. For some reason, the card reader that activates the room power supply couldn’t read my card on the first few tries, and I managed to get it to work only after a very frustrating couple of minutes.

    Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit, Deluxe Room

    The room, as with many Bangkok hotels, was very spacious. At 38 square metres, the room comfortably held a king sized bed, an armchair on the side with a coffee table, a dining table and a sizeable bathroom.

    The bathroom, as with many other contemporary hotel bathrooms today, boasted see-through glass panels around the bathtub. The one big plus was that if you were travelling alone, you won’t miss out on the exciting shows on Thai television.

    There was also a separate shower stall right across from the bathtub, as well as a large vanity and a separate toilet stall so if you are travelling with a partner, you don’t have to worry about taking a dump in full view of your room mate.

    Fully equipped bathroom, single vanity with bath tub

    Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit uses Bigelow amenities, consistent with the other Pullman properties around the world.

    Bigelow amenities

    There are also some aspects of the rooms that I didn’t quite like. For the first time in many trips, I forgot to bring a power adapter. While you could possibly ring up housekeeping to borrow one, what really irked me was the lack of international sockets available in the room. There was only one single international socket on the work desk, while the bedside sockets were all fit for local appliances. Given that the hotel is in a prime location for international visitors, I would have imagine that having international sockets would have been a standard fit out.

    Bedside telephone and wall switches

    Another thing that really bugged me was the confusing electrical switches in the room. While there was a master switch by the side of my bed, it really doesn’t control all the lights in the room – all the lamps, and the toilet lights, had to be individually switched off. To make things worse, the position of the switches were not intuitive too, so you had to fiddle around before finding the right one.

    The facilities

    Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit is a full service hotel, offering a restaurant, bar, spa, swimming pool and fitness centre.

    The fitness centre, while not expansive, packs a punch. Fairly spacious, it has ample equipment, including cardio machines, cable machines and also a full rack of dumbbells for those who love working with free weights.

    Fitness centre, accessible 24 hours

    The swimming pool, however, was pretty tiny. It is a reduced lap pool, and I reckon only a handful of swimmers could get some serious laps done before it becomes too crowded. There were however ample deck chairs available for a good tan provided you get good weather. I unfortunately had to put up with rather crappy weather when I was there.

    Outdoor swimming pool

    For people who love a good soak or steam, you’ll be happy to know that the changing rooms are very solid, boasting a jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna. At the time I took a look there was no one using the facilities, so I figure that they may not be well utilised. A note though: the jacuzzi in the changing room is in full view of everyone else using the dressing tables, so you might feel a little awkward if you prefer some privacy.

    Jacuzzi in the changing room

    The in-hotel spa, the Antidot spa, offers a range of treatments at what I’d call standard hotel pricing. Their signature offering is the Siam Reviver, an aromatherapy type of massage going for THB3,400 for 90 minutes, or THB 4,300 for 2 hours. There are also regular offers going on from time to time, so be sure to check that out.

    The restaurant – Atelier

    Breakfast is served at the Atelier restaurant on level 2, the hotel’s anchor restaurant for all-day dining.

    Atelier breakfast buffet – breads and spreads

    There was a good spread of offerings for breakfast, ranging from local dishes to the standard western breakfast. A couple of live cooking stations, including an egg station and a noodle station, was also available if you prefer cooked to order items.

    Atelier breakfast buffet

    What was certainly interesting was a pretty extensive Japanese selection, including Japanese curry rice, sushi pieces and miso soup. I had a bit of the Japanese rice which was surprisingly on point, so it’s worth going for that if you are in a mood for something more substantial for breakfast.

    Japanese curry with fried rice

    The noodle station also offered up some interesting items, including a spinach noodle which was green in colour. Honestly I couldn’t really taste the difference from regular noodles.

    For those who love a tipple to go with your first meal of the day, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s a do-it-yourself Bloody Mary cocktail corner. With the entire bottle of vodka on display, fill free to go crazy with your cocktail. This alone is probably worth the price of your breakfast.

    DIY Bloody Mary

    If you didn’t get breakfast with your room, you can always pre-purchase breakfast when you check in for about THB380++, which is still pretty much a deal.

    Apart from Atelier, Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit also features several watering holes, including Vino Tapas, a cosy tapas bar, as well a deli at the lobby for the quick bites and coffee kicks.

    Barbeque nights at Backyard by Pullman (photo credit: Pullman Grande Bangkok)

    One unique offering by the hotel is the Backyard by Pullman, an outdoor bar that features barbeque food along with your favourite booze every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Of course, given that Bangkok is relatively warm most of the year, this is an option you should check out during the cooler months of November to January.

    Final thoughts

    The Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit is what I feel an undiscovered gem: near enough to the heart of action and yet packs pretty much many things into a hotel. Even though it’s considered a four star property similar to Crowne Plaza, in terms of amenities it definitely stands out.

    The hotel is also fully equipped, with enough food and beverage outlets and recreational facilities for you to hang around in the hotel all day round.

    Pullman Grande Bangkok Sukhumvit

    What is truly excellent is the central location. Right at the junction of Asoke BTS station and Sukhumvit MRT station, the hotel is well-placed for the traveller who wants to check out all corners of Bangkok, whether is it the cafes along Sukhumvit area, or to the night markets, or heading into the city.

    The only weakness lies in my experience with the fittings, judging from my tussle with the lights in the room. This is incredibly simple to get right, but also sometimes easiest to overlook. Of course, this is an easy one to conquer, returning visitors will sure be used to it, or the hotel could simply upgrade the electricals into a better system.