Category Archives: Hotels

Lazaros Hotel Apartments, Tsilivi, Zakynthos, Greece

02 Saturday Sep 2017

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Zakynthos accommodation is quite expensive, so I was pleased to find a studio apartment at the well-reviewed Lazaros in Tsilivi on Expedia at EUR532 for seven nights.

We flew from Prague to Zakynthos so were outside and in the taxi quite quickly – no passport control between Schengen countries. The taxi to the Lazaros took 20 minutes and cost EUR 20.

The staff were really welcoming and showed us to our room on the first floor – although that’s actually the second floor when viewed from the street. Ground floor rooms open onto the pool.

The bathroom was modern, clean and had a shower with both rainwater and regular shower head.

Some toiletries were provided:

And there wasn’t a sign by the toilet to say ‘don’t put paper in the toilet’ – which is common in Greece.

There was a nice balcony with a view to the Sea.

Although this did also look over the Breeze Bar, which is part of the Lazaros Hotel complex:

The room had a keypad safe which was a nice surprise.

There was a small kitchen area with fridge, mini-hob, kettle, coffee maker and sink.

Free wi-fi – although it was tragically slow.

The aircon was modern, quiet and worked really well. I’m assuming the cooling unit is mounted on the roof somewhere.

The flat-screen TV had BBC World News in English plus multiple channels in Greek.

All in all we were impressed with the quality of the room.

The pool was modern and clean. There were always sunbeds available.

Behind the pool are some more apartments that I think are probably the best choice – although I haven’t seen the interior. The reason for that choice is that they are furthest away from the street and the Breeze Bar. There is quite a lot of street noise; Greeks like to sound their car horns and there are a lot of motorbikes and rental trikes.

At night the Breeze Bar is in full swing with music until 1am.

So if you’re not a night person or have small children I’d avoid rooms close to the street and bar.

I did have the odd early beer in the Breeze Bar and the staff were really friendly and beer was served in a chilled glass.

There was a nearby supermarket where we picked up some items for breakfast and bought bottled water – we never tried the hotel breakfast, although it looked quite good.

Tsilivi town has a Brits abroad feel about it. Plenty of sports bars and restaurants offering a full English breakfast. But there are some great Greek restaurants with excellent fish dishes.

The sandy beach was just a short walk away – about 400m I think, not 200m as shown on the hotel site. The sea was clean, blue and warm and stayed shallow for at least 50 metres. I didn’t see any jellyfish. The beach is lined with sunbeds and plenty of bar/restaurants.

Over the seven days we were there, I didn’t see any bugs in our room; no cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes nor wasps – although there was the occasional wasp on our terrace that was immediately zapped with my Executioner racket.

The room was cleaned well every day.

We didn’t need to pay anything until our penultimate day – they took credit cards.

We really enjoyed our week’s holiday – some friends were staying in a nearby hotel and villa – we were all able to meet up for dinner. I’m not sure I’d rush back to Tsilivi, but if I did then I’d be happy to stay at Lazaros again.

Lazaros Hotel Apartments
Tsilivi Admiral, Zakynthos 291 00, Greece
+30 2695 026218

http://zakynthos-lazaros.com/

The Borrowdale Hotel, Borrowdale, Cumbria, England

07 Friday Jul 2017

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The Borrowdale Hotel is situated in the Lake District – a mountainous region in North-West England which also contains the deepest and longest bodies of water in England, respectively Wast Water and Windermere.

The Lake District is popular with tourists, especially those who enjoy long walks through nature. The downside is that it rains there for 200 days of the year – this is caused by moist air from the Atlantic that hits the hills where it is forced to rise, then cools and the moisture condenses to form rain.

Some of the Lake District Hotels are extremely expensive. For example, dinner, bed and breakfast at Holbeck Ghyll starts from £400 per night. I saw an offer from Secret Escapes for tea and scones, dinner, bed and breakfast at the Borrowdale Hotel for £164 and booked one night. We’d never visited the Lake District before and this was a ‘try and see’ visit.

We arrived around 4pm. There was plenty of parking at the front and rear of the hotel. A quiet road separated the hotel from fields and Derwent Water.

Room bells are still on the walls by reception.

Check in was smooth and we were soon in our room. The offer was for a standard room and I’d read that these were quite small – we were pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn’t the case. It wasn’t a suite, but was perfectly fine.

There was complimentary water, tea. coffee and biscuits.

The bathroom was modern and well appointed. The towels were good quality. There was a good selection of toiletries.

The free wifi was good and much better than I’d read in reviews.

There wasn’t a safe in the room – although I still felt comfortable leaving my laptop and iPad there.

We headed to the bar/conservatory area to redeem our afternoon tea voucher. The barman said he would bring everything to our table. I didn’t ask, but I expected a selection of teas. As it was, the tea was just standard black English tea. I’m assuming that you can order a different tea – just remember to do so when you redeem your voucher. There was only one scone each and they weren’t very good.

They use metal pots for tea and hot water. Not surprisingly these are difficult to pick up without burning your fingers.

We had a look at the garden and house.

Our Dinner reservations were for 7pm (dinner service is 6:30 – 9:15pm). The restaurant was behind a previously closed door by reception. The dining room was light and formal with nice flowers.

We ordered a jug of tap water and a bottle of Malbec £25. We weren’t quite sure of the inclusive dinner deal but guessed it was three courses and coffee (£29.95).

We had Pan-Seared Wood Pigeon and Homemade Fishcake to start:

 

For main a Pan-Roasted Goosnargh Duck Breast and a Grilled Cumbrian Lamb Rump:

A nearby diner had what I think was gammon carved at their table:

For pudding a Sticky toffee pudding and a panna cotta:

All the food was delicious and we were relieved that the scones weren’t an indication of food to come.

Our waitress advised that we should now move to the bar/conservatory for coffee and petit fours. I asked for the bill but was told that it would just be added to my final bill – but that made it difficult to tip, especially as I expected service to continue in the conservatory.

We moved to the conservatory and found a self-service coffee area – just jugs of filter coffee and chocolates. I’m not sure if we could have ordered any specialist coffee from the bar.

We ventured outside as the rain had stopped. The sky was brooding. The sheep bleating. Swarms of midges were biting. We went back inside.

Breakfast is served from 7:30 to 9:30am. That’s a little early for me, although the hotel check out time is 11am and so a 10:30 breakfast finish would impact on this. Our Secret Escapes deal had a so-called ‘late checkout’ included – 12 noon.

There were plenty of pastries and juices. We had a full breakfast and were able to order poached eggs.

It was very good and more generous than our breakfast at The Hotel Portmerion in Wales. Tea was again served in metal pots.

As it was raining (again) we decided to check out early and drive to our next location on the North-East coast.

The only charges were for the wine and a large sambucca that I had in the bar. The credit card machine asked about a gratuity – I’m not sure if they expect you to tip for all the service at that point or if that was just the default setting of the machine. I’d recommend taking a £10 note with you for dinner and give that to the waitress directly.

We enjoyed our stay – it was much better than I expected – well except for the scones. I have a suspicion that many of the hotel practices are for the benefit of the hotel and not the guests. I certainly don’t agree with early breakfasts and 11am checkouts.

I’ve decided that the Lake District isn’t for me. The weather has a huge impact on walking and sightseeing and the midges are annoying. In my view, there is much better value, weather and scenery to be had in Madeira.

The Borrowdale Hotel
Borrowdale Valley
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5UY

Email: borrowdale@lakedistricthotels.net

Hotel Reception: 017687 77224
Reservations: 0800 840 1244

http://www.lakedistricthotels.net/borrowdalehotel/index.php

Hilton Hotel, Paddington, London, England

12 Friday May 2017

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We booked two rooms for one (Saturday) night. I chose the Hilton at Paddington, partly on price and the benefits I have from being a Diamond HHonors member and partly because it was ideally situated for our weekend plans; arrive into Kings Cross, tour of hidden tunnels under London Euston, visit to the Churchill War Rooms, Heathrow Connect train to Heathrow T3 for a flight. I’d also had poor experiences in the Hilton Metropole.

The hotel is actually part of Paddington train Station – I think it was formerly the Great Western Railway hotel. Opposite is Paddington London Underground station – although you may also find yourself arriving at another Paddington Underground (other end of the train station), depending on which line you use/direction you arrive from.

We arrived from Kings Cross into the Paddington Underground at the other end of the main line station. There weren’t any signs to the Hilton, but we found it with a bit of help from smartphones. There’s actually an entrance direct from Paddington station. The front entrance looks like this:

It’s quite a grand old London hotel but has obviously been completely refurbished.

Check in (around 2:20pm) was quick and our upgraded rooms were ready. It looks like the rooms are different shapes to suit the existing building. Mine had an entrance hall, with bathroom entrance on one side, wardrobe/safe/tea-making facilities on the other and a lounge bedroom at the end.

The bed was king size with plenty of pillows:

The lounge area was comfortable. The TV only seemed to have a few terrestrial English channels and then a mixture of foreign-language channels. I guess there’s only so many they can provide and have to keep everyone happy.

The view from the window was all railway station:

The wi-fi wasn’t amazing but it was okay.

The Executive Lounge is on the ground floor. The entrance desk was unmanned most of the time – your room card provides access.

We made it back from our tour about 19:45 just in time for the end of the happy hour 18:00-20:30 drinks and food. The snack food options were pretty good and much better than the Hilton Metropole and Hilton Gatwick. The drink options were pretty poor; no sparkling wine, only Stella Artois as a beer, only Jack Daniels as a whisky plus a vodka and a gin. The bathrooms were clean and modern. We didn’t use the lounge for breakfast, but popped in around 13:00 the next day and there were finger sandwiches available.

We left the lounge and walked around the corner to Mughal’s Indian Restaurant. On our return, around 23:30, we visited the hotel bar (146 Paddington) for a drink – the bar had several tables of customers. We were asked if we were guests – I later read that the bar closes at 23:00. Two large beers and a large Amaretto was £23.10. Just before midnight, the manager informed us that the bar was closing and could we finish our drinks in the lobby. Only a few guests moved to the lobby and the rest I imagine left. I find it unusual that a hotel bar closes so early on a Saturday – particularly for guests.

Breakfast in the Brasserie restaurant. There was a wide selection of continental and full English breakfast options. Orange juice was in a large heavy jug that was hard to pick up. The ceilings felt very low, almost claustrophobic, so I don’t think I’d dine there for lunch or dinner.

As we didn’t need to leave until 2pm, I called and asked for a late checkout on just one of our rooms – they were more than happy to arrange that.

Overall I enjoyed my stay and would certainly consider staying again.

Hilton London Paddington
146 Praed Street, London, W2 1EE, United Kingdom

TEL: +44-207-850-0500
FAX: +44-207-850-0600

Jurys Inn, Birmingham, England

18 Tuesday Apr 2017

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We were looking for somewhere midway to overnight between Luton Airport and the Portmerion Village and Hotel in North Wales. Birmingham was an option and when Jurys Inn had a £49 room sale, we booked.

We left Luton Airport around 9pm and arrived at the Jurys Inn just before 11pm. They have a dedicated car park at the rear with 200 parking spaces. The cost per 24 hours is £14.20 (paid on exit). There is a height restriction of 1.7m and that feels really low – we were in a Hertz rental Renault Kadjar suv that is 1.6m high and it felt like we going to take the roof off.

The reception desk is raised above the lobby and you need to take three or four steps up – not sure what those with limited movement do about that.

My Floor 3 status with Jurys Inn has some limited benefits. The receptionist forgot about those and I had to prompt him for the coffee and drink vouchers.

Our room was on a high floor, water and biscuits had been left as part of the Floor 3 benefits – the bed was king size and so I’d guess a superior room. The air con had error E01 showing and no amount of fiddling would make it warm the room. We decided to not to try and change rooms as it was already 11:30.

Around 3:30am we were both awake – the people in the room next door were playing loud music and shouting to each other. I called reception and not long after I heard them knock and ask the occupants to quieten down. It was quiet for ten minutes and then the noise went back up – we drifted in and out of sleep and I guess at some point the noise stopped. So a really poor night’s sleep, although really the fault of our neighbours and not the hotel – perhaps the receptionist should have returned within 30 minutes to re-check.

This was the view from our window when we woke up:

Bleary-eyed, we checked out. I told the receptionist the story of the people next door and how they should be banned from staying at the hotel. Amazingly they’d already checked out – which makes me suspect they’d taken something. The receptionist was good enough to validate our parking.

So I’m not sure what to say about this hotel. I suppose if I had to stay in Birmingham overnight and the price was right then I’d stay again.

Jurys Inn, Birmingham
245 Broad Street, Birmingham , B1 2HQ
Tel: +44 121 606 9000
Email:jurysinnbirmingham@jurysinns.com

https://www.jurysinns.com/hotels/birmingham

The Hotel Portmeirion and cottages, Wales

13 Thursday Apr 2017

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Portmeirion is a complete, uninhabited (apart from tourist guests), village and hotel. The entire place was created by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis from 1925 to 1976. He wanted to show how a naturally beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it. The village is probably most famous as the setting for the Prisoner TV series.

I’ve created four reviews; one for Portmeirion Village, one for the Hotel/Cottages, one for the Hotel Restaurant and one for the Prisoner convention attending Portmerion the weekend we visited.

We booked a cottage in advance to stay for one night, Friday 31st March on their dinner, bed & breakfast rate £278. We stayed the previous night in the Jurys Inn, Birmingham to get a head start and could arrive around 3pm – and we made it on time.

There is a fee for visitors to Portmerion – hotel/cottage guests and those dining at the restaurant are free, although only hotel guests can drive and park inside. The man at the gatehouse couldn’t find me on his list, which was disappointing, but was happy to believe that we had a booking and directed me, along a winding drive, to the hotel.

The main village is at the top of the cliff, the hotel down a hill with spectacular views across the Dwyryd Estuary.

We parked outside and went in to reception. Where they had Number 2’s chair from the Prisoner TV series.

A quick check in and dinner reservation and we were escorted by a friendly porter to our cottage – we had booked ‘The Fountain’ a cottage at hotel level, rather than up in the main village. It’s difficult to know what’s the best choice; our cottage with views of the estuary, simple parking and an easy walk to the hotel for dinner, or a cottage in the village where you could re-create the initial scene from the Prisoner, but also have to climb up and down to the hotel.

The Fountain is split into two, we were in the lower part, although that still meant a few ornate steps up to our door as the ground floor is used for storage. You can see our red rental car parked outside:

Here’s a view from the village looking down at our cottage:

The drawing room, bedroom and bathroom were perfectly appointed. There was also a small complimentary carafe of sherry and glasses which was a nice touch.

There was also a small kitchen counter behind some doors off the drawing room, with kettle, homemade shortbread biscuits and a selection tea and coffee.

And this was the view from our room:

Early evening, before dinner, we could hear the guests above walking around and the floors were creaking. We were concerned that they may repeat this on a late return – in the end they were back before us. I think I’d choose the upper part of the cottage next time just in case.

It was great to be able to wander around the village after dark – it closes to visitors at 7:30pm.

Breakfast was a mixture of buffet and hot cooked-to-order. We chose the full Welsh Breakfast, which was delicious, perhaps a little small; the black pudding slice was cut into two and we each had half a piece.

I’d normally be disappointed that check out was 11am – I consider that a little early. As it was, we had to leave before lunch to drive to South Wales for a friend’s wedding anniversary party. Had we stayed longer and in better weather, we would have taken some longer walks and also visited the nearby Ffestiniog Railway.

We really enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend at least a one night stay rather than just a visit to the village.

The Hotel Portmeirion
Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth
Gwynedd
LL48 6ER
Wales

+44 (0) 1766 772311 (Tollgate)
+44 (0) 1766 770000 (Hotel Reception)

http://www.portmeirion-village.com/stay/hotel-portmeirion/

Jurys Inn, Watford, England – gets a makeover

10 Monday Apr 2017

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I’ve previously written about the Jurys Inn Watford and also the Jurys Inn Loyalty Scheme. The hotel now has refurbished rooms and has plans to refurbish the main areas. So far the refurbishment program hasn’t disturbed me, although I’m not in my room during the day. The loyalty scheme seems to have improved – either that or I’ve just been lucky to be allocated a superior room, not just superior package, on my last two stays.

I was allocated a refurbished superior room on the fifth floor and was really impressed with the changes. The room has been re-painted, there’s a new bed, furniture and lighting, a large wall-mounted flat-screen television (all the UK Freeview channels) and the bathroom has had a mini-makeover.

If you’re lucky, your view will be one like this:

The tea/coffee and kettle are now on a tray under the long desk – it’s quite tidy. My only concern would be that it’s harder for the cleaner to see that I’ve taken the free biscuits and replace them!

So well done Jurys Inn – So far I like this makeover.

However, I’m yet to see a refurbished standard room. I really hope that they’ve installed bigger beds as the previous versions were too small to be called a double. With two people it is was very cosy.

Jurys Inn London Watford
Clarendon Road, Watford, WD17 1JA
Tel: +44 1923 422 800
Email: jurysinnwatford@jurysinns.com

https://www.jurysinns.com/hotels/london/watford

 

VidaMar Resort Hotel, Funchal, Madeira

20 Monday Mar 2017

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We stayed 7 nights (arr. Saturday 25th February 2017 dep. Saturday 4th March). This was part of a package that included flights with Norwegian, half board in a superior sea-view room and private transfers to and from the airport. The package was purchased almost a year ago in a sale for around £550 per person.

The private transfer was about 20 minutes and we arrived before 7pm.

We checked in and were allocated a ninth-floor, tower two room 931. There are two towers, each with ten floors. Reception is on the 4th Floor of tower one – which is really the ground floor entrance, although as the hotel steps down in tiers to the sea, each floor opens at ground level. I’d say that our room was almost the best location – probably only beaten by 1031.

The room was large, modern décor, clean, with a king-sized bed.

The bathroom was modern, clean, with toilet, bidet, double washbasin and bath with shower.

I would have preferred a separate shower cubicle rather than a bidet.

A welcome bottle of wine and bathrobes and slippers were provided.

The view from the terrace, which had two chairs and a table, was lovely:

We found the buffet restaurant on the 2nd Floor. It’s a large space with an outdoor terrace. At this time of the year it was warm enough to have breakfast, but not dinner outside. You wait at the entrance and are taken to a table – we never had to queue.

The waitress took our order; a bottle of red house wine and a large bottle of water – total EUR15.50. The house wine was pretty good and we stuck with that throughout the week. The buffet was pretty good, with plenty of choices. The omelette station was great for breakfast and the chefs were always friendly. The evening pasta station was friendly, but pasta arrived in a sauce soup, rather lightly coated – we later realised that this training probably came from the chef at Mamma Mia.

Here’s how it looked the next morning.

Here are daytime views from our room terrace:

And here are some views from just outside our room on the 9th floor:

Here’s how Tower 2 looks from the pool terrace level:

The outdoor terrace and infinity pools looked great. Unfortunately the pools weren’t heated and were too cold to go in. The half-indoor/half-outdoor pool was slightly warmer, but was so small that it felt crowded with just a few people.

Two visits to the Thalasso Sea Spa (Thalasso vitality pool, Steam room, sauna, showers, indoor and outdoor relaxation areas with sea view) were included. To get there we took the elevator to the First Floor, walked past the half-indoor/half-outdoor swimming pool, along a corridor, into another elevator and down to the spa. We were given two towels each. We were already wearing swimwear and didn’t need the changing rooms – there were showers between the dry and wet saunas and near the entrance to the pool.

The floor consisted of large marble-effect tiles. Exiting the shower, the tiles were ridiculously slippery, even when wearing the hotel slippers. The pool area had a normal non-slip surface. It was so bad that on our next visit I had a shower in my room and went direct to the pool.

The sea water pool consisted of a series of water jets, a waterfall and a walk-against-the-current curve. It’s certainly not a pool that you can swim in, as beneath the surface are blocks for sitting or holding that you would bang into. There was also a Jacuzzi, which was inexplicably situated up a series of steps. The best aspect was the large windows that looked out toward the sea.

The hotel bar had a good atmosphere, with live music and EUR 5.00 cocktails. We noticed a few guests with what appeared to be ‘all-inclusive’ wristbands. I asked about these and it turned out they were on an all-inclusive deal arranged by the UK Saga Holidays tour operator. This included lunch, plus wine at the table and free drinks in the bar. I enquired about upgrading to this option but was told it was only for Saga – I’ll definitely compare Saga against other deals next time.

There are three dine around restaurants; Mamma Mia (Italian), Casa das Espetadas (Madeira) and Koi (Japanese). Guests can choose the ‘half-board’ set menu or à la carte with a EUR 15 credit.

We looked at Koi and it appeared to be mostly sushi – I love sushi but maybe as a starter, I’d like a Japanese table barbeque or a teppanyaki grill rather than just sushi. It was still on our list until we tried Mamma Mia and decided that if they couldn’t manage Italian, they’d really struggle with Japanese.

I used the laundry service for some shirts – I think it was about EUR 7.00. The hotel has a self-service laundry on the third floor of Tower 2. I should say that I think this a great idea as nobody wants to pay 3 Euros to have a pair of socks laundered. The laundry has a washing machine, tumble dryer and ironing board.

However, there wasn’t any obvious instructions as to what we should do or how we should pay. We met a lady there who was attempting to dry some clothes in the dryer. She explained that they had to buy a token for the dryer from reception and was already on her third token as the clothes weren’t dry. Also after starting the dryer, the door locked until the time was up. The washing machine was free and even had an automatic feed of liquid. We set our washing going, returned after an hour and used the washing line over the bath to dry things.

Included with our room was a daily litre bottle of water. This almost never appeared and so we left a note on the bed each day ‘Por favor, deixe uma garrafa de água’ and that resolved the issue.

It’s quite a long walk from the hotel into Funchal town – coming back would be all uphill (save your legs for lavadas). The hotel runs a shuttle, but I think it only does a morning and afternoon run. There is a public bus stop nearby. The hotel reception sells daily and multi-day bus tickets and you can just swipe these when you board the bus (10 minute ride into Funchal town).

We hired a car for a couple of days and were able to access the hotel car park for free – just swiped our room key at the barrier.

The Wi-Fi in our room and throughout the hotel was very good – much better than I was expecting.

Our return flight was not until 18:00 and the front desk were good enough to extend our checkout time until 14:00.

We really enjoyed our stay at this hotel and would definitely return.

VidaMar Resort Hotel
Estrada Monumental 175-177
Funchal 9000-100
(+351) 291 717 700

info@madeira.vdm.pt

https://www.vidamarresorts.com/resort-madeira/en/

Jurys Inn Status – don’t get too excited about it!

24 Friday Feb 2017

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Jurys Inn are a mid-range hotel group with hotels in the United Kingdom, Ireland and one in Prague, Czech Republic.

They typically offer three types of room:

  • Standard: These rooms have a really small bed – I wouldn’t call it a double, more like a large single. Included are tea and coffee making facilities, a small sofa and a TV with plenty of freeview channels.
  • Superior: These rooms have a king-sized bed and include the ‘Superior Package: extra pillows, larger towels, complimentary mineral water & biscuits, iron and ironing board, newspaper, 10% lunch/dinner discount during your stay, early check-in from 12pm, late check-out until 2pm and daily complimentary regular size Costa coffee per guest during your stay. Plus tea and coffee making facilities.
  • Executive: These rooms have a king-sized bed in-room safe, a mini fridge, Gilchrist and Soames toiletries, premium WiFi, flat screen tv with a Sky TV package including movies & sports, magazines, daily newspaper, iron and ironing board, mineral water and biscuits. Plus tea and coffee making facilities.

Jurys Inn also operate a loyalty scheme, with three levels:

jurys-status-levels

Floor 1 – Stay up to 5 nights a year – so basically just the entry level
Floor 2 – Stay between 5 and 20 nights a year
Floor 3 – Stay over 20 nights a year

Floor 2 and 3 are very similar. When you reach these levels, there isn’t a welcome email, a new card nor any change to the appearance of your account on their website. You pretty much have to guess your status.

What appears to be the biggest benefit of Floor 2 or 3 status is the guaranteed superior room package. However, this doesn’t get you a superior room, just a standard room with mineral water & biscuits, iron and ironing board, newspaper, 10% lunch/dinner discount during your stay, early check-in from 12pm, late check-out until 2pm and daily complimentary regular size Costa coffee per guest during your stay.

Floor 3 adds a free drink from the bar – you may even receive a double shot depending on the person serving.

When I reached Floor 3, I thought that I might be offered the occasional upgrade – at least to a superior room with the larger bed. Sadly that hasn’t been the case at the Jurys Inn Watford – I’ve asked on check in and they, rather snootily, advised that if I wanted a superior room then I should pay for it!

I have a booking at another Jurys Inn in about a month, so I’ll update this article to reflect what happens there.

Mercure Tokyo Ginza, Japan

13 Sunday Nov 2016

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We stayed three nights and a full day here at the end of October 2016. We actually booked four nights so we could stay in our room until early evening – then take a 22:00 flight to Sydney.

I only have basic loyalty status with Accor Hotels and so didn’t expect any special treatment. As it was we had a decent room (although not upgraded) and enjoyed our stay in what proved to be a good location.

The hotel doesn’t have a reception at ground level, you need to take the elevator one floor up. One floor below is a metro line, but that line didn’t seem to be useful for getting anywhere and we usually walked to a nearby metro station on a different line.

The entrance is down the side street to the right of hotel as seen in the picture below.

mercure-02

The reception desk were helpful and spoke English. As we’d arrived late afternoon, our room was ready.

mercure-01

As you can see it wasn’t anything special, but it was more than we expected after reading about small rooms in Japan. We were completely spoiled by our next room in the Hilton Osaka and so I’m glad we did this first.

There was a safe, tea/coffee, kettle, really small tea cups and a mini bar, although I could see a miniature Jack Daniels whisky was 1200 Yen – the local convenience store was selling half bottles of Suntory whisky for 500 Yen so better to walk around the corner and pick one up from there.

The bathroom was a decent size, shower over a bath, heated mirror and a Japanese electronic toilet. The shower feed was from two separate taps and not a mixer tap or shower control, something I thought was peculiar to England, so it was difficult to get the shower at the right temperature.

The towels were always smelly after use and so we were always leaving them on the floor for replacement each day.

The free Wi-Fi worked well as did the room air con.

Breakfast was included in our rate. The small breakfast room is on the same floor as reception. We never had a problem getting a table and the staff were friendly. There was a good selection of both Western and Japanese food, plus some weird mixtures such as scrambled eggs next to spaghetti bolognaise.

mecrure-03

One reason for choosing this hotel was the location. It was great to be able to walk around the local area, luxury shopping streets, not far from the famous fish market and easy to pick up a metro and go sightseeing.

While we were staying, there was something going on at the nearby junction. This didn’t disturb us but I thought it funny how many people they had managing the traffic at what is a reasonably quiet street. Here’s a video:

Checkout was smooth and the receptionist was also able to arrange for our large suitcase to be delivered to the Hilton Osaka for the equivalent of $60 which I think was pretty good value. I think most hotels in Japan will arrange this service for you, but you must have a reservation at your destination hotel in order to send.

I’d certainly recommend this hotel if you are looking for a base for sightseeing in Tokyo.

Mercure Tokyo Ginza
2-9-4 Ginza – Chuo ku
1040061  TOKYO – JAPAN

Tel : (+81)3/43351111 – Fax : (+81)3/43351222

Mail : H5701-RE1@accor.com

http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-5701-mercure-tokyo-ginza/index.shtml

Royal Park Hotel The Haneda, Tokyo, Japan

12 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by in Hotels

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The Royal Park Hotel is part of the new Haneda International Airport complex. Unlike many airport hotels, the Royal Park is only steps away from the departures hall. The monorail (you can use your JR Railways pass) stops at the International Terminal and is also just a short walk away.

Apparently there is another entrance to the hotel airside – so connecting passengers don’t even need to clear customs and immigration. Both sides are obviously kept separate.

We stayed one night in the landside half of the hotel as we were flying out of Haneda the next morning.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much, perhaps a small basic room with a small bed. And that was fine for the price – just somewhere to sleep before our flight. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel was actually pretty good.

Check in was smooth and the man on the desk said he’d given us a larger room. We took the elevator to our floor and realised that our room was at the end of a long corridor.

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When we arrived the room had a large bed and a small separate lounge area.

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Pyjamas were laid out nicely on the bed (better than the picture above).

The bathroom had a typical electronic toilet, shower and washbasin with multiple amenities, including toothbrushes, razors etc.

We went for a walk around the terminal as I’d heard there were some good restaurants there – in fact there was an entire Japanese-themed walk, with plenty of great restaurants.

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We ate in Yaki Niku Champion 焼肉チャンピオン 羽田店 which was excellent.

Back in our room, the pillows were a little strange – they felt like they’d been stuffed with small rocks. The bed was maybe too hard for some. But we had a good night’s sleep and were ready for our flight the next morning.

We didn’t have breakfast in the hotel as we were expecting to eat this in the ANA Lounge – sadly that was a mistake and the ANA lounge had the same food as in the evening.

I’d definitely recommend booking a night at the Royal Park if you are flying out of Haneda early – or even arriving late and want to rest before starting your Japanese journey.

http://www.rph-the.co.jp/haneda/en/