Tag Archives: hotel

Hilton Hotel, Nuremberg, Germany

12 Friday Oct 2018

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Our stay at the Hilton Nuremberg was part of our German Road trip (that page has links to all the hotels, restaurants and places visited).

The Hilton Nuremberg is one those classic out-of-the-centre, middle-of-nowhere, Hiltons – ideal when you are driving as the car park was large and parking free.

Let’s start by saying that this hotel shouldn’t be a Hilton – maybe a Hilton Garden Inn at best. If it had a twin, then it would be the Hilton Watford, England. However, the rates are very cheap – you can get around 75 € per night. For HHonors Gold/Diamond members, a snack, a drink and breakfast are free, making that 75 € good value.

The hotel is walking distance to the old rally grounds and what is called ‘The Documentation Centre’, but is 20 minutes by bus from the city centre.

Next door was a local football stadium and I could see their pitch from the windows at the rear of the hotel.

The check-in desk staff were friendly, helpful and spoke English. They gave us vouchers to redeem at the bar and the help-yourself snack bar. The snack bar was almost empty, with hardly anything left from the menu to choose from.

Our ‘upgraded'(!) bedroom was okay for one night. The bathroom was hot, tiny, drains a bit smelly with a noisy extractor fan.

The hotel bar/restaurant was mostly empty. The bar staff really inattentive – obviously bored to be there, but not bored enough to serve customers.

We ate at the nearby Valzner Weiher Restaurant. There’s also a Burger King (turn right out of the hotel to the next traffic junction) which is housed in an old generator building used to power the floodlights at the nearby rally grounds.

Breakfast was better, with fresh orange juice, sparkling wine, all the usual pastries and hot food, including local sausages. For those whose rate didn’t include breakfast, the price was 24 € – at that price, you’d be better walking to Burger King.

There is no direct bus connection from the hotel to the Documentation Centre – you’d need to head back into the centre and then back out again. It’s about 30 minutes walk, but halfway there you can see the old rally grounds and then walk around a nice lake.

If you are on driving to Nuremberg and your main focus is to visit the Documentation Centre then this hotel will be okay – otherwise choose something in the city centre.

HILTON NUREMBERG HOTEL
VALZNERWEIHERSTRASSE 200,
90480, NUREMBERG,
GERMANY

TEL: +49-911-4029 0

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/bavaria/hilton-nuremberg-hotel-NUEHIHI/index.html

Hotel AlpinaRos – Demming, Berchtesgaden, Germany

03 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Hotels, Sightseeing

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Our stay at the Hotel AlpinaRos – Demming was part of our German Road trip (that page has links to all the hotels, restaurants and places visited).

Hotels in Berchtesgaden are expensive compared to the other German cities that we visited. The best hotel is the Kempinski but you’ll need to pay at least 200 € without breakfast to stay there.

The AlpinaRos – Demming looked like the next best place for our one night stay. Two rooms (one double and one single) with breakfast cost us 250 €.

We arrived on a rainy afternoon in Berchtesgaden, having driven straight from our visit to the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. We managed to find a parking space – there are only a few spaces and I’d recommend paying an extra 5 € for one of the hotel garage spaces.

The man at reception spoke English and, sort of, guided us to our rooms. I say, sort of, as he pointed to the stairs and said our room was on the top floor. It was only later, having carried our bags up, that I discovered that there was an elevator!

The room was okay.

The bathroom was small but modern.

There was a small terrace, with views of Berchtesgaden. Despite the cold weather and pouring rain, a wasp buzzed me while I took these pictures.

There was also a small garden.

The hotel didn’t seem to have any food nor drink, although there was an unattended bar. We were also told that reception closed at 8pm and we’d need to use a key for the rear door to return. So it was that later that evening, still with rain pouring down, we found our way back inside after a pretty poor dinner in the local Mount Everest Indian Restaurant.

Check out was a ridiculous 10am. The breakfast was pretty basic – some cold cuts, scrambled eggs and sausages.

I didn’t hate this hotel, but I only stayed one night. I realise that small hotels have limited staff, but this has 80 rooms. For that many guests, I’d expect at least a hotel bar, a reception open later than 8pm and a later check out time. I got the feeling that the place was run more for the benefit of the staff/owners rather than the guests.

Nonetheless, I expect the other hotels in Berchtesgaden are similar – just book whatever price suits you, as you’ll be out all day sightseeing anyway.

AlpinaRos Demming
Sunklergässchen 2
83471 Berchtesgaden
Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 8652 9610

E-Mail: info@alpinaros.de

https://www.alpina-hotels.de/demming/

Hilton Hotel, Berlin, Germany

30 Thursday Aug 2018

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The Hilton Berlin was the start point for our German Road trip (that page has links to all the hotels, restaurants and places visited).

The hotel isn’t that expensive, but is a proper five-star Hilton – it’s on a quiet street directly opposite the Cathedral.

I checked in two rooms, one as a Diamond (me) and one as a Gold HHonors Member – oddly the Gold was upgraded to a corner suite on the second floor and Diamond to a king room on the executive floor. I sneakily swapped room keys and took the suite. the suite was huge with a large lounge area, separate bedroom, bathroom and toilet. The bedroom felt a little small, but only because it was just a bedroom. The bathroom was also a standard size – all the space was given to the lounge area. But I’m not complaining.

The view from the window was pretty good.

The Executive Lounge was large, nicely decorated and had a good selection of drinks and hot/cold snacks.

As my Son wouldn’t arrive until 22:30, I went for a swim (spa is free for Diamond members) – I was able to wear my room bathrobe and slippers and take a dedicated elevator to the spa. The pool was pretty good and mostly empty at 21:00.

My Son arrived and ordered a burger from the lounge bar – it was quite expesnive at around 25 Euros, but was a good burger.

Breakfast in the first floor restaurant was excellent – sparkling wine included.

We really enjoyed our two night stay and would certainly stay again.

Hilton Berlin
MOHRENSTRASSE 30,
10117, BERLIN
GERMANY

TEL: +49-30-202300

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/berlin/hilton-berlin-BERHITW/index.html

Loch Fyne Hotel and Spa, Inveraray, Argyll, Scotland

31 Tuesday Jul 2018

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We booked a standard room for two nights at the Loch Fyne Hotel (Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd July). Once past Glasgow, the road becomes a winding scenic single carriageway – so plan extra time for the slower roads and inevitable stops for photographs.

Inveraray is a small picturesque town ruined by a gaudy fairground attraction sitting on the green by the Loch. The hotel is just a few minutes drive away – far enough that the fairground isn’t visible.

The entrance hall had a classic Scottish manor house feel.

We checked in and climbed the stairs to our room.

We were delighted to find that we’d been upgraded to the Lagavulin Suite – all the suites are named after famous whiskies. Strangely, the receptionist hadn’t mentioned our upgrade, but we soon realised that we had probably the best room in the hotel.

The bed was a good size. Behind the bed were some steps up to small seat where you could sit and look out upon the Loch.

There was a sofa and table with complimentary fruit and water. I think a nice touch, especially for those who actually booked a suite, would be to leave a small Lagavulin, or whatever whisky the room was named after.

The bathroom was nicely appointed (separate bath and shower), although there were minimal toiletries and no box of tissues. I also found that the cold tap produced hot water until it was run for several minutes – pipes too close together. This also meant the shower was scolding hot unless the cold tap had been left to run cold.

There was a safe in the room, sadly too small for a laptop. The set up method was more complicated than the usual ‘reset, enter new code, lock’ and meant that I accidentally locked the safe without a code set – the receptionist came and unlocked the safe with a key.

There was a trouser press in the room. I’d love to meet the salesman from Corby who managed to convince so many hotels to purchase such a useless item.

We were on a bed and breakfast rate and had made dinner reservations on check in.

The restaurant was quite spacious. The taster menu was included and had most of the food we would have chosen anyway – well except scallops for which we paid £5 per person extra.

We chose a bottle of 2015 ‘Killerman’s Run’ Australian Shiraz for £43 (shop price £17). I must admit to not paying attention when a bottle of South African Meerlust Rubicon 2014 arrived – it was a lovely wine and it was only when I came to write this review that I discovered that it was one above our choice on the wine list and was listed at £75 a bottle (shop price £27 so quite a hefty mark-up). We were only charged £43 and so it looks like the staff, who apart from the maître d’ were all pretty amateur, had mistakenly upgraded us.

Dishes were presented without any announcement – they were just plonked in front of us by one of the waiting staff, who immediately walked away. This wouldn’t have been such an issue, except that our bread and butter pudding was delivered as the second course, just after the scallops. We had to wave someone down and the pudding disappeared back to the kitchen. It looked good and was when we finally got another chance to eat it later that evening.

I don’t seem to have any pictures of the other courses, but everything was delicious. They obviously have a good chef, just need to work on their waiting staff.

Breakfast was excellent; cold pastries, meats and fruits and cooked to order breakfast. I chose my favourite – Eggs Royale with a side of black pudding. It looked so good that I cut into it before remembering to take a picture.

Dinner the following evening was slightly less impressive. We’d eaten our amuse-bouche and starter before the wine arrived – correct bottle this time. The food was still good, although our crème brûlée wasn’t set and the top hadn’t been caramelised. The waitress did offer to replace it, but we were tired, full and didn’t bother.

We discovered that check out was 11am. I really don’t approve of hotels setting a check out time earlier than noon. As it was we were granted a ‘late’ check out and left at noon.

We enjoyed our stay and I’d certainly recommend this hotel despite the few shortcomings that they need to work on; bathroom amenities, cold water plumbing, restaurant staff training, noon checkout as standard.

I’ve posted pictures of the surrounding area at the end of this review.

Loch Fyne Hotel & Spa
Inveraray
Argyll
Scotland
PA32 8XT

https://www.crerarhotels.com/loch-fyne-hotel-spa

01499 302980

 

 

 

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Kingston upon Thames, England

03 Tuesday Jul 2018

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The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel is quite new to Kingston. We decided to stay there one Saturday night in June 2018 as we were meeting friends in nearby Surbiton.

The hotel was in the news recently as the extended family of Meghan Markle stayed there during the Royal Wedding – they weren’t invited to the wedding. Apparently Meghan’s nephew Tyler Dooley, 25, admitted to the doorman at the nearby Bacchus nightclub that he had a knife and tried to hand it over. He was with his girlfriend, brother TJ and his mother Tracey. The UK newspapers loved the story and chased the family into a cleaner’s cupboard at the hotel.

Check in was friendly. We were upgraded as Hilton Diamond members plus given a voucher for two free drinks at the bar. We were also given two delicious cookies.

The room was pretty good.

As was the bathroom.

The view from the window.

The hotel is just a minutes walk, via a small tunnel, to the Bentall Shopping Centre. Then less than ten minutes to the river, with plenty of riverside restaurants and bars to choose from.

As Diamond members, the breakfast was included – I think it was around £14. The buffet was pretty good, although I was disappointed to see that premium items, such as eggs benedict were chargeable – if I had paid for breakfast then I’d be pretty upset about that.

It was a hot day and so the restaurant windows had been opened – and that’s never a good idea when there is a buffet and flies can then get in.

We were given a late checkout (1.30pm).

We enjoyed our one-night stay and would definitely consider returning.

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
1 Skerne Road,
Kingston upon Thames
KT2 5FJ,
United Kingdom

TEL: +44-203-0960099

http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-london-kingston-upon-thames-LONKTDI/index.html

Pestana Columbos Hotel, Porto Santo Island

24 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Hotels, Restaurants and Bars

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The Pestana Colombos is located on the Island of Porto Santo, on the archipelago of Madeira. The hotel is effectively on a sandy beach which stretches for 9km. The hotel is named after Christopher Columbus who lived on Porto Santo for a short time.

We spent a week at the excellent Vidamar Hotel in Madeira and decided to extend our holiday with four days at the Columbos – Friday to Tuesday in May. The Columbos is an all-inclusive hotel – four nights booked direct on the Pestana website cost 885.40 EUR.

There are two routes from Funchal, Madeira to Porto Santo; an almost daily Porto Santo Line ferry which leaves at either 08:00 or 19:00, takes 2 hours and 15 minutes and costs 58 EUR return or a 10 minute flight with SevenAir Aero VIP for which we paid 83 EUR return. The ferry appears  to be ridiculously overpriced.

It was just 10 minutes by taxi to the hotel, which has automated high gates, not just a barrier, that allow access before you reach the entrance. We arrived about 13.15.

The reception was empty – not surprising as no other flights had landed.

Check in was quick and we were allocated a standard room (the class we’d booked) despite the hotel being at low occupancy. The title ‘standard’ doesn’t do the room justice as it was exceedingly well appointed; heavy wood, card-operated, entrance door, marble floors, large designer bath, bathrobes, slippers, Bang & Olufsen TV, good free Wi-Fi, mini bar pre-stocked with complimentary drinks and a large terrace.

Only thing missing were tea/coffee making facilities – we found the same missing in the Pestana Casino Park in Madeira.

We quickly left to walk around to the Sister Hotel – Pestana Porto Santo – for lunch. There is only a snack bar open in the Columbos at lunchtime. That may change when occupancy is high.

We were disappointed to find a queue for the restaurant.

We later discovered that the hotel shuttle bus to the main town, returns passengers at around 13.40 and that causes a last minute rush for the restaurant.

The restaurant was a bit of a zoo, crowded, not enough space between tables, not enough space around the buffet, noisy, plenty of children – we found that tables outside on the terrace were much better. The food was okay, but nothing amazing. Bottled water and wine were served at our table. The wine was good quality. All the staff were really friendly, although rushed off their feet.

It is also possible to skip the restaurant lunch and just pick up hot and cold snacks from around the bar areas of each hotel.

After lunch, we had some time to look at the Porto Santo Hotel.

The pools were too cold to swim in. We had a look at the adults-only spa, which looked beautiful.

The water was a little cold, but the weather outside wasn’t that warm and I believe they rely on the Sun to heat rooftop radiators.

On our walk back to the Columbos, we stopped by guest services, where they can book dinner at one of three table service restaurants; Mediterranean, Madeirian and Japanese. Imagine our disappointment when we were told that as guests for four nights, we could only choose to eat one night in the table service restaurants. TUI package guests staying seven nights can choose three. Our disappointment was further compounded when we discovered that only one restaurant per night was open, none on Mondays and all were booked. Our preference was for Koi, the Japanese Restaurant on Sunday night, but the guest services lady offered to also try and get us a table in the Maderian on Saturday.

On Saturday we received a reservation for 21.30 which was too late for us. We re-visited guest services and explained that time was unsuitable and we’d like to try for Koi on Sunday – sadly we were never offered a reservation there. I visited the front desk to complain and after explaining the issue to a number of different employees, I finally met the Hotel Manager, Angela Quintal, who apologised and we agreed a small reduction to our final bill.

We checked out the Columbos indoor swimming pool. Sadly it was nowhere near as opulent as the Porto Santo version – but was much warmer. This also meant that it was full of families and excited children.

The beach is accessed via a number of attractive bridges.

Halfway across the bridge, I could see hotel sun loungers. Although these don’t have a view to the Sea, they are free and also sheltered from the wind.

The beach is beautiful.

Sadly the Sea was very cold and the beach very windy. The sunbeds are chargeable, which I thought was pretty cheeky.

There is a free shuttle to the town of Porto Santo. This turned out to be a coach. The driver took us to a parking lot, where we swapped the coach for an open-deck version. He then went back to the Porto Santo Hotel and picked up passengers from there. The town was quaint, but there wasn’t really much to see. We took the coach back to arrive at 13.40 and so faced queues again at the lunch buffet.

The Columbos opened its buffet restaurant for the evening. This was so much nicer than the Porto Santo, with plenty of space and better quality food. All the staff were really friendly.

The downsides were:

  • Restaurant opens at 18.30 and closes the doors to new diners at 19.30. It then re-opens at 20.30. I can almost understand this two-sittings rule when the hotel is full, but the dining room was always half empty when we were there.
  • Tables are very close together and we were heavily dissuaded from sitting at tables laid for four.

Bottled water and wine were served at our table. The wine was good quality.The staff were really friendly.

Following dinner, we headed to the Columbos Bar. The staff were friendly and service was quick. The spirits/liquor were unknown brands, not top-shelf and while these are fine for making cocktails, you would be disappointed with a straight whiskey. There was a great singer.

Breakfast in the Coumbos restaurant was pretty good, with an egg/omelette station. The downside was that tea and coffee weren’t served at the table and guests had to queue for an automatic Nescafe machine. Good Barista-style coffee was available from the Columbos day and evening bars – not sure about the Porto Santo bars.

The Columbos rooms are arranged in a quadrangle. The central atrium is a comfortable sun trap, chairs with plenty of cushions and not windy.

We asked to view the superior rooms. The Sea view rooms were the same as ours, faced the pool area and the Sea in the distance. This was the view.

So I wouldn’t bother paying extra for a Sea-view room.

The suites occupy the four corners of the hotel quadrangle. They have two bedrooms and a separate lounge. They would be ideal for families.

Again, not really worth the extra expense for a couple, but of course accept a free upgrade!

We visited the Porto Santo entertainment area. The animation staff were all very keen and the children loved all the dancing that was encouraged. But the whole place felt a bit more like a British holiday camp – the Columbos Bar was much better, but I guess it depends what you are looking for.

During my conversation with Angela, the Hotel Manager, I raised the following:

  • I couldn’t see how the hotel could make money, only open half the year, with so much spent on room furnishings. Angela explained that the original builders had gone bankrupt and Pestana were renting the property from the bank, who had foreclosed.
  • That the Columbos should be an adults-only hotel. Angela advised that a third hotel was under construction and that when complete, the Columbos could be made adults only.
  • That the two hotel spas were the wrong way around – although there isn’t much that can be done about that.

Bug Report May 2018: Just like Madeira, I wasn’t bothered by any insects at all. No wasps, flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes – nothing 🙂

Would we return? We mostly enjoyed our stay, but probably not. There are plenty of high-end, all inclusive resorts that offer better value, more dine-around choices, top-shelf spirits and also a warm, calm Sea. For example, you would be better paying a little more for a week at the Barceló Dominican Republic.

Pestana Columbos Hotel
Estrada Regional 171,
Sitio do Campo de Baixo , 9400-242 ,
Porto Santo

+351291144050

https://www.pestana.com/uk/hotel/pestana-colombos

Terasa U Prince (rooftop terrace), Prague, Czech Republic

19 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by in Restaurants and Bars, Travel News & Tips

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The bars and restaurants that line the Old Town Square (Staroměstské nám.) are typically for tourists and usually over-priced. You should be able to find a 0.5l of Czech beer in the centre of Prague for 35Kč – on the square you could easily pay over 100Kč.

As a result, I’ve tended to avoid those places, including the Hotel U Prince. However, on Monday this week, I found myself sitting on their rooftop terrace drinking a ‘one for the road’ 115Kč 0.5l beer. And I do it again.

Hotel U Prince has street-level tables outside, opposite the town hall and astronomical clock. It’s easy to miss the hotel entrance that leads to what looked like a good cocktail bar (https://www.blackangelsbar.com/ but didn’t try yet) and then to a rooftop terrace bar and restaurant.

It was around 22.30 when we wandered into the hotel entrance. Disappointingly the elevator was out of order – or perhaps they just told us that on the basis that if we were too drunk to climb the stairs, we wouldn’t be welcome on the terrace!

The hotel reception desk looked like something out of the movie ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’.

Although the elevator would have been easier, we were able to see interesting parts of the hotel.

Several exhausting flights of stairs later and we found ourselves on the roof terrace. The terrace has a glass roof and heaters. The views to Prague Castle and the Old Town Square were amazing. We just had beer but the place also operates as a restaurant.

The terrace was almost empty and we wondered if this hidden gem was so hidden that nobody visited. We asked about weekends and our waitress said they were fully booked.

We vainly tried the elevator down button and then set about walking back down the stairs.

I’m sure I’ll be back and it’s also a great place to take friends who are visiting Prague – but only if the elevator is working.

Hotel U Prince
Staroměstské náměstí 29

Open daily:
11:00 – 23:30

management@hoteluprince.com
+420 737 261 842

https://www.terasauprince.com/terrace

Hilton Molino Stucky Hotel, Venice, Italy

28 Wednesday Mar 2018

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For our two-night trip to Venice we chose the Hilton on Giudecca Island – just across the canal from the main city of Venice. The reasons for our choice:

  • Giudecca Island looked like a peaceful haven, away from the busy tourist area and with some good restaurants.
  • The additional benefits offered to HHonors Platinum card holders; upgraded room, lounge access, breakfast.

We landed at Venice Marco Polo airport and had pre-paid for return boat tickets (25 EUR per person) to Giudecca as part of the Venice Unica City Pass: https://www.veneziaunica.it/en/e-commerce/services

The walk from the airport to the quay is short and there are moving walkways.

There was a queue waiting to board our (Alilaguna Blue Line) boat. Boarding completed leaving several people still in front of us. So we had to wait maybe 20 minutes for the next boat. When you board the boat, you need to go down steps into the front or rear compartment – it would be difficult for anyone infirm or disabled to board. The boat left, still with many seats free, but with people left behind on the quayside.

The trip to Giudecca takes 1 hour and 40 minutes, stopping at several places along the way. We started to think about a private taxi for our return.

We were the only passengers left when the boat arrived at Giudecca – as close to the Hilton entrance as you can get.

There was a queue for check in and no priority line for HHonors members. The receptionist was really friendly, spoke to us in English and advised that we’d been upgraded to an Executive Room with view.

Our room was nicely appointed and had a great view.

There wasn’t the usual two complimentary bottles of water – although these were left the next morning. I would have preferred a dedicated shower rather than a bath with shower.

The Executive Lounge ‘Happy Hour’ was 5-7pm – quite an early start and finish compared to other Hiltons. The lounge is on the ground floor of the hotel and is a effectively a narrow corridor, separated from the bar area, with tables squeezed either side.

The food and drink selection was the worst I’ve ever experienced in a Hilton lounge; no strong alcohol like Whisky, Cognac, Vodka, a really poor food selection, the single hot choice was inedible fried mozzarella balls. The red wine was poor quality. The only positive thing was a small table with prosecco, soda water and Aperol where you could make yourself an Aperol Spritz cocktail.

Later, we decided to take a walk along the promenade (turn right as you leave the hotel entrance). The hotel looked majestic and beautifully illuminated.

Giudecca is a lovely peaceful island and we found an excellent restaurant called Majer.

The following day we headed to the Il Molino Restaurant for breakfast. The receptionist advised that breakfast wasn’t included until I explained that I was a Diamond member. We were seated, ordered coffee and went to the buffet. On our return, another couple had taken our table – our coffee was just arriving and there was some confusion until the couple decided to move.

The buffet was very good, although there wasn’t an omelette station.

In a corridor, just outside of the buffet room, I found two lonely mini-buffets; Arabic and Chinese. It was clear that nobody knew these existed.

I was initially excited until I found that there wasn’t anything of interest – the Chinese wasn’t dim sum, just fried rice.

We took the hotel shuttle boat to the main island – the hotel adds 7.50 EUR per person, per stay, for unlimited use of the shuttle. We were lucky to make it on board as there were more passengers waiting than could be accommodated (max. 39). I would have been pretty cross had we not been able to board, with a 40 minute wait for the next boat. The trip to San Marco took 15 minutes.

We had a wonderful day in Venice (review shortly) and returned on the 5pm shuttle – which we lucky to board as it was almost full.

One additional HHonors Diamond benefit was 2 hours access to the Spa. The hotel is huge and it was quite a walk through a labyrinth of corridors and stairs (in hotel slippers and bathrobes!) before we found the Spa. We really shouldn’t have bothered. There was a small Jacuzzi, a mixed wet steam sauna plus men- and women-only saunas. There was also a relaxation room with a few beds with water and tea available. I didn’t check on the gym.

We visited the Skyline Rooftop Bar. The rooftop pool was closed for maintenance work. The bar had two open-air terraces with good views.

On our second breakfast visit, the waitress asked if I would like an omelette or poached eggs – I asked if I could have Eggs Benedict and was delighted to find that I could. What arrived wasn’t a bad attempt, but couldn’t really be described as Eggs Benedict.

Checkout time was 11am – I hadn’t even realised and checked out just before noon. There was a queue for checkout.

We had decided to use our return Alilaguna tickets, rather than pay the 130 EUR private taxi quoted by the hotel concierge. The return trip was still 1 hour and 40 minutes, but the time went quicker than on the outbound.

The airport security was fast and we were soon in the excellent Marco Polo lounge – open to Lounge/Priority Pass holders.

Pros:
I love the Giudecca Island location and the views from the room.
The breakfast was pretty good.
The hotel is spotless and looks great illuminated at night.

Cons:
The Executive Lounge: The biggest improvement the hotel could make would be relocate the executive lounge to a larger area on a higher floor and provide a better selection of food and drinks over a longer ‘Happy Hour’. I’m sure that all Hilton hotels hate to provide free food and drinks, but that is part of the deal – a deal that this hotel is not honouring.
Check-in: Needs more staff and a dedicated HHonors desk.
Spa: Needs at least a hydrotherapy pool, otherwise it’s just a Jacuzzi and a sauna.

I would be happy to stay at this hotel again if the price was right.

HILTON MOLINO STUCKY VENICE
GIUDECCA 810, VENICE, 30133, ITALY

TEL: +39-041-2723311

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/italy/hilton-molino-stucky-venice-VCEHIHI/index.html

How secure is the safe in your hotel room?

25 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by in Hotels, Security

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I’ve seen a number of stories over the years regarding the security of hotel safes. These are the keypad operated safes that you find in most hotel rooms – you press reset, enter your own code, close the safe and press close. Obviously the hotel has a secret code that can also open the safe – otherwise the safe would be unusable if you forgot your code. That means someone in the hotel can open your room safe, although we hope that the secret code is kept secret.

The safes tend to be stand alone and battery operated. That’s probably a good idea as otherwise your valuables would be inaccessible during a power outage. Equally this means they aren’t connected to a centralised system, where each safe can have it’s own secret code. My guess is that the same secret code is used for all the room safes – can you imagine a hotel bothering to keep a log of secret codes, different for every safe?

But imagine if the hotel didn’t bother setting the secret code for every safe that was installed. What if they left the default code set by the manufacturer? The video below is by a YouTube user called ‘LockPickingLawyer’:

I’ve no idea if pressing # twice followed by a series of 0s, 123456 or (Hitler’s Password) 999999 will actually work, although I intend to try next time I’m in a hotel room with a safe. If you decide to experiment with your hotel room safe, don’t store your valuables, nor a bottle of Lagavulin – just in case there is some security lock out and you can’t get back in.

Even if the hotel has changed the default to their own secret code, your room safe is only as secure as the security procedures within the hotel.

Obviously any potential thief also has to gain access to your room, but that includes cleaners, maintenance and turn down service. In the past you could leave ‘do not disturb’ on the door handle, but following the gun attack from a hotel room in Las Vegas, hotels have stated that they can ignore those signs if the room is reported inaccessible for over a day.

The good news is that in all my hotel stays across the world, I’ve never had anyone steal anything from a room safe.

Midtown Grill Restaurant, Christmas Brunch, Prague, Czech Republic

20 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Restaurants and Bars

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The Midtown Grill is part of the Prague Marriott Hotel. The Marriott is opposite the Hilton on V Celnici street in central Prague. It’s been several years since we had brunch at the Marriott – that experience wasn’t bad, but was nowhere near as good as the Zinc Restaurant brunch in the Hilton. Both run an all-you-eat Sunday brunch with unlimited wine, beer, soft drinks and hot beverages.

A combination of the Hilton being full on Sunday 17th and that we will be at the Hilton brunch soon, meant that we booked the Marriott. It was much better than last time. Here is the entrance to the hotel:

The lobby had a large gingerbread house:

On our last visit, all the tables were in the main restaurant. This time the restaurant had been extended to include tables and some food options in the bar area:

One thing the Marriott does better than the Hilton is large round tables. The Hilton restaurant is not set up for large groups and you end up in on a long table, often broken into 3s and 4s, which makes seating and conversations difficult.

Doors opened just after noon (Hilton is 12:30) and we were ushered to our large (for 8) people in the main restaurant. There isn’t a cloakroom as in the Hilton, but there were plenty of coat stands. The waiter was quick to pour us prosecco and they also had non-alcoholic sparkling wine which the Hilton doesn’t offer. Bottles of still and sparking water were already on our table.

The main buffet was still in a small bleak room and there were only a couple of hot dishes available, plus the carvery – something we didn’t like on our previous visit:

There were plenty of prawns and some oysters – but not half lobsters that grace the Hilton buffet.

In the bar/lobby area was a sushi bar:

There was also a pancake station and a large selection of puddings – being seasoned buffet visitors, we snagged the crème brûlées in advance as they are always the first to go. There wasn’t any traditional English Christmas pudding – that reminded me to ask the Hilton if they could put this on their menu and they said yes!

There was live music, but only in the bar area – so if you would like music, ask for a bar area table.

Santa visited tables, engaging both the adults and children:

All children were given a pack of sweets:

The carvery meat was still hot when I finally visited around 2pm:

I’ve mentioned several times to the Hilton that their carvery meat goes cold, but it’s the same each year – this year they advised that the chef will make different arrangements.

The wine flowed freely. The food was all delicious. Everyone enjoyed their visit.

The price 1390Kč per person (I think children are 590Kč).

This was a much better brunch than our previous visit. I wonder if this was just a Christmas thing and that the standard brunch doesn’t extend into the bar. That would be a pity if all food was forced into the small buffet area.

We’ll be visiting the Hilton for brunch soon and I’ll review that, then create a comparison chart.

Midtown Grill Restaurant
Marriott Hotel
V Celnici 8
Praha 1, 110 00
Czech Republic

https://www.midtowngrill.cz/nedln-brunch-1