Hotel Review: Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai 和平飯店

Location: The Bund, Shanghai 

Rating: *** (3.5 out of 5)

The Peace Hotel in Shanghai comprises two buildings on the Bund separated by the bustling Nanjing Road (南京路). The one to the south was built in 1908 and was where Sun Yat-sun once stayed during the Xinhai Revolution. It is now the Swatch Art Peace Hotel. The building to the north, the prettier of the two with the signature copper pyramid top, was built in the 1920s during the Jazz Age. It is now the five-star Fairmont Peace Hotel. You may think that the Peace Hotel was so named because some important peace treaty was signed there. Not so. The twin buildings didn't carry their current name until the 1950s when the Shanghai government took over the premises. It isn't clear where the name actually came from.

The Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai

In 2007, the Fairmont Group began renovating the north tower and relaunched it as the Fairmont Peace Hotel three years later. A new wing was added while most of the original art deco architecture was kept intact. Restored to its former splendor, the grand lobby and the famous Jazz Bar will transport you back in time to the heyday of Shanghai, a time when jazz music and ballroom dancing lasted all night, when Jay Gatsby and Jake Barnes schmoozed with their party-going friends over a highball. Today, you will more likely run into local tour groups coming and going in droves. Between all the loud talking and camera flashing, peace is in short supply at the Peace Hotel.

The rooms at the newly-renovated hotel are good-sized and furnished in art deco style. A handsome writing table and a generous crescent sofa sit atop lush designer carpeting opposite a super-king poster bed. Each room is fitted with an Illy coffee machine in a well-appointed foyer area that doubles as a mini-bar. The marbled bathroom features a claw-foot tub flanked by a vanity and sink console on each side.

Guest rooms are lush and well-appointed

As is the case for many luxury hotels in China, the hardware at the Fairmont Peace Hotel is far better than the software. And by software I mean the people who work there. Many of the hotel staff look confused and act confused. The hotel manager I dealt with was abrupt and at times rude, which is upsetting and, considering the amount of effort the Fairmont Group poured into the project, also unfortunate. Hospitality is a tricky business. Hotel operators can’t buy a new staff like they do furniture and coffee machines and expect them to hit the ground running on Day One. It will be years before the customer service industry in China finally gets it right.

With new hotels popping up in Shanghai on a monthly basis, the Fairmont Peace Hotel faces stiff competition. For roughly the same price, you will find more peace and quiet as well as superior service at either the Peninsula a short walk away or the Waldorf-Astoria on the other end of the Bund.

Hardware is clearly not an issue

Hotel Review: Fairmont Singapore

Location: Raffles City, Singapore

Rating: ** (2 out of 5)

Here’s a little known fact: Four Seasons and Fairmont, two of the world’s largest luxury hotel chains, are both Canadian-owned. Headquartered in Toronto, the Fairmont group boasts an impressive collection of historic hotels across the globe. Within Canada, the group operates such national icons as Château Frontenac in Quebec City, the Royal York in Toronto and the Banff Springs in the Rockies. Outside Canada, its portfolio includes the Plaza in New York, the Savoy in London and the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. The very names of these premises evoke pageantry and timeless romance.

The Fairmont Singapore

So how does the Fairmont Singapore stack up against such an illustrious list? Well, it doesn’t. The Fairmont Singapore is made up of two towers on the intersection of North Bridge Street and Bras Brasah Road, adjacent to the Raffles City shopping center and a five-minute taxi ride from the main financial hub. Despite its central location, the hotel is dated and in desperate need of a facelift. As of now, it is just another business hotel for weary travelers to check in and check out. Look around the lobby and all you see are men and women in dark suits pulling a Tumi carry-on with one hand and thumbing a Blackberry with another.

  

The marbled lobby

If there is any doubt that the Fairmont Singapore is devoid of character, their generic guest rooms should put it to rest. The combination of cherry wood and beige upholstery is straight out of an IKEA catalog in the early 1990s. The only thing going for the room is the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the sprawling city. If you crane your neck, you will actually see the Singapore Flyer – a copycat of the London Eye – shining in the night. Although the bathroom is spacious by Singapore standard, the white tiles and glaring fluorescent lighting give it the charm of a hospital supply room.

All that, however, is assuming you get a refurbished room in the south tower. Life is so much worse if you are stuck with one of the "classic rooms" in either building. These older rooms are dark, musty and shockingly bad. They are relics from the 1960s and an embarrassment to the Fairmont name. If the front desk gives you an old room, ask for a room change immediately, even if you have to pay a bit more. It may seem like throwing good money after bad, but the alternative is unthinkable.

If this is already a refurbished room, 
imagine what an old one would look like

The Fairmont Singapore is a functional hotel. Get your room key, turn on the lights and plug in your laptop for a night of work emails and spreadsheets. Register as a Fairmont President’s Club member and get free WiFi access for your entire stay. But you won’t bat an eyelid because your company is picking up the bill anyway. You are grateful, however, that the Bose radio on the nightstand has an iPhone dock and an alarm clock that will wake you up at 7:30AM for your client meetings the next day. The Fairmont website describes the city of Singapore as a “pragmatic center of business.” It appears that the hotel itself falls squarely within that description too.

Hotel Review: Le Méridien Etoile Paris

Location: Porte Maillot, Paris

Rating: *** (3.5 out of 5)

Established by Air France in 1972, Le Méridien is a hotel chain that operates over 120 hotels worldwide. The brand’s first property was the Le Méridien Etoile – which means “star” in French – in the northwestern quadrant of Paris. The 1,000-room behemoth was created to meet the sudden surge in air travels after the Boeing 747 came on stream in the early 1970s. Today, the Star remains the largest hotel in Paris by capacity. 

The Le Méridien Etoile, Paris

In 2005, America’s Starwood Group acquired the Le Méridien brand. Soon thereafter, plans to give the Star a badly needed facelift were announced. New rooms were designed by French architect Jean Phillippe Nuel and state-of-the-art tele-presence facilities were fitted in some of its 25 conference rooms. The result? The Star is now a busy business hotel packed with conference-goers wearing name tags and pleated khakis. It is so generically American that you would be forgiven for mistaking it for the Hilton in Manhattan or the Marriott in Houston. 

The rooms at the four-star hotel are spacious, modern and comfortable by Paris standard. At roughly €150 a night, it offers good value for money, again, by Paris standard. Being on the northwest side of the city has its advantages. The Star sits atop the “1” subway line and is walking distance to Arc de Triomphe and Champs Élysées. 

Rooms are modern and comfortable

Trivial as it may sound, the fact that one of the airport shuttle buses stops across the street from the Star is a big draw to weary travelers. As any tourist in Paris would attest, lugging heavy suitcases up and down those steep staircases in the Metro and RER systems is a guaranteed back-breaking experience. No wonder many French expats living in Hong Kong are moved to tears when they first discover the Airport Express and the ingenious in-town check-in counters at the IFC and ICC.

Try carrying two suitcases up these stairs

Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza Paris

Location: République, Paris

Rating: * (1 out of 5)

Crowne Plaza is one of the several hotel brands under the Intercontinental Group. It ranks above Holiday Inn and below Intercontinental.  The Crowne Plaza at Place de la République used to be a Holiday Inn, until the hotel went through a major renovation and was rebranded several years ago. Same convenient location, different name. Same hotel, much higher prices. 

The Crowne Plaza, Paris

Crowne Plaza Paris-République is best known for its traditional Haussmann architecture and an enclosed garden designated by the French government as a “Napoleon III courtyard” (whatever that means).  Like many other unwary tourists, I was fooled by the beautiful pictures on the hotel website, only to discover upon arrival that the courtyard is off limits to most hotel guests and that the rooms are more dated than a pensione in southern Italy, minus the small town charm. To be fair, my room does have decent views of the Republic Square outside, which, through no fault of the hotel, has been boarded up for restoration works and covered in dust.

Service is non-existent at the four-star Crowne Plaza. Perhaps because labor is such a prized commodity in Paris, there is only one clerk manning the front desk at any given time. And because the French seem utterly incapable of – or simply uninterested in – multi-tasking, there is always a long line of guests snaked around the lobby. For instance, I waited 30 minutes just to return the hotel umbrella I borrowed, even though the clerk could have easily taken it off my hands while checking in another guest. Any attempt to short circuit the painful process is met with a stern “please wait!” You’ll find the same problem at the concierge desk. Need a city map? Wait in line for an hour while the concierge slowly explains the pros and cons of taking a Seine cruise to the inquisitive German couple standing in front of a dozen impatient residents ready to start a riot.

Pictures can be so deceiving

But that’s not all. The Crowne Plaza is outrageously overpriced: I paid a whopping €300 per night for my two-night stay. In exchange, I got a shoebox of a room, bad service and a sad little Ethernet cable on my desk – there was no wireless Internet access anywhere in the hotel except the lobby, even if you are willing to pay for it. There aren't many things in life I am absolutely certain about, but not going back to the Crowne Plaza is one of them.

A "blah" hotel lobby, and
the only place at the hotel with Wi-Fi access

Hotel Review: Le Scribe Paris

Location: Opéra, Paris

Rating: ** (2 out of 5)

Managed by the Sofitel hotel chain, Le Scribe touts itself as a luxury five-star hotel in the bustling Opéra district. It is housed in a 19th Century building where, in 1895, the Lumiére Brothers screened the first motion picture in history. To preserve the historic building, the hotel completed a full renovation in 2007 and added a new spa, sauna and fitness center.

Le Scribe, Paris

It all sounded very good. But when my taxi pulled up in front of the supposed five-star hotel, instead of being greeted by a bell boy, I found myself elbowing my way through a narrow foyer packed with annoyed tourists. Neither the small lobby nor the understaffed front desk is equipped to handle a high volume of guests. And so I waited, while a small village of Arab women in full headdresses argued with hotel staff in broken French and sign language. A few steps away, an Italian tour group started singing children’s songs in protest.

The undersized, understaff reception

The next shock was the room. It was so small that the only way to open my suitcase was to place it on the bed. As if to re-create the ambience of a 19th Century prison cell, the only window to the outside world was a round hole 18 inches in diameter overlooking the noisy hotel restaurant on the ground floor. It made me want to turn around and check in somewhere else. It also made me wonder about the hotel rating system in Europe.

A room without a view

The only thing going for Le Scribe, and the only reason why I didn’t give it a one-star rating, is its location. In the heart of Paris, it is walking distance to shoppers’ paradises like Galeries Lafayette and Printemps -- the Harrods and Sak’s Fifth Avenue of Paris – as well as must-see tourist sights such as Le Palais Garnier, Musée du Louvre, Place Vendôme  and Champs Élysées.

If you want to get a real five-star experience in the Opéra district and are willing to pay for it, you should know that right across the street from Le Scribe is the renowned Intercontinental Le Grand, where the who’s who of Paris can be seen getting dropped off by their limousines. Now that’s a luxury hotel.

A much more welcoming room at
the Intercontinental Le Grand across the street

Hotel Review: Intercontinental Bali

Location: Bali, Indonesia

Rating: **** (4 out of 5)

Jimbaran is a small fishing village in southern Bali. It is also a booming tourist resort with an abundance of luxury hotels catered mainly to Western vacationers. In October 2005, a series of suicide bombings in Jimbaran – one of them near the Four Seasons – left 20 people dead and shattered the tranquility of the idyllic village. Although it wasn’t as devastating as the 2002 bombings in the Kuta area that killed over 200, the 2005 attack served as a painful reminder that Western tourists remained vulnerable targets of Islamic extremists. The second attack also called into question Indonesia’s counter-terrorism effort and left hotels in Bali fending for themselves.

The Intercontinental, Bali

Seven years later, the stigma of terrorism and destruction is far behind Jimbaran. The dark clouds dispersed and gave way to blue skies and pristine beaches. Tourists flock back to the area known not only for its picturesque surroundings but also its strategic location. Jimbaran is just 15 minutes from the Denpasar International Airport and less than half an hour from popular sites such as the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park (home to a 75 feet tall statue of Vishnu), Padang Padang (a popular beach for surfers), and Uluwatu Temple (where wild monkeys roam free).

Jimbaran, strategically located in southern Bali

I spent a long weekend in Bali this month and Jimbaran seemed like a natural choice. I went with the Intercontinental because it isn’t as pricey as the Four Seasons and still offers the modern comfort of an international hotel. I checked into my 800-square-foot duplex, which includes a spacious living area on the first floor, and an internal staircase leading to the upper floor bedroom and a granite-covered ensuite bathroom. There is also a generous terrace overlooking Jimbaran Bay. The western exposure means residents can sunbathe in the comfort of their own rooms all afternoon if they so choose. Typical of Indonesian interiors, the duplex features rattan furniture and teak wood floors and ceilings, adding to the warmth and home-like ambience. Though some may find the furnishings somewhat dated, to me they are simply part of the island charm. 

The Singaraja duplex suite

The hotel complex is enormous – so much so that staff will take literally 20 minutes just to bring a bucket of ice to your room. The Intercontinental has over 400 rooms, six restaurants and a bar at every turn. The nature aficionado will appreciate the many water gardens providing a beautiful habitat for water lilies and koy fish. As is the case for most resort hotels, the Intercontinental has its own private beach open only to hotel residents. Well-mannered waiters are always visible and eager to bring you that holiday daiquiri right to your hammock. I had dinner at the Jimbaran Gardens, one of the hotel restaurants that serves Indonesian and Balinese cuisines. The food is authentic but the prices are steep. So after you grow tired of paying HK$200 for an entree or HK$100 for a cocktail (normal for Hong Kong but exorbitant by Balinese standards), you are well-advised to venture out of the resort and explore the island. There is a delightful fusion restaurant across the street from the hotel called Balique. For more options, the hip and happening Seminyak area is only a 10-minute taxi ride away.

The Intercontinental has all the amenities a vacationer needs to enjoy a long weekend without ever setting foot outside the complex. From its architecture to interior design, it is evident that the hotel has taken great care to preserve the island’s rich traditions while infusing Western sensibilities. As such, it leaves the guest pampered without feeling like an intruder to the indigenous life. That being said, with so many options on the island, you are bound to find cheaper alternatives to the Intercontinental without compromising on quality. 

Hotel Review: St. Regis Bangkok

Location: Ratchadamri, Bangkok

Rating: ** (2 of out 5)

St. Regis is one of the Starwood Group's luxury hotel brands, named after the venerable St. Regis Hotel in New York City. Opened exactly a year ago, the St. Regis Bangkok is the latest addition to the cluster of international luxury hotels in the buzzing Erawan/Siam area. It is, however, one of the most disappointing hotel experiences I’ve had in a country that takes great pride in its hospitality.

The St. Regis, Bangkok

Let’s start with the room. For a new hotel, the room feels small and generic. It has neither the Thai-chic quality of the Sukhothai nor the lush luxury found in other St. Regis hotels in the world. From the wobbly sliding doors that separate the bathroom from the living area to the no-name toiletries and the ball pen that smudges on the notepad, there is strong evidence of corner-cutting and sloppy management. An insider in the Thai hotel business told me that while the St. Regis Bangkok is marketed under the Starwood banner, it is developed and owned by wealthy American businessman William Heinecke. Mr. Heinecke, who lives in Bangkok and owns the Four Seasons and the Sheraton in the city and dozens other hotel resorts elsewhere in Asia, has a reputation for being rather cheap. Perhaps that’s why there is no coffee machine in the room and, with the hotel being just a year old, the bathroom tiles are already starting to fall out. The room key works 2 out of 10 times on the magnetic sensor in the elevator and all day I could see irate hotel guests going to the front desk demanding a replacement card (myself included).

My executive deluxe room looks much better in pictures 

Then there is the service. Another industry insider told me that when the hotel first opened last April, the service was so appalling that new management had to be brought in for damage control. “Things have improved significantly,” my friend said. “Not significantly enough,” I answered. On the third day of my stay, I was out all day and didn't return to my room until 4:00pm. That’s when I found the maid still making up my room. What kind of hotel cleans a room at 4 in the afternoon? I needed to shower and so I asked the maid to come back in 30 minutes. She didn’t. Before I left for dinner that evening, I phoned house-keeping to make sure they finish the clean job. Surely enough, I returned to my room at 11:30pm and the room was exactly the way it was when I left it: dirty towels and missing bed sheets. I ended up spending an hour at the hotel bar in the middle of the night waiting for my room to be cleaned. The duty manager, horrified at what happened, apologized profusely and offered to buy me and my friends a round of drinks. Too little too late.

Finally, the most fatally, there is the hotel pool. I may be able to live with the miniscule swimming pool – the size of a kiddie pool at other hotels – and the horrendous poolside drinks served in cheap IKEA plastic tumblers. And yes, they really did put a slice of Del Monte canned peach in my peach iced tea! But I cannot and will not forgive the hotel’s decision to put the outdoor pool on the west side of a mid-level floor, with the consequence that the sun is blocked by the building itself for the entire morning. This major miscalculation upends my plan to get sunbathing out of the way in the morning and to use the precious afternoon to explore the city when stores are actually open. It is for that reason alone that I will never stay at the St. Regis again.

Not a soul by the tiny pool all morning because there is no sun

Those who are familiar with the Starwood Group will agree with me that the St. Regis Bangkok is not a St. Regis hotel. I would have given it a one-star rating had the duty manager who handled my complaint not been so apologetic and sympathetic. Considering that tourists are spoiled for choice in Bangkok, there is no reason why anyone would choose to stay there, other than the fact that it is relatively new and the novelty factor is still there.

Hotel Review: Peninsula Shanghai

Location: The Bund, Shanghai

Rating: **** (4 out of 5)

Opened in March 2010, the Peninsula Shanghai is located in a new complex on the north end of the Bund. It is the first new construction on the waterfront in several decades and one of the anchor projects under the Waitanyuan (外灘源) redevelopment scheme. The scheme seeks to facelift the northern stretch of the Bund called Waitanyuan, a 7.5 acre (300,000 square foot) parkland that was once the private garden of the former British consulate. The first phase of the redevelopment called the “Rockbund” (洛克外滩源) was completed in early 2010 along with the Peninsula, just in time for the Shanghai Expo.

The Pennisula Shanghai on the Bund

The Peninsula in Shanghai looks and feels just like the ones in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It reeks of money everywhere. There is the same fleet of Brewster green Rolls Royce Phantoms parked near the entrance; the same army of greeters and porters donning those satin pillbox hats; and the same blinged out tai-tais having high tea at the lobby restaurant with their Hermès scarves and Chanel pocketbooks. Next to the hotel building is the Peninsula Residences, an exclusive collection of 39 serviced apartments for the super-rich. Arriving in a dusty taxi – a Volkawagen Jetta -- from the airport in my Uniqlo hoody, I suddenly felt like a hobo.

Rolls Royal Phantoms guard the entrance

That the Peninsula Shanghai is barely two years old means that the rooms are new, squeaky clean and very livable. Each room has an impressive walk-in closet bigger than a typical bedroom in Hong Kong. The art deco furnishings work well with the noble blue and olive green palette and add to the interior’s overall modern chic. My room has a partial river view, and the floor-to-ceiling window floods the entire room with sunlight. By the time I walked in to the room, a complimentary fruit platter and a personalized welcome message awaited me on the coffee table. At the Peninsula Shanghai, it seems that even a hobo gets treated like royalty.

I spent two nights at the hotel and I had nothing to complain about; everything was satisfactory. And that's precisely what the Peninsula Shanghai felt like: satisfactory. I wasn’t blown away. What I found remarkable about the hotel – and it appears to be the case for other five-stars hotels in Shanghai – is the diversity of the hotel staff. You will run into a Japanese waiter at breakfast, a Swiss manager at the concierge and a Russian personal trainer at the gym. The Peninsula Shanghai is a testament to a city’s international panache and the ability of modern China to lure talents from around the world. Remarkable indeed.

Spacious walk-in closet in every room

Hotel Review: Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai

Location: The Bund, Shanghai

Rating: **** (4.5 out of 5)

  

Opened in 1893, the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City was the world’s largest hotel and one of the grandest at its time. It was where the concept of room service was invented, where women were first permitted to stay without being chaperoned, and where investigation of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic was conducted. In 1947, billionaire hotelier Conrad Hilton purchased the New York landmark along with the rights to use its name for other premises. I had the pleasure of staying at the Waldorf several years ago during one of my annual trips to New York. The hotel manager upgraded me to a one-room suite and I became a big fan ever since.

Waldorf-Astoria, New York

And so when I learned that the Hilton Group opened the first Waldorf outside the United States in, all of places, Shanghai last year, I knew I had to give it a try. Waldorf-Astoria Shanghai is located at the south end of the Bund, in a century-old Baroque Revivial building where the historic Shanghai Club once stood. During the city’s occupation by foreign powers, the Shanghai Club was where Englishmen socialized over cards and booze. The founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 saw the decline of the imperialist symbol and the building fell into disrepair. To give you a sense of the neglect the iconic structure had endured, KFC sold fried chicken on the ground floor for six years in the 1990s! It wasn’t until recently that the Hilton Group was entrusted by the city to restore the dilapidated building to its former glory.

Waldorf-Astoria, Shanghai

The best part about staying at the Waldorf Shanghai is access to the historic building. From the tiled foyer and turn-of-the-century elevators to the library lounge and the famous Long Bar that boasts a 34-meter bar counter, the old wing of what is now a five-star luxury hotel is a time capsule that transports you back to Shanghai’s heyday in the 1920s. It is romance, nostalgia and a history lesson all wrapped into one, right at the comfort of your own hotel.

The rooms at the Waldorf Shanghai are tasteful and spacious. The room I stayed in had a sweeping view of the spectacular skyline -- if only it hadn’t been ruined by the vomit-inducing Oriental Pearl Tower. The interior features vintage furniture and lush floral carpeting. The over-sized bathroom is fitted with toiletries by Salvatore Ferragamo, a fully automatic bidet and a smart glass window that turns from clear to opaque at the flick of a switch. It even has a 27-inch flat screen TV hidden behind the mirror, a feature that might have been inspired by Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller The Minority Report.

The service at the Waldorf is top-notched, which in China is the exception rather than the rule. My in-room telephone has a “personal assistant” button. I needed a convertor for my laptop plug and within minutes a smiley butler clad in a full tuxedo showed up at my doorstep and handed me the plastic thing on a silver platter. Yes, literally a silver platter. That’s what I call "going the extra mile."

The foyer restored to its former glory

Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo

Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo
Rating: *** (3 out of 5)

Hotels in Tokyo are divided into two broad categories. The first category comprises the business travel hotels like Keio Plaza and Sunroute. Designed for short stays, the rooms at these hotels are so small that you must open your suitcase on the bed (there isn’t enough floor space) and the bathroom resembles an airplane lavatory. You pay for what you get, which is a night’s sleep after you spend the entire day out on the streets. The second category comprises the ultra-expensive hotels like the Mandarin Oriental and the brand new Peninsula. A stay at these luxury hotels is an experience in and out of itself. You pay for what you get also, which are the beautiful city views, a state-of-the-art gym, prompt house-keeping and personalized customer care.

Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku

The Park Hyatt Tokyo falls squarely in the second category. Occupying the top 14 floors of the 52-story Shinjuku Park Tower, the five-star hotel offers sweeping views of Tokyo and is patronized by dignitaries and celebrities. The name was made world famous by Sofia Coppola’s award-winning movie Lost in Translation. That was the reason why I decided to bite the bullet and pay the hefty premium for a four-night stay this past December. If nothing else, I was curious to find out if any Japanese prostitute would show up at my door in the middle of night begging me to “lip” her stocking.

Bill Murray at the Park Hyatt in Lost in Translation

The hotel and I got off on the wrong foot at the check-in desk when we were caught in a minor dispute over a complimentary upgrade. In the end the manager capitulated and all was good. He then ushered me to my corner room, which, despite being an upgrade, was substantially smaller than a room at the Mandarin Oriental that cost about the same. To spare me from total disappointment, the room featured toiletry products by Aesop, a fitting brand for the Park Hyatt because its skin care products -- available at fine department stores like Lane Crawford and Harvey Nichols -- are just about as overpriced as the hotel itself.

The Park Hyatt is a 20-minute walk from the nearest JR/metro station, which is a major inconvenience since no one in Tokyo takes a cab unless they have to. The long walks to and from the train station are annoying, enough to discourage me from staying at the hotel a second time. Once at the hotel lobby, I faced yet another five-minute walk through zigzagging hallways before I get to the elevator bank to my room. The walk within the hotel seemed interesting the first time I did it – there was a library and a mini-art gallery along the way – but it got old quickly after a few repeated trips.

The interior is modern but not impressive

Without a doubt, the Park Hyatt is an excellent hotel. The service is impeccable. For instance, I told the front desk about dryness in the room and next thing I knew a manager showed up with a humidifier at my door. I needed my skis waxed and the concierge with a can-do attitude called up several ski shops in Hokkaido for me. But for the savvy traveler looking for convenience and a bang-for-the-buck, the Park Hyatt is not high on the list.

And for the record, no one did ask me to rip her stocking.

Hotel Review: Westin Europa & Regina, Venice

Location: Grand Canal, Venice

Rating: **** (4 out of 5)

The five-star Westin Europa & Regina is the result of a merger between Hotel Europa (formerly known as Hotel Britannia until 1938) and Hotel Regina. The premises are made up of five separate 18th and 19th Century palaces, all located along the picturesque Grand Canal. It is where Claude Monet once spent an autumn and where the movies Talented Mr. Ripley and The Tourist were filmed.

Westin Europa & Regina on the Grand Canal

Though only steps away from the famous Piazza San Marco, the Westin is hidden in a dizzying maze of alleyways and therefore hard to find. Visitors who arrive in Venice by train is bound to get lost no matter how good their map reading skill is. If you are flying directly into Venice, your water taxi will drop you off at the hotel’s private pier at the back. But be warned: water taxis in Venice are one of the most expensive modes of transportation in the world.

Rooms at the Westin have all the trimmings of an 18th Century Venetian palace: crystal chandeliers, lush carpeting, brass faucets and faux Louis XIV antique furniture. But the best part about the hotel is not its rooms; it is sitting at the outdoor waterfront terrace of Bar Tiepolo – named after the 17th Century painter Giambattista Tiepolo – and sipping pinot grigio with friends and family while the busy Venetian water traffic passes you by. That’s what my brothers and I did every afternoon during our stay there last May. It was without a doubt the most enjoyable part of our trip.

The waterfront terrace at Bar Tiepolo

Service at the Westin is tolerable. As is customary for grand hotels, the guest must drop off his key at the front desk and pick it up when he returns. Just imagine the chaos at the under-staffed counter during the peak tourist season. The fact that Italians are hardly known for their efficiency makes this outdated protocol all the more frustrating.

Visit Venice in January-February for the incredible Carnevale di Venezia or every other summer for the world famous art fair: La Biennale di Venezia. When you do, stay at the Westin and soak up the history and culture of a beautiful hotel in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Just one stay and you and your loved ones will be talking about it for years.

The enchanting Carnevale di Venezia

Hotel Review: Sukhothai Bangkok

Location: Sathorn, Bangkok
Rating: **** (4 out of 5)

The Sukhothai opened in 1991 and was at the time the most sought-after international hotel in Bangkok. Named after an ancient capital city in Thai history, the hotel boasts all the amenities of an upscale resort hotel: world class restaurants, a palatial health spa and an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by cabanas.

The serene courtyard at the Sukhothai

The Sukhothai is located on the ritzy embassy stretch on South Sathorn Road, a 15-minute walk from the Chong Nonsi BTS station. Travelers who only hang out in the Silom shopping area will find the location a bit out of the way. In 2011, Suan Lum Night Market, one of the city's most popular tourist sights inside the nearby Lumpini Park, was closed for redevelopment. As far as tourists are concerned, the closure further isolates Sukhothai and neighboring hotels like the Banyan Tree and the Metropolitan from the rest of the city. Nevertheless, we find solace in knowing that Health Land, a popular massage parlor for locals and foreigners alike, has no current plans to leave the Sathorn area.

I remember my first Sukhothai experience over 10 years ago. I stayed at one of the executive suites and was completely wowed by the sheer space. The bathroom/walk-in closet alone was bigger than most apartments in Hong Kong. Then there were the small details that worked: the iPod dock on the nightstand, the complimentary stuffed toys on the pillows and the truffle chocolates atop the living room credenza. Since then, the Sukhothai has been my residence of choice in Bangkok and a place I always recommend to friends and family.

A spacious executive suite at the Sukhothai

21 years after it first opened, the Sukhothai is showing its age. The wallpaper begins to peel and the furniture looks distressed. With new luxury hotels like the St. Regis and the Kempinski popping up everywhere in Bangkok, the veteran hotel is facing tough competition and, sadly, slowly losing its fan base. Though the hotel premises may be due for an overhaul, its service remains the very best in the market.

Interestingly enough, the Sukhothai is known for two things among Hong Kong travelers: haunted rooms and breakfast buffet. The first is an urban myth, the same myth that has been associated with nearly every hotel in Asia: that the hotel was built on top of an old military burial ground. Cantonese people have a tendency to get worked up over silly things, in this case over unsubstantiated rumors that were most likely invented by the hotel's competitors. The second is a bit of an urban myth as well, for I don’t find the all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Sukhothai any more impressive than what other Bangkok hotels offer. If you are interested in giving Sukhothai a try, let that be for the right reason: its spacious suites and understated grace.

The peaceful driveway leading to the hotel