Year: 2019

Lounge Review – Priority Pass Terminal 1 Munich Airport –

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We paid a short visit to the Airport Lounge Europe on our recent visit to Munich. Our MUC-AMS flight on KLM left out of Gate D15 in Terminal 1 which was very close to this lounge. It is located next to the KLM Air France Lounge above Gate D14. You should be able to get to this lounge from the C gates but it would be a long way from others. There is another Priority Pass Lounge in Terminal 2. They are inside security. Overall this is a nice little Priority Pass Lounge.

This was in the morning so basic breakfast was on offer. The lounge was also very slow as it was during a Sunday morning. Overall we enjoyed this lounge.

Seating was comfortable with tons of power outlets.

Photo Review of Holiday Inn Elgin Illinois

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This quick photo review of the Holiday Inn hotel Elgin reflects the good clean rooms and a nice hotel.

Pros include updated clean rooms with good staff service. Great location just North of the Interstate.

Cons include lack of evening room service even from the Bennigans on the lobby. They do offer breakfast room service but lack of dinner is bad because there aren’t a lot of restaurants in the area.

Photo Review of Super 8 Elgin Illinois

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This is a budget hotel that is well located in the NW Suburbs of Chicagoland. I’m not a big Wyndham fan but stayed here for work location purposes. It’s a clean hotel that is decent and being remodeled to boot. The staff is friendly but breakfast is underweleming. Toast, cold cereal and coffee are the highlights. No pool or fitness stuff to weigh down the cost but good safe location with comfortable rooms and beds.

Hotel Photo Review Holiday Inn Express West St. Louis Wentzille

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This HIX hotel is a brand new hotel right on I-70 near Exit 208 in the far West Suburbs of St.Louis. It is a typical new design. I love new hotels as they are usually spotless and clean. This is no exception. Indoor pool is nice, sorry no photos as too many people swimming during my stay.

The real bright spot of this hotel is the great staff. Only downside is that breakfast doesn’t start until 6:30am which isn’t the end of the world unless you need to leave early.

Delta One Suite Photo Review CDG-ATL

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A quick photo review of our recent CDG-ATL Delta One flight. Overall a great experience. I was disappointed in the headphones which seem out of place on such a nice product. Delta should spring for Bose or Sony. Even the old AA QC-15s are light years better.

Sorry, the photos aren’t the best as it was an afterthought to do a review on this. I was seated in 7A with my wife in front of me on 6A and our friends in the middle of row 6. The staff was one of the best I’ve ever had on a long-haul flight. 7A was a good seat but on the aisle side instead of the window side so it was a little harder to see out but with the door shut it didn’t affect the privacy factor. I’m tall at 6’2″ and have large size 15 feet but didn’t have any problem getting a great 5 hours of sleep on this flight.

mvimg_20190805_082938img_20190805_083406img_20190805_083458img_20190805_083626img_20190805_083631img_20190805_083640mvimg_20190805_083642img_20190805_083646img_20190805_084032img_20190805_084051img_20190805_084054img_20190805_084100img_20190805_084107img_20190805_084225img_20190805_084230img_20190805_084400mvimg_20190805_084649img_20190805_085354img_20190805_132747

Photo Review of Intercontinental Dan Tel Aviv Israel

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We had a 2-night stay with 3 standard rooms at the Dan Tel Aviv Intercontinental hotel. This is one of my favorite hotels in Israel and we’ve always been treated decently. I run a very exclusive private tour business and stayed here with 5 clients on this tour of Israel. All of my clients loved this hotel.

As an IHG Spire and Ambassador, the service was good with no complaints about the rooms. I was a bit disappointed (but not shocked) that they do not offer free breakfast or lounge access at my elite status on award nights. We also had a bit of disappointment that the pool closed early prior to 8pm during our stay. They did give me several free gifts of wine, fruit, soaps, late checkout, free movie credit, and beverage credits but I would have exchanged all of that for lounge access. Again no complaints really though.

This hotel is located across the street from the beach and near the old Joppa port area. It’s also near one of our favorite restaurants, Bezzo’s Pizza and the local market area. I hope to stay here again on our next trip to the area.

Air France CDG 2E lounge at 5:30am

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Just a few photos from the Air France Salon Lounge at CDG 2E  at 5:30am on Monday August 5th 2019.

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Sorry No photos of the food selection. Not much out early this early as the lounge opens at 5:30am. Some cold cuts, cheese, crousants, etc. I’ve never seen it this empty so it was pleasant for a 3 hour layover after coming off a redeye from TLV. img_20190805_053954img_20190805_053140

 

Hotel Review of Holiday Inn Express Phoenix Airport University Drive PHX

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Quick photo review of the Holiday Inn Express Airport. This was a quick overnight before an early morning flight. Overall this is a very nice HIX a couple miles from PHX and they do have shuttle service and free parking for guests.

I was disappointed to find that breakfast isn’t served until 6am which normally would be OK but airport hotels should know better. Many people staying at airport hotels have early departures of course.

There is a waffle house in the parking lot but no other restaurants within walking distance except the Hilton Garden Inn nearby.

Because of my Spire status I was upgraded to a Junior Suite which was very nice and roomy. Overall I slept well with good AC on a day with 113 degree temps. I didn’t try the pool but i enjoyed the stay here.

Photo Review of Radisson Country Inn & Suites TUC Tucson Arizona Airport

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The Tucson airport country inn & suites is conveniently located about a half a mile north of the Tucson terminal. It’s walkable although shuttle service and nearby car service is readily available. This country inn & suites is relatively good although a bit dated. they are in the process of doing renovations during my stay in this hotel should improve from average to good in the near future.

I was really impressed that they start breakfast at 5am which is something all airport hotels should do more.

How To Easily Search Radisson Award Nights by Category

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Many times to find an award night for hotel points or certificates you have to find the location then drill into the reservations and then find out the number of points required or the category level for free night certificates, etc.

Radisson makes this much easier than some hotel chains:

First, click on “Benefits & Rewards” along the top banner.  It might be helpful to be logged in as well. 

radisson beni

 

Then Click on “Redeem” on right middle of the page.

 

radisson redeem

Then click on “Award Night Stays” 

radisson award nights

Then it will open up a page that shows award category levels and how many points are needed for a standard or premium room. Basic award chart. But what makes this award chart extra nice is that if you click the hidden link at the top of each column it will open up the list of hotels by category worldwide. 

Radisson free nights

So, for example, click on “Category 1” and will give you a page that shows the hotels by region for that point and Cat level as shown here:

Radisson award by cat by region

There you go. Sure for points veterans, this is simple stuff and 101 level but as somewhat of a Radisson fan I really like this feature for booking hotel awards on my upcoming travels. I’m a very visual reference learner and enjoy this feature a lot as it’s so simple.