The Wandering Salesman

Wow!

Simply amazing. I’ve stayed in my fair share of hotels over the years and as someone who spends 60+ nights a year in them, I think I have become fairly blase about the quality and service you receive. For the most part, staying in a hotel is so monotonous.

Same check-in experience. Same ride up the elevator. Same damn issue with the key not working in the door. Same drab room decor. Same food. Same robotic service. Same. Same. Same.

So for a hotel to “break” that heavily entrenched view, in my mind, it would have to be remarkable.

And the W Hong Kong is just that. I was travelling with a client and he said on check-out, “that’s easily the best hotel experience I have ever had”.

This from a man, who has the patience of a 2-year old who has just inhaled a red bull and eaten a entire block of chocolate.

Or something like that…

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So I spent a couple of quick days in Manila the week before last. Stayed in the Mandarin Oriental. Flew Jetstar (again). Don’t start me.

I reckon people who fly Low Cost Carriers for work are either self employed idiots like me or have sort of masochistic tendencies.It was my first time at the Mandarin. The Pen was booked up the wazoo.

Now before you all jump to conclusions that I live the life of riley and am a wanker and only stay at 5-star hotels, I will have you know that in Manila, hotels such as the Peninsula can be be booked for around A$150 a night.

Anyway, the Mandarin wasn’t a bad hotel. Wasn’t that good either. Probably not worth the money though even though the rate was a respectable US$170 per night and included breakfast and internet access.

I thought that there must have been some sort of transvestite function on in town or ladyboy event. There were no rooms to be had anywhere. (ok, I made that bit up about the transvestite function. The ladyboy gig, well, I’m not so sure).

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Flight Report: EWR-ORD Sat 7th August UA651

If Newark Airport was a person, it would be fat, ugly and most likely have a mildly annoying case of herpes.

Or something like that.

In the 14-years of regular travel to the US and to the East Coast, I don’t think Newark has changed in that time. And if it has, I cant see where.

According to the Newark website, the Port Authority has spent more than US$3.9 billion on the place. If that’s true, then a lot of contractors, architects, engineers etc must be living in villa’s in the south of France, snorting cocaine every minute and driving Bugatti Veyrons.

I reckon it has the same shitty terminals as it has always had. The same shitty decor. And the place looks like it could do with a good wash.

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When was the last time you checked into a hotel and the first thing you noticed when you arrived was the smell of the place, both inside and out?

I’ve stayed at a lot of airport hotels. The convenience is obvious.

But the Sheraton JFK takes the cake. To be honest, it was a bit of an effort to get there. United lands in Terminal 1 at JFK, which means you get on the AirTrain thing and hoof it 3 stops to the hotel shuttle pick up point.

It’s where the rental car offices are located.

Fair enough. Easy to figure out.

Then you hit that “Noo-York” attitude. Which I love by the way, but it’s been a while since I’ve been here so you have to remember where you are.

It’s the attitude that no one is bigger than the city. If you complain, the average service worker will get back up in your face.

The other thing you have to remember about JFK and New York is that this is the mecca of opportunity.

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This was so traumatic I don’t even know where to start.

I was in Korea this week. Booked into the Westin Chosun, Seoul. All pretty standard stuff. You know, the normal Asian trip.

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been to Seoul, the Koreans have built a new airport. It’s a cracker. Regularly competes with Hong Kong and Singapore and according to Skytrax, Incheon has won best airport in the world for the past 6-years running.

Although I am a bit dubious about the fact that the majority of people who vote for these types of awards are always drunk British expats.

Or something like that.

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Hong Kong…2 weeks ago.

Decided to use Agoda to search for a boutique hotel. I have no idea why. Maybe a sense of gayness came over me. Or a sense of reason. Sanity even perhaps. I doubt it. Maybe I was looking for excitement. Whatever.

Anyway, I found a place called “Butterfly On Morrison”, right in the middle of Wan Chai.

I actually spent 5 minutes on Agoda and read through a bunch of Butterfly reviews. Not bad. No one   appeared to have been recently murdered there. And the rooms didn’t look that small in the photos.

So I book away. Catch the Airport Express to Hong Kong station and bugger me, the cab driver actually knew where the hotel was.

Reception was on the 3rd floor and the only drawback I could see was that the joint didn’t have a restaurant or a gym. No drama’s on either front. This was Hong Kong. There’s food every 11 feet in Wanchai. And in terms of exercise, I found plenty of parks filled with old people doing tai chee. I was all set.

I even found a supermarket round the corner to stock up on water and fresh fruit.

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No, not Singapore Party Girl. Starwood Preferred Guest.

The super brand takes in Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien etc etc. Best bang for your buck, hands down. I used to ensure all my hotel stays were Starwood but then I lost status I think and for some strange reason ended up using Hilton. I’ve just come back to SPG this month.

Unlike the US, there’s no SPG Amex card here in Asia that I’m aware of so all of your points earning is achieved via stays. I think we have a good range of properties to choose from in the region.

The best feature I find with SPG is that its mile for mile to transfer to your preferred airline. In my case, UA. So when you’ve racked up 20,000 Starwood points, SPG will add a 5,000 point bonus and then transfer 25,000 miles to your frequent flier program.

Much better than Hilton, which was 1 mile per 10 points. So, if you have 200,000 Hilton points, you only end up receiving 20,000 miles into your frequent flier account. Cheap arse bastards.