it is a layover airport: well located and in front of terminal3.

we normally never get any suites upgrades at this hotel, as 1. they do not have a lot of suites as it is mainly a layover airport, 2. we always check in too late

But for the first time, with some persistence, we finally get the suite upgrades, and not any suites, it is the “diplomatic” or their “presidential” suite.

It always make us smile when we see other VIP or corporate meetings down the hall, while we stay at the most exclusive suite for the cheapest price…

It is a very fancy layover.

the suite have a formal dining room:

and a formal living room:

and a kitchen:

2 bedrooms:

6 bottles water free as requested:

Sheraton on the park sydney is one of my favorite hotels in sydney (apart from the park hyatt sydney)

• service: always fast and efficient. no attitude.
• upgrades: automatic 100 % upgrades to suite without any questions asked for the past few years we stayed there.
• room: very big, carpet slightly old. Bathroom is big, shower pressure is good.
• what set this hotel apart from others (like westin) is their penthouse lounge !! very good selection of food and drinks. the BEST sheraton lounge in the world.
• location: extremely convenient, next the the mall and right in the CBD. Food market and 24 hours macdonald are nearby.

Westin Sydney:

We usually do not prefer to stay here, as in the past the staff is quite snobbish. We prefer to stay at the park hyatt Sydney (same price as westin, with hyatt points), or the Sheraton Sydney (as they are a lot nicer to platinum guests and upgrades us every time. Sheraton also have a nicer lounge)

But this time, the price was even cheaper than the Sheraton Sydney.

cost: $110 + 5000 spg points for cheapest room. (compared to $400 cash relatively cheap for westin Sydney for this period)

At check in, we were automatically upgraded to the executive suite, without us even mentioning anything about it…. In the past, even to get just a normal simple better room (not suite), people had to fight for it. Even if they had rooms or suites available, they did not upgrade us in the past.

This hotel had a “reputation” with frequent fliers (FT) that is not as status friendly as the Sheraton. To be fair, westin Sydney have fewer suites, and is usually more busy, so getting a suite upgrade here is extremely rare.

Westin lounge is basic, with full service where they will bring you your drinks.

Sheraton Sydney lounge is MUCH better (see later post)

BED: 8/10 very comfy

bathroom: 9/10. the suite water pressure and view from the bathroom is very good

space: quite big considering westin brand

service: this time is quite good. luggage service was fast, check in fast and efficient.

maybe they got a new management?? !

We booked a one night stay at w Bangkok, for around $70 usd. jan 2015

location: near the silom area, party area. VERY close to the health land Bangkok sathorn spa. That was the main reason why we booked W this time: to be able to go for thai massage at night time, AND a full body 4 hand massage the morning (we usually stay at st regis bkk: as it is closer to the NARA thai restaurants and the shopping centre)

It is amazing to see how many pretty people this W hotel attract as clientele. The sexy ladies kept on taking selfies pictures in the lobby and bar of W hotel. It must be a hot spot that we were not aware off?

we were upgraded to the Wow suite, as we were both spg platinum

BED: 9/10 very comfy

ROOM: 9/10 while nice, the air inside was stuffy

mini bar: 10/10 as it is NOT on a scale. I hate fridges that are on an automatic scale: useless, we cannot put anything of ours in there.

bathroom: 10/10. convenient, big, well designed, water pressure very strong, (which is always important after a flight).

The amenities of W hotel is actually usable and good enough to bring home (expensive full size bliss).

Other hotels, like Fairmont, Conrad, park hyatt etc, used weird soap and shampoo that dehydrate your skin, even if they used big names: bulgari,, hermes etc… all brands names but really useless (worst is Fairmont hotels: whenever we stay at a Fairmont hotel, we have to make sure to bring our own cheap ivory and pantene soap)

w hotel breakfast: well presentation: lot of food, good selection and taste:

Because we had to stay one night in manila before heading out to palawan resort, we choose raffles makati.

We needed to have 5 nights in a calendar year in a fairmont hotel in order to keep FPC fairmont platinum status for one person. Raffles stay count as a valid night, even if it is not fairmont hotel.

Raffles makati is a new all suite hotel.

We arrrived at the hotel by normal taxi. They had 4 security personal inspecting the taxi, wearing assault military type weapons! They even had a dog sniffing the taxi, and our luggage before letting us in the lobby.

cost: $500. benefits: FPC platinum status is sometimes informally recognized. We had  an executive suite one bedroom upgrades (we booked the cheapest, junior suites). The price includes breakfasts, AND 2 x 90 minutes full body massage for 2 at the fairmont spa. ( the massages alone costs$400 normally at any fairmont spa)

The one bedroom executive suite is huge, with formal dining room, formal living room, an entrance foyer, butler, bathroom for guest, and bedroom and full bathroom in the back.

living room and dining room:

FREE fruits: philippine mangoes are the BEST in the world:

Nice selection of teas and coffee:

more free wine, cheese and nuts:

a dedicated ipad and cell phone chargers: able to charge old ipads, new lightning ipads, mini usb etc:

entrance foyer:

part of the el nido resorts in palawan.

pangulasian resort is the only resort in el nido that have a long stretch of white sand beach.

For around $600 usd per night, you get the closest front beach villa that i have ever stayed in. You actually felt like if you are on an overwater bungalow when you look outside from your room! The view from inside makes you feel as if the whole villa is floating on water, the beach is hidden from that view.

it is quite well designed, with all the power plugs, windows, and blinds etc where it is supposed to be: extremely functional. The side frosty windows in the bathroom are so well designed: it allow some lights from outside to come in during the night, but you do not see any lights in the bedroom!

value : good considering prices elsewhere (hawaii beach front hotel room only, not a villa, is min $500, maldives $1000, fiji $500 etc.. none as close to the beach as this one), especially considering the view, and the mountain in the back of the villas, very luxurious yet isolated and remote.

food here is fluctuating, not good, not bad

however, the massages here are surprisingly Excellent. not cheap like bangkok big city of course, but still very good.

verdict: we really like the staff (even if they mistakenly added someone’s else bills from the shop on our account), the design of the room, the location. This hotel is featured as the main hotel of the american express FHR website (fine resorts and hotels) pacific. Try to book the pool villa (we were not able to book the pool villa, as we booked too late: we were waiting for the typhoon to clear, and the pope to finish his tour), the price difference is minimal, but you get a much better view and bigger villa

Remember to never visit the philippine when the pope plan a visit. They shut down the whole manila international airport for …5 days, before and after for security precautions. You will be stuck if you did not plan well.

Also, the flight to palawan is always late or cancelled. You need to plan to have at least one day buffer before and after in manila hotel. If not you risk the risk of not being able to connect. We have been to a lot of remote destinations, but palawan is REALLY not reliable regarding the flights schedule.