Hotel Review- Mandarin Oriental Paris

Image taken from Mandarin Oriental website

My friend Nadia and I were heading to Paris for a few days and after doing much research, decided to book a stay at the Mandarin Oriental. Two years ago I'd head to Paris at the same time and had then stayed at the Hotel Crillon where I usually stay and love. Last year when I headed to Paris for the Paris Fashion Week I decided to stay at the Ritz as that's where my sister was staying and I figured it was more convenient for us both to be at the same hotel. Unfortunately both the hotels were shut for renovation and as Nadia hadn't been to Paris before, I was left to pick the hotel. The Mandarin Oriental had the largest rooms and was conveniently located, and despite me having walked into the lobby of the hotel during my last visit and not thinking much of it, I figured it's a Mandarin Oriental.. How bad can it get??

We arrived late into Paris and by the time we reached the hotel Nadia and I were pretty tired and ready to get a good nights rest. I'd warned her about the garish lobby already (the above pic is from their website and as website pictures go, not exactly an accurate representation of what it looks like) and she understood what I'd meant when she walked in. There is no sign of Parisian understated elegance and instead was a hotel that as I put it the first time around, looked like a hotel in Abu Dhabi- and not in a good way. Anyhow we headed up to our room and were a little taken aback by what we were greeted there. The twin beds we requested weren't there and instead we were given a double bed with an extra bed thrown in- that was the first surprise. The second surprise was the decor of the room itself and the quality of furniture and fittings. The room now looked to us like a 3 or 4 star hotel in Abu Dhabi. To add fuel to the fire we realized our bed, the main one not the extra bed we'd been given, had a broken spring of some sort. Needless to say we called and complained. We asked for plugs to charge our phones- the plugs didn't work. We called and complained. They had very sweetly left out a bottle of champagne and a cake for my birthday before we got there. Only problem? The cake had attracted many, many mosquitoes. Needless to say, we called and complained. The Manager that evening went out of her way to make our stay better and tried giving us like a triple upgrade to a duplex suite to make it up to us. While in the room checking it out though, I noticed that the handle on a cupboard door had fallen out and Nadia and I couldn't stop laughing at what seemed to be a year old hotel falling apart. Needless to say we didn't stay in the room and asked for another one. Really, when you're paying a 1000 Euros a night, you expect for your room to be immaculate, your hotel perfect and things to function flawlessly. The room we finally got was apparently worth 1800 Euros a night, offered to us at the same rate and Nadia and I both thought that it just made sense for us to stay put. That's when we realized after a sweaty night that the AC didn't function properly and the breakfast was bad (who has even heard of bad croissants in France?!) and when Nadia saw a door that seemed to be held together by scotch tape (no joke) we decided that even our quadruple upgrade couldn't make us stay put. We ate breakfast, went over to the George V and practically begged them to find us a room.

So here's the deal with the Mandarin Oriental in Paris- the service, despite what I just wrote, is amazing. They tried their best to accommodate us and it reached a stage where we were almost apologetic to leave. I'd forgotten to inform the Emirates Limo my change of address when it came time to take us back to the airport- When he announced himself at the Mandarin they actually told him to head over the George V and that I'd moved a few days earlier. The Manager who took care of us the night we arrived really was amazing, so much so that I left her the bottle of champagne they'd kept for me. After we left I had the Manager of the Hotel email me and profusely apologize and offer me a free night at the hotel the next time I come into Paris. Nadia and I both realized in a day or 2 that as good as the George V was, the service didn't quite match up to the Mandarin Oriental's.

Would I go back and stay there? No. Great service is one thing, but the hotel decor was just way too tacky for my taste. It was done, we were told, in the style matching the 1930's which I found hilarious as I think it to be the most boring and uneventful decade style-wise in the 20th century, but what do I know? Maybe others would love the hotel but personally I wouldn't want to stay there again.

While perfectly acceptable, I didn't think much of the room decor.. especially for the price

Thought the velvet mural on the wall in the room was scary and tacky

The corridors were in 1930's style. Again, not befitting of a Mandarin Oriental!

The wallpaper!!!!

Hotel Review- Ritz Carlton Singapore

Two weeks back I returned from a short trip I'd taken with my Mother to Singapore. We had some work over there but decided to stay on for a few days to enjoy some time away from Dubai. I've been to Singapore a few times in the past and have always stayed at the Ritz Carlton there, but decided to stay at the St Regis the last time I went and absolutely LOVED it! It was by far one of the best hotels I've stayed at, so was looking forward to going back and enjoying another stay at the beautiful hotel. Alas when our contact in Singapore heard where we were booked, they let us know that while it was the rainy season there, Orchard Road (the main shopping area in Singapore and where the St Regis is conveniently located) might get flooded so we were better off picking another hotel. Since we didn't feel like experimenting, we returned to the Ritz Carlton and under advice by my brother in law who frequents the country (and the hotel) often, requested a newly refurbished room on the Club Floor.
The Ritz in Singapore is an absolutely gorgeous hotel with a stunning lobby and that has not changed over the years. Since I had booked my stay through my American Express, I knew I'd be getting an upgraded room so was looking forward to seeing what it looked like.

Since we'd taken a club suite, check in was done on the Club Floor which was quite convenient. When we walked into our room however, I was absolutely blown away! The room was huge and gorgeous! The decor was extremely tasteful with the trademark Ritz eye to detail like plugs hidden in every drawer and nook and corner of the room (which came in handy with my million gadgets I travel with!) and a Nespresso machine to make delicious coffee. There was also a separate study table area as well as a spacious half bathroom for visitors to use.

 

The pictures above don't do the room justice AT ALL since I didn't photograph the entire space at the entrance of the room as well. 

So yes, back to the bathroom... One of my most favourite things about the hotel when I'd visited before was the bathroom, and this stay reminded me why. The tub was by a massive window that overlooked the Singapore skyline which looked absolutely stunning at night! They were kind enough to remind us to put the shades down before hopping into the tub though!

 

The most important part of any hotel room of course is the bed area (I'd argue the bathroom, but whatever!) and this one was also large and spacious with twin beds as I'd opted to stay with my Mother. I'm not an early riser and she is and since we needed to be up and out early on most days, I figured it would just be easy to coordinate if we stayed together. 

 

Again, the space looks a lot smaller in the picture but it was really large and spacious. 

Since we were on the club floor, we had access to the Club lounge which pretty much had food available the whole day. As anyone who has ever been to Singapore will tell you, the food there is divine, and as anyone who has ever stayed at any Ritz will tell you, the quality of food is astounding! Since I was on a strict diet (for fear of Amir's wrath) I could only look at the food longingly while having a Singaporean specialty, Hiananese Chicken Rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner! The times I could have some of the food like if there was a soup or fresh salad preparation, I was in seventh heaven as it just tasted so damn good! If you ARE visiting Singapore and DO decide to stay at the Ritz Carlton there, I can't recommend enough that you book yourself on the Club Floor, especially if you do plan on spending some time enjoying the hotel and your room.

All in all, I can't recommend the hotel enough and matching Far Eastern hospitality along with legendary Ritz service really can't be beat! It didn't rain a single drop during my entire week in Singapore, but I'm glad I got to return to this hotel and remember why I loved it so much to begin with.

Review of Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Last evening I decided to head to dinner with my family to the Shanghai Chic restaurant at the Ibn Batuta Gate Hotel. My sister and my mother had I guess, heard lots about the new hotel and this specific restaurant and we decided to try out something new rather than revisiting Bice, La Petite Maison or Zheng He's for a meal, which are standard favourites for everyone in the family, including my 5 year old nephew. Since my Mother and I go for a movie together every Friday, we decided to go to the Ibn Batuta Mall for a movie and head to dinner from there. Oh by the way, Ibn Batuta movie goers, and here I'm speaking to the ones with kids... please for God's sake keep your children in check! If your 3 year old is going to stand above my seat and yank my hair, don't be a shameful cow and ignore them and continue watching your movie!!! Yes, that's precisely what the woman behind me decided to do and when my Mother complained, she glared at her and sat back while her brat of a child yelled in our ear. Why are toddlers allowed in 3 hour long Hindi movies anyway?? Have decided to never go back there... Thank God for Mercato!!

 (Pic taken from TimeOut Dubai)

Anyhow back to the Gate Hotel and the Chinese restaurant... We should have figured that maybe the moron-trend would have carried on from our movie into dinner it being Friday the 13th and all that mumbo jumbo about the law of attraction and all. You know, like when you stub your big toe and get into a bad mood, you "attract" one horrid incident into your life after another? Well, after the obnoxious child and bratty mother (or was that the other way around?) we should have just packed up and gone home! But we'd heard that the Chinese restaurant had hired the chef from Zheng He's and really wanted to try some place new and have a nice dinner.  On reaching there we tried to ask questions of our waitress only to soon realize her broken English didn't carry her far enough to understand what we were actually saying.
Mother: "We hear the chef has come from Zheng He's?"
Waitress: "Yes! Shanghai!"
Mother: "No, no.. Zheng He's from Madinat!"
Waitress, "Yes! Shanghai!"
So apparently the Management thought they were hiring for a restaurant in China Town and didn't think the woman needed a language skill beyond Chinese. When we finally tried to order, we kept requesting the lady write down what we wanted as my Mother and Brother in law are vegetarian, my sister's on a diet and my nephew is fussy. Despite asking her 5 times to put it on paper, she kept insisting she'd remember, only to later bring out a dish that we hadn't ordered but had inquired about. The food was average, the cutlery strange and my soup spoon looked like a baby spoon which would probably take me half an hour to get through my bowl of soup. The service was slow and they took fifteen minutes after bringing out the main course to bring us plates, which meant our food was pretty cold by the time we got to try any of it. Oh and during this 15 minute wait, they decided to come out and talk to us about the dish we hadn't ordered (but they'd brought anyway) despite us repeatedly telling them to bring our plates first! Anyhow, the food was average and not exactly value for money. They didn't seem to think so though, as my Mother's card got swiped twice over and if it hadn't been for the SMS notifications she gets on her phone, she'd probably have headed home not realizing she'd paid double for a very average meal. They took another 10 minutes to try to figure out what had happened and bring her another slip of paper to sign to void the transaction.
After all that drama we were happy to be leaving and going home and had decided while we wouldn't return to the Chinese restaurant, we may decide to try the Indian restaurant there which seemed quite full as we were walking out. We handed our tickets to the valet which took 15 minutes to bring my sister's car, and 15 minutes after that showed no signs of bringing mine. After the half an hour wait, my Mother and I started to lose our heads to the valet drivers over there who seemed extremely clueless and didn't know what was happening. The valet desk was a MESS with keys and papers lying everywhere and they kept asking me for the smaller portion of my valet ticket which they hadn't given me in the first place. I even posted a pic of the Valet desk on my Twitter account as I was shocked to see how badly organized they were. Another 2 ladies were standing there yelling their heads off as well as they'd been waiting since before us and hadn't gotten their cars either. After another 10 minutes of yelling my Mum and I decided to go down with them into the parking lot to see what the problem was. Turns out they couldn't locate the car. We scanned their entire wall of keys for my car keys to no avail and were informed then they finally found the car but not the keys. The Valets seemed annoyed and pissed off with us and, apart from one apologetic soul, seemed irritated by OUR presence. The Manager of the Service was Filipino, the Valet drivers Indian, and there seemed to be lack of communication there as well, not only because of the language barrier, but because they had no walkie talkies or devices to be able to speak to each other. So if one guy went down one level in the parking lot to find the car, and one went up to the main entrance of the Hotel, 2 others had to be dispatched after them to find out WTF was going on. Not smart. Anyhow, long story short, one hour later they found the keys and the car, and when I was yelling at the Valet while getting into my car, he decided to slam my car door on my face. Oh and the poor ladies waiting for their car? The drivers had screwed the car up which had stalled it in the middle of the lot and it wouldn't start. Thank God I was able to get out with my Vehicle working fine!
On reading the restaurant review on TimeOut Dubai they didn't seem too impressed with the restaurant either, but have made no mention on the service in the rest of the Hotel. They probably won't be going back to Shanghai Chic but I don't think I'll be going back anywhere in or around Ibn Battuta Mall or Hotel anytime soon. I remember another friend telling me a story about how the valet driver in that very same Mall was using my friends car (a Rolls no less!) to transfer people from one part of the mall to another, as he'd been told by my friend that he'd return in 2 hours but was back in 15 minutes. I don't know what Valet company both the places employ, but they might want to rethink their strategy!!
If you want GREAT Chinese in Dubai, go to Zheng He's at the Madinat for a great meal that is slightly expensive, the Shang Palace at the Shangri La for something in between and Nanking in Bur Dubai for the BEST Indonesian and Indian Chinese for an amazing value for money meal! And most definitely give Shanghai Chic and the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel a skip!!
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Review of the Hotel de Crillon- Part 2

I'd done a review of the rooms at the gorgeous Hotel de Crillon where I've been staying for the past week in Paris, and I'd promised a review of the entire hotel with some lovely pictures. I'd ended the post saying the Hotel is one of my favourites and there really are many reasons for that. The service was excellent, the food divine and most importantly, the Hotel is located right in the centre of all the shopping. Let's just put it this way, 5 steps away you had the landmark Hermes store at the Rue de Faubourg which made things very easy for me! If you are thinking of staying here and haven't checked out the pictures of the room, I urge you to hit the link above and go check them out.
Here are some more pictures I'd taken-

The exterior of the hotel was being given a facelift, but instead of boring old ugly scaffolding, they'd done it up by matching it up to the look of the hotel! Thought that was very cute.

       I just loved the old European charm of the entrance of the hotel and the lobby. Gorgeous!

In my previous post i'd mentioned about the Afternoon tea we had received with the American Express fine hotels and resorts package. The tea could be had in the very pretty sitting area they had outdoors, or in the lovely area they had indoors. As it was too cold in the evening, we decided to have ours indoors, but the outside was too pretty for it to not be photographed.

And when I said the High Tea deserved a post of it's own, I wasn't joking. It was INCREDIBLE. I'm a huge fan of High Tea and I've had it at a few places in London, and almost in all the popular Hot Spots in New York- The Plaza, The Carlyle, Bergdorfs, London Hotel... seriously NOTHING could even come close to the High Tea I had here. It's a meal by itself so if you're in Paris and even if you're not staying at the Crillon, I can't recommend the Tea enough!

Ok so High Tea is really very rarely about the tea itself (I usually take coffee with mine!) and it's really allll about the food. The sandwiches were very filling and very, very tasty. I can't remember what the first one in the baguette is (chicken maybe?), then there was ham and cheese, and the last one on the right is the foie gras pate.

And then there was the plate of mini deserts! Seriously lets not even get me started on these as each one was magnificent, and am at the Lounge at the airport and I'm seriously about to lick my computer screen. I'm also exhausted out of my mind and delirious so I may even do it!
Aah.. talk about timing! Time to board my flight! I think the lady at the counter saw my face inching towards my screen and figured she HAD to get me out of here!
More from Dubai peeps!
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Review- Room at the Hotel de Crillon

As I mentioned in my earlier post here I'm currently in Paris for my birthday. I'd mentioned there that I'm staying at the Hotel de Crillon for my birthday and had taken a picture of the divine chocolate cake as well the champagne they had sent up to my room to celebrate my big day. I know it makes sense for me to write a review about the hotel AFTER I leave, but I've been here for 5 days already so can safely write a review without expecting too much to change my thoughts on the hotel before I leave in two days.
I've stayed at the Crillon both other times I've visited Paris- once when I was very young with my entire family, and once again a few years back with my Mother and older (middle) sister. While booking my hotel room I was researching the other hotels in Paris and looked into availability and prices of the top 3 (in my opinion anyway)- The Ritz, George V and the Crillon. My eldest sister frequents the George V, the second one, the Ritz and as I mentioned, I'd only ever experienced staying at this hotel. As luck would have it, the Crillon was offering the best deal for my stay, and I decided to return to the hotel that was tried and tested.
While the Hotel de Crillon is quite expensive, I had booked my room through my American Express Centurion Concierge service which gives its users a lot of perks at the hotels that are part of the Fine Hotels and Resorts program. While the rates are the regular rack rates (that can be found on the website here) the perks I got with my room were plenty. The program gives the same package for all hotels which is the free room upgrade depending on availability, guaranteed late check out till 4 PM available and free breakfast for 2 per room. Some hotels add on extra perks and the Crillon added not only a one way airport transfer but also a 50 Euro credit per day to be used for food and drink in the hotel. It couldn't be accumulated and the girl while checking in had told us to either "use it or lose it" which of course we had found hilarious. We thought that was a lot of money till we had a look at their room service menu and realized a portion of hommous cost 20 Euros. Not that I was going to come from Dubai and order Hommous in Paris, but I was quite tempted to just to find out what 20 Euro Hommous would taste like!! The Crillon also gave us an Afternoon Tea for 2 (once per stay) that we used up the first day we arrived. That deserves a separate post by itself! Anyhow, I thought the perks with the hotel were amazing, so Amex deserves a pat on the back for hooking that one up.
Without further ado, here are some pictures of my room that I took immediately upon getting in. This is the room before we unpacked, so that it wouldn't look like a tornado had run through it!

The room was absolutely gorgeous and was extremely spacious. I'm pretty sure they did upgrade my room since I don't remember the room being this large when I visited last.

The sitting area was really nice to have as it was so convenient to use while chatting, or in my case, while blogging. The TV can be viewed from either the bed or the sofa too, which would be nice if they had many English channels to watch. What Payal and I both thought was very interesting was that apart from the news channels, there was very little to watch in English, but there are 5 or 6 Arabic channels on there! When we went down for breakfast on our first morning here, we understood why.

More important to me than the room is a spacious bathroom! The bathroom here has a shower and a tub and unlike other hotels that have been renovated but forget to give the bathroom a facelift, this one feels brand new.

Eau d'Hadrien by Annick Goutal remains one of my most favourite perfumes till today, and it's actually the Crillon that had first introduced me to it on my first trip to Paris. I remember being really young and being so blown away by this gorgeous scent and purchasing my first bottle from Paris then. It slowly became popular all over the world and a few years back I was shocked to find it being sold in Dubai as well! I was so happy to see them still sticking by their signature scent that thanks to them had become MY signature scent for many years (followed by Lime, basil and Mandarin by Jo Malone for ages, and has currently been Spring Flower by Creed for a few years).

When I start posting my food reviews, you'll understand why I avoided this devil device shown above like the PLAGUE!

                              There was generous space for a walk in closet in the room as well.

These are just some pictures of the room I've put together... As mentioned, I'll review their Afternoon tea and the rest of the hotel too. I didn't want this post to become too picture heavy.
All in all, if you're visiting Paris, I can't recommend the Hotel de Crillon enough! When I post the rest of the pictures of the Hotel, you'll understand why. Look out for Part 2 of the review!
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Vandana Bhatia on Winter in Cape Town!

She was the first person I profiled for my Profile Corner, so it's not surprising that she is the first guest blogger I have on here too. The gorgeous Vandana Bhatia very kindly took out time to write a few words on her trip to Cape Town to give you guys tips on where to go, what to eat and what to see in the scenic city. Vandana was there with her family over New Years and from the sounds of it, has probably got the city pretty high up on her "favourite places to visit" list so read on for some insider tips from her vabulous vacation!

Lively beaches, beautiful scenery, gorgeous weather, fabulous beach houses, outstanding service, exquisite food and of course... the wines. Aah the wines. If you've never visited I suggest you start accumulating those miles and push Cape Town to the top of your destination list. You won't be disappointed. With its immense natural beauty, a myriad of things to do and places to see, you'll be spoilt for choice. 7 days are easily fulfilled here (or 12 in our case) and you'll still be compelled to return.

Things to do: rent a villa (Kia Ora or Villa Yvette, Clifton Road), climb to the top of Cape Point to witness the merging of the Indian & Atlantic Oceans (and take pictures of the baboons on the way), go for a drive at night up to Signal Hill, try the seafood linguine with truffle and the half metre long pizza for lunch at  The Grand at the Beach (and discover the cute gift shop), take a ferry to Robben Island to relive Mandela's imprisonment and the apartheid era, people watch at the Virgin Active Gym (what I really mean is ogle at the hotties), join the Capetonians for a cappuccino at Giovanni's (and take home some fresh cheese with their homemade fig jam), explore the boutiques in the trendy Cape Quarter (and pick up great accessories from local designers), buy meat from the local butcher on Kloof and invite some friends over for a braai, buy an exotic skin clutch bag, discover a cute little restaurant in Constantia (our fave -La Colombe), Stellenbosch or Franschhoek (our fave - Reubens), rent a bicycle and ride around Camp's Bay, opt for a healthy, organic brunch at Manna's, obsess over the super quirky crockery designer Carrol Boyes, go wine tasting to one of 600+ vineyards (our favs -Ernie Els Wine Estate and Hamilton Russell Vineyard Estate), take the funicular with spinning floor to Table Mountain (and take cheesy souvenir pics), have dinner at The Duchess, go paraglidiing (or not and say you did), have high tea with scones at the Table Bay Hotel or Ellerman House, watch the most breathtaking sunsets while listening to your in-house pianist, waddle with the penguins at Boulder's Bay, have a boozy brunch at Paranga's (preferably on a Sunday as the locals do), stock up on Charlotte Rhys products (South Africa's answer to Jo Malone at a fraction of the price), and finally, realise you've started saying 'ja' instead of 'yes'.

Right, now time to fulfill those New Year's resolutions of a healthy diet. Ja.

                                                   Some pictures of Villa Yvette (above and below)
 

 

The Grand at the Beach

 

La Colombe

 

The View from Table Mountain

 

View from Table Bay Hotel

 

The always impeccably dressed Vandana while in Cape Town

Thanks so much Vandana for this very informative piece! You've got me (and I'm sure my readers too) very envious of your lovely holiday. Now if only you'd succumb and do my 7 day fashion diary, life would be so much easier now wouldn't it??

And guys Vandana is soon going to have a blog out of her own where she covers all the latest Fashion trends and the best of all the lovely brands she sources from the world over (including some insider tips and exclusive offers)  for her Odyssey Trunk Shows. Will alert you guys when she has that up and running.. Have gotten a sneak peak already, and it's looking great!

Hotel Review- Grand Hyatt Mumbai

After seeing the pictures of the Hotel above (all taken courtesy of the Grand Hyatt Mumbai website) you may already have made up your mind that the hotel looks amazing, and you'd be right- It does. The Grand Hyatt in Mumbai is sleek and modern, with all the promise of bringing the New World charm and decor to Old world Santa Cruz, Mumbai. Unfortunately, that is where the buck stops- at the promise of it being something great. I have stayed at the Grand Hyatt before a few years back, and had absolutely no issues with the hotel or the service, but my most recent trip to Mumbai was a completely different experience.
As I mentioned in my post a few days back I'd gone to Goa for a wedding and returned to Mumbai to spend 3 nights  attending another wedding there. As I checked into the hotel, tired and sleep deprived, I decided to force myself to stay awake till the night's festivities began. I met two of my friends at the coffee shop downstairs and had to wait painfully long to be served. Apparently the evening before they had waited close to half an hour before leaving as nobody even came to take their order, so we were lucky somebody decided to show up at all. After that the evening went into night and I returned exhausted, having only slept 3 hours the night before, at around 3 AM to my room. The hotel was very well aware that I was in town for a wedding and I had chatted with them and told them how tired I was while checking in. Imagine my surprise then when I was woken up the next morning at 8 AM with the sound of drilling and construction taking place in the room above me. I called them and complained and had to repack my stuff so that they could move me after I stepped out of the hotel.
I left to run errands and returned late in the evening so I could get ready for the main pheras for the wedding. I entered my new room only to find it extremely small and cramped, in fact MUCH smaller than the room I was previously in. I called them and they insisted the room was the same size (it was not) and I asked them to move me anyway. The third room I was in (during which time I completely missed the wedding ceremony with the time they took to move me) was larger and I got dressed and ran down quickly. I entered my room late that night, feeling like I was entering an ice box. I increased the temperature of the room and changed and got ready for bed, assuming that the room would get warmer in time. I woke up in the middle of the night with my teeth chattering and went over to the AC- the temperature was 16 degrees! I tried to cover myself up and went back to bed and woke up and called housekeeping early next morning and asked them how to turn off the AC for a while as I couldn't figure it out- they said they'd send someone as it couldn't be done via the regular dial. Next thing I know I have 3 men entering my room with a large ladder coming in to turn the AC off! I called downstairs, by this time completely having lost my temper, and asked them to just have the AC fixed while I was away, as I didn't want to spend the few hours I was there in my room dealing with workers fixing things. I also told them that the digital clock by my bed was showing the wrong time so both things should be fixed while I was gone. I informed them of my leaving the room when I did, so they could take care of things, only to return to an ice box with the clock by my bed still showing the wrong time. I called and yelled some more and they sent one person up to change the temperature in the room. I told him the temperature should be around 20-21 degrees, and he fixed it (while I had to wait around for him) and then I changed and left. That night I slept fitfully as the temperature in my room climbed to 25 degrees and was way too hot for me to bear.
Now in all of this I had spoken to the duty manager who had INSISTED things would be taken care of and all my problems would be sorted while I was away from the room. NOTHING happened. In that conversation I'd even told her that other friends had been complaining about the hotel and we had established that their thought process was, "people are going to come stay with us anyway so who cares about customer service?!"- an idea she vehemently denied. At the end of the 3 nights, nothing had been done to make me more comfortable, no action had been taken, and I was so glad to be leaving the hotel, vowing never to return!
If you're looking to stay in a hotel in the suburbs of Mumbai, choose the elegant J W Marriot or one of the other hotels in that area. The Grand Hyatt has got to be one of the worst experiences I've had in a hotel EVER.. and considering I travel a lot, that's saying quite a lot. There was no consistency in the rooms either, as my first room had an ipod docking station, ironing board and iron in the room, whereas by the end of it, the room just had the bare bones basics. They obviously do not care about their guests at all, and given the efficiency and fabulous service you get at hotels like the Taj and Oberoi hotels in Town, this type of attitude is not at all the norm of other hotels in India. Why Grand Hyatt feels it can get away with it is beyond me. I just know one thing- I won't be returning there anytime soon!
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Review on the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in LA

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel is one of the most famous hotels in LA as it is conveniently located right off the famous Rodeo Drive, which is where all the famous boutiques are. It was also formerly known as the Regent Beverly Wilshire, a name that all the fans of the movie "Pretty Woman" are sure to remember. Remember Julia Roberts narrating the name of the hotel to her friend over the phone saying, "Reg. Bev. Will"? Yup, same hotel. I'd stayed at this hotel a couple of years back with my family and had absolutely LOVED it. Since it has been taken over since then by the Four Seasons, I thought the rooms would be beyond spectacular and couldn't wait to stay there again. The last time I was in LA (which is when the Sony conference took place) I'd stayed at a smaller hotel for the conference (can't remember the name!) and then moved into the funky Philippe Starck designed Mondrian when I stayed on for a girlie trip with my best friend. This time, when I had the option to pick this hotel between a few offered to me for my friend's wedding, I jumped at the opportunity and was so excited to see what the place looked like. As you can see from the picture of the lobby taken from their website, and the one I've taken below, the lobby is still as stunning as before-

 The rooms however... Aah, the rooms. I remember loving the room I was in all those years back, although mind you, it was over a decade ago and we were staying in larger suites. I did think that maybe I was disappointed because the hotel had just aged, but really, I think the condition of the rooms  were really sad for a hotel under the Four Seasons banner. Here are a few pictures to show you what I'm talking about (pardon the mess please.. that was all me!)

 

The room just looked so outdated and so old, and everything just seemed so.. sorry to repeat it.. but OLD! The switches on the wall were old and plasticy, the furniture looked worn out and worse, the room just wasn't doing too great a job at cooling at night. I called in a technician and he just seemed unable to do anything, and seemed to suggest they had that received quite a few complaints about the same problem. Since I'm such a techie with my gadgets, I just had to take a picture of the room phone to show you-

This looks more Motel, and less Five Star Hotel! 

Overall, I'd definitely give this hotel a miss as it is one of the most expensive ones in the city, but really has nothing to show for it except the name. I did however see some pictures of the suites on their website, and they do actually look really nice still. So unless you're staying in one of those or want the convenience of being a few steps away from Rodeo, you can do much better than the Beverly Wilshire. Having said that about the rooms, the staff and food were definitely up to the Four Seasons standards so can't complain on that front at all. I think it's time the hotel just needs to take tips from the rest of LA, and go in for a face lift!

Review of JAL Fujairah

Sorry for the long break in posting guys, but I had gone to Fujairah for the weekend for a friend's birthday. I've been to the JAL resort before and loved the place, so this time I went armed with my camera to take a few pics and show you what it's like.
My friend wanted to get out of Dubai with her friends for a few days but wanted it to be convenient and budget friendly. She spoke to her travel agent who hooked her up with rooms for ONLY Dhs 385 a night!!!! As you can see, the rooms are quite nice, and even though JAL is not one of the larger more popular chain hotels (it is owned by Japan Airlines, hence the name) it, in true Japanese style, is simple, clean and efficient. I've been to the Meridien also in Fujairah, and thought JAL was so much nicer as it has 3 pools (so you can be away from screaming kids) but also a large stretch of beach and tons of water sports, so in case you are the bearer of said screaming kids, you can entertain them for hours on end! They also have a library if you want some quiet time, and a nice bar which got extremely loud during the football matches. Overall, I highly recommend the hotel, and since Fujairah is only 2 hours away from Dubai, I think it's a great place for a mini vacation. Oh and the weather was a lot cooler there- not that that's saying much, but I'd never want to be outdoors in a pool in Dubai. We spent quite a few hours outdoors there without feeling it!

                 The lobby area, that in the evenings has a live harpist playing soothing music

       Nice clean bedrooms with a good-sized bathroom which is stocked with Bulgari bath products.

There is a balcony attached to each room (all rooms overlook the sea) where you can have a cup of tea  or your morning breakfast.

                                          View from the balcony, of one of the 3 pools

The bar area, minus the frenzied football fans! Has more tv screens behind where I'm standing too.

To help you guys get the same amazing rate as my friend got us, I asked her to give me the details of her travel agent. She used "Solace Holidays" in Dubai. Their number is (04) 3573447 and their email address is info@solace.ae and their website is www.solace.ae.

Enjoy!