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Ronald's Blog

October 2009

Even when on a hurried business trip there are times to switch of and relax so it is of interest to see what our Hotels offer.

Basic requirement would be a television in the room, as far as I know all IHG Hotels offer this, but only a few years ago it was an optional extra. Nowadays the Hotels should offer a reasonable selection of programmes in that countries home language. It was interesting in that our most recent stay at a HIX had a better selection of English programmes than the London Intercontinental.

If we regard a restaurant as a leisure facility then I expect it a place to relax in while enjoying the meal not with loud music and a reasonable competent service level.

We will usually expect a bar; a lot of the HI and HIX seem to be setting bars a pub type facilities catering for passing trade by offering big screen televisions offering major sporting events. Some have pool tables. I would like all these bars to have quiet areas so those who would just like to have a coffee and chat can so to do. So in other words a lounge area would be appreciated. The bars should offer snacks and quick lunches for passing business visitors.

Most HI in UK would have a gym and swimming pool while moving to Crown plazas we would expert a little more such as a sauna and steam room. A place to relax is the Jacuzzi. It is most important to have a good leisure club manager who will ensure the highest degree of maintenance as well as regular cleaning of the poolside, changing facilities as well as the reception are. Staff should be as welcoming here as in the Hotel reception.

The higher you go the more you will get. Crowne plazas often have Hairdressers and barbers as well as beauty salons offering a wide range of treatments. After a long journey a back massage can be just the thing.

At the Intercontinentals there is usually a full spa with top rated beauty salons offering top class treatments for a price.

It would be useful if all the IHG hotels gave guests free access to all the spa’s in all the Hotels not making it an extra in some cases. One Crowne plaza we stayed at had an additional charge for the indoor pool and gym. This is a lack of consistency. I am glad to say that as far as I am aware all but one of all the UK IHG hotels give guests complimentary access to the leisure facilities and so they should.

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As previously mentioned we took our weekend in London at the Intercontinental Park Lane and were pleasantly surprised by it.

Firstly as usual I emailed ahead confirming my bookings. I booked a room at the least expensive rate as well as a room for my In Laws on points.

We arrived early and the car was valet parked. We were upgraded to a one bed room suite with large lounge, dinning area, guest cloak room, and work area. We were informed that club access for Royal Ambassadors could be bought for half price that is £40.00 $65.00. And we were invited to view the club. It has a great view over the Royal Parks of London with glimpses or Westminsterand beyond. Breakfast is always grand in Intercontinentals and the London Hotel is no exception.  We used our Ambassador free night certificate so the weekend cost including the points room breakfasts, two rooms four people £332, ($540) Free use of the mini bar, fruit and water complimentary.

Up West is a phrase used by Londoners who will travel to the west End of London for  the best shopping , hotels and entertainment it is the west end of London but also the City of Westminster. In Park Lane there are a number of 5 star hotels as well as the IC so a stroll up the lane can be rewarded by sightings of the rich and famous. Pak Lane is the Eastern boundary of Hyde Park a large open space with gardens and a lake called the Serpentine. There are a large number of aquatic birds. You can, if feeling energetic go boating on the water.

As this was purely a leisure week end we became tourists which included a Visit to Harrods world famous department store which is aboit half a mile away.

www.harrods.com

The weather was clement and we took a cruise on the River Thames from Westminster pier to Greenwich. Greenwichis 0.00.00 Latitude and hence the centre of Time. The Museum has the Harrison clocks from which were developed accurate time pieces that could be taken on ships to enable accurate positioning to be calculated and so much safer voyages could be undertaken.

We found this cruise more than satisfactory.

http://www.citycruises.com/route.htm

Greenwich has more restaurants than any other London borough by size according to the guide on the boat and certainly some  good traditional Pub Grub  food was had To get to the observatory  you take a walk through Greenwich Park going past the Royal Navel Academy and the Maritime Museum then a rather steep but short clime to the top. Museum access is free as are a lot of London Museums and Galleries.

From the Intercontinental, if you are lucky, you can see the Queens’ horse guards returning to barracks by the hotel at about 10.45. AM.

London is generally regarded as a safe city, just take normal precautions keep a firm hand on your handbags ladies, and keep wallets in inside pockets.

London Police are very approachable and most have good tourist knowledge of London and are usually quite helpful to tourists.

London Restaurants have a very big variation in pricing as do the wines in them. It is quite possible to pay; I know not why, over £10,000 a bottle. Even some rare whiskies can be this price as well. However there are many good chains that offer good steaks at reasonable prices such as Angus Steak Houses and Scotch Steak houses.

London has in the West End some 30 Theatres with a broad variety of productions from mainstream Plays and comedies to completely unfathomable productions. Of course there are the Ballets and operas. The Royal opera House and the Festival Hall have a lot of this type of production. The London Sunday Times has most of these listed in the Cultural supplements.

I would recommend a good pair of walking shoes to best see London, always look at buildings as you may see a blue plaque with some historical information on it.

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It seems they are becoming more popular and wide spread. We have them in Hotels, Airports, Up market Car dealers and rail stations. However what do we get and are they worthwhile.  At airports you can gain access to lounges through Priority Pass if not travelling in premium class seats.

http://www.prioritypass.com/

This can be bought and has access to some 350 lounges at most Airports worldwide. We have pours through Amex Platinum card as complimentary. It does not matter in what class of air travel you are travelling, just check the location prior to departure and present your card. The lounges are often shared with business class airline passengers so are very pleasant places to wait in comfort.

We have Crowne Plazas with Lounges entry seems to be for club rooms that you can, if lucky be upgraded to. The one lounge we have experience of is the Crowne Plaza at London Gatwick Airport. It is not that large but had a friendly and helpful staff. Entry was by room key card. We had an early Breakfast there and it was with a reasonable choice of the continental variety. There were beers and soft drinks available.

The intercontinental Lounges are a different matter. We have experienced about half a dozen and entry is, if you have not booked a club room, by luck of the draw. One year as an Ambassador in the IC Aphrodite Hills Cyprus we were invited to use the lounge, and very excellent it was to, the second year as a Royal Ambassador on the same room deal we were denied entry.

Now we paid for the Lounge in the following ICs: - Malta, Vienna, and Budapest in the last 12 months and the experience was well worth the extra cost. In Malta the lounge had a grand terrace with far reaching views. There were some interesting books on the shelves and plenty of comfortable sofas. The food for the complimentary Breakfast was ample with a reasonable choice of both hot and cold dishes. The evening snacks were adequate and if as we had had a larger lunch.

Both Vienna and Budapest had very excellent lounges with very good breakfast selections and a small lunch buffet. The Evening selections were again very good. Malta and Vienna had spirits on offer in the early Evenings but Budapest limited this to fine wines. In all these lounges the reception staff are as well versed in local knowledge as the concierge desk and will arrange things for you as well. This is were you register as a guest and settle your account.

So it is a case of evaluating the perceived benefits against the extra costs. We are due in the London IC this week end but I baulk at the extra cost here as it is said to be £80 ($130) I will ask for a viewing of it to get an impression of what is available.

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What is our forum all about?

Good question, so starting at the beginning lets look at IHG. Intercontinental Hotels Group which is the largest hotel in the world encompassing a number of brands from Intercontinental Hotels, the upscale end to the business end to Holiday Inn Express and for long term stays at Staybridge Suites.

IHG needs to engage with their customers, I do prefer guests, and to enable them to do this both quickly and efficiently IHG with the help of specialist consultants (Communispace) run a number of forums such as our forum

Priority Club Connect

http://community.priorityclub.com/index.jspa#

Other forums such as the one I was previously with were private and it was a specialised Ambassador forum designed to help formulate the new Ambassador programme launched earlier this year.

IHG runs this forum to enable general feedback to managers and executives and for me to reinforce this let me relate a day I had with IHG.

As previously reported I have been a member of Priority Club for some 15/16 years and Joined Ambassador in 2000. I was staying in an Intercontinental waiting by the front desk and I noticed the Ambassador literature and joined there and then basically $150 for a free night seemed too good to miss. I was immediately upgraded and the staff moved my luggage etc to my new room with all the ambassador extras in it. Two years ago I qualified for Royal status that I so far have maintained. During this time I was one of the first to be involved with the private ambassador forum, the primary objective of this was to contribute to the re- launch of the Ambassador and Royal Ambassador programme. There was considerable discussion and we believed that our input was listened to and that we see our ideas implemented

I was invited to help host the a IHG social Marketing Expo at the brand new IHG headquarters in a country park about 20 miles West of London. Here I served as the voice of our forum sharing stories and experiences about both the private and public online communities. We were able to show why IHG should listen to their most loyal and frequent guests who stay  at their hotels. In this I believe we were successful. There is one thread in discussion asking do they listen. Oh yes they do and receive regular reports as well as following what is relevant to their department.

The Building is indeed very impressive as was the professional welcome by the reception staff. The Expo was in an exhibition centre in the building there were four major segments.

The Delegates were IHG employees, all head office staff were invited, who were introduced to the various forums and what they would do for them. The thread we have regarding where we would like to see new IHG hotels was of interest to the new development team, and for example the rewards team were interested in our discussion on qualifying rates as well as our efforts to share points earning opportunities, getting upgrades and generally sharing good things.

The Visiting General managers from some of the London IHG s were interested in the reviews and comments on visits by guests.

A number of vary high level executives spent quite a bit of time in the Expo, and demonstrations of  our threads etc was illuminating to them.

What do IHG get out of these forums?  Well research suggests that:-

Members are more loyal, as they can have their say.

Members probably are more aware of the hotel opportunities and brands

Members who are probably more likely to accumulate more loyalty points and hence their desire to use these in conjunction with paid stays increase.

I was able to sample the IHG restaurant which had an excellent choice and great presentation. Interestingly the chefs try out potential menus for the various hotel brands here.

Within the exhibition centre are dummy hotel rooms and suites and I was shown what may be the new style Holiday Inn rooms.

In all it was a very interesting and instructive day.

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Most of us have stayed in hotels when a budget, maybe for business maybe just a vacation, has been important and part of the expense has been on the restaurant bill. The hoteliers should be as aware of this as any one in these difficult times. However the choice has also to be important. In my opinion there should always be a selection of basic food at each course.

There should be both a set menu as well as a la carte. The Hotel should recognise that health is an issue as well for many people and the increasing number of diabetic and associated disorders sufferers should be taken into account. The mark up on food is quite substantial in most hotels so a more basic option would no only be healthy but less costly with out affecting the margins. Coffee should be an option instead of desert, (pudding) Breakfasts, at least in Europe do take account of the healthy options as well as being varied and adequate.

In the UK the Holiday Inns have menus that are the same for some weeks so do not encourage you to eat in more than two or three times before boredom, unless there are special favourites, sets in and a visit to a take away seems preferable.

The Wine list should include a good selection of half bottles as many business visitors do not need a full bottle. Bottled water should be at a reasonable price. In France recently in a supermarket 1.5 litres can be bought for as little as .2 euro but the least expensive restaurant was selling .5 litre at 3Euro that is 45 five times more.

Finally the opening and closing times should be appropriate for the hotels location, Vacation hotels should not need early breakfasts and business locations as well as Airport hotels should serve breakfast as early as guests need.

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Ronald Chadwick

Ronald Chadwick

 Member since: Oct 2, 2008

I receive PCR points for my blog posts. The views in my blog are not necessarily the views of IHG.

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