Trip Report 11; BHX-MUC-TXL; TXL-BHX LH Y

Well, it was supposed to be a trip with the purpose of trying out the new shiny Berlin airport, but as we all know, Berlin's new airport is a bit of an epic fail. After a week or so where communications were non-existant from Lufty, I rang up to be told that the new service would operate from Tegel. This, of course, didn't stop the seat-shifters reassigning everyone to new seats (aisle, back of the bus, quickly corrected).

It wasn't the best of starts to a trip, for some reason I had a nuit gris and so ended up at BHX on about 2 hours sleep. However, I was to have a pleasant surprise when I dropped the case off, rather than the usual low-level grunting, a pleasant young man address me by name explained why he was giving me a HOT tag for the bag and wished me a nice journey. Mildly stunned, I wandered up to security, where there was a very short queue and I was quickly through to airside. I ignored the breakfast options in favour of free coffee, I wasn't feeling hungry but I did need a fix, so it was off to the CircusAir lounge. We were called roughly on time and I wandered up to gate 54, where I was again shocked by properly done boarding with priority boarding. Has someone from CircusAir been reading the blog?

Anyway, we had a shiny new Embraer 195, I had a decent seat, it was a bit full in steerage, so I had a seat opponent. We took off 10 late, which is sort of standard for the early MUC these days, there was a service, I declined the muffin, but I did have two cups of Lufthansa's tolerable coffee, I watched some stuff on the iPad to pass the time. When we got to MUC, we spent a good few minutes going to the bus farm but it was a fairly quick bus ride in. As MUC gets it right and doesn't lie like FRA, there was no need to reclear security, so it was off to the new Smoking Room (the old Rauchenhütten have gone) and then into the Schengen SEN lounge for a proper Butterbrezel and a quick sit down.


It was an Airbus 321 to Berlin and it wasn't quite as full, so I managed to snag one of the seat pairs in front of the exit row and escaped without a seat opponent. We were actually off bang on time and the service consisted of drinks and a choccy bar. Being a bit anti-sugar at that time, I declined the choccy bar and just had some more water. The 50 minutes to Berlin went quickly, although it was unusually bouncy on the way in. I waited only a few minutes for my bag and then it was quickly outside to have a smoke and contemplate how mean I was feeling,


After lining up the benefits of a taxi to the hotel and being possibly too early to check in versus being mean and dealing with an overcrowded bus, my innate pettiness won. I also contemplated a quick stop at Die Ess Bahn for a snack, but I still wasn't feeling too hungry, so I just queued up for a ticket and got on the X9 into town. Now the X9 runs to Bahnhof Zoo, but if like me you are getting the U2, the trick is to get off at Ernst-Reuter-Platz and get on the U2 there where you might get a seat. The trick worked and I got safely to Stadtmitte.


My ploy hadn't quite worked and my room wasn't ready, but they quickly found me another one (although I never got my Diamond amenity), I made a very quick trip out for some essentials (water, fags, crisps) and then came back, closed the curtains on my partial Dom view and crashed out for a  few hours, therefore missing about the only decent weather of the weekend.

Apart from that teensy glitchette, everything about the Berlin Hilton was fine. The lounge kept me in breakfast and sometimes in either afternoon tea or evening snacks, the wifi was solid, housekeeping were good and the refurbished bathrooms with the new showers are a joy. I wandered out plenty, but the wicked weather stopped several plans, but there was a decent exploration of the area South of the Tiergarten, a trip out to the Brauhaus in Spandau, a couple of attacks of Currywurst and a couple of Fleamarkets. 

Anyway, all too soon, it was time to go. As it was once again pissing down, I decided to get a taxi to Tegel and issued some route suggestions to the driver (like no Tiergarten Tunnels, no sneaking through Westhafen) and was swiftly facing the unsmiling visage of whatever ex-Interflug staff inhabit the Lufthansa bag drop off area. Having got rid of the Rimowa and popped to the WorldShop to pick up a model 747-800 for HWMBO, it was quickly into the SEN lounge for a quick pillage involving more Currywurst, Potato Salad and some cheese washed down with a couple of glasses of Coke. The TXL SEN lounge has a smoking room, which was better than standing outside that day.


After that, it was swiftly onto an Airbus 319 for the direct flight back to Birmingham, security (which is at the gate at Tegel) was quick and friendly and it was straight onto a half-full plane for the 1:40 mins journey back. I had no seat opponent, so it was out with the iPad and and use the middle seat as the table. The food offering was in a brightly coloured Berlin themed bag, but inside lurked the dreaded rooftile sandwich, I chose the ham, it was just as nasty as I remembered it to be, also lurking inside was an apple, a tiny bear-shaped choccy and a herbal cough sweet. There were two rounds of drink service and a rather long and bouncy decent into BHX. No queue at the UK border, bag off fifth and home in 20 mins.


I have realised that the direct Berlin has new opportunities, with it's 19:20 depart from BHX and its late afternoon departure from TXL, it means it's possible to have a short weekend in Berlin at the cost of no annual leave. Having found a cheap fare and a decent weekend rate at the Hilton, I shall be trying this out in September.

Where next, WAW in about five weeks - with a double dose of FRA for changing. I'm a glutton for punishment, but there's a miles promotion involving FRA at the moment and if I am going to pull next year off I need every mile I can get.

Hotel Review - Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton London Regent Street redux

Another short trip to London and another stay at the Courthouse.

Again, there was the "confirmation" email and phone calls, I'm not too keen on this and I don't see why they do it.

However, the actual stay itself was quite faultless, I was upgraded to a non-smoking room but ashtrays were provided. This was exceptionally large and spacious for a London hotel room and whilst it had no view, it did have a good working area, a couple of seats and a very comfortable bed. I was provided with a fruit plate and two bottles of water as my Gold amenity. Check-in was charming and well-handled, especially considering the late hour.

Obviously, I didn't spend too much time in the room, but the internet service was fast, although I had to use wired rather than wireless. Housekeeping were very efficient and non-intrusive and myself and a friend did enjoy a post-theatre drink in the bar, although we weren't lucky enough to get one of the former courthouse cells as a private room. Checkout was swift and painless.

I've decided that this will be my Central London hotel of choice when the rate isn't too injurious to my wallet, mainly because of the great location and it seems to offer everything else I want. I haven't tried room service yet, but considering where it is - why would I.

Berlin and Hilton Berlin

It's normally best to say What happens in Berlin, stays in Berlin. However, for once, I can claim to be all sweetness and light. After arriving at the hotel, I unpacked, took a shower, had a bit of a rest and then wandered off in the general direction of the U-Bahn to find out how bad the U2 disruptions were. It wasn't too bad, but any late night forays to Motzstraße would really mean a taxi back. So perhaps I might check out P'Berg instead ;-)

With my foot playing up a bit, I didn't want to walk too far, so I U-Bahn'ed to Alexanderplatz, had a coffee stop and got the tram a few stops to look around some shops and buildings, I then had another coffee and headed off to find something to eat. I wasn't spectacularly hungry and nothing really appealed so I S-Bahn'ed and U-Bahn'ed back to the hotel and sorted out my email inbox and ordered a Club Sandwich about 9pm. That's when I found out about the great Cucumber problem.

After a good nights sleep, I went for an early breakfast in the restaurant (as opposed to the lounge) and then headed off to meet my friend at the ZOB. That was quite complex journey on the U-Bahn and I resolved to get a taxi back, the bus was a bit late in from Dresden, so I took a walk around and admired the radio building and tower which is just up the street.

We then spent the day being tourists, the Wall, the TV tower, Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie and even a short foray into Kreuzberg. We ended up watching the football back in the hotel with some bottle of beer after a short dip into the hotel lounge for snacks. It was a nice day but a bit windy and the weather could have been a bit better.

Sunday dawned early and we had breakfast in the lounge and then a whistle top tour of Charlottenburg and the Tiergarten before my friend caught his bus back. I then crashed out for a couple of hours, before going to have dinner with friends in Schöneberg, Sunday evening was particularly nice weather - a precursor of the next day.

As for the hotel, the Berlin Hilton has long been a favourite of mine, whilst MItte can be a bit soulless, its position by the Gendarmenmarkt and Stadtmitte U-Bahn station is hard to beat. I've always had good service there as well. They have refreshed the rooms recently and it's a good refresh, a better bathroom and improvements to the desk and bed as well. The storage is better organised and ample. Housekeeping are efficient, but if you don't use the Do Not Disturb sign, they will start knocking at 8am. As a Gold status member, I got a welcome gift of some dried banana slices covered in chocolate (yum) and a litre of mineral water every day.

The new lounge was a vast improvement, whilst missing the great views from the old lounge, it's about three times the size. This resolves the problems with seating that could occur at breakfast and at cocktail time. There's also a nice array of seating, from tables to bench tables to comfy chairs by the window, a small area with three computers that work and some side rooms which can be used for meetings.

The food and drink are similar to what used to be there. There's a slightly larger range of food, both hot and cold of a good quality. I every much enjoyed the mini-kebabs and BBQ chicken cones on the Sunday night. My friend had high praise for the fish goujons and prawn kebabs the night before.

I hope to return in August and at New Year/Silvester. I would always think of here first when staying in Berlin, although if the room rate continues to climb.....

Hotel Review - Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton London Regent Street

I was going to post this one up some time ago, but I have been a bit busy.


I'm in two minds about this hotel. It has fantastic location for there shopping and theatre trip I had planned for my birthday.


I booked a large smoking room about three days before at a fairly horrific price - but this is the dead centre of Londump. The day before the hotel contacted me three times, once by email and twice by telephone to get me to confirm. I found this annoying, to say the least but confirmed that yes, I wanted a large smoking room.


The hotel is very easy to find and a very short distance from Oxford Street tube, no problems with luggage. The young woman at the desk greeted me, acknowledged my status and then started on the lies.


i) You've been upgraded to the larger room. No, love, that's what I booked
ii) You've been granted a free continental breakfast for one of you. No, love, I booked and paid for full breakfast for both of us as I don't think Spouse stays free really applies to second dates.
iii) Your room is non-smoking - we haven't got any larger smoking rooms - this may be a problem with the website. Many hotels do this, hence my snarky comments about the cancer downgrade. The Shangri-La Sydney does cancer upgrades :-)


FFS, two porkies and despite annoying confirmation calls and emails, I still can't get the room I booked. The manager was summoned, there were apologies, a standard smoking room was found, I insisted on the lower room rate for it. This shouldn't bloody happen, too many times the Hilton website allows the booking of a room category that doesn't exist in the hotel for smokers. I have now started putting in my comments - don't upgrade me if you don't have a smoking room in that category.


Anyway, by the standards of inner London "standard" hotel rooms, this one wasn't that small, I thought it was a bit tiny, but my companion thought it was fine. I liked the opening window, even if the view was a bit naff. The bed was great, the bathroom was good (but with naff toiletries), the lighting was pretty decent as well. All a bit bland and modern, but it is a Double tree.


Breakfast was good, OK, it wasn't the full Hilton spread, but we are one category down on that. Continental looked weak, but we were here for the fry-up and that was fine, coffee was a bit better than normal for a UK hotel, service was pleasant and swift and they had the weekend edition of the FT.


Unusually, I used the concierge, my companion decided he wanted to go to the theatre and I used the concierge to get us decent tickets for a show. He got very good ones, albiet at a bit of a price and the show was great.


We ate out with a quick pre-theatre meal at a Malaysian/Singaporean place on the edge of Soho. It was OK, it felt expensive to the queen of the hawker stands. The roti prata was good, the curry sauce less so, the Nasi Lemak was OK, the Hokkien Mee was good. Would probably go there again if I had a hankering.


Checkout was painless and yes the bill had been reduced.


All in all, I'll probably use the hotel again for similar trips, it's got great location and the breakfast room is nice and the concierge is helpful, but it is expensive (£250 per night) and I'll continue to lurk out at Kensington (now Islington is non-smoking) for business trips.


I've decided, despite the impending house purchase, that I will go to Berlin this upcoming bank holiday, so you can expect some more Lufthansa action and a review of a Hotel I've visited many times, the Berlin Hilton and I've been invited to a wedding in Hong Kong at the start of October, so there will be two lots of longhaul action this year - including if my upgrades clear - some LH First.

Trip Report 5 - BHX-FRA-PRG-FRA-BHX + Hilton Prague Old Town

Ah, back in the air again after a longer than usual break, with two nights in Prague on the menu. As usual, I booked the Hilton Old Town for the location and waited and waited for the authorisation for the ticket. Needless to say, by the time it came, we were up to painful fares on the needed flights. Swiss were cheapest, but the thought of double Fokkers and double bus gates at Zürich gave me the heebie-jeebies. So I made a little deal with me paying for a short haul Z fare and claiming for the M fare to give me access to the flight I needed to be on; otherwise it would be double Fokker.

This, of course, meant FRA, the early FRA and the breaking of a personal rule by having a short connect. So it was hand luggage only, using the small rolling case and the laptop bag for the simple reasons of being able to carry two pairs of shoes and have space for fags on the way back.

The Friday was a nearly perfect day for flying, so I switched from my usual aisle to a window for FRA-PRG. Having a nearly record run in a taxi meant I had plenty of time at BHX, so I quickly went through the painless security, bought some bits from Boots and WH Smug and then confident of being fed on the plane, I decided not to go to Pret for Brekkie but to go to the new revamped Servisair lounge for which I was triple qualified (Priority Pass, LH status, Business Class), it still took the 'tard on the desk about 3 minutes to decided if he could let me in or not. Whilst the revamped lounge is quite bright and airy, it still has the same miserable collection of shelf-stable cakes and packets of Quavers masquerading as food.

There was one of those Circusair "moments" over departure, the flight went from "5 mins to boarding", straight to "Departed" causing a small stampede over to the gate, where the staff looked confused and clueless. As usual, there were about 5 staff there, of which only one did the work. Anyway, with a light load, we were soon all boarded and up and away. Business Class was looked after by a charming (and rather woofy) purser, who quickly handed out the drinks and meals to the four of us in J.

Lufthansa has a new modular service concept of which Birmingham flights will be Band 2. The above was served for Breakfast, which looks about right for a Band 2 flight. The fruit salad was mainly apple with some kiwi and grapes, the "cold cuts" was a solitary slice of salami with a nice bit of Shropshire Blue and the croissant was naff. Seconds were offered on hot rolls and on coffees. They even generously gave me a sample of  the Economy offering, which didn't seem very Band 2.

However, i had it as a snack in the afternoon and it was quite tasty and has to be better than the dreaded cheese sandwich, not sure about it as a breakfast concept, I can see the Pret hot baguette still being eaten.

Needless to say, it was a bus gate arrival, I had been hoping for a stand, but it meant a mad chase was on. After the usual faffing around, we went on the usual magical mystery tour of Frankfurt airport before ending up at the B bus gates. From then the sprint was on, I had about 35 minutes to get through security and onto the next flight. Would there be chance for a fag? would there be a chance for a diet coke in the A26 slum lounge?

Luckily, there were no queues at immigration and it was straight to transfer security where I used the Business Class queue, however, it was proceeding at a truly glacial pace, with the little Beamtin operating it, stopping the belt constantly to adjust contents so that Alles in Ordnung and then huffing, fussing and rewinding, so that the whole process took over 10 minutes from joining a queue of 3 people to starting to stomp down the Tunnel of Hate. The Economy queues were moving faster, but had I gone through there I'd have never made the flight.

I ended up, hot, sweaty and slightly dishevelled at the A23 Raucherhütte with about 7 minutes to go before boarding ended, I had half a cancer stick then made it onto the A321 with, I think, the new seating as not quite the last passenger. I eased myself past a Septic into the window seat and relaxed.

FRA-PRG is a short flight of about 40 minutes, most of which I cheerfully gazed out of the window at the view of Hesse, Franconia, the Sudetenland and the approach to Prague. We were severed the Band 1 snack box which bemused the Septics on board who have been brainwashed over the years by their lame excuses for airlines that the elderly cabin crew can't do any service on a flight of less than an hour.

There was a ham roulade with julienne vegetables, a small salad with pine nuts, a mini roll and some brie with currant chutney. The first was fine, but there was something odd lurking beneath it, the salad was lovely, the brie wasn't bad. All in all, pretty good for a 40 minute flight.

Getting off at Prague, it was straight out, straight onto a 100 bus, quick fag break and the B-line metro all the way to the hotel. Less than 45 minutes, 26Kr cost as opposed whatever the average Prague taxi driver feels like. 

My room was ready at the Hilton and I was upgraded to an Executive Plus room, lovely big room with somewhat bathroom but a nice view (a bit noisy at night, but nothing too bad). I decided I just about had time for a real meal, so I nipped around the corner and had a plate of goulash (and a half litre)

The Goulash was very nice, especially with the added chilli and onion and the latkes were superb. I love Prague food, especially when eaten outside on a lovely afternoon.

Anyway, after a busy afternoon, it was just time for a wash and brush up before going out to eat for the evening. A lot of places were crowded and I ended up on somewhere on Hybernská having a decent if unusual pork schnitzel and some very good potato salad and a bottle of very strong dark beer. Afterwards, I went for posh drinkies in Buddha Bar, which was nice for the free prawn crackers, but a bit dark and pricey - nice range of spirits though. With such an early start, the tiredness was showing and it was back to the hotel for some kip.

The next day, sadly, wasn't so nice and sunny, in fact it was a bit grey and cloudy. After having a decent continental brekkie in the lounge (good coffee, good breads, poor sossidge), I met a friend and we went for lunch in the Potrefená Husa again on Hybernská, this is part of a Staropramen chain which looks to produce an upscale modern beerhall experience and succeeds very well. Good menu, nice decor and very good service standards. I was lured into the veal special, with mushroom sauce and gnocchi by the description from the server, washed down, of course, with Staropramen, my friend had an enormous plate of goulash.

Doesn't look a lot, but those gnocchi are very filling. A highly enjoyable meal after which, we went for a wander around the shops and then on a riverboat trip. After all this, I retired back to the hotel and went to the lounge for a cup of coffee and some snacks, as with last time, a nice little selection with the highlight being the rather good cheeseboard.

Having a project to work on, I stayed in that evening and ended up with a room service burger to fill the gap. The Hilton Burger is a variable feast, but the one at the Prague Old Town is truly excellent with good cheese, bacon, ripe tomato and very good chips. 

Anyway, after a nice day and a half in Prague, it was time to get up early and make my way by bus and metro, I did try and check in online, but the Lufthansa website was throwing a wobbler, which isn't unusual. Arriving a little later than I had planned, I swiftly saw all the self-service check-ins out of order and the queue snaking for ages - so I went into the business class queue where boarding passes were swiftly issued on Austrian stock (which is sort of fitting for Prague). Using the fast track security was a joy and then it was off to duty free to obtain fags for me and goodies for the office. I then wandered up to the Crystal Lounge which is operated by Czech Airlines (and used by Lufthansa), it was a bit ummm, sparse.

The seating was as uncomfortable as it was colourful. However, a quick soft drink, a riffle through a French newspaper (Air Chance use the lounge as well) and a rest stop were all welcome as I carefully repacked the bags to full expansion mode. There was a selection of drinks - sadly no beer tap (just canned Gambrinus) and some food in a fridge as well as a selection of nuts, crisps and FarmFoods broken biscuits.

Boarding the Airbus 321 was perfectly on time, although Business Class and Star Golds had to fight their way through people hanging around the gate. Boarding was very efficient for a flight with about 2 spare seats in Economy and 1 empty seat in Business. The crew on this flight were very efficient and had the lunch boxes out very quickly, they even managed to offer drinks 3 times on this short flight.

The introduction card for this - mentioned the dread words molecular gastronomy and the large number of Septics on the flight looked at it all very dubiously. I thought it was all rather splendid, there was a "sambal" prawn mounted on a herb jelly with couscous, a small piece of parma ham, some shaved and delicious cheese, a smidge of the dreaded Kräuterquark and a cherry tomato. There was also a mini chocolate muffin in creme anglaise. For 50 minutes, I thought this was excellent, although from the amount left by most pax, it wasn't a success in general.

On arriving in Frankfurt, it was swiftly through the Tunnel of Hate and immigration and into the Raucherhütte to top up levels. I then decided to head to the B4x Business Lounge rather than the B2x one, there's no real difference, but plenty of space to charge the iPhone and get some more work done. The food selection was, of course, abysmal - it's Mexican month, celebrated by Pickled Pepper salad and yes, a Mexican version of Kräuterquark. I had a piece of apple cake and a Coke Light or two.

I noticed that after a few months of the pleasure of a real gate with an airbridge for the BHX, it was back to the buses and the remote stand half way to Groß-Gerau, where I was surprised to see a BMI Airbus 319 on stand, then I remembered that some BHX's this summer will be Lufthansa flights operated by BMI (who are now owned by Lufthansa). 

We were welcomed on board by the BMI crew who did the usual rounds of newspapers and asked for drinks and food orders. It seems that these flights are not using the LH catering at least at the start and we had a choice of hot meals.

I choose the pasta, which was cheese tortellini in a spicy tomato sauce. There was a small salad with cottage cheese and a lemon panacotta, I had a white wine with it, but it was fairly hideous. The BMI crew were great and I look forward to a few more flights with them over the next few months as they operate the LH.

We landed a bit early and seeing the Emirates 77W land behind us, I made a determined effort to get through immigration and out to the taxi as fast as possible and I made it.

Conrad Centennial Singapore

((Family problems are still causing some delays, but I hope to get the final part up by the weekend))

I have stayed at Conrad branded hotels before and I’ve always found them very good on service but not brilliant at handing out the HHonors benefits. This Conrad, I'm happy to say. was perfectly compliant with all HHonors benefits on this visit. I received an upgrade to an Executive Suite overlooking the Fountain of Wealth, access to the lounge and was offered a late check out. 

Also in terms of housekeeping, it is impeccable, with my room attendant even asking what fruits I required in my bowl. The main room was large and pleasant with a good work area, a good sitting area with a nice comfortable sofa . The bedroom had a massive bed with quality linens and plenty of storage space. The bathroom had a lovely big tub, double vanity, loo in a small side room and a separate shower. Unfortunately, for some reason, the pictures I thought I'd taken weren't on the camera when I came to download them.

The lounge is very nice, but I understand that there have been cutbacks and whilst the staff are very willing to please, it does need some improvement. The presence of only small plates is silly at breakfast, you end up having to go back two or three times, whilst with a sensible size plate, there would be a lot less work for the staff. Also replenishment seemed rather slow at times, especially at breakfast.,

Whilst the opulence level is pretty high here, that’s not uncommon in Singapore, but there’s no real sense of “side” that you can find in some five star hotels. The staff are a bit formal, but reasonably friendly. I enjoyed it so much that I have booked a return stay in November for three nights.

Brisbane Hilton

I have always liked the Brisbane Hilton, whilst a older hotel, it offers excellent customer service with very friendly and helpful staff. I was given a room on the smoking floor with access to the Executive lounge.  The rooms have been renovated, but unfortunately they still have the old showers. However, the refresh is welcome and the internet no longer drops out every five minutes. The lounge is very nice, with staff in the evenings now offering hot selections as well and I recommend the cake with afternoon tea – especially if the banana custard tarts are on.

I was personally greeted by the customer services manager, who brought a cake (yum) and a bottle of wine (declined, I can’t drink more than two small glasses at the moment). Laundry was taken and returned very swiftly.

Lounge Breakfast at the Hilton suits me down to the ground, rarely varying from two long blacks, a vanilla and cinnamon smoothie, some mango and pineapple, some sourdough bread and cheese. They had a particularly nice blue cheese very similar to Cashel Blue, I should have found out the name. By the second day, my drinks preferences had been noted and would be prepared for me on entering the lounge.

I only did evening snacks once, but as well as a fine selection of cold items, the extremely friendly staff came round to offer hot items from a short menu. You can also get Room Service to the lounge which is a nice touch.

Housekeeping were very prompt and efficient (except for New Years Day and that’s very understandable) and turndown service was offered every evening.

Again, another very good stay at this hotel and I would not hesitate to return, the customer-facing skills are very good here, although I must do one night at the Conrad one day to collect the teddy.

Hilton Melbourne on the Park

This hotel was booked on points, after my first trip, this hotel would only be booked on points. They are very amenable at taking points at Christmas/New Year and for a while that was the only thing in their favour. They also have what I consider to be a good location for what I want to see and do in Melbourne.


However, they are getting better, considerably better and I can see a day where I might actually pay them money again.


Welcome was warm, status was recognised with free Internet and my room was ready at 8:30am and I wasn't charged for the use of it as a day room. The bedrooms have been refurbished, although not the bathrooms and proved to be perfectly adequate throughout the stay. The bed was comfy, the desk was good, I had an opening window to smoke out of, the bathroom was a bit old style. The room was a little dark, but as this was my jet-lag hotel, I didn't mind that at all.


Housekeeping were OK, although the usual tightness with shower gel etc was noted, however, I went and got some L'Occitane on the second day, so that didn't matter. Turndown service was offered every evening but ridiculously early. The Internet service has gotten better as well, although still a little slow.


As is my policy with this hotel, I didn't eat breakfast here and didn't use room service etc. 


Checkout was fine and cordial.


My first stay here was horrific, my second was marginal, my third was marginal but better, this one was OK. I may actually consider paying them money in the future.

Köln (and Hilton Cologne)

As quite a bit of the trip was at a conference, I didn't do much to report on until I was freed up time wise at 3pm on the Saturday. I noticed that there was a small Christmas market where the conference was (well, away from the tourist areas) and had a little poke around it before heading back to central Köln. It was in a shopping centre, had about 15 stalls and mainly had cheaper, but very nice quality goods, mainly concentrating on Christmas decorations and edibles like nuts and Aachener Printen. I came away with a few bags of the latter for the office.


On getting back to Köln, I got changed and decided to have a quick scan around the markets there, there was a large and very crowded one around the Dom, a smaller one which was a bit less crowded down by the Heumarkt and had an ice rink and another crowded one around the Neumarkt. By this time, I was frozen and headed back via tram to the hotel for a nice warm.


Normally, I'd go out in Köln on a Saturday evening, there's a nice selection of "bear" bars I quite like in one area. However, three things mitigated against this. I was quite tired, it was -5 outside and falling and at the moment I can't drink alcohol due to a course of medication. So I popped around the corner to  the Gästatte Dominikaner and had Bratwurst, potatoes and sauerkraut whilst sipping a diet Coke and looking at all the people enjoying lovely glasses of Kolsch. After that, I went back to the hotel and played a bit of EU III with the latest patch.


Sunday was cloudy and cold. My original intention had been to go to Wuppertal and explore the Schwebebahn there. However, with the weather not looking brilliant for photography and needing to get some Christmas shopping done, I proceeded to go out on a series of short shopping raids followed by a nice warm either back at the hotel or with a cup of coffee somewhere.


Over the next six hours, I mainly concentrated on the market by the Dom and purchased a number of goodies. The prices are slightly inflated there for the prime position and the number of tourists, but are pretty comparable to say the excellent Christmas Market in Birmingham. The goods at the Dom are generally of a very high quality and I bought several presents there for friends. The food stalls also cover a fairly wide range of foods, although I noticed that compared to last year, the selection was more Germanic. Lunch was a Wild Boar Roll, pricey at 8€, but very well filled with fresh Wild Boar off the spit and very tasty.


The longest search was for a Monopoly set, a friend collects them and Germany has very good game shops. As it was a Sunday before Christmas, a large number of shops were open and eventually I located a shop with a number of unusual Monopoly sets.


The evening was spent quietly, with no beer to be drunk, I settled in with a excellent book (Death in Breslau by Marek Krajewski) and popped out to the local Maredo around the corner for a steak and salad. Maredo is a chain found throughout Germany, it's usually pretty decent, there was one a very short distance away from the hotel - which is helpful in the freezing temperatures.


To quickly review the hotel, I have stayed in the Hilton Cologne about 12 times over the years. It's very well situated near the Dom and the Hauptbahnhof. The rooms are very modern, although if you want a larger room, I suggest booking the deluxe rooms - which are very large. It has one of the best buffet breakfast in Germany, and whilst I wasn't on a breakfast rate, I did treat myself on the Sunday and it hasn't had any "enhancements" to it, still a very good selection of hot and cold dishes. Check-in was very good as was check-out, although there was a slight error with the bill which was quickly resolved.


Next: Trains (with pictures)

Hotel Review: Hilton Prague Old Town

The Hilton Prague Old Town was chosen for a number of reasons. Whilst no longer fanatically devoted to the HHonors scheme, I still prefer to keep a healthy balance, so if there's a reasonably priced Hilton in town, I tend to use it.

Prague has two Hiltons, both Old Town and the "original" Hilton Prague (near Florenc Metro) were within a similar price band. I've stayed a couple of times at the Hilton Prague and it has one of the best lounges in Europe, however, it is a little more out of the city than the Old Town Hotel and I had a bit of fun with the bill last time.

As this trip was primarily to get pictures of Prague, I decided to try the Old Town.

Check-In was above average, my elite status was recognised and an upgrade was given. I was asked if I needed newspapers, wakeup calls or a reservation for dinner.

The room was on the ninth floor and of a reasonable size, I've had bigger and I've had smaller. I prefer not to rattle round. The decor was fine, corporate bland, there was a decent sized desk, a "comfy" chair and a good king-sized bed. The bathroom, whilst perfectly serviceable, looked jaded and a little outdated. Storage room was fine for hanging things, but very poor for non-hanging things. The luggage rack was good in that it was large, but strange in that it was a chunk of plastic coming out from the wall which didn't feel in keeping with the rest of the room. The heating/Ac controls were only mildly confusing to a geezer like me and the Heating/AC fans proved to be reasonably quiet.

As it turned out, the bed was extremely comfortable and I slept extremely well. It was also more comfortable than the chair for general lounging whilst reading a book. Whilst jaded, the bathroom was fine, although the loo roll had obviously been sourced from the German Hiltons due to its sandpapery tendency. Housekeeping were very good and offered turndown service on all three nights - declined on one as I was just out of the bath, a small tip was left in appreciation.

I had access to the Executive lounge, which whilst not as nice as the one at the Prague Hilton, was fine for my purposes, there was a decent breakfast each morning with staff offering hot drinks. Whilst the bread was a bit naff (too many stays in Germany), the rest of the offer was fine, I usually had apple juice, a bit of fresh fruit, ham, cheese and bread. In the afternoon, there was cakes and small sandwiches available - the small sandwiches were unmemorable, the cakes were rather nice. In the evenings, the lounge was quite busy and there was a wide selection of drinks, cold nibbles and hot nibbles. The hot nibbles were a bit *meh*, but there were some nicely done cold snacks on a stick. Except for the Saturday evening, it was not crowded.

I didn't bother with any of the other hotel facilities, the bar looked fairly empty and I dislike formal dining alone, although the restaurant did look more interesting than the usual standard from Hilton.

Check-Out was a little perfunctory but pleasant, I was offered a taxi, but declined choosing to take the bus that goes from just outside the hotel. All in all, I would happily return.

Good: Bed, Desk, Lounge
Bad: Storage Space in Room, Bathroom Decor