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What were my travel highlights and lowlights of 2016?

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There is just one article today as we gently ease back into things.   What impressed me on my travels during 2016?  And what didn’t?

What I realised when I looked back over the last year of articles is that I haven’t done much which was radically new.  By letting Anika do most of the reviews – the only comped hotel stay mentioned below is St Regis Istanbul, the rest I paid for – I missed out on a few unexpected highlights in places such as Tallinn and Bordeaux.  However, of the stuff I did do:

cavallino-bianco

My eyes are opened to family hotels

I think I did around 80 nights in hotels this year.  I only wrote about a fraction of them because I don’t write about run-of-the-mill hotels and generally keep our family trips off the site.

That said, I was hugely impressed by two family-focussed hotels we visited this year.  Both are ski properties in winter and walking properties in summer.  Near Salzburg you have Elmauhof and near Innsbruck Cavallino Bianco (photo above).  We spent an enjoyable week in each this year and will probably return to both in 2017.

There is nothing like this in the UK in terms of quality.  The village of Ortisei, where Cavallino Bianco sits, is also astoundingly pleasant.

I returned to Virgin Atlantic after 18 years

Yes, how rubbish is that.  I run the biggest UK frequent flyer website and I hadn’t flown Virgin Upper Class since 1998.

My review of Upper Class on the new 787 fleet is here.   The Heathrow Clubhouse remains very impressive (review here) – I was especially impressed by the food, as I was imagining the lounge was more design over substance – and I got another free haircut, following the one I got in 1998.  I am in two minds about the Upper Class seat but, for solo travellers, I preferred it to Club World.

Hotel revelations of the year

I was very impressed by the Waldorf-Astoria in Ras Al Khaimah (review here).  There isn’t much else to do in Ras, but if you don’t mind the hour drive from Dubai you will get an impressive five star beach hotel for substantially less than you pay in Dubai itself.

The InterContinental London O2 was also far better than I expected.  It is safe to say that this is now the best IHG hotel in the UK and I genuinely didn’t expect to be saying that when it opened.

InterContinental London O2

The Hilton Sa Torre in Mallorca also impressed and bears no relation to ANY other Hilton on the planet (unless there is another Hilton with a windmill out there).

The St Regis in Istanbul was also fantastic – it was the first time that I have even been to a St Regis which actually felt like I thought a St Regis should feel.

At the other end of the scale, the Premier Inn in Scarborough – assuming it is representative of the rest of the chain – showed me why budget hotels have been scooping up market share from established four star properties.  I was also impressed by the Holiday Inn Express in Ealing.  This is the first ‘next generation’ HIX property in the UK and has a more relevant, friendly, modern design.  Holiday Inn Express is finally getting to where Hilton’s Hampton chain was five years ago …..

Hotel frustration of the year

The JW Marriott resort in Venice, reviewed here.  It is good but it could be outstanding, if the hotel didn’t insist on scoring own goals at every possible opportunity.  2016 was our 2nd visit – I never got around to reviewing it the first time.

JW Marriott Venice main building

The InterContinental New York Barclay reopened (my review) with severe management issues, which are continuing looking at reports elsewhere.  The rooms are great, apart from the lack of plug sockets anywhere near the desks, but operationally it is chaos with almost no recognition of Ambassador or IHG status.  The hotel doesn’t even have a restaurant.

Bizarre lounge experience the year

Arriving into the Heathrow Arrivals lounge in Terminal 5 off a New York flight to find David Cameron on TV resigning.  That said, I had seen the first few EU vote declarations in The Concorde Room the evening before so I had felt it coming.

Qatar Airways continues to shine

The Qatar Airways flights I took down to Ras Al Khaimah (review) reminded me why Qatar Airways is easily the best oneworld option in Business Class.  It outclasses BA in every respect.  Etihad still has a slight edge with their A380 Business Class Studio – although the wine is low rent – and Qatar’s A380 First Class doesn’t cut it, but the business class product on the A380 / A350 / B787 is excellent.

Airline disappointment of the year

Turkish Airlines.  Despite a lot of hype, I just didn’t get it.  The 2 x 3 x 2 seating on the 777 doesn’t cut it in 2016 for a modern business class environment (review).  I didn’t even like the Istanbul lounge which has also been over-hyped elsewhere.

Cop7

Biggest letdown of the year

Ethiopian Airlines sounded us out about a press trip to Addis Ababa to try out their new Boeing 787 business class and have a tour of their local facilities.  I was genuinely excited about this as it would have been a totally new experience for me – my previous experience of Africa is limited to a month working in Johannesburg and Cape Town back in the 1990’s.  It never happened.

Pain in the arse of the year

La Compagnie, who eventually scrapped their Luton to New York flights.  Back in February I was offered (unprompted) a free New York flight to review their service.  It took five months and innumerable hours of negotiating with the company and its PR team to get this honoured (the eventual review is here) and we still had to reimburse them for the taxes and charges.  I also ran an interview with the CEO and founder who has since left after merging the business with a low-cost French airline ….

Party of the year (Part 1)

Ours.  I never thought we (well, Anika, who did 90% of the work) would find a way of arranging it that made financial sense.  I then thought that no-one would come.  I then thought something would go horribly wrong on the night.  I have never been happier to be proved wrong.  The total drinks bill was just under £6,000 …..

Thanks again to the Melia White House hotel at Regents Park for their generous sponsorship of the evening.

head-for-points-christmas-party-bar-2

Party of the year (Part 2)

The Sheraton Grand Park Lane reopening party.  “If you throw an average party”, a senior Starwood manager told me afterwards, “you get less-than-average benefit.  You need to go large.”  And they did.  It is also a lovely art deco hotel post restoration as our later review explained.

rsz_file_23-12-2016_15_48_58

BA status benefit of the year (Part 1)

We arrived at Palma Airport on a Saturday in August for an airberlin Avios redemption to Innsbruck to be confronted with a queue of 200 people.  A quick scoot around revealed a line for oneworld status card holders with a queue of 1 …..

BA status benefit of the year (Part 2)

If you have kids, the most underrated benefit of a BA Gold card is the ability to book Gold Priority Rewards during peak school holiday weeks.  This lets you book any seat, any flight on Avios as long as you pay double the normal price.  In February you will be paying £500 per person for a flight to a ski resort (Saturday out, Saturday back) during half term – or just 18,000 Avios if you force open Gold Priority Reward seats.  Which is what we did.

What is coming in 2017?

The diary is looking interesting at the moment.  If all goes to plan, you should see reviews in the next few months on:

  • LAN business class
  • Japan Airlines premium economy
  • Air China first class
  • Emirates first class
  • Etihad first class
  • A flight on a Boeing 747-(Lufthansa first class)
  • Air Nostrum business class
  • Aer Lingus long-haul business class (this one isn’t ticketed yet)
  • A 2nd go at Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

…. plus assorted hotels along the way.  It should be a fun year.

Comments (116)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Robbo says:

    I agree with your Qatar Airways summation. I think I might start a blog, based on this. My travel is a lot more extensive than I thought. 80 nights in hotels versus my 300, all personal. I should start capitalising on my adventures a bit more. Liking your blog though, especially when you detail the offers. There is always one or two that slip through but somehow you manage to pick up. Here’s to another 2017

    • Rob says:

      The thing is, no-one wants to read a review of the Holiday Inn Express Sheffield, which is why I don’t write them!

      The main reason I don’t write about family holidays is that my kids have trashed the room within 30 seconds of opening the door and it’s impossible to do any photos 🙂

      • John says:

        I would read reviews of hotels such as the Holiday Inn Express Sheffield, but perhaps as a side page and not as one of the 3 daily articles.

        It could be a place for people to share experiences via the comments. But then there is FT for that.

        • GK says:

          I love the HIX Sheffield, perfect base to retreat to when visiting my in-laws.

          • Rob says:

            I agree, it is totally fine. I use it when on my own (disturbing number of funerals over the last two years) but my Mrs likes the atmosphere of the Victorian HI next door so we always end up there for family trips.

          • Fenny says:

            It’s a bit hard to retreat there on a Saturday night when visiting Ma for the weekend!!!

      • Brian says:

        Quite – I would have thought Tripadvisor reviews are fine for Holiday Inn Express hotels. After all, there is only so much that can go wrong in such places and people staying there are unlikely to have too many expectations. No need to clog up the site with such things – your content is fine as it is!

  • Anon says:

    Not done much long haul this year, loved returning to Upper Class with Virgin, great party atmosphere to Orlando. Less desirable return home in PE with bags stuck behind a frozen cargo hold door. Waited 1+ hrs in the baggage hall, v little info about what was going on, this delay meant we mossed our onward connection, had to pay for new connecting flights + 6 hour delay, Im still awaiting feedback from VS Customer Relations, it appears to have taken a week for my email to get logged in their system, hoping for a positive response from them by mid Jan…

    Thanks again to Rob & Anika, from info and tips on here I’ve got a return to the Conrad Rangali Maldives (in CW) and a CW trip to Oz to look fwd to.

    Can we run a book on the date the first Avis Avios gets posted, my bet is Feb 4th. 😀

  • the real harry says:

    My travel highlight must be the Sunday Times Travel Magazine! 🙂

    As usual, fortune favours the bold, not that I was bold enough to go for the Avis points…

    • Worzel says:

      I took the view that if I was daft enough to sign up for a couple of magazine subscriptions (£64) in the hope of receiving 9,000 Avios, I might as well sign up for 3 days car hire (£42) in the hope of receiving 18,700.

      Squills, if it turns out that your thinking is correct (in that the 18k bonus won’t get posted), I’ll come down and buy you a pint-will hold off until the next (generous) Avis offer though!

      Worz 🙂 .

      • the real harry says:

        my theory is that the bonus will get awarded provided you didn’t pay with Amex (ie the double promotion rule in the T&Cs)

        the only reason I didn’t take part was the hassle factor at a time when I was busy anyway, combined with anticipation of better half sez no (I need her to co-operate on a new Gold soon & her patience is limited 🙂 )otherwise I’d have lined up a couple on the driveway

        hope you all get’em!

      • Marcw says:

        The Avis points will eventually post. Be patient…

        • Anon says:

          ^^^^ This. ^^^^

          Besides Avis don’t want to risk a boycott by HFP & FT readers 😀

  • Lady London says:

    On QR out of 787, 380 and 350 in J I have liked the 350 best. Horses for courses though, all were miles ahead of the few others I’ve experienced.

  • Flyingbee says:

    I’ve done no really long haul this year – but I did get to experience the BA A321 with flat beds in CW for the first time on a five hour flight which was surprisingly good.
    Living in France means that for family travels I prefer to go to places where we can drive. It is so much easier than flying or getting a ferry!
    Even though though I’m not able to benefit from UK credit cards and have very little control over choosing airlines and hotels when I travel I still enjoy reading the blog!

  • Dave H says:

    Two trips Down Under for the wife and I this last year, both ex EU, flown BA, Qantas, Emirates and Etihad, to date the best has been Etihad, the free check in upgrade to First from Brisbane was the icing on the cake. Actually flying from the UK on the next trip with Qatar, looking forward to trying them out.

  • Yuff says:

    For the first time since 2011 did not use our 241’s for LH flights, used to Oslo instead to catch a qatar ex EU sale flight to MLE.
    Also got to experience the apartment on Etihad.
    Personally if I was travelling in J on a Qatar 787 and J on an A380, on Etihad, I would choose Qatar.
    However, Rob is probably more sociable than me and prefers having the bar on the 380 😉
    All the above down to tips from this site 🙂

  • Marc says:

    OT : First of all, many thanks for all the hard work that goes in to this website. I only started on my Avios saving 6 months ago after stumbling across the site. Since then I have racked up 40k points via Tesco and other retail (small fry compared to most on here!), and now would like to move in to the more lucrative American Express market to seriously boost my balance.

    Should there be anything stopping me applying for a card today (probably Gold to begin), or do AE traditionally offer additional incentives in the New Year to sign up? (Such as additional points).

    Keep up the great work in 2017!

    Thanks,
    Marc

    • Genghis says:

      Hi Marc. I’d just apply for the Amex. If you want the BAPP that’s currently in a bonus period until early Feb. Not seen a higher bonus on Amex Gold/Plat.

    • Anon says:

      Marc, assume you’re going for a Amex Pref Gold for 20k MR points?

      I can get you an extra 2000 if you want a referral?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Sign up for BAPP it’s currently on bonus and if you can reach £10k relatively swiftly you can get a 2-4-1 voucher.

      Gold/Platinum never seen higher bonus offer

      Rob can refer you for both for some extra points on sign up

      • Marc says:

        Thanks. I’m buying a house late 2017 so was going to hold on until then to go for the BAPP. Still in the saving stage, so wouldn’t reach the £10k at the moment.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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