Bits: Hilton Weekends sale on, good Marriott Moments events launched

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• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  10 Nov10 November 05:29

  I must admit I thought Rob’s pic from the CCR was a joke at first. Although I’d not say no to a Concorde Room Card for most of my needs Galleries First is more than enough (as I’m starting from London no long layovers for me) and when going west I’ll be more likely using T3 with its excellent array of lounges.

  On the subject of lounges the one at King’s across station had been the subject for cutbacks for a few months. Coke and Diet Coke has been removed (the range of complimentary drinks limited to juice, hot drinks and water), but I thought I’d shame them one week when both coffee machines had stopped working, a sink hadn’t been fixed in the toilets and this recently refurbished lounge was looking a bit unloved.

  So I made this terrible YouTube video to prove the point, shaky, noisy but highlighted the lack of working coffee machines and limited drinks options https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HCznR-DBWpU

  The key was to ensure I Tweeted this video to various senior people at VTEC.

  A week later I noticed that the lounge was being staffed properly again (two, rather than one) which helped keep it clean and the drinks and snacks were kept properly topped up. A few days after that the Coke reappeared. I asked the person who was on duty at the time and she said that just out of the blue they decided to reintroduce it.

  The timing could be a coincidence but I suspect this may have been a local management cost cutting initiative. Bonuses all round if they managed not to get any backlash but perhaps those further up were unaware and thought it was a cut too far.

  Let’s see how long they keep it up.

  • Gareth says:

    10 Nov10 November 06:20

    Train station lounges in general seem much worse than even the basic airport lounges most having the charm of a Servisair lounge of 10 years ago minus the free booze. Does anyone value access to a train lounge?

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      10 Nov10 November 06:49

      Railway station first class lounges serve a different market to airport lounges. As walk up fares are now very expensive most people buy advance fares if they can and so may want to get there a little earlier to ensure they don’t miss their train. I guess the average wait in a station lounge is less than 30 minutes.

      Also as it’s easy to get access to a first class lounge by buying a short distance ticket people could easily drink more than their ticket price in alcohol if it was free so it could be abused more easily.

      So for a shortish wait all I really want is some well maintained facilities and a choice of soft or hot drinks. Some lounges sell alcohol too which is a bonus for longer waits.

    • Drav says:

      10 Nov10 November 08:08

      people value any lounge access for the exclusivity factor.

    • CV3V says:

      10 Nov10 November 08:29

      I recommend the DB lounge in Munich, german beer on tap, when i walked in it seemed a mandatory requirement to be having a pint, at 11am.

      But dont try and fill your travel mug up from the coffee machine, they will see you and they will stop you.

      • Philip White says:

        10 Nov10 November 08:57

        And what great beer it is.

      • Lady London says:

        10 Nov10 November 13:42

        It also opens quite late in the evening if your train is a late one. I found it definitely had the feel of a Business Class space.

      • RussellH says:

        10 Nov10 November 14:20

        Sounds a bit nicer than the DB lounge at Frankfurt Airport, though still not at all bad. It was always quiet and had decent WiFi when I was there.

        (Yes, I do mean the rail lounge, not an airport lounge. FRA is often a great place to change trains – quite compact, excellent signage and well set up for those with heavy luggage. I often changed to to/from trains to Brussels, for a Eurostar connection, typically when travelling from Dresden or Leipzig to London.)

    • Oh! Matron! says:

      10 Nov10 November 09:09

      Virgin Lounge at Piccadilly isn’t too bad, and great views! Gold with VS gets you in too. I’d I’d rate it above the serviceAir lounges any day of the week. Anyone remember the service air lounge at T1 LHR?

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        10 Nov10 November 09:22

        That’s Virgin Money, not Virgin Trains East Coast. No status will get you into the King’s Cross lounge, you need to either have a first class ticket or be ‘surprised and delighted’ by being sent a lounge pass. Previous operators GNER/NXEC would give you a card with lounge access if you met certain spending targets and East Coast used to let you buy a lounge pass with points. Now those with a standard class only travel policy can’t get into the lounges regardless how much they spend.

      • Rob says:

        10 Nov10 November 10:12

        The Virgin Money lounge at Piccadilly Circus in London isn’t bad either!

    • Tom H says:

      10 Nov10 November 15:38

      Commuting every weekend between KX and York with my three year old lounge access was a great help, and with an advance ticket wasn’t that costly, plus the staff on the Virgin train were excellent for most part

  • Johnny_c-l says:

    10 Nov10 November 08:27

    The lounge at Leeds station doesn’t even have bottled water anymore!

    • Genghis says:

      10 Nov10 November 08:31

      I was in the Leeds lounge last month. I thought the Darlington lounge was poor till I came here…

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        10 Nov10 November 09:29

        For a small unstaffed lounge Darlington is one of the better ones when I visited. It had a full compliment of biscuits and crisps, something that was missing from Newcastle (even though their original franchise press release said they were going to start staffing Newcastle lounge, like GNER did, they never did in the end).

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      10 Nov10 November 09:32

      We could try the tactic I used at King’s Cross. If you make a video of the lounge and the lack of facilities tweet the link to it and I’ll try and get those senior at VTEC to look at it. They claim they’re awesome, but overall very lacklustre. I’m determined to expose their cost cutting.

• Ian says:

  10 Nov10 November 06:17

  To be fair to BA I was in the Concorde Room on Tuesday and didn’t notice any disgusting furniture

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    10 Nov10 November 06:44

    I’m sure it doesn’t look as bad in person and it’s a decent lounge on my occasional visits but Cathy can do a better lounge in T3 shows BA should up their game.

    • Will says:

      10 Nov10 November 10:13

      Given the CCR is first class and CCR card holders only it’s a very poor effort from BA.

      Someone needs to take a trip to Hong Kong and try to emulate the first/emerald lounge offerings at the pier and the wing.

• David S says:

  10 Nov10 November 06:55

  I wonder if they have refurbished the toilets in the Concorde room as well? I have been to better looking and managed public toilets than these.

  • Paul says:

    10 Nov10 November 07:10

    Absolutely. BAs toilets, much like most toilets at LHR are disgusting.

  • Scallder says:

    10 Nov10 November 17:13

    Would rate the toilets on the A380s better than the CCR ones! Put to an absolute shame when you compare to lounges by Cathay (and dare I sat Delta at ATL…)

• adey says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:01

  Difficult to tell from those photos, potentially an improvement. Not planning to be back to the Concorde Room ’til March. Hope BA took the opportunity to provide more power outlets……

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    10 Nov10 November 07:19

    From what I’ve heard, I’ve been doing a bit of reading up on it this morning, there’s no extra sockets but they do provide mobile battery packs on request to charge your phone.

• Paul says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:07

  BA CCR- it’s amazjng what you can with photoshop and lightroom!

• Lee says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:37

  Paying for the Hilton non cancellable rates is rarely worth it unless it is a busy hotel.

  Hilton normally increase the price before these sales so take it with a pinch of salt.

  I stay at Hiltons up to 100 nights a year and I watch prices constantly as often they come down. You can save big time if you keep watching.

  • TripRep says:

    10 Nov10 November 08:56

    Lee – good tips, any particular sweet spots, ie timing when to book and for specific hotels?

    Rob – there’s also the Public Sector & Corporate rates that can offer better prices…

• Anna says:

  10 Nov10 November 07:45

  OT but lounge-related, which seems to be a theme today! We’re flying with AA from the US to the Caribbean next year and will have a couple of hours layover in Miami. I know MIA is a singular hellhole where the length of the queues can mean you actually miss your connection, however if we’re lucky enough to have time for a lounge visit, does anyone know which terminal we are likely to be using? There a few different options on the Lounge Club website (we’ll be using Amex gold free passes).

  • mark2 says:

    10 Nov10 November 08:17

    Have been in Centurion in Seattle and it was excellent but was recently extended/refurbished.

  • Anna says:

    10 Nov10 November 09:11

    Not planning on applying for Platinum just yet, possibly in another 4 years or so (if it’s still around) when we’re working less and have more time to travel.

    • the real harry1 says:

      10 Nov10 November 09:20

      you could time an in-&-out to perfection

      ie 20K bonus for Gold—>Plat

      use 2 or 4 Priority Pass lounge passes

      cancel after a few days

      keep hotel status

• Catalan says:

  10 Nov10 November 08:11

  Rob, so could that pic you posted earlier this week of the Concorde Room have been a fake then?

  • Rob says:

    10 Nov10 November 08:26

    No, it is very definitely real.

    • Catalan says:

      10 Nov10 November 09:13

      Wow! Old People’s home-esque indeed.

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