Mandarin Oriental to manage two hotels from The Set Collection, leaving GHA

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• Lumma says:

  13 Dec13 December 04:56

  I remember a few years back commenting about people dropping £500-600 a night on New York hotels. Can’t believe people are forking out $2k a night now

  • Alex G says:

    13 Dec13 December 07:33

    I suppose there will always be a market for people taking a limo from one expensive venue to another. But for ordinary folk, NYC has become a charmless dump. Many of the former tourist hotels are full of homeless people. The streets stink of cannabis. Shoplifting is rife and unchecked, so that even the most basic goods are now locked in display cabinets. A once great city. Perhaps it can turn itself around, but sadly I have no plans to return to a city I once loved.

    • David says:

      13 Dec13 December 09:43

      You’re clearly going to the wrong places.

      • Aston100 says:

        13 Dec13 December 09:58

        As I saw much of what Alex wrote, I must be going to the wrong places too

        • BlairWaldorfSalad says:

          13 Dec13 December 10:48

          I’m with Alex too. Standing around in a drugstore waiting for staff to unlock the perspex shield keeping the toothpaste safe. Then onto the next aisle, to do the same wait for sunscreen. 5th Ave has certainly been abandoned by the locals, and caters for average income foreign tourists now. Some green shoots of return-to-office economy on Madison Avenue though in terms of good menswear stores.

        • PeteM says:

          13 Dec13 December 11:47

          I can’t say this was my experience in May – I had a great time. Although agree with the locked cabinets issue, very annoying. But that is very much also where we are in many places in the UK.

    • Kowalski says:

      13 Dec13 December 12:56

      Sadly this is true not just of New York City but plenty of other cities in the US

      • Paul says:

        13 Dec13 December 18:20

        Agreed, Seattle, Denver both stink to high heaven and LA has always been rather seedy

• Qrfan says:

  13 Dec13 December 08:09

  OT. 9.35am BA008 from Tokyo yesterday had no sign of brunch on the menu. Beef fillet and gnocchi offered as main course options along with the usual starter and dessert. Have BA abandoned the service cuts or am I missing something?

  • Rob says:

    13 Dec13 December 08:10

    Tokyo is not impacted due to sector length IIRC.

    • Qrfan says:

      13 Dec13 December 08:22

      What’s the cutoff? I reread the original articles and it said all long haul flights?

      • Rob says:

        13 Dec13 December 08:25

        Wasn’t it 12 hours? Or am I getting confused by the changes to overnight meals?

        • Qrfan says:

          13 Dec13 December 08:35

          I only saw reference to 12 hours under the sleeper meal section, but presumably they’ve carved out the ultra long haul from brunch as well?

        • GMT says:

          13 Dec13 December 10:23

          Flight lengths of 12hrs+ is unaffected regardless of take-off time

  • Aston100 says:

    13 Dec13 December 16:26

    Happy to hear this.
    I’m flying on that in a few months time and was dreading the brunch.

• Ryan says:

  13 Dec13 December 08:39

  BA justified the move by saying that, at that time of night, most passengers have already eaten in the Club Lounge and that they’d rather sleep on the flight. On top of that, British Airways is serving a new ‘brunch’ menu on flights taking off between 8.30am and 11.29pm.

  • Qrfan says:

    13 Dec13 December 08:44

    Yeah so my experience is that the last line isn’t true for all flights. I took off in middle of that window and got a proper lunch menu. And it was printed too, so not a random operational issue.

    • sigma421 says:

      13 Dec13 December 08:51

      Brunch got dumped at the start of the month when the Christmas menu came in.

      • Rob says:

        13 Dec13 December 09:10

        It’s back in January. May not be around for February …

      • Nick says:

        13 Dec13 December 11:10

        Brunch sadly didn’t get dumped, a turkey dinner just got added. Some people are easily fooled!

        Rob is right, Tokyo was always exempt because it’s such a long flight now and continues to be considered premium.

• David says:

  13 Dec13 December 09:23

  easyJet finally confirmed launch of new Birmingham routes to Gibraltar and Bordeaux.

  • can2 says:

    13 Dec13 December 09:27

    what about their advent calendar? :)))

    • Gordon says:

      13 Dec13 December 09:55

      That went the same way as the Amex shop small!

• Andrew. says:

  13 Dec13 December 10:11

  Hilton might be losing another one.

  Local press is reporting that Ten fire crews are currently attending a fire at the GBH Randolph in Oxford.

  • Aston100 says:

    13 Dec13 December 12:36

    I’m guessing someone wasn’t happy about being refused an upgrade?

  • Andrew. says:

    13 Dec13 December 16:41

    Small electrical fire in the basement, all resolved.

• Kingy says:

  13 Dec13 December 10:31

  The Glasgow Westerwood and the Belfry hotels are mainly full of coach tour guests. I will miss their corridor carpet selection which always made me question how many drinks i had consumed during my walk back to the room. Hilton Nottingham and the Stratford Doubletree are somewhat in need of a refurb. Stratford location is great for a nice weekend away so be a shame to lose that one if it exits Hilton.

  • Paul says:

    13 Dec13 December 18:25

    The Westerwood was originally a stand alone hotel. I have stayed several times but only because it was a Hilton. Nothing will get me through the doors now. As well as the bus tours it caters to the golfing fraternity which is enough to drive anyone away!
    Hilton Nottingham once gave me the smallest double bedded room I have ever seen. Horrible place

• JamesD says:

  13 Dec13 December 10:31

  Not sure that loosing the doubletree in stratford upon avon will be that much of a loss to be honest. The Indigo is in a better part of town and a new Hilton is on the way.
  https://www.bellcourtstratford.com/bell-court-consultation/

  • TGLoyalty says:

    13 Dec13 December 13:01

    Hope it gets the green light as the centre is missing more quality accommodation

    • krys_k says:

      13 Dec13 December 14:12

      Currently in Stratford a couple nights a week and was thus easy to get diamond. Not a great hotel but minutes away from where I need to be; and one can get into town in a few minutes more. I guess I’d swap to Indigo or maybe the crown plaza.

  • Revs says:

    13 Dec13 December 13:40

    I’ve used the DT in Stratford quite a bit as the location makes it convenient when arriving by train on my way to the theatre. Certainly needs a refurb although it’s not so bad once you get past the unfortunate resemblance to a posh nursing home. That said, I’d probably switch my stays to the Indigo or the new Motto if they do leave Hilton.

• Andrew says:

  13 Dec13 December 13:49

  Cheltenham Chase is still bookable through Marriot

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