Bits: Plaza Premium T3 arrivals opens, Moxy Belfast opens, Marriott sale, Emirates PE awards

News in brief:

Plaza Premium’s T3 arrivals lounge has reopened

Plaza Premium has reopened its arrivals lounge in London Heathrow Terminal 3.

We will have the full story next week because we are down there on Monday for a media event. I wanted to flag it now for anyone travelling over the weekend.

This is the old Delta arrivals lounge which became surplus to requirements after it started to use the Virgin Atlantic Revivals lounge (review). It is entered from outside Terminal 3, near to Plaza Premium’s Aerotel hotel and the taxi rank.

Plaza Premium ran this as an arrivals lounge pre-pandemic, but didn’t change a thing from the Delta days. The only new images I have seen are on Heathrow’s Facebook page and imply it has had a makeover – see below.

It is open from 6am to 2pm. Showers are available, which is key with an arrivals lounge.

It is NOT showing as accessible on the Priority Pass website. I don’t know if this is simply slow at being updated or if will be exclusively for cash and participating airline customers.

You can book for cash on the Plaza Premium website here.

More next week after our visit.

Moxy opens in Belfast

Marriott has opened Moxy Belfast City, in the city centre.

This is, impressively, the 100th Moxy hotel across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The brand launched in Milan in 2014 with investment from an Ikea-linked company, and Ikea-linked money has funded many of the new openings since.

My first experience of the chain was at Vienna Airport in 2017. I have stayed in a number since then – in fact I was in the York outpost last week – and like them, even though I am not the target demographic.

It probably helps if you came of age during that period when every bar, club, shop or gallery had to be in a converted warehouse with exposed original features.

Intriguingly, this is a conversion of the Park Inn Belfast hotel. I don’t think I’ve seen a converted Moxy before, because the key features – no lobby, no reception desks, a huge open plan bar / hot desking centre / hangout area, small standardised rooms – are easier to create when starting from scratch.

You can find out more on this page of the Marriott website.

Meanwhile, Park Inn heads closer to extinction ….

The conversion of Park Inn Belfast to a Moxy, as well as the transition of others to the main Radisson brand, means that the Park Inn brand has nearly disappeared from the UK.

There are only six sites remaining – Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Peterborough and Southend on Sea.

Apart from the Southend site which is a historic property (see my review here, image below), I don’t think the chain will be greatly missed when it finally goes.

Marriott launches a flash sale

If you fancy visiting Moxy Belfast City, or any other Marriott property, Marriott has launched a short flash sale.

The key details are:

• valid only on weekend stays

• book by Sunday 14th September

• stay by Sunday 30th November

• covers 900+ hotels in the US, Canada, Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

• the highest discount (25% off Best Flexible Rate) is available for bookings made via the Marriott app

You can find out more on the Marriott website here.

Emirates launches redemptions in Premium Economy

Emirates has finally opened up its new Premium Economy cabin for Emirates Skywards redemptions.

The airline was late to the Premium Economy game – CEO Tim Clarke has publicly admitted that the delay was a huge error, given how popular it has become – and there are now enough aircraft flying to make redemptions available.

Skywards members can redeem miles for both direct redemptions and for upgrades from Economy.

There are currently 76 aircraft with the new cabin – 32 A380s and 35 Boeing 777s have been refurbished, whilst nine new A350s had it at delivery.

It is a small cabin on the 777 and A350 fleets – just 24 and 28 seats respectively – so don’t hold out hope for a lot of redemption seats. Your odds are better on the A380 where there are 56 seats.

On current plans the airline will offer Premium Economy to 68 cities by next Easter.