Omgosh Kevin, I was waiting for this I looked at some videos where people have come here but I was like nope not informal enough lol but I will watch on my break. I’m binge watching all of your videos today
@@tfft Our first cruise was on the Eclipse 9 years ago ex UK, odd feeling 9 years later to find ourselves in the sounds off South Island NZ on her - near enough the antipode of the UK. Sydney might well be the best city in the world to sail in and out of.
I was hoping for feedback about it because I legit had no idea who he was. Saw he had a website and literally the first thing you see on his website is Richard Branson telling the world how wonderful he is haha. Takes a certain type for that level of ego 😂
Keep it up, I've watched almost all your videos on this channel. Hopefully you'll stay at The Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore next time (I'm a Singaporean), some other hotels I would love to see your review would be Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto, Aman Tokyo / Kyoto. I just have to say that as an introvert who loves staying at home and hotel interior design at the same time, I watch your vids to get that I'm "outside" but comfortably at home experience :D if you know what I mean. I think the best hotel design is the one that anticipates your needs, and I strive to design/reno my home exactly like that. :)
I've always had a small incling in the back of my mind that I would someday celebrate a large (tbd) number of subscribers by doing a long weekend in Sing and stay at Fullerton Bay, MBS and Raffles haha. Hopefully sooner than later! Thanks for watching 🩴
From where i'm sat at my desk right now, i can still put my hand on a pen from the hotel we stayed at on honeymoon 21 years ago. Along with all the others of varying quality of course (i mean, you are supposed to take them home, right?)
Glad you had a good stay at this Kimpton. Looking at the room, it looks rather small, although I didn't catch a comment on the room size. Is it perhaps looking smaller on video than in real life? I understand that big city hotel rooms are frequently size-challenged, but not sure how well two people would fit into this room.
I've definitley noticed that IHG award nights seem to be good value in Syd - i think I've seen this property between 30-40k pn. Same for the IC (maybe a bit more).
I value IHG points at $0.009 per point so that puts this at 32k based on the cash rate I paid. I think it’s just the there are so many poor values out there that “standard” values start to look really tempting haha. Thanks for watching 🩴
Some people don’t understand redemption value. I like using my points at $0.20 on business class or first class flights that cost tens of thousands, not for a $200-$300 a night hotel room.
It depends how many players you have in your game. I would never ever ever ever transfer Amex or Cap1 or Citi points to a hotel chain, but that’s not to say I won’t take 150k-200k sign up bonuses from hotel credit cards… on top of the points I earn from stays as well. Also, I’ve been playing this game pretty hard for years and the best redemption I ever got was $0.19/point. So I’m curious where you’re finding these $0.20 fares lol
😁🙋♂5:59 I agree, Kevin, it's a beautiful pen 🖊(the Sofitel Darling Harbour, Sydney has the same design in a similar turquoise shade, but two-toned). 7:277:528:10 The mismatched tapware would drive this semi-OCD person nuts😵💫. I wonder why they do that.
My guess would be for the sink faucet not to protrude into the mirror and for the bath fauced not to be mistaken as a handle to apply pressure to. Thanks for watching 🩴
05:18 and there I was thinking it was named after that other Australian icon, Margot Robbie 😅 Yes to the hotel pens! I do like a good pensil too. Have many that have travelled home with me 😅
Thanks for your review. I really appreciate your commentary, very much to the point unlike so many Hotel vloggers who have no idea what they’re talking about. Love the old Art Deco building and overall Kimpton seem to have done a good job preserving the character. Your comment about the staff at social hour had me smiling, when I lived in Australia (born there) we had a common joke about lack of good service. “I can’t complain about the service because there wasn’t any”😂
Haha it was just so surprising since everyone else was so lovely. Plus, while I do see a lot of Aussies saying the same as you- with the way Australia is portrayed in US media as by far the friendliest English speaking country out there- my brain always still has a few misfires when it turns out not to be the case haha.
Glad you enjoyed my home city! Would love a review of the iconic Park Hyatt next time you visit - I don't think that view can be beat. Looking forward to your Philippine Airlines review, I flew the same route a couple of months back and was equipment swapped to the 2-2-2 config in business class. A very disappointing experience and chaotic transfer/boarding process in MNL, but dirt cheap business class fare!
I loved your comments about the chef with the big ego 😂… and the note about people who take breakfast seriously..😃. Thanks for another top review.. you cheered me up.. enough said .. 🙏
Hi Kevin, first came across your channel when looking to book hotels in Thailand this year. Thank you for your work + the detailed reviews you provide!! Sydney local here - as you mention, the city is going through something of a hotel boom at the moment. The Park Hyatt has long been the benchmark hotel, but has been joined in recent times by Crown Towers at Barangaroo, Capella in the city and the W (which opens tomorrow) at Darling Harbour. Elsewhere in Oz, hotels worthy of a mention include: - Qualia on Hamilton Island - Calile in Brisbane (ranked No.12 in World's 50 Best Hotels list this year) - Langham and JW Marriott on the Gold Coast - Crown Towers, Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne - The Tasman in Hobart - Como, Crown Towers, Ritz-Carlton in Perth Hope you make it back soon and we see how some of these properties stack up!
I hope you had a good visit to my home city. Capella Hotel is a super luxe hotel in another refurbished 19th century grand building. You’ll need to win lotto to stay there. A good day trip is to take the train southwest to Cabramatta and you’ll pass through all the amazing multicultural suburbs ending in our tribute to HCM city. Thanks for another great review.
Luke Mangan also has his Salt restaurants on Australian P@O cruise ships, he used to be the culinary consult for Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia pre covid, with his food predominately on the now axed Australian east coast to LA routes. Famous for his sand crab Omelette.
I read the end of your comment too quickly and ‘read’ something completely different 😂 But yes, I’ve read about his ventures with P&O… didn’t know about Virgin though. Thanks for watching 🩴
Had to laugh at your "view", my Miss and Partner just checked into an Accor hotel Darling Harbour, on arrival the lovely lady checking them in informed them she had "upgraded" their room to one with a "view" and what a suprise they got, the view is of a construction zone, might have been better off without the upgrade 😅. Even l dont drink the tap water in Australia, its safe but awful. Luke Mangan is a pompous twat IMO the only time lve eaten his food was on Virgin Australia in BC and it was a pass for me, l think the CC ended up getting me a sandwich from Economy and it was way better than "Lukes" finest fare. Really love that in Australia we preserve Art deco buildings and turn them into gorgeous hotels, it adds character and charm. I think the fabrics are great. Glad you didnt cancel this one 👍
I’m glad I wasn’t far off with Sir Mangan haha. And yes I agree about the art deco. One wonderful thing that Sydney and New York share and both do well. Thanks for watching 🩴
Decent hotel for a business trip otherwise not worth the traveling. European hotel reviews in sight or they're out of budget, 300 dollars you don't get much in Europe .
Being a stone throw from where I lived I placed my money of you staying there 😂 I have even stayed in that room. Never stayed there when it was their previous incarnation Prime Hotel. Fun fact, in years gone by, where the gym is used to be a rifle range ( when it was still the water board building) There are new hotels opening up in Sydney, and in true Sydney style they trade on their location rather than service and charge ridiculous money ($800 for entry level room per night, yes I am looking at you crown and Capella) Got to love Sydney 😂
To be fair to Sydney, of all of the content I filmed this year and everything coming up this and next year… there really are no reasonably priced places atm. Every hotel is banking on “revenge travel” which will die off eventually, but I think the ridiculous prices we see globally now are the new norm, simply because they can get away with it. Luckily, at least Sydney has enough charm to almost ‘justify’ it haha. When you need to pay $300 for a 4-star hotel in Brussels though, that’s when it gets painful 😅
No truer words said about a pen, I agree 100% 😊
A few may have slipped into my bags over the years 😂 Thanks as always for the support 🙏
I love my pens, 100 percent agree as well! 12:41
@@tfftI wouldn’t doubt it😊
Omgosh Kevin, I was waiting for this I looked at some videos where people have come here but I was like nope not informal enough lol but I will watch on my break. I’m binge watching all of your videos today
This is about as casual as it gets for an upscale urban hotel lol.
Brings back some great memories of our stay in Sydney earlier this year and a cruise on the Eclipse.
I was happy to see her there! I sailed into Sydney some years ago on the Solstice.
@@tfft Our first cruise was on the Eclipse 9 years ago ex UK, odd feeling 9 years later to find ourselves in the sounds off South Island NZ on her - near enough the antipode of the UK. Sydney might well be the best city in the world to sail in and out of.
As a native Australian you gave me a mild chuckle with your brief synopsis on who is Luke (Mangan).
I was hoping for feedback about it because I legit had no idea who he was. Saw he had a website and literally the first thing you see on his website is Richard Branson telling the world how wonderful he is haha. Takes a certain type for that level of ego 😂
Vast amounts of self belief and ego are not something these sorts of celebrity chef types lack...lol...🤣😅
Let’s just say he believes in himself. A LOT!
Always love with this chanel... 👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks very much 🙏🏻
Keep it up, I've watched almost all your videos on this channel. Hopefully you'll stay at The Fullerton Bay Hotel in Singapore next time (I'm a Singaporean), some other hotels I would love to see your review would be Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto, Aman Tokyo / Kyoto. I just have to say that as an introvert who loves staying at home and hotel interior design at the same time, I watch your vids to get that I'm "outside" but comfortably at home experience :D if you know what I mean. I think the best hotel design is the one that anticipates your needs, and I strive to design/reno my home exactly like that. :)
I've always had a small incling in the back of my mind that I would someday celebrate a large (tbd) number of subscribers by doing a long weekend in Sing and stay at Fullerton Bay, MBS and Raffles haha. Hopefully sooner than later! Thanks for watching 🩴
From where i'm sat at my desk right now, i can still put my hand on a pen from the hotel we stayed at on honeymoon 21 years ago. Along with all the others of varying quality of course (i mean, you are supposed to take them home, right?)
You're supposed to take the little tea spoons that have airline logos from business class as well, right? 😇
Glad you had a good stay at this Kimpton. Looking at the room, it looks rather small, although I didn't catch a comment on the room size. Is it perhaps looking smaller on video than in real life? I understand that big city hotel rooms are frequently size-challenged, but not sure how well two people would fit into this room.
Small? Really? lol, it's a pretty large room, especially for a city center. Off the top of my head I'd say around 350sqf. Thanks for watching 🩴
Thank You ✈️
Thanks for watching 🩴
They also have a secret phase, giving additional free benefit
Yah but I’ve never actually gotten anything worthy of spending the time to find the password lol so I don’t bother anymore
Thanks
I've definitley noticed that IHG award nights seem to be good value in Syd - i think I've seen this property between 30-40k pn. Same for the IC (maybe a bit more).
I value IHG points at $0.009 per point so that puts this at 32k based on the cash rate I paid. I think it’s just the there are so many poor values out there that “standard” values start to look really tempting haha. Thanks for watching 🩴
Some people don’t understand redemption value. I like using my points at $0.20 on business class or first class flights that cost tens of thousands, not for a $200-$300 a night hotel room.
It depends how many players you have in your game. I would never ever ever ever transfer Amex or Cap1 or Citi points to a hotel chain, but that’s not to say I won’t take 150k-200k sign up bonuses from hotel credit cards… on top of the points I earn from stays as well.
Also, I’ve been playing this game pretty hard for years and the best redemption I ever got was $0.19/point. So I’m curious where you’re finding these $0.20 fares lol
@@tfft JFK to HND x2 $27,655 for 120,000 miles + $11.20 = $0.23 redemption
Ah yeah I had almost the same, I just assigned a lower cash value to mine. SGN-SIN-HND-JFK (Y, W, F) for 62k.
😁🙋♂5:59 I agree, Kevin, it's a beautiful pen 🖊(the Sofitel Darling Harbour, Sydney has the same design in a similar turquoise shade, but two-toned). 7:27 7:52 8:10 The mismatched tapware would drive this semi-OCD person nuts😵💫. I wonder why they do that.
My guess would be for the sink faucet not to protrude into the mirror and for the bath fauced not to be mistaken as a handle to apply pressure to. Thanks for watching 🩴
05:18 and there I was thinking it was named after that other Australian icon, Margot Robbie 😅 Yes to the hotel pens! I do like a good pensil too. Have many that have travelled home with me 😅
Yeah it’s funny how they often seem to find a way into our bags 😂 Thanks for watching 🩴
who the hell cares about pens? ... 🙋🏻♂ hello!
i love your videos and always look forward to the next one.
Welcome to the 🩴🖋️ club! Haha Thanks very much 🙏🏻
Honestly the hotel sucks.
Well you’re just a breath of fresh air on a dewy spring morning aren’t ya?
Try Regent Hongkong.. Redeco in very good Quality.
Would love to!
I thought I was the only one who felt that way about pens and what it represents. ❤
Haha- I forget if I mentioned it in the video, but specifically in ‘true 5-star’ hotels, I think the same applies to the Combs on offer 😄
Welcome to Sydney my home base for the last 45 years .Let me if you are in town next time I will treat you the local Vietnamese food
Lucky to have such a beautiful city down there! Thanks for watching 🩴
Thanks for your review. I really appreciate your commentary, very much to the point unlike so many Hotel vloggers who have no idea what they’re talking about. Love the old Art Deco building and overall Kimpton seem to have done a good job preserving the character. Your comment about the staff at social hour had me smiling, when I lived in Australia (born there) we had a common joke about lack of good service. “I can’t complain about the service because there wasn’t any”😂
Haha it was just so surprising since everyone else was so lovely. Plus, while I do see a lot of Aussies saying the same as you- with the way Australia is portrayed in US media as by far the friendliest English speaking country out there- my brain always still has a few misfires when it turns out not to be the case haha.
Glad you enjoyed my home city! Would love a review of the iconic Park Hyatt next time you visit - I don't think that view can be beat.
Looking forward to your Philippine Airlines review, I flew the same route a couple of months back and was equipment swapped to the 2-2-2 config in business class. A very disappointing experience and chaotic transfer/boarding process in MNL, but dirt cheap business class fare!
I’ll take the crappy 2-2-2 over an inoperable 1-2-1 any day 😂
I loved your comments about the chef with the big ego 😂… and the note about people who take breakfast seriously..😃.
Thanks for another top review.. you cheered me up.. enough said .. 🙏
Glad it did! Thanks for watching 🩴
The two new Peninsula hotels in Istanbul and London have built-in wireless chargers in the bedside drawers on both sides of the bed.
Thanks for sharing ✈️
Hi Kevin, first came across your channel when looking to book hotels in Thailand this year. Thank you for your work + the detailed reviews you provide!!
Sydney local here - as you mention, the city is going through something of a hotel boom at the moment. The Park Hyatt has long been the benchmark hotel, but has been joined in recent times by Crown Towers at Barangaroo, Capella in the city and the W (which opens tomorrow) at Darling Harbour.
Elsewhere in Oz, hotels worthy of a mention include:
- Qualia on Hamilton Island
- Calile in Brisbane (ranked No.12 in World's 50 Best Hotels list this year)
- Langham and JW Marriott on the Gold Coast
- Crown Towers, Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne
- The Tasman in Hobart
- Como, Crown Towers, Ritz-Carlton in Perth
Hope you make it back soon and we see how some of these properties stack up!
Two of them are on my list for my next Aus hotel trip. Thanks for sharing ✈️
I hope you had a good visit to my home city. Capella Hotel is a super luxe hotel in another refurbished 19th century grand building. You’ll need to win lotto to stay there. A good day trip is to take the train southwest to Cabramatta and you’ll pass through all the amazing multicultural suburbs ending in our tribute to HCM city. Thanks for another great review.
Sydney is always a good time! Thanks for watching 🩴
Luke Mangan also has his Salt restaurants on Australian P@O cruise ships, he used to be the culinary consult for Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia pre covid, with his food predominately on the now axed Australian east coast to LA routes. Famous for his sand crab Omelette.
I read the end of your comment too quickly and ‘read’ something completely different 😂 But yes, I’ve read about his ventures with P&O… didn’t know about Virgin though. Thanks for watching 🩴
Is this somehow timed for the release of the Barbie movie haha
If it wasn’t for this comment I wouldn’t have had a clue there was such a thing as a Barbie movie lol… so, no 😂
from BKK to MEL
on Thai Airways
in Business
Close, but no :)
@@tfft BKK to HEL then?
Had to laugh at your "view", my Miss and Partner just checked into an Accor hotel Darling Harbour, on arrival the lovely lady checking them in informed them she had "upgraded" their room to one with a "view" and what a suprise they got, the view is of a construction zone, might have been better off without the upgrade 😅. Even l dont drink the tap water in Australia, its safe but awful. Luke Mangan is a pompous twat IMO the only time lve eaten his food was on Virgin Australia in BC and it was a pass for me, l think the CC ended up getting me a sandwich from Economy and it was way better than "Lukes" finest fare. Really love that in Australia we preserve Art deco buildings and turn them into gorgeous hotels, it adds character and charm. I think the fabrics are great. Glad you didnt cancel this one 👍
I’m glad I wasn’t far off with Sir Mangan haha. And yes I agree about the art deco. One wonderful thing that Sydney and New York share and both do well. Thanks for watching 🩴
Decent hotel for a business trip otherwise not worth the traveling. European hotel reviews in sight or they're out of budget, 300 dollars you don't get much in Europe .
Don’t really understand the comment lol. But thanks for watching nonetheless🩴
Being a stone throw from where I lived I placed my money of you staying there 😂 I have even stayed in that room. Never stayed there when it was their previous incarnation Prime Hotel. Fun fact, in years gone by, where the gym is used to be a rifle range ( when it was still the water board building)
There are new hotels opening up in Sydney, and in true Sydney style they trade on their location rather than service and charge ridiculous money ($800 for entry level room per night, yes I am looking at you crown and Capella)
Got to love Sydney 😂
To be fair to Sydney, of all of the content I filmed this year and everything coming up this and next year… there really are no reasonably priced places atm. Every hotel is banking on “revenge travel” which will die off eventually, but I think the ridiculous prices we see globally now are the new norm, simply because they can get away with it.
Luckily, at least Sydney has enough charm to almost ‘justify’ it haha. When you need to pay $300 for a 4-star hotel in Brussels though, that’s when it gets painful 😅