Category: HOTEL REVIEW
-
W Hong Kong: Reception on the Sixth Floor, Energy Through the Roof
Right, so here we are then, in Hong Kong, a city that is less a place and more a bloody organism. It doesn’t sleep, it doesn’t yawn, it doesn’t even pause to scratch itself. It just goes. Ceaselessly. A thrum, a vibration, a caffeinated whirring of humanity that makes New York look like it’s having…
Written by
·
-
Hotel 1898, Barcelona — A Boringly Brilliant Stay
You know when you book a hotel and you’re not entirely sure what you’re getting? That’s how I felt with Hotel 1898 in Barcelona. I’d clicked around their website for a bit, expecting… well, I don’t know what. Something faintly forgettable, perhaps. A boutique business stopover with slightly too much beige? A faded Spanish colonial…
Written by
·
-
Ockenden Manor – A Glorious Collision of Tudor Timbers and Spa-Luxe Serenity
Sometimes in life the stars align. Not often. Usually, they scatter chaotically in the night sky, like crumbs on a Travelodge carpet, marking the celestial randomness of broken kettles and joyless buffet sausages. But every so often, bang — alignment. Precision. Harmony. A moment of such elegant serendipity that you half expect Richard Curtis to…
Written by
·
-
The Banyan Tree, Dubai – A Rare Case of Style and Substance
The luxury hotel game is a tough one. It’s like trying to stay fashionable while married to someone who buys you trousers for Christmas from John Lewis. Keeping luxurious is no mean feat. Fashions and trends change faster than a Love Island contestant’s moral compass. And the second you so much as unlock your automatic…
Written by
·
-
Roisa Hostal Boutique: A Stay on the Set of a Horror Film (With Bonus Trip Hazards!)
Well, how I’m here to write this review is beyond me. I spent three nights in what can only be described as a crossover between a low-budget horror film and a construction project that’s seemingly given up the will to live. I’ve stayed in some questionable hotels in my time, but never on an actual…
Written by
·
-
Apex Hotel, Bath – A Decent Stay, If the Price is Right
I’ve never got on with local councils. I know they’re strapped for cash, but they seem to exist solely to make parking more expensive and planning applications impossible. And nowhere is this more evident than in Bath, a city of breathtaking Georgian beauty marred by the occasional concrete monstrosity that some council planning department inexplicably…
Written by
·
-
The Alan: Where Manchester’s Cool Feels Warm
Manchester, they say, is trendy. Far too trendy for me, of course, which is a word I’ve now used twice and which, in itself, demonstrates how deeply untrendy I am. “Trendy” is surely not the word du jour. Nor, I suspect, is “cool,” which I’ve just used to underline how hopelessly adrift I am from…
Written by
·
-
The Scarlet: Where Magic Never Fades
To anyone who read my recent review of the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi, where I warned against the dangers of revisiting a beloved destination, feel free to ignore that advice. I’m about to completely contradict myself, because here I am, back at The Scarlet in Cornwall for what feels like the hundredth time. And thank…
Written by
·
-
From Downton to Downtown: The Andaz Experience
When you’re nipping into London for a quick overnighter, location is everything. Schlepping across the capital like some 18th-century explorer, map in hand, is a waste of valuable time you could be spending doing literally anything else. So, you want a hotel near a major tube station—a station that’s basically a public transport Swiss Army…
Written by
·
-
One Aldwych: Quietly Exceptional in the Heart of London
Here’s the hard thing about being a luxury hotel in London: standing out. Honestly, who isn’t spoilt for choice? You’ve got the big-name establishments with their red-carpet entrances, top-hatted doormen, and an air of aristocratic pomp, servicing those who like their luxury served with a side of flash. Then there are the multi-national chains—slick, polished,…
Written by
·
The Travel Critic 