Hotels round the world

This page gathers together hotels and accommodations round the world visited over the past few years during mostly professional trips. It is definitely not exhaustive.
Codes: "ok" = quite happy to go back there, "reg" = regular for price paid, "bof" = if really nowhere else to go, "room" = for some reason, another room had to be requested, "charges" = imaginary expenses charged the credit card account, "points" = missing points on the hotel fidelity scheme. The other comments are explicit. Figures in brackets give the number of stays at specific places. "Several" means over 3 stays. The rating corresponds to the last stay.
Accommodation has often been in single rooms and the ratings correspond to a personal experience. Remember that hotels sometimes change name or brand, undergo renovation, or simply evolve for the better or for the worse, some quickly, others slowly -- and that there are many reasons for returning or for not returning to the same place. Therefore no dates have been given below. Please note that I am not in a position to answer requests for detailed comments nor to mail any kind of documentation.
A recent fashion worldwide has been the introduction of so-called Executive Rooms. These are often nothing else but regular rooms with the addition of a few gimmicks such as cheap toiletry items, free bottle of water, sometimes slippers and/or a bathrobe, while the price of such rooms (not always available at high floors) is significantly higher. It is then advisable to compare carefully the characteristics of each rooms (size, location, equipment, etc.) before making a choice. The number of such rooms is often limited, so it is not always possible to get all room requirements satisfied (floor level, quiet side, distance to elevators, etc.). According my experience, no hotel will tell of such cases in advance (just by fear of cancellation), so be ready to some compromise upon arrival.
Beware also upgrades, not unfrequently done by deliberately ignoring the customer profile and sometimes offered towards rooms or suites poorly located (low floors, no views, vicinity of elevators or outside noise sources, etc.), in other words sometimes those rooms where nobody wants to go. Free Internet can also be a source of irritation. If you really intend to do some work implying heavy Internet usage, consider paying for a reliable and satisfactory service.
Toiletries might be an issue in case of multinight stays. While in most places, toiletries are renewed for the subsequent nights, they are not in some others. It is then difficult to say whether this is just oversight, hotel policy, or whether the housekeeping people are retaining those things for themselves, kids or friends. My bottomline is that, if there is no discount for staying several nights, the rooms should be furnished everyday in the same way.
Loyalty programs can be a source of irritation and frustration, sometimes sounding like mystery boxes. I have reached the top level in a number of them, coping with their evolution and advantages generally decreasing over time, whatever be the promotional literature. As an always larger number of customers are reaching the higher levels, companies certainly do not want to loose money by giving too much through loyalty schemes. The Starwood Preferred Guest program has always been excellent and I do not remember ever filing a complaint with them. The situation changed radically when it was merged into Marriott's BonVoy scheme: complaints after complaints about missing nights, missing points, interacting with people sometimes not understanding the issues or not even speaking proper English. The conversion of money spent to points can also be a source of perplexity: recently, I noticed that the conversion of Euros to BonVoy points dropped by 17% while the official EUR/USD rate fluctuated by only about 2% over the same period (BonVoy claims that 10 points are granted for every USD spent) -- all this sounding arbitrary, not to say messy, being qualified by BonVoy people as at their "sole discretion" (sic, their e-mail dated 21 June 2022).

Andorra

Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Canada - Alberta Canada - British Columbia Canada - Ontario Canada - Québec Canada - Yukon Territory Channel Islands Chile China (PRC) Czech Republic Denmark Finland France

Notes on Novotels:
-- their reservation system was taking per default two persons per room; so change this to one in case of single occupancy, otherwise you will pay for two;
-- breakfasts were automatically charged by the billing system, so make sure to rectify this if some breakfasts have not been taken.
Too many incidents and inconsistencies kept me away from some of these hotels in recent times, in spite of some definitely positive features (usually ample enclosed and monitored parking lots, entrance sas to rooms in most hotels, etc.).

Germany

Note: Many hotels in Germany use a duvet ("couette") as bed cover. Sometimes however the body is barely covered. When the situation has been found really bad, the hotel has been flagged with "(bed)". If you travel by car, bring your own blankets!

Greece India Italy Kenya Luxembourg Malta Mexico Monaco Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal Puerto Rico Singapore South Africa Spain

Note: All hotels in Spain are noisy (sometimes because of light construction, but more frequently because it is no part of local habits to behave quietly in hotel rooms nor corridors, with guests retiring late, often after midnight). Thus the stays flagged hereafter as noisy have been particularly noisy ...

Sweden Switzerland Tanzania UK - England UK - Northern Ireland UK - Scotland USA - Alaska USA - Arizona USA - California USA - Colorado USA - District of Columbia USA - Georgia USA - Hawaii USA - Illinois USA - Maryland USA - Massachusetts USA - Missouri USA - Montana USA - Nevada USA - New York USA - Oregon USA - Pennsylvania USA - Texas USA - Utah USA - Virginia USA - Washington USA - Wyoming Zimbabwe
© Copyright André HECK, 1993 - current year.