After sailing with Virgin Voyages, I flew from Athens to Nice, France for a two night visit before flying on to Dublin. The Hyatt properties near Nice were extremely expensive (August is peak season), so I decided to try the Crown Plaza near the Nice airport. The property is new … Read more
Kimpton De Witt Amsterdam Review Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities. Previously I had stayed at the Andaz and Hyatt Regency; both of which are fantastic hotels. This time I had an IHG Chase free night certificate. It was good for a night at 40,000 point property. The Kimpton … Read more
Crowne Plaza Brugge Review Brugge (or Bruges) was, in the 15th century, one of the most important cities in Europe. It was a port city until the harbor silted up; leaving the city in a state of decay for centuries until it reinvented itself as a tourist destination in the … Read more
Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi Yas Island Review Crowne Plaza hotels reminds me a lot of Hilton’s DoubleTree hotels: it seems to be the catch all brand for IHG. There is no common thread that makes the brand mean anything. After staying two nights at the Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi, I … Read more
Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix Review I had some expiring IHG free night certificates from Chase cards and decided to make an end of the year visit to Phoenix to get away from the snow in Seattle. After one night at the Crowne Plaza by the airport, I booked two nights … Read more
Crowne Plaza Phoenix Airport Review I decided to take a last minute trip down to Phoenix to avoid a second round of a winter storm in Seattle. I had three expiring IHG free night certificates. I was able to book two nights at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar but it wasn’t … Read more
Kimpton Buchanan Hotel San Francisco Review The Kimpton Buchanan Hotel is one of two (soon to be three) Kimpton properties in San Francisco. The building was originally a 4-story office building before they added on an additional 4 floors and converted it to a 131 room hotel. It reopened as … Read more
How to Win Travel Contests Over the years I have won some really great contests. Amongst my friends it has become a joke: “How are you so lucky?” Upon reflection, I am fairly confident that I do not possess some supernatural power. Instead, I have some strategies that increase my … Read more
What makes for a good hotel shower? One of the most variable features of a hotel room is the shower. I also would say it is one of the more important parts of a hotel room to get right. Which is why in all of my hotel reviews I mention … Read more
Staybridge Suites The Hague Parliament Review Before flying home out of Amsterdam, I decided to visit The Hague as I wanted to try another city in the Netherlands. It is a quick 30 minute train ride to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport which makes the Hague an easy alternative to Amsterdam as … Read more
Hotel Indigo Krakow Old Town Review Krakow is a fantastic medieval Polish city and the jumping off location for visits to Auschwitz. The Hotel Indigo is a modern hotel. I booked my four night stay using IHG points. Typically the rooms are 30,000 per night. However I have the IHG … Read more
Hotel Indigo Helsinki Boulevard Review After arriving in Helsinki on the Silja Sympony, I had two nights before heading out on to Estonia. During an IHG sale I was able to book the Hotel Indigo for around $90 per night. It is hard to place Hotel Indigo in the IHG … Read more
Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Review Editor Note: This is the first post by a Single Flyer guest writer! Thank you Lauren for this contribution. I’ve been encouraging my mom to catch up to my number of US states visited, so we planned a trip to Indiana and Kentucky, to snag … Read more
Holiday Inn Express Lisbon – Av. Liberdade Review The Holiday Inn Express (HIX) chain has become my budget go-to hotel. Outside of the USA, they offer updated properties in good locations. I was pleasantly surprised by the HIX Brisbane. I needed a room for just my first night in Lisbon … Read more
voco Gold Coast Review IHG has a new hotel brand: voco. In the trend of endless branding, voco seems to be aiming for upscale hip. Not sure how it is hoping to differentiate itself from Kimpton. Perhaps voco is to Hyatt Centric as Kimpton is to Andaz. So far there … Read more