My 10 most memorable hotel stays of 2012

I stopped by the Ritz in Hong Kong to have a drink at the bar when I was there early in the year. Impressive, indeed but I too only have bling or miles for much shorter buildings. Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui in HK was a fav stay this past year.

Your Kyoto link goes to the Ritz HKG review 🙂

@ TheBeerHunter -- Whoops, fixed, thanks!

Lucky, now you got to do a 10 most memorable flights in 2012. It does not have to be a good experience, but it does have to be memorable.

So I count 3 Hyatt vs. 2 Starwood. If Hyatt starts to count award stays as elite qualification, I would jump ship right away. For now Starwood is much easy to maintain its status with the cash & points + award stays.

By far my best stay in 2012 was the Conrad Bali, and you need to try it out the next time you're there (especially with your drive for Diamond status with Hilton HHonors). Terrific property and fantastic suites-only section. I also vote this the best bargain (points-wise) in the Hilton HHonors portfolio...as a Category 5 hotel, stays of 6 nights or longer only set you back 26,250 points/night.

Stayed at the Westin Boston Waterfront for a conference. Not sure how it happened, but I ended up with a Skyline suite. I guess it was neat to have two bathrooms, but the best part was being able to leave the baby at home and get more than 6 hours of continuous sleep =)

Great reviews. I am thinking about dropping down to SPG50 this year and sending rest towards Hyatt. My 24 has been a strike out for me for me every time. Might spend some of those SPG points on a shower 🙂

Thanks for the report as always!

I find this completely boring!

You flew around the world to stay in stupid, man made facilities, all look pretty much the same. You are young, barely 25 and all you do is just fly premium cabins, stay in luxury hotels and eat well in these facilities if it is inclusive.

As a matter of fact you enjoy all this just because the financial system in your country allows it. You don't have a dime to your name to afford any of this if you had to actually pay for this.

Ugly and stupid hedonism. Useless boring life. It is just me me me me.

Go volunteer in third world countries, donate your cloths on trips to the poor, go tracking (Annapurna, Kilimanjaro, Patagonia, Kepler), dive, climb hills to see amazing views, sleep in $10 a night Bangkok or Sri Lanka and you will meet amazing people your age, help the environment, help fight the animal farm holocaust. Take 17 hour buses in India or Nepal (some on the roof of the bus). Collect adventures.

What will you say in 50 years? That you have been to every IC or hyatt?

Feb: Honeymoon Suite at Sheraton Seoul D Cube City http://travel.bart.la/2012/03/07/honeymoon-suite-at-sheraton-seoul-d-cube-city-hotel/
May: Caroline Astor Suite at St. Regis Bangkok
http://travel.bart.la/2012/05/30/caroline-astor-suite-at-st-regis-bangkok/
Jun: Sky View room at IC New York Times Square http://travel.bart.la/2012/06/03/sky-view-room-at-intercontinental-new-york-times-square/
Jul: Ocean View Pool Villa at Conrad Koh Samui http://travel.bart.la/2012/07/19/ocean-view-pool-villa-at-conrad-koh-samui/
Sep: InterContinental Bora Bora Resort and Thalasso Spa http://travel.bart.la/2012/10/12/intercontinental-bora-bora-resort-and-thalasso-spa/

Uuuh Mic, WTF? Why are you even reading this blog if that's how you feel?

All good choices, but you might want to try a truly amazing hotel. Those generally can't be had for points.

For starters, I'd recommend the FS Hualalai in Hawaii. It is pricey at $700+, and you can't get it for points, but it is on a completely different level than anything you mention above. Good to try to get some perspective.

My aspirational property is still this one. Somebody at work went there a couple years ago and really loved it.

http://www.icehotel.com/

I'm surprised none of your India hotels made the list.

Mic is just jealous. Tries to sound deep and profound but appears like a troll, who doesnt tollerate different perspectives. Excellent reports Ben! And quite adventurous too. Creating amazing first class trips with amazing hotels is an adventure valued by many. There is room for both types of adventures. The world is not a zero sum game.

@ Antonio -- That was 2011, unfortunately.

Definitely the explora Easter Island.

Mic -- plenty of blogs cover the things you wish Lucky would write about...

Lucky -- I'm planning on staying at the Kyoto HR and wondering if you felt it was worth it to use a suite upgrade when Diamons are usually given such nice rooms already?

hi Frank =) Happy new years to you too!

@ Michael -- Unless I'm mistaken they don't take Diamond suite upgrades, do they?

For what it's worth, though, I saw a standard room and the deluxe room I received is definitely MUCH nicer. I'd hate to stay there and *not* get it, since it really is a special hotel and an amazing room. So if you could get a confirmed upgrade to a deluxe room and the opportunity cost to the suite upgrade isn't too high I'd probably go for it.

The issue is that they only have a very limited number of deluxe rooms (I be

Two of my stays in 2012 really stood out, when compared to the rest, and neither were major chain hotels:

Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza Ryokan at Lake Akan, Hokkaido. The service levels and food (kaiseki dinners and multi-course breakfasts included in the rate) were amazing. Was also nice to have our own private screened-in patio with a stone bath that constantly circulated volcanic spring-fed water. It was a nice spot to watch snow falling over the caldera lake.

Nkwichi Lodge on Lake Malawi (Mozambique side, near Likoma Island). The lodge has a small number of private chalets, each very secluded. Ours featured a private beach with excellent snorkeling (spotted loads of cichlids), and a veranda that looked out onto a tree that served as a perch for two African Fish Eagles. The lodge is reached by a Cessna 210 flight from Lilongwe to Likoma Island (awesome views from the copilots seat of the 210), then about an hour's boat ride. During a canoe safari we saw dwarf antelope, hyrax, crocodiles, kingfishers, cormorants, and fish eagles. Nkwichi is remote, unspoiled, and it feels like you're in a Wild Kingdom episode. The service is also unfailingly kind and friendly. Really nice to have your dinner table set up on a white-sand beach overlooking the lake at sunset. It's one of the few places I've been that I felt completely depressed once we had to leave.

Waldorf/Astoria Rome Cavalieri. I had an awesome suite for a decent deal.

Avaton resort in Santorini, Greece: beautiful sunsets and amazing breakfast served on the terrace.

Park Hyatt Paris: I stayed 3 times there this year, and once got upgraded to a 2 level suite!

My favorite this year is Jimbaran Puri Bali by Orient-Express, next door neighbor of the IC. We stayed two nights in a suite and two in a pool villa; the later completely blew me away - 3,000 sq ft with a 5-ft deep pool and luxury rooms. I booked thru a local agent and the rate was actually comparable to a Club Room at the IC. Check out my pictures (the blog is in Chinese) http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_88c5c130010151n7.html

My top 3 this year: Amandari, Amanjiwo, and Amankila

+1 for Amankila! It along with Four Seasons Bali Jimbaran Bay and the Four Seasons Hong Kong were among our most memorable stays in 2012. http://travelsort.com/blog/best-travel-experiences-of-2012

To all those who commented...
I am not jealous at all. I also have access to the stupid American financial system and able to get the same benefits.
So I get to fly premium and stay in luxury hotels.
But that is not the reason for travel. It is to explore foreign cultures, nature and lots more.

When the purpose is to fly first and sleep in a suit that is pathetic and a sever distortion of reality especially if you are 20.

Mic, yeah sure! Why so worried then about what other people do if you apparently do EXACTLY the same AND can conquer the moral high ground with your feigned cultural and ecological sensitivity? In fact, why bother to comment at all? Is it perhaps because YOU have issues reconciling the two perspectives?

+0.5 on Mic's comment (except volunteering - which is a scam by itself; "animal farm holocaust" - not a holocaust at all; and noting's wrong with hedonism).

It's easy to get carried away with that kind of travel, just a question if that's really what you want to achieve in your life, as for me it seems quite point-less.

I would say my most memorable hotel stay last year was a one-night stay at the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa.
The night was complimentary thanks to American Express. After booking via phone I was assigned a standard room but was able to change that online to a Presidential Suite for the same rate (i.e. for free).
My first and only time thus far I stayed in such a huge suite.

Stephan, I am not doing anything like this! I don't fly year round to stay in a hotel only to fly on a similar flight the next day to another hotel that looks pretty much the same just because it doesn't cost me.
Alan, to say that there is no animal farm holocaust is exactly like saying 100 years ago that there was no slavery and segregation. Learn the facts. To say volunteering is a scam just shows how much you gave from yourself...
For sure, this is not the place to get support as most people here just dying to have this kind of useless meaningless boring life.

That's easy. Number one on my list would be Vanyavilas at Ranthambore, number 2 would be the Tawaraya at Kyoto and number 3 would be Cipriani in Venice.

Going to break my "no debating on the internet" rule one time in 2013 :). @Mic - this blog is essentially Lucky's "job" and it focuses largely on luxury travel as its niche. Your arguments don't make much sense in that context, as you seem to be treating this more as Lucky's "adventures" blog and less as his job...

I, for one, love my job - but even so it has a magnitude less of an "adventure" factor than this blog does.

@ Baqa -- Bing, thank you. I love traveling and seeing places, though I don't think I can add as much value reviewing a city as I can reviewing an airline. There are MUCH better guides out there for cities than I could ever write, while I think I provide fairly comprehensive reviews of airline products/hotels. Doesn't mean I don't love seeing places...

December: Intercontinental Rome De La Ville
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/intercontinental-rom-de-la-ville-5.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/12/intercontinental-rom-de-la-ville-4.html

November: Intercontinental Amsterdam Amstel
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/11/intercontinental-amsterdam-amstel-5.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/11/intercontinental-amsterdam-amstel-4.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/11/intercontinental-amsterdam-amstel-3.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/11/intercontinental-amsterdam-amstel-2.html

September: Hyatt Regency Birmingham
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/hyatt-regency-birmingham-2.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/hyatt-regency-birmingham.html

August: Park Hyatt Paris
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/08/park-hyatt-paris-vendome-4.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/08/park-hyatt-paris-vendome-3.html

July: Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/07/grand-hyatt-hong-kong-3.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/07/grand-hyatt-hong-kong-2.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/07/grand-hyatt-hong-kong.html

June: Grand Hyatt Berlin
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/grand-hyatt-berlin-4.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/grand-hyatt-berlin-3.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/grand-hyatt-berlin-2.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/06/grand-hyatt-berlin.html

April: Park Hyatt Shanghai
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/04/park-hyatt-shanghai-3.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/04/park-hyatt-2.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/04/park-hyatt-shanghai.html

March: Park Hyatt Seoul
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/03/park-hyatt-seoul-4.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/03/park-hyatt-seoul-3.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/03/park-hyatt-seoul-2.html
http://www.youhavebeenupgraded.blogspot.co.at/2012/03/park-hyatt-seoul.html

Great post. Beautiful properties. I hope you make this an annual list.

Best ones for me in 2012:
-The Namhai, in Danang Vietnam (beautifully located with less tourists (for now!)
-The Chedi Club, Ubud, Bali (personalised service with your own butler)
-W Hotel, Seminyak, Bali
-The Dorchester, London (all time favourite)
-Le Bristol, Paris (timeless hotel with a restaurant to die for!)
-Mandarin Oriental, HK