Mrs. A. and I have never been able to afford to stay in a hotel . . . . not even a doss house Being skint's not all that it's cracked up to be
I've got 4 that I can't choose from. Rangali Island in the Maldives The Four Seasons in Mauritius Raffles in Dubai The Selous Safari camp in Tanzania. All of them were spectacular. The rooms, location, service, food, everything was spot on. None of them are cheap but worth every penny and I'd go back to any of them in a heartbeat.
My favourite is probably the Mena House Oberoi in Giza; Cairo. I guess jt'll be a long time before I go back there again
Never really stopped in a hotel which I would describe as outstanding. Usually between adequate and nice. Worst one I ever stopped in was a weekend in Dublin. It was above an italian restaurant/takeaway. I'm sure the garlic was seeping through the walls and floorboards because the smell was horrendous! The whole place just seemed to sweat. There was debris under the bed, and I'm not exaggerating, there was debris. Crusty bedsheets like sandpaper etc. Horrific. Weekend was class though.
The firm I worked for decided to have a cost cutting exercise so instead of putting us up in hotels they would use pubs with rooms. I stayed at a Pub in the Midlands and when I went in the room I found that someone had left a raggy old dog blanket which was unusual because they don't normally allow pets in the rooms. I took it down to return it only to be told it was my towel ffs. Luckily I always carried a towel with me just in case but strangely enough I was always unable to work away after that (along with quite a few more staff) as I had other things to do. The cost cutting exercise only lasted about 3 months and everything returned to normal.
Been fortunate to stay in a few top class places. The Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne ( good enough for Phil Collins wedding, good enough for me !) Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo (Rod Stewart and Captain Jean-Luc Picard staying at same time but never joined me in the bar). At the other end of the scale though, work mostly booked us into some hovels, any cheap London hotel qualifies and any accommodation situated near to out of town exhibition/conference halls, home or abroad. Raffles Hotel in Singapore is an experience. Didn't stay there but had an afternoon ( bosses were out to impress the client, who knew he was taking the p*ss out of them ) which started with a snack type lunch in the Long Bar , £410 for 6 of us back in '94. Don't know how much the snooker booking cost in the infamous billiard room, but remember that you in no circumstances racked your own balls, but you waited, even if it seemed for some time, for the man to come and do it for you. Finished with ''high tea'' with a tea boy who stood by the table topping everyones' cup up even before you'd supped to the bottom. They were so subservient it was almost embarrassing, but you sense that you must just accept the situation and go along with it. They at least appeared to enjoy their work .
The one hotel on my bucket list. Raffles! Don't care when, don't care how, don't care with who don't care how much..... but its gonna happen!
