staying in upmarket hotels

Yes Canadiangran a very interesting thread winding its way across the world!
I'm not sure whether the OP wanted the thread to be full of criticism, but fortunately it turned out to be full of wonderful shared memories.
Thanks janeainsworth for starting the ball rolling early on by mentioning the names of hotels. I was a bit reluctant to do so at first as the remarks about oneupmanship can often freeze discussions.
Just one more I thought of in the night to do with wine. We stayed in a lovely hotel on a vineyard in the South of France and at dinner got to taste all the different wines produced with our meal. Château de Berne.

The bottle is pretty too.

Like many of you, I imagine, travel abroad just didn’t happen until quite late in our lives. We certainly made up for it then, and have stayed in some amazing places, particularly in Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and India.
At one place in India the ‘hotel’ consisted of just four huts build out of the local building materials, largely mud and dung, and they were stunningly beautiful and cool inside. The hospitality was second to none. The couple who owned it were a man from Bombay - he insisted that is the proper name - and his wife from Switzerland, and they provided dinner in a different part of the grounds each night for all the guests. One evening we left our ‘hut’ at the appointed hour and found a candlelit dinner had been set up on our little private patio! The food was amazing, mostly from the local village. After a day on a safari jeep it was such a treat.

Yorki

Geekesse... Is it the savoy Hotel? That's how they usually treat their guests, I don't stay there I can't afford it, it's just what I've seen on TV.

No, not the Savoy. The snooty place that had a lot of foreign royalty was on Park Lane. The nice place I stay is a country house hotel in the midlands.

Some of the most memorable places we’ve stayed have actually been very basic.
After once driving from Athens to Nafplion in the Peloponnese (sp?) and having booked nothing, we found a hotel on the seafront with incredible views.
We went in and asked whether they had a room at the front - yes, and we were given one with not only a balcony at the front, but also at the side.

The room and bathroom were extremely basic, but adequate, ditto the (included) breakfast - TBH it was a bit Fawlty Towers-ish, but given the location, incredibly cheap.

It’s been done up a bit since then - it might just scrape a 3 star rating now but TBh I wouldn’t bet on it.
However we love it and have been back many times, and have taken like-minded friends, who also loved it.

Prices have never risen much at all since our first visit - it’s still a fantastic bargain. I can’t help wondering how they’ve fared during the pandemic. The town was never a major destination for foreign tourists - there were always more Greeks, so ?they’ll still be there if and when we can return.

My first 'modern' Afternoon Tea was at the Savoy. DD took me there to say thank you for help I gave her with a house move.
It was fantastic. Beautiful meal, attentive and courteous staff.

She also took us out to lunch at The Gilbert Scott restaurant in the St Pancras Hotel, at the eponymous London railway station. Again, food and service were beyond compare. I would love to stay overnight in the hotel.

I took my Mum to The Gilbert Scott I love St Pancras and would also love to stay in the hotel. I just looked at the current rates, they are all discounted at the moment Monica if you want to risk a booking...

I was once treated to afternoon tea at Brown’s - a work related thing.
It was brilliant - pink champagne thrown in and since I always prefer tasty little sandwiches to cakes, plenty of those.

I once wanted to treat someone to the same, only to find that you need to book well in advance.
IIRC Brown’s was used for the old-fashioned hotel in the Joan Hickson Miss Marple - ‘At Bertram’s Hotel’.

GrannyGravy13

Ellianne

Has anyone stayed at or had afternoon tea at Reids Palace in Madeira?
It's on my bucket list, if I can summon up the courage to do the flight/landing.

We stayed in the the Cliff Bay (also 5*)next to Reid’s, (we couldn’t get booked in on our chosen week) ate in the restaurant and had afternoon tea, both very nice.

I spent a very enjoyable holiday at the Cliff Bay Hotel just up the road. Friends stayed at Reids a few years ago now and didn’t enjoy it. They found it a bit too fussy, they felt they couldn’t relax there.??

Thanks Nightsky.

i totally agree re travelling solo. I have lived abroad and travelled quite extensively and get extremely annoyed at lagre single supplements and rubbish small rooms. so in the past went to Barcelona with a neighbour on the already agreed arrangement that we would share a room to get better room and service but do our own thing totally. It worked very well and we shared one dinner together but other than that did our own thing. Now I am on a mission, to get better service for solo people and not get the rubbish small room over the kitchen or being charged the earth in single supplement. Personally I dont sleep well due to back pain so prefer to have a room only basis as I often am up and out (very quietly) by 6 am and quite often in the past have been to the sea by about 7.30am, enjoyed my walk and wander and been on my way back about lunchtime missing all the crowds. I found pre covid that the YHA suited me very well and did both dormitory and smaller rooms and could please myself. My latest thing I wanted to do but have been not having much success to with is to go either glamping or to small lodges or whatever but they are all based on a minimum of room for 4 people. This I consider is very short sighted. Firstly I would be happy meeting my son and his family so that they have a booking of 3 people if there was a small place for me to have separately. This would allow us to have our own space but also enable me to babysit my grandson so they could go out. I love hot tubs, started using them up in Iceland and they are great for a bad back. Secondly I am free to come and go as I please and do not usually want to go in school holidays or weekends. We used to sail our own old yacht in the summer and then spent 4 or 5 days at a great farmhouse who did bed breakfast and evening meal to have a little luxury in spring and autumn. we went there for nearly 20 years, pased them on to other friends and yachties and so they had a great off peak business of people who were no trouble, no getting rowdy or breaking things or coming back at 3am. Everyone did very well out of it. These people now just look at the short term money spinner by only having 4 or 6 berth places thinking they would lose money by having a 1 / 2 bed place with hot tub. So I am getting onto cottages and lodges and suggestion that they could do some off peak , and midweek offers and hoping that they will realize that they are missing a good business deal. Of course I can do b/b or a room only hotel but that is not the point . we should be considered and offered a possible suitable and reasonably priced stay. I have already gone back to my original plan and arranged to meet with a friend and again we shall share an off peak special offer type thing and I go to aart galleries and concerts and antiques and my friend does her own thing and we meet up and spend the evenings together. It is also a way to join with othe national trust members and you could share a trip to another area and share the costs of the trip.

Mention of flying to Madeira has reminded me of ‘landing’ there ?in the early 70s, which was the start of my long term serious flying phobia. I used to combat it with pills and alcohol and one cabin crew member said I was the worst case they had come across ( I would often SCREAM) I was met by a cabin crew member at the airport in Majorca who had taken the trouble to fly back with me, that was especially kind.
Well, I’m over it now as love travelling and my daughter is, guess what, cabin crew! So quite a few cling ons to fab places.

Judy54, I've never, ever, felt 'looked down upon' by staff (whatever I'm wearing). Why would I - as I wouldn't anticipate it. Maybe you do? Perhaps you lack confidence?

Maybe, though, I have a superiority complex, an overly entitled attitude?

Their job is to make you feel welcomed, cared for and respected, or you really should complain about them. There are sometimes bad staff in the best of places.

My rich uncle would always tip, very generously, at the start of our stay, to ensure good service. 'Why chance it?' he'd say.

M0nica

My first 'modern' Afternoon Tea was at the Savoy. DD took me there to say thank you for help I gave her with a house move.
It was fantastic. Beautiful meal, attentive and courteous staff.

She also took us out to lunch at The Gilbert Scott restaurant in the St Pancras Hotel, at the eponymous London railway station. Again, food and service were beyond compare. I would love to stay overnight in the hotel.

Monica our room at the St Pancras Hotel overlooked the Eurostar platform and as I am a railway freak, I was in my element watching the trains come and go from the comfort of my bedroom window (sad I know!).

Re single rooms, we once took adult dds and my mother, then probably nearly 80, to the Old Winter Palace in Luxor, and were very pleasantly surprised when she was given a lovely ‘single’ room with a huge private terrace.

That was a most memorable hotel, especially the lovely gardens and pool to relax in after a very hot and busy morning going round the Valley of the Kings.
Not to mention afternoon tea/G&Ts on the terrace overlooking the Nile to a view of the pyramids that probably hasn’t changed for thousands of years.

Might add that I was so glad we took my mother on a couple of nice holidays at around that age, since she showed the first signs of dementia not long afterwards and it would no longer have been possible - she became so anxious about everything that home and familiar routine became essential.

The hotel staff's attitude to what you're wearing mentioned here fascinates me.
Back in the day I used to wear quite a bit of flowery frilly Laura Ashley stuff! I remember twice abroad being complimented by a receptionist (USA) and a hotel manager (France) as looking quintessentially English?! And then very friendly conversation ensued. Maybe they said that to everyone, or maybe as Hetty58 says we all exude a certain air which is picked up on and given reciprocal respect?

That holiday sounds wonderful Witzend. Exciting but also luxurious and relaxing. I somehow can't see holidays to Egypt returning soon.

I could actually afford anywhere I wanted to go but I don’t like excess or waste and I like value for money so I avoid expensive high end places.

We have stayed in 4* not 5*, as far as we're concerned our money is as good as everyone else s and we certainly don't dress to impress when traveling to accommodation. Why would you you want to be comfortable on flights etc.

Our first cruise across the Atlantic was on the Cunard Queen Mary.
Because it was part of a longer trip to the USA Australia and New Zealand hubby clearly wasn't packing a suit.
On asking about the dress code hubby was offered a jacket for his use for dining which I thought was very good of them.
The food was fine dining, amazing art work presented on a plate, hubby was concerned he wouldn't be full so we ordered extra vegetables.
By the end of the cruise the six passengers we sat with were all doing the same. We met some really lovely people from all walks of life and it made for a very interesting cruise.