TravelCommentator

Category: Stay & Eat

* Review / Cafes & Bistros / Eatery

Cafe Bravo, Norwood

I don’t usually write reviews on restaurants and cafes in my home city but I was compelled to write one this time for a couple of reasons. It was my wife’s birthday and she wanted to go out somewhere to have a bite and spend time together and talk over what had transpired in the previous few days. The day before was actually my birthday, but the day before that her mum passed away from lung cancer. So there weren’t any celebrations. Getting out of the house was enough for us. The kids were with us too, our son and daughter. Our son decided we should go to Cafe Bravo on The Parade at Norwood. I’ve been here before a couple of times if...

Hotels & Resorts / Opinion / Tips & Advice

Hotel Etiquette

When staying at someone else’s house, perhaps a relative’s or friend’s place, do you respect the house rules? Do you behave accordingly? As a guest you will follow a few rules. Some are written, others are just commonsense but they are all rules a person with some decency would respect. These are the same kind of rules you would expect at home, so why can’t staying in hotels be the same for a few? We’ve already seen how bad etiquette can impact air travel so I thought let’s explore what is good and bad etiquette while staying at a hotel or other accommodation. Logically we’ll start and finish at the hotel door, checking-in and checking-out. Lobby and Front Desk First contact; where it is...

* Review / Accommodation / Apartments

The Happy Unicorn Apartment, Florence

A Few Let Downs. Overall a Pass I’m in two minds regarding this apartment. Before booking I read many reviews, the grand majority very positive. Only later did I find out that the online booking agent where I booked (which I won’t mention here), stacked all the positive reviews on the first page. Didn’t think much of it at the time, however it has made me aware that you need to read all their reviews, even those on back pages. This apartment is located about 10 minutes walking distance from Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station. It is not hard to find. Address is Via Palazzuolo, 50 (number in red). The apartment is on the third floor, up six flights of stairs. There’s no...

Hotels & Resorts / Loyalty

Hilton HHonors Launches New Membership Cards

Hilton HHonors has introduced new membership cards showcasing well known landmarks in four countries: India, China, UK and the United States of America. Perhaps views of some of their best hotels would have been better. Anyhow, what really matters to guests is that the name and number can be seen clearly. The rest is eye candy. Not sure why they ditched the old design, which wasn’t bad, and connected the value of each status level to landmarks belonging to these four countries. Interesting the highest status level of Diamond has been assigned to the USA. Would we expect anything else with Hilton being an American company? Physical loyalty cards are nice to have, but when they are too many they become a pain in...