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Back in March, I wrote about how to book partner award flights on Etihad Airways. We originally booked First Apartments both to Abu Dhabi from London and from Abu Dhabi back to London over the Thanksgiving holiday, but unfortunately, the airplane for our flight from London was switched from an A380 (which has First Apartments) to an A340 (which has Etihad's standard First Class). The airplane switch was somewhat devastating, but at least we will still experience the Apartments on our way home. We planned a whirlwind luxury long weekend in Dubai around these flights and I'll be covering all the details in upcoming posts. Review: British Airways Club World SFO - LHR Review: LHR Etihad Airways First & Business Class Lounge Review: Etihad Airways First Class LHR - AUH Review: Park Hyatt Dubai Review: Afternoon Tea at At.mosphere Burj Khalifa Review: Burj al Arab Part I: One Bedroom Suite Review: Burj al Arab Part II: Grounds and Amenities Review: AUH Etihad Airways Premium Lounge Review: Etihad Airways First Apartments AUH - LHR Etihad flies out of London Heathrow Terminal 4. We arrived at Heathrow about 5.5 hours prior to our flight to Abu Dhabi after flying in on British Airways from San Francisco, so we had a bit of time to kill before being able to check in for our Etihad flight. Luckily, Etihad allows check in 4 hours prior to the flight, so we didn't have to wait an extremely long time. Check in was fairly quick, since we were first in line and off we were to the lounge. Once we cleared security, we headed towards gate A10, which the Etihad First and Business Class lounge is located across from.   Heathrow Terminal 4 Directly ahead will be the Sky Team lounge and you'll see lifts down to the Etihad lounge from your left or stairs down from your right. Check in was quick and we were escorted in while the attendant explained the available features of the lounge.  Lounge Entrance  Lounge Entrance  Lounge Entrance  Lounge Entrance  Etihad First and Business Class Lounge Check In Since the lounge is downstairs from the actual terminal, tarmac views are limited to the dining area, which is disappointing and makes the rest of the lounge a bit claustrophobic. The lounge itself is not extremely large - likely due to the relatively small number of flights Etihad operates out of London, but the decor is modern and comfortable, with plenty of seating, which is nice.
The lounge offers both buffet and a la carte dining and has a large dining area and bar to the left, with the rest of the lounge seating and a television area to the right. The lounge also has a kids playroom directly after entering.
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Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou Suzhou is a small town (by China standards) of about 5 million people located about 60 miles outside of Shanghai. I spend a lot of time in the area for work and have stayed at the Hyatt Regency Suzhou more times than I can count. The Hyatt Regency is a quite new hotel and just opened about 15 months ago. The hotel is located in the Suzhou Industrial Park and is adjacent to Times Square Station. Upon arriving at the hotel, you'll be greeted by hotel employees and led inside. Once inside, you can turn left to find the concierge desk and then continue to the right past that to find the front desk. You'll immediately notice the hotel's 29 story atrium, which is a striking feature of the hotel. It even has "stars" at the very top of the atrium at night.  Hotel Entrance  Atrium from Below  Atrium from Above Located next to the lobby is The Atrium, which serves as a seating area/bar area for after work gatherings. It's full of chairs and couches and you can order from a small snack menu as well.  The Atrium The Market Cafe is found on the second floor, just above The Atrium and serves breakfast in the mornings for hotel guests. Breakfast consists of a large buffet area with breads, pastries, pancakes, salads, sushi, meats, eggs, juices, and a ton of other items. You'll find a significant number of staff members in this restaurant ready to help with anything you might need and there's almost never a line in the morning to be seated.  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast  Market Cafe Breakfast Also located on the second floor is Hua Chi 88, a Chinese restaurant offering authentic Suzhou cuisine, but one I have yet to try. Located on the third floor above the Market Cafe is The Fireplace. The Fireplace offers a selection of local and international menu items and it's where I eat most of my dinners when I am visiting Suzhou. Usually I am too tired or it's too late to leave the hotel, so I'll grab something here. The food is excellent and the service is spot on as well. Since I have stayed in this hotel many times, I have stayed in a Deluxe King Room, a Twin Room, and a Regency Suite. The Deluxe King and Twin rooms are nearly identical and I've found little to no variation among the rooms other than sometimes the bathroom is on the left and sometimes it's on the right. You'll take the elevators up to your room and head either left or right around the open air atrium to your room. I always notice that the carpet in the halls is very thick, which makes it a bit difficult to roll your suitcase along, but at least there's not usually any noise from the atrium.  Elevators  Hallway  Deluxe King Entrance Review: American Airlines Business Class LAX - PVG Review: PVG Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: Dragonair Business Class PVG - HKG Review: Andaz Xintiandi Shanghai Review: Grand Hyatt Shanghai Review: Hyatt Regency Suzhou The third of four Hyatt properties in Shanghai that I've stayed at is the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. It's located in Pudong, just across the street from the Park Hyatt Shanghai in the third tallest building in Shanghai, the Jin Mao Tower. Pudong is Shanghai's business district, so it's bustling during the day, but at night, the area is dead. If you venture across the river to other parts of Shanghai for dinner or drinks at night, be prepared for the fact that taxis won't want to take you back across the river because they likely won't be able to get a fare back. This is easily remedied by ordering an Uber, but is something to consider location-wise with this hotel. Upon arriving at the Grand Hyatt, you'll enter a lobby area and head straight for the elevators. The lobby is found on the 54th floor and just like the Park Hyatt, has an amazing view of the surrounding area. The Grand Hyatt is tastefully decorated with many traditional Chinese elements, but unlike the Park Hyatt, it's a bit less subtle and not so modern. I prefer the decor at the Park Hyatt, but it's certainly a personal preference.  Grand Hyatt Shanghai Entrance  Elevators  Grand Hyatt Shanghai Lobby  Grand Hyatt Shanghai Lobby From the lobby, you'll head past the front desk and wind around past the restaurant to the guest room elevators. As with many skyscraper hotels, there's a separate elevator for rooms from the one that goes to the lobby, so you'll exit the elevator, walk through the lobby and then get in another elevator down from the lobby. You'll notice that you're often winding around in circles in this hotel and it's because it's laid out in circles to take advantage of the windows and leave a striking open air atrium in the center of the hotel. This feature is certainly one of the most photogenic elements of the hotel and it adds a bit of drama.  Elevators  Hallway  Atrium The guest rooms occupy the 58th to 85th floors of the building. Being so high up, the guest rooms have some amazing views and I was lucky enough to have a perfect view of the Pearl Tower from my room, which was really nice and unexpected.
Upon entering the room, there's a short hallway with a closet and the minibar. The hallway opens in to the room, which is quite spacious. My room had a desk with two chairs, two more chairs, and a king bed, so it would have been easy to have a small party in the room if necessary. As I mentioned earlier, the hotel's style is traditional Chinese and the decor continues in to the guest rooms. Overall, I prefer the minimal, modern style of the Park Hyatt or the more funky, eclectic style of the Andaz to the Grand Hyatt's style. It just seems a bit more formal to me. |
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