I'm sure the definition of "aspirational" differs among people, but I'd definitely consider the Vana Belle to be one of SPG's aspirational properties. In my book, any property that offers a private pool with any room surely can't be that bad
The Vana Belle, together with 6 other of SPG's...
I've always wanted to go to Koh Samui, but it felt like one of those destinations you had to  "do right". "Do right" differs among people, but for me it just means
(1) Staying in a really nice villa
(2) Having enough time to enjoy said villa
So when I managed to...
So, SPG has announced its annual category changes for 2016. The number of points needed to redeem a free night in each of the 7 categories has not changed, but hotels have moved up and down between categories.
As a reminder, here are the points needed in each category
All in...
Uber and SPG have a partnership where you can earn SPG points with every Uber ride you take. If you're going to ride Uber anyway, might as well get something more out of it.
For Valentine's Day, Uber is running a special promotion with Starwood Hotels in Singapore offering riders the...
In November 2014 SPG launched its Keyless program, which enables guests to bypass the front desk and head directly to their room, and replaces those easily demagnetized keycards with your smartphone. It's a great idea in theory, although reports online are a bit mixed as to its usefulness (see...
St Regis Beijing
China is definitely one of the great places for hotel stays and I finally visited Beijing for my birthday.The main objective of this trip was to see the Great Wall of China and 2 sections were close to Beijing, namely the Badaling and Mutianyu sections.
I decided on...
If you complain when something goes wrong, you should give credit when something goes right.
The SPG Elite Thank You Certificates are available for 2016. I believe both Gold and Platinum members are eligible for these, but do correct me if I'm wrong. These are a great way to thank any...
Every time you book a hotel through a 3rd party OTA like Expedia/Agoda etc, that 3rd party keeps a share of the total stay. This can be as high as 20% in some cases, and as you can imagine, takes a big bite out of the hotel's profits.
Therefore, hotels...
