Welcome to JarvisMarcos.com, a thorough and extensive database of my travel reviews.
I fly over 100,000 miles per year in First and Business class cabins and review every new product that I try. Similarly, I review almost every luxury hotel and airport lounge that I set foot in
I book the majority of my travel using sales, promotions and a variety of other tricks - often leveraging the power of hotel points and airline miles. If I use a special technique of any kind to book a travel experience, I'll mention it in the review.
This means that hopefully you'll have all the tools you need to book your own amazing trips too!
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Overall this was a decent stay but I'd still be tempted to look elsewhere when returning to Melbourne. The sports facilities are fantastic as is the location but the dark and noisy rooms detracted from the overall experience, as did the quality of the offerings in the club lounge. This is a city that seems to struggle with delivering true luxury. I can't help but feeling that it needs a Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton or MO to really raise the bar for the current crop of properties...
I booked this flight between Sydney and Melbourne in business, in the hopes of securing some time in Qantas' flashy new seats. As is customary in the world of aviation, Qantas was familiarising the crew with the new cabin on a short flight before rolling out the seat on longer routes.
Deals to South Africa are pretty tough to come by, flights to Jo'burg take 12 hours from London and you most certainly don't want to be taking the trip in Economy.
There are often deals out of AMS, OSL, ZRH etc. but discounted airfare out of London is a rare thing indeed.
Although the lounge is very busy and distinctly lacking in privacy, the views of the planes, the barista made coffee and the healthy food options mean I would make an effort to arrive half an hour early to relax and refresh ahead of boarding my flight.
Overall this was one of my best ever hotel stays. The staff were a huge part of this. Despite this being a 5*hotel, the service managed to be proactive and friendly without any stuffiness or excess formality at all. The most formal people were those behind desks at reception downstairs and in the main lobby, even they would always grin and greet you with a a wai whenever you walked past.
The Sofitel was my first ever experience of staying in a full blown mega-resort. Having club access definitely helped to make the experience feel more personalised but much like the experience of staying in villas without staff, I genuinely feel that choosing places like this means that you miss the best that Bali has to offer.
For a quick overnight stay, this property is absolutely ideal. I would definitely not classify this as a luxury hotel however, the room decor leaves a lot to be desired and the harsh clinical feel of the white walls and bathroom tiles do not make you want to spend a great deal of time in your room.