World Traveller 73 
The life span of a restaurant usually about eight to ten years. It’s exceptionally unusual to have a restaurant last twenty years. In today’s news, I’m saddened to report that one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in the Central Business District of Ottawa, Canada has announced that it is closing after almost fifty years of operation. I managed to visit one last time on a recent trip. Read on to see the last photographs of C’est Japon à Sushia restaurant.
Restaurant Closing after 50 Years: Review: C’est Japon à Sushia, Ottawa, Canada
At times, business travel often has you re-visiting the same cities over and over again. Given that some of these trips are time compressed, it’s easy to look toward familiarity when it comes to dining at restaurants.
I’m saddened to report that “C’est Japon à Sushia” has announced that it is permanently closing on Canada Day on July 1, 2023. This restaurant happened to be one that I had visited on several occasions; at times while dining alone and other times dining with out of town travelling companions and co-workers.
About C’est Japon à Sushia:
The Japanese restaurant C’est Japon à Sushia is a restaurant located with in the Central Business District downtown area of Ottawa in the Nation’s capital of Canada. It’s located an easy walk from most downtown hotels, including several on my regular travel circuit such as The Sheraton Ottawa, The Ottawa Marriott Hotel and The Westin Ottawa.
C’est Japon à Sushia is easily accessible from many downtown hotels, and can be accessed with a short walk.
C’est Japon a Sushia Announces it’s Closing After Almost 50 Years:
The restaurant C’est Japon à Sushia has been open since 1974. That’s almost fifty years of operation. In a business environment where a restaurant’s typically last only ten years, and with fifty percent of restaurants failing within the first three years of operation, C’est Japon à Sushia has withstood the test of time.
Unfortunately, when I went to visit C’est Japon à Sushia website on my last trip to Ottawa to check out their menu, I learned that the beloved Ottawa restaurant has elected to close due the end of their lease.
The closure of the Japanese Restaurant is a loss to the Ottawa Restaurant scene. I can’t help but think that this is because of the older building that the restaurant is located in. It is now surrounded by prime real estate high rise property development.
Visiting C’est Japon à Sushia:
After a short walk from the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, I returned to C’est Japon à Sushia for one last meal.
C’est Japon à Sushia is located in a non descript building that is subdivided with offices upstairs.
Immediately on entering the restaurant, and once past reception, you’ll be led up the stairs. On my visit on Friday night at 8:30 PM, I was able to get seated before the restaurant closed at 9 PM. At reception, I happened to overhear that the restaurant was fully booked for Saturday night. This is a great sign that the restaurant still commands a lot of business, even fifty years in.
The restaurant even has a “retro” river running along the lefthand side of the stairs. It’s one of the few restaurants’ that I’ve visited, that has had a babbling brook locating inside the actual restaurant itself.
Once you arrive to the main restaurant floor, you’ll likely be led past the restaurant’s giant sushi bar and kaiten “conveyor” belt for sushi. The bar is lit with Japanese Lanterns, making for a nice authentic experience.
While it’s not the newest or more contemporary restaurant décor, it’s withstood that timeless test of time and offers a welcoming dining experience.
On the C’est Japon à Sushia Menu:
You’d be hard pressed to find an excellent supply of fresh fish in land locked Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Thankfully, the fish and C’est Japon a Sushia has always been terrific.
C’est Japon a Sushia offers a menu with all the usual Japanese favourites.
The menu at C’est Japon à Sushia isn’t the cheapest Japanese menu out there. Despite this, the pricing is reasonable, especially considering that there is no easy access to a supply of sashimi grade fish in landlocked Ottawa.
The printed menu was presented in an old school menu wrapped in protective plastic wrapping. At the very least, the menus have seen mileage over their many years of use.
The Meal: Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura and Sushi Bento Box
For my last meal at C’est Japon à Sushia, I enjoyed an Asahi draft beer. It’s unusual to find Asahi beer in draft format in most Japanese restaurants, so I jumped at the opportunity.
I went with a Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura Bento Box, which was paired with a salmon avocado roll, a mix of sushi and two miniature roe cones, along with a fresh green salad.
The sushi was remarkably fresh, showing that quality standards aren’t slipping despite the intentions of the restaurant to close in two months time.
After a great final dinner, I had a short walk back to The Ottawa Marriott Hotel after dinner to relax off the evening.
My Thoughts on the Closing of C’est Japon à Sushia:
It’s a sad day when any restaurant closes after a fifty year run. I’m really sad to report that C’est Japon à Sushia is closing on July 1, 2023.
I will really miss this restaurant in Ottawa’s Downtown Restaurant scene. While it wasn’t the most contemporary space, I really enjoyed it’s down to earth feel. The staff always made me feel at home. The Japanese food also happened to be really good for a city in the middle of the country and far away from an ocean.
For those looking to visit C’est Japon à Sushia restaurant for one last time, you have two months left to get in your visit before it’s last day of business on July 1, 2023. Make sure you get in early, as the place remains very popular. You might miss out, if you leave it too late.
If you have visited C’est Japon à Sushia, are you saddened by the announcement of the restaurant’s upcoming closure ?
With travel resuming after several pandemic years, I was back in Ottawa for a recent business trip. While in Ottawa, I usually frequented other hotels. This time, I decided to venture off my usual hotel choice to stay at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel. The Ottawa Marriott Hotel offered a comfortable but dated stay, offering everything that you’d expect from a full service Marriott property. Read on to see where the property shone over others…
Review: Ottawa Marriott Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
“Another old school property with heaps of potential, the Marriott Ottawa is blessed with many room configurations, a good location and great room views of the Ottawa River.”
As a frequent traveller to the nation’s capital of Ottawa, Canada there are a number of business hotels located in the central downtown areas. I’ve stayed at many of these hotels, including The Westin Ottawa, and the Sheraton Ottawa. For this visit, I decided to branch out and try something different. As a result, I booked into the Ottawa Marriott hotel for a five day stay in the area.
Booking The Ottawa Marriott Hotel:
As a government town, and a hotel catering to business travellers, the rates at the Ottawa Marriott hotel are highest mid week and tend to drop off on the weekend. Similar to other hotels in the Centra Business District of Ottawa, the hotel generally offers rates between $250 – $300 CAD ($180 – $215 USD) during the week, with rates as low as $200 CAD ($150 USD) on some Saturday and Sunday nights.
I booked my a base standard 1 King Bed, Guest Room for approximately 264 CAD ($195 USD) on my last 5 night stay. I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, complimentary access to the Marriott Executive Club Lounge, and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.
Marriott Bonvoy Redemption Opportunities:
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel was a Marriott Bonvoy Category 4 prior to the move to variable pricing. As a result, rooms are typically approximately 30,000 – 40,000 points per night, with 23,000 points a night as an average standard. I have did happen to see some 16,000 point redemptions that were available that ranged all the way up to 25,000 on weeknights.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at $0.005 a point, you’d have to spend more than $125 USD to come out ahead for a 25,000 point redemption. While this represents reasonable value, I can’t actually imagine anyone redeeming points at this particular property, since most travellers here are likely on the business travel circuit; much like it’s sister property the Sheraton Ottawa.
Getting to The Ottawa Marriott Hotel:
I arrived into Ottawa International Airport on an Air Canada flight. I picked up a Hertz rental. While I’ve typically gotten great Hertz President’s Circle upgrades at the Ottawa International Airport location, the car upgrade gods were not looking down on me and I ended up with a 2022 Chevrolet Malibu LT which was decidedly boring.
It was a short twenty minute drive from Ottawa International Airport up to downtown Ottawa . The Ottawa Marriott Hotel is located in the western central business district of downtown Ottawa. The drive is mostly through wide four lane city boulevards since there are no freeways from the airport to the city.
Generally, the Ottawa Marriott Hotel is well located for business and leisure needs. The property is located in the western central downtown area of Ottawa. The Ottawa Marriott Hotel is located a short three blocks from the federal Ottawa parliament buildings and immediately next to the Sparks Street Pedestrian Mall that runs the east / west length of the downtown.
There is a Starbucks Coffee Shop located immediately inside the hotel and there is a conveniently located Rexall Drug Store located across the street. It is also short walk to the Byward Market entertainment district, which is relatively easy in the spring, summer and fall seasons, and manageable with a layer of gloves, toque and coat in the winter months.
Checking into the Ottawa Marriott Hotel:
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel was really easy to find. The property has somewhat of an older brown look. Like many of the older Ottawa buildings, the property has a bit of a monolithic look; with brown windowless paneling facing it’s second and third floors.
On arrival to the hotel, I had a little trouble locating the front entrance. I parked in the above “hotel” zone and wandered into the front desk.
I didn’t have to wait in line for check in. I had completed on line check in through the Marriott App. There was no specific Marriott Bonvoy Elite Line. At the front desk, there was no specific mention of Marriott Bonvoy elite status.
I had received a digital key for my room through the Marriott Bonvoy App. I was offered the opportunity to have a regular key, which was provided but didn’t end up working in the end.
At check in, I was explained the access hours for the Marriott Executive Club Lounge hours. Access to the Marriott Executive Club Lounge was complimentary for Marriott Bonvoy members at Platinum level or higher.
Lastly, I was able to get a 1 PM late Check Out as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member without any issues or haggling. This was convenient and accommodated an afternoon flight out of Ottawa, Canada.
Self Parking:
While I wouldn’t normally mention the self parking, I had somewhat of a unique experience staying through the property over five days.
During my check in process, I was offered the opportunity to add self parking for $27 CAD a day (with in and out privileges) or the opportunity to park independently with no in and out privileges for $20 CAD a day. Feeling economical and trying to save my company some money, I opted for the pay as you go $20 CAD parking.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the parking was otherwise $3.00 CAD every thirty minutes. This meant that you’d be at the daily maximum after only parking 3.6 hours. There was one evening that I ended up going for dinner with staff on an impromptu basis. After returning for an MS Teams call taken in the room at 2:30 PM, it was $20 to exit at 6 PM. It was another $20 to park overnight. Had I known about the quick ascent in rates, I might have been more inclined to get the more expensive in and out rate. If you plan on leaving at any time, the $27 hotel rate represents a far better deal.
During check in, I ended up getting directions to self park in the underground, which was located on a corner of the hotel property. The entry to the underground parking was down a ramp, whereas the loading area was accessed through the right hand lane of the lane way.
The parking garage was limited to vehicles six feet tall or under. It was even a little compact for driving the Chevrolet Malibu through. The hotel has some alternate parking for sport utility vehicle drivers, although you’ll have to ask about the arrangements.
After I parked the car, I headed up to the room. I navigated through two sets of elevators to the main elevator bank. The primary elevator bank was slightly raised off the main lobby floor; requiring guests to use a narrow ramp in order to get up to the elevator bank.
The lobby contained a few internet computers, which were located immediately adjacent to the lobby restaurant. I didn’t notice any printer facilities in the lobby at these particular terminals.
The Room: A Deluxe, Larger Guest Room, 1 King, Sofa Bed:
Unlike my stays at the Sheraton Ottawa that only of two different room configurations (Guest Room + Club Level Executive Suite), the Ottawa Marriott offered four different configurations. The ranged from the lowest Guest Room – 1 King, and moved up towards a Deluxe, Larger Guest room (the subject of this review), then 1 King, Sofa bed, Executive, Larger Guest room, a 1 King, Corner room, Balcony, Premium, Concierge level, and lastly Larger Guest room, 1 King, Sofa bed, City view, High floor. At the very least, Marriott Bonvoy Elite member loyalists staying at this location will likely benefit from an upgrade into one of these better categories.
I led myself up to Room #2422, which was a one category soft upgrade from the Guest Room – One King that I booked. I received a Deluxe – Larger Guest Room 1 King Sofa Bed through a pro-active upgrade in the Marriott App that arrived about twenty four hours prior to my stay as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member. My room on the twenty fourth floor was only a few floors down from the top 29th floor.
The hotel hallways pretty dated and could use an update. The hotel is set up in a typical square format, with hallways that run around. There might have been a time when this type of carpeting made a warm impression, but these days, it’s just really looking like an old Marriott hotel.
I located Room #2422, which was located next to a lock off series of two individual rooms. If you were travelling with a family, this would be a great option with kids and is better than “adjoining rooms”.
The Deluxe Larger Guest Rooms are 372 sq feet, which is a fast improvement on the regular 246 – 264 sq feet rooms. which make for a spacious feeling stay.
Immediately upon entering the hotel room, I found myself in a very red Marriott looking larger bedroom with a comfortable king sized bed.
The room featured a small sofa bed, along with a large area and space to stretch out luggage.
There was a dedicated seating area, that contained both the sofa bed couch, along. with a comfortable lounger with foot stool. In addition to the upgrade, my room also happened to face north and featured a Supreme Court of Canada, Parliament and River View.
The room featured a standard sized Marriott desk, along with a small chest of drawers that featured an in room fridge along with a few storage containers. The room contained a standard in room safe, and the usual mini fridge.
Near the desk, there was a standard issue Keurig coffee maker, along with a few Taylor’s tea’s.
While the desk was a standard size, it was a little small for working. By the time you added a bunch of articles, the space got pretty full really quickly as the only storage countertop space located within the room.
Neat the entrance, there was a small closet and a tiny bathroom. Each were consistent with the era in which this property was built; a time when hotel rooms and bathrooms were much smaller and one person environments. The bathroom featured a standard bath and tub shower combination, with toiletries offered by the usual “We Works”
The room offered a solid view of the Ottawa River and the Parliament Buildings. While I wasn’t in the room during the day all that often, as a result of my meeting commitments. Despite this, it was nice to have a room with a view like this.
The rooms also highlighted the hotel’s square format. On my floor at least, there weren’t any suites. My larger guest room was among the largest room configurations on the floor.
The room was reasonably quiet in terms of overall sleep quality. During the midweek portion of my stay, the hotel featured mostly business travellers. While I could hear some hallway noise consisting of conversations and door closing noises in the morning, the nights were quite peaceful.
On the weekend, the hotel turned into more of a family environment with a bit more family noise from kids playing floor hockey in the hallway (seriously) along with people coming and going at different times. This may impede some who were looking to sleep in. Overall, it was about “as expected” and I didn’t have any challenges getting a great night’s rest.
Around the Hotel Property:
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel is a full service hotel property. While it may not be the newest of properties, it has every feature you’d expect from a full service hotel.
The property brands it’s pool and gym area as the Kent Club. Despite this, I didn’t get the impression that the property offered access or gym memberships to outside people. Access to the Kent Club was offered twenty four hours per day.
Kent Club – Indoor Pool:
The Kent Club’s indoor pool was located on fourth floor. Given the weather in Ottawa, the pool is an indoor pool.
Kent Club – Fitness Center:
The Kent Club also featured a hotel gym that ran the length of the hotel pool. The gym was reasonably well equipped for a hotel level gym. Both were available by using a hotel key, and there was no additional charge for the gym or pool facilities.
For whatever reason, the cardio and elliptical cycles were in terrible shape. Of the two elliptical cycles, one was broken (and unsigned) and the other made grinding noises when I used it. The machines were also really dirty, despite visiting during the tail end. of the pandemic.
Usually, gyms are really good at providing sanitizing cleanser around gyms, but aside from dry towels, there wasn’t anything to clean off the machines at this particular gym.
The gym itself offered a lot of natural light for a hotel tower. The gym also offered high ceilings, which made for a good workout environment for an inner city hotel stay.
Food and Beverage:
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel offered a combination restaurant / lounge, and an Marriott Executive Club Lounge. Much like my other Marriott experiences, they are more on the utilitarian side than aspirational.
Spin – Kitchen and Bar:
Spin Kitchen and Bar is the hotel’s lobby restaurant and lounge space. It’s located next to the lobby computer terminals. The decor was pretty standard Marriott fare. Despite the hotel being located next to many independent restaurants, the Spin Kitchen and Bar was always pretty busy.
Marriott Executive Club Lounge:
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel offered a Marriott Executive Club Lounge located on the twenty sixth floor. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member entitled to a breakfast benefit, I was offered breakfast in the lounge (as opposed to the restaurant).
In a strange twist, and one that particularly benefits Marriott Bonvoy Elite members, the hotel appeared to have opened the Executive Lounge only for Marriott Bonvoy Elite Members, and did not happen to be selling Marriott Executive Club Level rooms.
During my visit, the Executive Lounge hours were as follows:
- Breakfast: 6:30 AM – 9:00 AM
- Evening Snacks and Beverages: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Somewhat inconveniently, the lounge was completely closed outside of these time periods. This meant that there was no ability to escape your room to get a late night snack, or perhaps to do some work outside of your room in the Executive Lounge.
Access to the lounge was provided through key card door access. There was no immediate host at the door, and upon entering, I was made to feel welcomed by friendly staff.
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel Executive Lounge occupied a spread out area across the north eastern corner of the hotel property. With several smaller rooms, there were several windows and a variety of places to sit.
The lounge offered an interesting view of Ottawa’s Parliament Buildings and the Ottawa River.
In addition to the views, the lounge offered the usual wall mounted flat screen televisions which were broadcasting the usual sports and news channels.
During my five stay stay, I had a breakfast snack in the lounge. Those looking for a full breakfast would likely be a little on the soft side, there were meats, smoked salmon and a limited variety of north american cheese.
There were also scrambled eggs, potato patties and, on some days, sausage links.
The lounge was pretty comfortable. Although, not having it open outside of food service hours made it a little less convenient. I have to applaud the Ottawa Marriott Hotel for offering a lounge for what appears to be an exclusive basis for its’ Elite members. I suspect that the Ottawa Marriott simply preferred to have it’s elites eating breakfast somewhere else, other than in the hotel’s Spin Restaurant & Bar.
Checking Out of The Ottawa Marriott Hotel:
On departure day, I used the Marriott App to check myself out of the hotel. With a short line at the front desk, I went with the electronic route which was easier than battling a line.
I had no surprises on the bill with everything as expected. The check out was instant.
My Marriott Bonvoy points posted to my account within 72 hours as promised.
The Bottom Line: The Ottawa Marriott Hotel
The Ottawa Marriott Hotel easily caters to business travellers looking for a convenient stay in downtown Ottawa.
While the hotel interiors are looking a quote dated, the property has tremendous potential due to it’s location and size. As a larger property than the Sheraton Ottawa, the hotel offers a number of upgrade opportunities, which many Marriott Bonvoy travellers will appreciate.
Aside from the complications with a few unexpected parking charges, and some tired gym equipment in the hotels’ gym, I had a terrific stay.
If you have visited Canada’s Capital of Ottawa, which Marriott Bonvoy property do you stay at ?
American Express offers a hybrid version of their Centurion Lounges in an entry level American Express Escape Lounge. Branded asa Centurion Studio Partner lounge, American Express aims to offer an express version of their full centurion lounges, without the full buffet and complimentary exotic bar services. Our visit to the American Express Escape Lounge in Phoenix would test out the space. How did the visit measure up to a regular Centurion Lounge visit?
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
Review: American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Terminal 3, Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport, Arizona, United States of America.
American Express Centurion Lounges are the flagship lounges offered by American Express. A Centurion Lounge offers the best in what a lounge can offer with engaging food and beverage offers, including a full bar.
American Express also offers its lesser known Escape Lounges. The American Express Escape Lounges are branded as a Centurion Studio Partner and offer “a quick escape paired with delicious food and drinks“. American Express encourages travellers to “Cool off with a cold draft beer and catch up on emails or satisfy your appetite with a delicious breakfast, lunch or dinner”.
Escape Lounges – The Centurion® Studio Partner welcomes all travellers regardless of airline, status, or card in hand and offers complimentary access to American Express Platinum and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve* Card Members.
Locating the American Express Escape Lounge:
I arrived to the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport after a terrific, but short stay, at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa courtesy of a Mercedes Rental provided by Hertz Phoenix.
The Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport is split into two terminals. My departing flight on Air Canada departed from the less exciting Phoenix Sky Harbour Terminal 3.
At the time of writing, Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport Terminal Three contained all of the “left over” airlines that service Phoenix. These included Advanced, Air Canada, Alaska, Allegiant, Breeze Airways, Contour, Delta, Denver Air, Frontier, Hawaiian, Jet Blue, Southern, Spirit, Sun Country and United Airlines.
Phoenix Sky Harbour Terminal 4 hosts the other major airlines for Phoenix, including many of the One World Alliance members including American Airlines, British Airways, and other international carriers such as Condor Airlines, Eurowings, Southwest and transborder Canadian carrier Westjet.
I arrived into Terminal Three and easily cleared security using TSA Pre-Check. With minimal lines in the early afternoon, I was quickly through onto the secure side of Phoenix Terminal Three.
The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Lounge Partner was easily located in the main part of the terminal, adjacent to the escalators that brought you up to the departures level. The Escape Lounge appeared to be a retail storefront that was expanded upon to by taking up some additional space into the concourse walkway using a glass cube.
For those that prefer orienting themselves to a map, the lounge is located in the central portion of the Terminal Three portion of the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport; well away from all the gate fingers that stretch out from the terminal both north and south from the main building.
The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner was easy to find. You won’t miss it if departing from the Phoenix Terminal 3 concourse. It’s also pretty easy to find if you happen to be connecting through the airport, by wandering to the main terminal building.
Accessing the Lounge:
The American Express Escape Lounge – a Centurion Studio Partner is accessible to almost anyone and you do not have to be flying on a specific airline in order to gain access.
American Express Escape Lounge Phoenix offers access through the following methods:
- American Express Platinum Card Members and Centurion Card Members receive complimentary entry for themselves and up to two guests.
- Complimentary entry for American Express Delta SkyMiles Reserve Card and $30 for additional guests, provided you are flying on a Delta Airlines Marketed Flight that day
- $45 per person if paid at the door (taxes extra)
- $40 per person if booked online at EscapeLounges.com at least 24 hours prior to entry (taxes extra)
- TAV Passport Card Members receive complimentary entry for themselves and one guest.
- Dreamfolks Card Holders receive access based on their plan. Contact Dreamfolks to learn more about your benefits.
- Children under 24 months receive free entry.
- Membership discounts including AAA and military discounts are available at the front desl.
- Note: Certain American Express Platinum Cards may display the name and/or logo of a third party merchant or financial institution. For questions about eligibility of these Platinum Cards for complimentary access to Escape Lounges, please call the number on the back of your Card.
American Express Platinum, Centurion, and Delta SkyMiles@ Reserve Card Card Members at Escape Lounges – The Centurion® Studio Partner, enjoy access to an exclusive menu of premium snacks, wine and liquors in addition to the full food and bar menu available to all guests.
The hours of operation of the American Express Escape – Phoenix were much better than the Centurion Lounge near me which usually open at 7 AM and closes at 7 PM. During my visit, the hours of operation of the Escape Lounge were 4:30 AM to 10 PM.
On my visit today, I presented an American Express Platinum Business Card, along with my board ing pass. Unlike many American Express Centurion Lounges, there was no wait to get in and I was admitted without delay.
Inside the American Express Escape Lounge Phoenix:
American Express describes their Escape Lounges as being about convenience, quality and a personalized experience. They describe their food and beverage menus, as going above and beyond by providing the most delicious products and locally sourced ingredients.
The American Express Escape Lounge offers a compact “studio” type seating arrangement. The space is a bit small on lounge seating, but there are plenty of bar seats and a few restaurant styled tables and chairs available.
From reception, on the right hand side of the lounge, are the few available lounge chairs. There were limited to about twelve different chairs, mostly located with an individual pod styled configuration.
Most of the seating was pretty popular, and I was perhaps fortunate enough to be travelling alone today. I doubted I would have gotten a pair of lounge chairs if I was with a travelling partner. They were pretty popular on my visit.
Heading towards the opposite end of the lounge, the American Express Escape Lounge offered a long angled bar. The bar was levered in the middle, and offered angle seating with viewing against a flat screen television.
Towards the far end of the lounge, there were a handle of tables and chair seating. The tables and chairs were numbered to seat up to six people, with others designed up to seating for four persons.
The lounge was pretty configured for high density seating, given the amount of hard seating surfaces in the lounge. As a result, this space is more suited towards a quick recharge before a flight, as opposed to a long relaxing layover stay in a comfortable leather chair.
Food and Beverage:
The food and beverage program at the American Express Centurion Lounges are generally very good to excellent. I was really curious to see whether this feature would lead to the American Express Escape Lounges.
The food and beverage options at the American Express Lounge were presented on laminate cards. The cards were nicely designed, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was a bit of a low rent touch.
The first side of the menu offered complimentary wines, spirits and beer. Whereas the second side of the menu offered signature cocktails at $9 USD each, along with premium spirits at $7 – $10 USD each and premium wines at $10 – $14 USD each.
The food menu was done on a waiter ordering basis. A food menu was presented. While there were quite a few items on the food menu, the menu itself was a little industrial looking, in the form of a list.
Towards the restaurant seating area, there were a few limited beverage and snack items available on a walk up basis from the counter. These appeared a lot less engaging than the last American Express Centurion Lounge that I had visited. It appeared that most of the food was offered through the menu service.
I ended up ordering a Turkey Baguette Sandwich with brie, pear and balsamic onion with winter greens on a baguette. It took about twelve minutes to arrive. It was a little smaller than I anticipated. I didn’t end up sticking around for a second order, as I had run out of time prior to my departing flight.
While the American Express Escape Lounge offered reasonable food, I wouldn’t expect the same level of food that you might find in a regular American Express Centurion Lounge. It would be wise to consider this place as more of a “snack” place, as opposed to somewhere you’d find a full meal replacement.
My Thoughts on the American Express Escape Lounge Phoenix:
The American Express Escape Lounge – a Centurion Studio Partner is a reasonable hybrid alternative to the fuller flagship American Express Centurion Lounge.
The American Express Escape Lounge Phoenix is mostly covered in high density hard seating surfaces, and offered a light food and beverage menu. All of these features lead a traveller to a shorter stay, as opposed to a long and luxurious relaxing one.
While the lounge doesn’t quite measure up to a full American Express Centurion Lounge experience, you’ll likely enjoy the similar look and feel, an interesting food menu and a space targeted towards the same upscale market that you’d find at American Express Centurion Lounge.
If you’ve visited the American Express Escape Lounge, did the “express” nature of the lounge impact your visit ?
My trip to Scottsdale, Arizona found in the Southern United States had me searching for a great resort styled property that would allow some space to unwind during my limited time on this weekend trip. After substantial searching, I ended up at the legendary JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa for a brief stay. Did the historic property live up to it’s legacy name? Take a look at our in depth stay experience, where we tested out almost every feature of the property.
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
Review: JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa, Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
“The Original Marriott Resort that is still frequented by the Marriott family, as an old school luxury getaway in a spacious tranquil old fashioned resort environment.”
I needed one remaining elite qualifying night to renew platinum status, along with a short amount of Elite Qualifying miles to maintain Air Canada Aeroplan Elite status. With rainy winter coming upon us in the Pacific Northwest, I ended up booking a cyber money deal which took me down to Phoenix Arizona. After looking at several properties, I ended up at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa.
About the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa:
The JW Marriott Camelback Inn was created in a different time. It was initially built and opened on December 15, 1936 as a horse riding resort with 75 Casita’s. It was eventually acquired as the very first Marriott Resort by the Marriott family in 1967. It’s so popular amongst the Marriott family, Bill Marriott is supposed to spend his birthdays at the property.
Booking JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resprt & Spa:
I ended up booking direct on the Marriott website. During my Saturday night stay in the middle of Airzona’s sunny winter high season, the best available rate I was able to get was a AAA rate for $347 USD.
I booked this stay via the Marriott website direct. As I booked with Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite level status, I was promised an upgrade to the best available room (including suites), lounge access, and a guaranteed late check out to 4 PM.
This upgrade strategy ended up working out, as I would end up receiving a no cost Marriott Bonvoy Elite upgrade to a Signature View Casita – Guest Room – 2 Queens ,on check in.
Marriott Bonvoy Redemption Opportunities:
The JW Marriott Camelback Resort & Spa was a Marriott Bonvoy Category 6 prior to the move to variable pricing. As a result, rooms are now approximately 40,000 – 62,000 points per night, with 55,000 points a night as an average standard. I did notice that the hotel seems to black out a lot of reward availability between January and April, so if you’re looking to come during this popular high season time, you’ll either be booking nine months in advance if you can find availability, or paying a cash rate.
If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at $0.005 a point, you’d have to spend more than $275 USD to come out ahead for a 55,000 point redemption. While can represent reasonable value, it would get even better if you were able to spend five nights at the property and get the fifth night free.
Getting to JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa:
After arriving off of Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Phoenix, I picked up a Hertz Car Rental and self drove up to the property in a black Mercedes CLK 250. It was a short twenty minute drive under pleasant Arizona sunny skies. Courtesy of Google Maps, the property was really easy to find.
The nearby mountains set against blue sky also made the drive all that more enjoyable.
Today, the property has grown from its original 75 Casitas to a massive 453 Casitas spread across a sloping hillside tucked against nearby Mummy Mountain. The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa offers individual rooms called Casitas that offer a drive up feature with convenient nearby parking.
After the short drive, I arrived to the front of the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. The valet staff took my keys, and backed in my car into the front loading zone while I handled the check in process.
Checking into JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa:
After arriving to the property, I left my bag in the car and wandered up to the front desk. It was a short three minute walk from the valet loading area up to the front desk.
On the walk up to the front desk reception, I passed by the outdoor patio of the Lincoln Steakhouse. Bring right before the holiday season, the resort was decorated in holiday themed decorations with wreaths and other Christmas lights and décor.
I continued up through a unique and old school looking single door that might have been a barn or restaurant door. Either way, it had an old school historic feel to it, unlike the usual glass sliding doors of many modern inner city hotels.
I also passed underneath the famous sign “The Place Where Time Stands Still”, which was a fitting saying for this particular property, given it’s long history and timeless environment.
The lobby was beautifully decorated for the holiday season. The decor was American traditional looking, but approachable and festive.
The check in desk was pretty small and there were a few in line in the desk area that only had space for two. The check in was efficient, with two others in line behind me at 3:30 PM. During check in, there was no mention of an upgrade, but I did have the usual Marriott Elite welcome offer of bonus points or breakfast. Being on a leisure stay, I took the breakfast option. I was explained that breakfast was located in Rita’s Restaurant just off the lobby.
I was also able to get a late check out to 1 PM without any issues, courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. I was also provided a card outlining the resort fee ($40 USD a day) and its various inclusions.
While it is nice to have some inclusions, I really didn’t find myself using anything on the resort fee list. I ended up using the free parking and the high speed wireless internet, but I never located the whereabouts for the golf driving range.
The Room: Signature view Casita
Guest Room – 2 Queens
After checking in, I self drove up to Room #363; navigating myself using the above map. I parked just cross the street from the room on the private resort roadways. I didn’t need assistance with the luggage. If you need assistance with your bags, I’d signal that to the valet pool before leaving the front desk and valet area, since it can be a way from the lobby to get to your casita room. You’re completely on your own when you get there.
I had booked a base level Resort Casita – 1 King. As I was following along in the Marriott App, a day before my arrival, I was upgraded one room category into a larger room Oversized Deluxe Casita. On the day of arrival, I was further upgraded and assigned to this Signature View Casita 2 Queens, as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Level member.
The Signature Resort Casita I was assigned was in a centrally located building which was a six-plex structure. Two of the units in the building were located on an upper floor with an outdoor deck space.
After parking, I had to get a little assistance from housekeeping in the neighbourhood to locate my actual room. The room numbers are a little recessed from the street, and without knowing exactly where you were going (or with a map in hand) you could spend a little time locating your room. I eventually navigated down a few stairs and into Room 363.
The Signature Resort Casita Room was recently upgraded as part of a twelve and a half million dollar renovation at the property. The room had comfortable modern colours, and was remarkably spacious for a room with two queen configuration.
The room offered a large flat screen television, as is standard in this luxury category.
The room offered a pleasant deck area, along with a small occasional table for two AND an occasional lounger chair.
Looking back into the room, the ceiling of the room contained wooden beams, which added to an authentic feel to the room.
Table storage space is always appreciated. The Signature Resort Casita offered a small round table, along with Scottsdale Lifestyle magazines.
In an old school touch, the Signature Resort Casita offered a small wet bar located in a closet type area off the bedroom area. The area offered a sink, a Keurig Coffee Maker, a microwave and a mini fridge that was empty.
The room also featured a bathroom. The bathroom was a little compact; similar to the hotels of the era. The bathroom offered a double vanity sink, although the second vanity was located within the WC itself and could be partitioned by a door.
The WC offered a stand up shower that was reasonably spacious for one.
The JW Marriott Scottsdale toiletries were the upscale but somewhat forgettable Aromatherapy Associates toiletries. I found their soap to be a little fragile, and it disintegrated pretty quickly after a few days in the shower.
One of my favourite features of the room was the view from the room’s outdoor deck. The Signature View Resort Casita offered a view of Camelback mountain across a beautifully landscaped resort cactus garden.
My unit ended up being an end unit. While I was located next to a resort pathway, it wasn’t noisy and I wasn’t interrupted as a result of the location.
I would really enjoy the patio and outdoor deck area. The ability to enjoy a morning coffee outside against the backdrop of such a pleasant view of Camelback Mountain was particularly engaging.
In terms of sleep quality, the room was really quiet. I didn’t experience any wedding celebration noises, nor any noises from the surrounding guests. The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa got top marks for a tranquil sleep.
Around the Hotel Property:
Among the best features of the resort property are the hotel grounds at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. After arriving to the property, I took a walk around to orientate myself.
Resort Grounds:
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa has among the most interesting resort grounds. As a mature property, there were robust and well landscaped gardens that displayed a strong variety of catcus.
Looking south from my room, I had views towards the Camelback Mountain and the main reception building. This was an exceptionally inspiring view to see whenever you walked towards the main buidling.
During my visit, there happened to be a wedding set up on the resort lawns. I didn’t stick around to see the nuptials, but all the guests appeared to be in a great mood.
Looking in a northerly direction, the resort is nestled against the upper mountains of the Camelback valley.
Walking south through the resort, guests to the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa are treated to terrific botanical gardens. I eventually arrived to the main lobby building, which contained a large outdoor patio and deck.
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa had wonderful grounds. There were a lot of things to look at, amid a very peaceful environment. Landscaped gardens were situated throughout, with the occasional interesting first nations sculpture.
I give the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa high marks for it’s grounds. It’s clear that the property takes a lot of pride in it’s appearance and upkeep, and it easily shows.
Outdoor Pool:
After a walk through the property, I went up to the Jack Rabbit Outdoor Pool. The Jack Rabbit Outdoor Pool was located in a central area in the middle of the resort.
The outdoor pool offered a substantial amount of deck space. Given that I was visiting in winter months, the pool area was pretty quiet in the late afternoon.
The Jack Rabbit Pool was a nice outdoor pool, although it was not the most exotic looking. You won’t find an exotic infiniti horizon pool feature. Instead, would describe it as much more old world glamorous with plenty of deck space and and nicely teared space against the hill.
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa also featured a smaller Adult Pool that was located a short tier down from the main pool. The deck was much smaller and more intimate.
Given that the sun was setting, I decided I would enjoy my few remaining hours of Scottsdale daylight by enjoying a margarita at the pool. I would end up taking sunset at the pool, which was a lovely orange colour this winter evening.
Hiking the Mummy Mountain Trail:
Tyner’s Hiking Trail:
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa offered a small hiking trail called the Tyner’s Hiking Trail located on the north side of the resort. On my morning of departure, I set out to check out the trail.
I started walking up the resort roadways at sunlight. I had to get directions to the trial head at the nearby spa. I eventually located the trial head, which was located behind the Mummy Mountain Cook Out area bbq stage (on the right).
The Tyner’s Hiking Trail offered a small twenty minute loop trail around the hills on the north side of the resort. The trail itself was 1,200 yards. The trail was a little rough on the shoes, and I’d recommend bringing proper running shoes or hiking shoes. Ability wise, it was a relatively easy up and down trail by West Coast hiking standards.
The views of Camelback Mountain were pretty inspirational. I’m not often surrounded by catcus at home, so it was a unique landscape to be surrounded by these prickly plants.
Food and Beverage:
Being a proper resort, there were quite a few options for dining on site. Given the resort’s location, everything in Scottsdale is a little way’s away from the resort by car. As a result, it’s likely you’ll spend some time eating on the property as a matter of convenience.
Lincoln Steakhouse and Bar:
The property’s flagship restaurant is the Lincoln Steakhouse and Bar. The restaurant is themed after “The Lincoln Red”; a famous English breed of cattle. It describes itself as “A tried-and-true steakhouse with a 21st-century stance, serving up locally sourced American cuisine, shareable plates and craft cocktails”.
The Lincoln Steakhouse and Bar is located just off the lobby reception. The hallway to the restaurant contains historic photographs of the Marriott family visiting the resort from times past.
I booked on reservation through Open Table for an easy additional 100 Open Table Points. I was happy to get a same day reservation for 8 PM on a Saturday night. Coming in from the Pacific Standard Time Zone, my schedule believed that it was 7 PM. I didn’t mind eating a little later.
The interior of the restaurant was modern contemporary, and what I would imagine a steakhouse to be in the South West.
Being a modern steakhouse, there were quite a few options on the menu. There were also substantial choices of wine by the glass, which was perfect for someone like me that was dining alone.
I always enjoy the larger portions of food in the United States. Taking this into account, I ordered lightly. I went with a flat iron steak with JW Garden Chimichurri Sauce, along with a side of green chili mac and cheese, and a glass of deep velvety red Justin Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Paso Robles, California, USA
I was presented with a vertical bread tasting, with whipped butter. It was absolutely devine, and crumbly like a croissant.
The ten ounce flat iron steak was presented and cooked to medium, along with the green chili macaroni and cheese. It was perfectly cooked. The JW Chimichurri Sauce was also really tasty, and added some zip to the steak.
I can’t even begin to comment how enjoyable and rich this macaroni and cheese was; super tasty, luxuriously creamy and tasty with bread crumbs and snipped chives over top of it. It was exquisite.
The service at the Lincoln Steakhouse was excellent. I was asked twice, by both my server and the manager if the steak was cooked to my liking. During my evening, I was addressed by my surname at each and every point of contact.
All in all, I really enjoyed the Lincoln Steakhouse and Bar. It’s wonderfully suitable for a fine dining special occasion where you don’t have worry about driving afterwards along with their great selection of wine.
Rita’s Cantina and Bar:
Marriott Bonvoy Elite Platinum Breakfast
The next morning, after enjoying a morning coffee on the beautiful Siganture View Resort Casita patio, I wandered down to Rita’s Cantina and Bar for breakfast.
Rita’s Cantina and Bar was located off the lobby. There was a short wait to be seated when I arrived on Sunday morning at 10 AM but it wasn’t more than five minutes.
My table for one had a great outdoor view of the grounds, along with unlimited fresh coffee.
My breakfast was courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status. At the time of my visit, the elite breakfast benefit included a continental breakfast, with the option to upgrade to. the regular buffet breakfast for $6 USD. This was an easy decision.
The rest of the menu also looked pretty interesting and engaging, with south western favorites like huervos rancheros, smashed avocado toast and breakfast quesadilla.
I opted for the full buffet breakfast to get enough food for my homeward journey. I enjoyed a Rita’s Speciality Omelet; 2 eggs, chorizo, pepper jack and cilantro which was prepared from the omelette bar.
The breakfast buffet contained everything that you could imagine from a large weekend breakfast buffet. There was tasty shredded hashbrowns, mexi fries, sausage links along with cheeses, fresh fruit,
I really enjoyed the Rita’s Speciality Omelette. I topped it off with some guacamole, fresh salsa and a good sausage link for good measure.
The omelette was super tasty and I left feeling pretty satisfied. The check was only $6 USD, along with additional gratuity.
Breakfast Brunch with bubbles was just getting going on the outdoor deck when I left Rita’s Cantina for Breakfast. While I didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy, it looked worthwhile enough to return in the future!
Hopping Jacks’ Poolside Dining:
The resort also featured Hopping Jack’s Poolside dining. The property featured the usual poolside favourites. As indicated upstream, I particularly enjoyed the Mummy Mountain Margarita.
Checking Out of the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa:
I had a friendly check out the next day with a 1 PM check out. At check out, the bill was presented and was all in order.
I drove back towards Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport for a visit to the American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, prior to my onward flight home.
The Bottom Line: The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa was a legacy stay in what I’d imagine to be the most old world resort property in the Marriott Resort Portfolio.
The rooms are configured in an older style, but are all nicely renovated. The hotel grounds are remarkably beautiful, and there are easy walking trails around the property suitable for almost all ages. The dining options on the property were very pleasant, and despite spending a few dollars, there was some value for money hidden in there. It is indeed the place “Where Time Stands Still”.
I’d mark this JW Marriott as a place to visit for those not looking to travel all the way to Mexico or South East Asia, that are looking for a larger resort experience.
Have you visited the historic JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa ?
I have always been intrigued by Hertz President’s Circle status. There is something overtly visual about elite rental car status, as compared to airline elite status. With elite rental car status, you actually get the opportunity to see nicer cars in certain corners of the lot, whereas airline status is limited to those elitist airline luggage tags and free upgrades that aren’t always apparent.
I would get the opportunity to visit Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport Rental Car centre and test out Hertz President’s Circle. Read on to see how our experience with Hertz in Phoenix actually looked like…
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
My Experience Renting as Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.
I’ve maintained Hertz President’s Circle status for the past several years as a result of some heavy work travel. One of the primary benefits of Hertz President’s Choice is the Ultimate Choice aisle where you get to pick any car in the aisle and go. The marketplace has standardized this feature across many of the major rental companies in this space.
As I have previously written, for the most part, the upgrades have been pretty good, if not outstanding. While booking an intermediate car, we’ve been upgraded into Mercedes SLK Convertibles…
…even a great brand new Volvo V60 station wagon with less than 4,400 kilometres on the clock.
About Hertz Gold Plus Rewards:
Since this space is about loyalty programs, Hertz offers a loyalty reward program called Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. The program is primarily designed to keep your driver’s licence, credit card and insurance preferences on file to allow for quicker rentals that allow for bypassing the legal formalities of the rental counter in many locations and allow you to get out on the road faster.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards also offers the ability to earn Hertz Gold Plus Reward points. While we didn’t typically get a lot of value from car rental points, they’ve recently delivered outsized value from travel when car rental prices escalated during the pandemic when many Hertz locations reduced their vehicle fleets, driving up car prices.
Hertz Gold Plus Rewards offers three tier levels of Gold, Five Star and it’s top tier President’s Circle. It’s around the Hertz Presidents Circle level where the benefits get interesting.
Hertz President’s Circle Benefits:
Hertz’s highest tier level is Hertz President’s Circle. Hertz Presidents’ Circle offers the following benefits:
- Upgrades: Guaranteed
- Hertz Gold Rewards points earning: $1 = 1.5 points
- Hertz Ultimate Choice: Widest Selection
- Dedicated Hertz Reservation Line
With reward redemptions starting at about 950 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points, you’ll need a little bit of spend in order to get a free rental.
About Hertz Ultimate Choice:
My favorite feature of the Hertz rental experience is the Hertz Ultimate Choice feature found at airports where Hertz Gold Canopy service is offered.
Hertz Ultimate choice offers the ability to “pick from the best car in our newest fleet and go”. Airport locations in the united states offer the best versions of this, but there are select locations that do offer a great experience.
Typically, there is a sign board that designates the lot, along with a convenient monitor that indicates the location of your car. Dependent on the size of the lot, there is a correspondingly large zone.
There is also typically a sign information board that sets out the location of your car, in addition to any messages. Dependent on the size of the station correlates to the size and number of renters on the sign.
at Hertz Toronto Pearson International Airport
As a Hertz President’s Circle member, and as long as you rent an intermediate class car or better, I was able to choose any car in the aisle. As a result, there is usually something pretty good kicking around the lot.
There are odd times when you get stuck with the usual boring junk, but it’s better than nothing. There are often a few compact Sport Utility Vehicles parked around, and usually a Dodge Charger or two.
This leads me to my most recent entertaining experience renting from Hertz at the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.
My Experience at the Hertz Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
I was coming into the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport on an Air Canada Business Class Vancouver. -Phoenix flight. With a short transfer needed to my hotel for the night at The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, I needed to pick up a rental car for the journey.
The Phoenix Sky Harbour Rental Cars are all located in the Phoenix Sky Harbour Rental Car Centre. This facility is located two miles or a six minute drive away from the primary Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport terminals.
At the time of my visit, the two facilities were connected by rental car shuttle. While a train was in the final planning stages, it was not running at the time of my visit. As a result, all of the transfers to the Rental Car Centre were by bus.
Getting to the Rental Car Centre:
After disembarking from my flight, I headed through the airport to locate the rental car shuttle rank. I arrived into Phoenix Sky Harbour Terminal 3, and eventually headed downstairs towards the baggage claim and exits.
Getting outside, I ended up locating the shuttle rank outside on a centre island. Unfortunately, the convenience of an easy car rental was not working well for me today.
When I arrived to the car rental shuttle rank, I found a humongous line. The line probably had at least one hundred and fifty to above two hundred people in the line. The line wasn’t really moving, and was dependent on the arrival of shuttle buses in order to service and shorten the line.
The line had quite a number of elderly people in it. Many of them had assisted walkers and had some difficulty being mobile. There was a lot of discussion with others in line on whether it was better to take an Uber from the airport to the rental car centre. I ended up staying my ground, and eventually the line started to move.
After about fifty minutes, I was almost at the front of the line. I wasn’t really impressed by this point. Why there is an hour wait for a rental car shuttle in the middle of the day at the Phoenix airport is beyond me.
While I was waiting in line, I happened to see the advertisements for the future PHX SkyTrain, that was supposed to be operating “in 2022”. Since I was visiting on December 11, 2022, things weren’t looking all that positive for the PHS Skytrain opening that year.
I would later read that the PHX Skytrain would open on December 20, 2022, which was twelve days after my visit. Still, it appeared that they hadn’t ironed out the kinks in the shuttle service during my visit. This led to long delays.
Time Spent Getting to the Rental Car Centre: 60 Minutes.
Collecting the Vehicle:
After about one hour, I arrived to the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Car Rental centre courtesy of the complimentary shuttle bus from the Sky Harbour International Terminal Three loading zone. It was pretty busy surrounding the return terminal busses, and there was a long queue for those looking to go back to the terminal. I made a note to myself to make sure to get back early so I wouldn’t miss my flight.
It wasn’t too hard to locate Hertz, which had a prominent signage in the car rental centre. I headed straight up to the President’s Circle area of the lot to enjoy the Hertz Ultimate Choice experience. The Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport was car rental centre was pretty well organized, after you got through the airport bus queue. With signs that Hertz Gold Members should head to the garage, I headed straight down the escalators.
After descending the escalators, I went up to the Hertz Hold Member directory board. Hertz Gold Member directory board is usually a great way of getting to your car, or zone, pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, along with my long wait for the bus, my name wasn’t listed on the board at all. I usually take this as a bad sign, as there would be something impacting the reservation. As a result, I headed towards the office to sort out what was happening.
After I got into the office, I had to queue. There was only one person working, and they seemed to be in an explanation war over what it took to get “cash qualified” in order to rent a vehicle. There seemed to be some debate over the deposit, which was never a conversation that I’d expect to end quickly. Today happened to be one of those days where nothing was occurring quickly.
After about seven minutes of back and forth, the travelling couple were satisfied with their answers. Presenting myself to the counter, I showed my reservation. The clerk ended up just telling me that I had a pre-assigned vehicle.
I might add that I had booked myself into a Luxury car for this period. The premium was less than $20 USD for a nicer car, and I didn’t feel like rolling the dice on the President’s Circle upgrades. I’m not exactly sure why I ended up not having a space number identified on the Hertz Gold Member Directory sign.
Time Spent Lining Up to Get the Stall Number of The Assigned Vehicle: 7 Minutes.
Checking Out the Hertz President’s Circle Aisle:
Not counted in the overall time line, before I left, I happened to take a wheel through the Hertz President’s Circle aisles. Hertz President’s Circle members have access to the best selection of Ultimate Choice vehicles, and have the ability to choose any car in the aisles and go, provided they book an “I” (Intermediate) class or better.
The President’s Circle aisles were much better “stocked” than my experience at Hertz President’s Circle Las Vegas, where the aisles were almost completely empty. The Hertz President’s Circle Phoenix Sky Harbour had loads of American Domestic Sport Utility Vehicles, with the occasional Toyota Camry and Ford Mustang thrown in there for good measure.
There weren’t too many exciting cars and trucks in the Hertz President’s Circle aisles. I didn’t happen to see any BMW’s, Alfa Romeo’s or Tesla’s lurking around in this zip code. The most exciting cars were a Toyota Highlander and an occasional Nissan Maxima hiding amongst the aisles.
The Hertz Phoenix Sky Harbour had a much better selection of cars available, and was doing slightly better than average. While they had a lot of cars, where weren’t very many exciting ones within the selection that was available.
Trying to Get Out of the Garage:
After I had inspected the Florida Plated Mercedes CLK250 they had left me, I had to get out of the secure Hertz Rental zone. Like everything else happening that day, there was another queue to navigate.
This time the line up was for the front gate. I picked the shortest line, which was three cars deep and another eight minutes or so.
The friendly agent took my driver’s licence and confirmed my rental car information and the mileage. After I was confirmed, I was on my way.
Time to get out of the Hertz lot: 8 Minutes
Adding up the time it took me to get from the airport to the car rental centre by bus, my wait at the counter, and the line to get out of the car rental area, the whole process took me approximately seventy five minutes; almost an hour and a half.
Returning at Phoenix Sky Harbour Rental Car Center:
After my visit to The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, my return process was much easier than my collection process.
I was able to locate some expensive gas at a gas station that appeared to be priced as double the regular rate a long block away from the rental car centre.
I was able to return the Mercedes into the Hertz Roving Return with my contract closed out without any challenges.
Surprisingly, there were also no waits for the Rental Car Shuttle bus. Although it took me an hour to get to the rental car centre, I walked straight on the bus headed back to the terminal.
On arrival, I located the compact but comfortable American Express Escape Lounge Phoenix, before my Air Canada flight home to Vancouver.
My Thoughts on Hertz President’s Circle at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport:
Somehow, I wasn’t expecting the rental car process at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport to take an hour and fifteen minutes to get from airport steps onto the road. I have usually had faster experiences.
Despite this, the Hertz location at Phoenix Sky Harbour Rental Car Centre offered a great selection of vehicles, and offered a much better variety than my last experience with Hertz President’s Circle Ultimate Choice at Las Vegas.
If you have visited Phoenix – USA, what was your experience with Hertz Ultimate Choice at Phoenix Sky Harbour ?
As Air Canada receives more deliveries of their newest narrow body aircraft, the Boeing 737 Max 8, we are starting to see more frequencies using this particular aircraft type on its short haul routes. With a change in aircraft, we were keen to continue to test out it’s Business Class offering. How did the aircraft stand up on our transborder flight between cities on North America’s Western Coast?
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
Review: Air Canada Business Class B737 – Max 8, Vancouver International Airport – Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
As the year drew to a close, I found myself short a few Air Canada Aeroplan Status Miles in order to re-qualify for the next calendar year. I had initially planned the year out to balance with the magical number of miles, but when I had challenges getting my last Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Paris flight credited to Air Canada, decided I’d better book something as a back up just in case.
In this case, since I only needed about 525 status miles, I didn’t have any particular destination in mind. I used Google Flights to explore the options and came up with cheap departures from my home base of Vancouver to Calgary, Edmonton (not so exciting in the winter) or Palm Springs and Phoenix.
All of these offered the amount of miles that I’d need and had low weekend fares that I’d need so I would haven’t take any time off of work. Since I had never really explored Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, I opted for Phoenix Arizona and a visit to the legendary JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa.
Cyber Monday came around and I was able to further capitalize on the first thousand tickets being sold with a thirty percent off promotional code. I was able to book the fare from Vancouver – Phoenix into a Comfort Fare bucket for $120.40 CAD ($90 USD) in base fare. With all taxes and fees, the return ticket came out to $381.13 CAD ($285 USD).
Checking into Air Canada Business Class:
When it came time to check in, Air Canada was offering a Last Minute Upgrade from economy to Business Class. It was priced at $256.20 CAD ($190 USD), or $85.40 ($64 USD) an hour on a three hour flight. Despite not getting the full business class mileage that would normally come from a business class ticket, I thought this was a reasonable deal and opted to upgrade.
The Air Canada Last Minute Upgrade Offer for my return flight was $950 CAD ($710 USD), so the outbound flight was a substantially better deal.
Although I had checked in on line, I took a wheel past the Air Canada Priority Check In Counters at Vancouver International Airport. Air Canada has set up a Priority Check In area across from the regular Vancouver International Airport Transborder check in zone.
The Vancouver International Airport operates a US Customs Pre-Clearance facility, this check in process can tend to be a bit bottled necked at peak morning travel times. As a result, this spacious area is a great upscale touch for those looking for a little extra space.
I passed through the CATSA Security Screening Checkpoint using Nexus front of line service. Despite this being a Saturday morning, there were almost seventy five people in the Nexus line and likely well over three hundred travellers in the general security line.
I used Global Entry to enter the United States with an unusual thirty travelers in line waiting to see two Customs and Border protection officers that were processing Global Entry Travelers today.
I visited both the newly renovated Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder and the included with my ticket Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Transborder. Since I had previously reviewed the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Transborder, I won’t do so again since there haven’t been many material changes between last visit.
I ended up boarding down by Gate E. As an Air Canada Business Class traveller, I was given Zone 1 Boarding and was among the first on the aircraft.
Air Canada
Business Class
YVR – PHX (Vancouver International Airport – Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport)
AC 1054 – Business Class (R)
9:30 AM – 1:31PM
Dec 10, 2022
Booked: Boeing 737 Max 8
Flown: Boeing 737 Max 8
On Board Air Canada Business Class on the Boeing 737 Max 8:
Historically, Air Canada has operated an Airbus fleet domestically within Canada, with sporadic forays into the Embraer executive jet market. Air Canada made the decision to enter the Boeing 737 Max aircraft market as the Airbus series aircraft get older and are getting closer to retirement. Unfortunately, the synchronicity of computer system issues and a global health epidemic hampered the development and adoption of this equipment type.
Four rows of business class in a 2 – 2 configuration make up Air Canada Business Class on the Boeing 737 Max 8. As opposed to the glacial blue that existed in its previous generation on the Airbus Series, Air Canada has chosen a darker shade for its seats. The new style is significantly more modern and elegantly understated.
The Air Canada Business Class seats on a Boeing 737 Max are the newer slim line generation of seats. They offer a little more room, although you’ll never mistake them for a pod styled seat with a fully flat bed. Air Canada has clearly gone for a higher density cabin. While you won’t notice much of a difference on a shorter three hour flight like this one, you’ll probably start to notice it around the five hour mark if you were travelling to Hawaii from North America.
As in the past, I’m happy to report on the Air Canada Boeing 737 Max seats are actually more comfortable than their older Air Canada Airbus Series Business Class barcalounger style counterpart. I also found them more comfortable than the comparable puffy seat found in the Alaska Airlines First Class product.
I was seated in 3F today, a window seat on the right hand side of the aircraft. I was travelling with carry on luggage only, and had no issues stowing my luggage vertically in the overhead bins.
The Air Canada Business Class Boeing 737Max seat offers a little foot rest. Although the foot rest is a lot sturdier than versions that I have seen on the Airbus series of aircraft, it’s of limited use from a comfort perspective for a tall person like me.
The Air Canada Advanced Video on Demand Entertainment system showed photographs of the flight’s destination. In this case, we had photographs of Phoenix, ranging from palm trees to skyline photographs of downtown. I can’t compliment airlines enough for doing something as simple as this. It really increases the aspirational mood for travel, and reminds travellers of what they have to look forward to in a favourable manner.
The seat featured Empower charging based on a North American plug, and also offered a laptop storage contained underneath the centre arm rest.
The Seat Featured a recline option and a foot rest option. These features were accessed through level buttons on the wall of the seat itself.
There is also a seat extender for reclining comfort. You won’t mistake this for a fully flat seat, but it might make relaxing a little more comfortable.
The Boeing 737 Max featured individual air nozzles above the travellers seat. This is something that I always appreciate, since you’re able to control your own air flow, and make your flight just that more comfortable.
Pre Departure Services:
We had a pretty tame pre-departure beverage service. While it’s usual that you get an offer of water of juice from a tray on other carriers, or perhaps an open bar beverage in the United States, today’s pre-departure services consisted solely of a bottle of Eska water waiting on the seat for me.
Perhaps this was a result of service delivery being slow to resume after the pandemic, but the pre-departure beverages were economized out of the system.
The flight attendants stopped by and dropped off a printed menu for the breakfast service that would occur on this flight.
There was also a beverage list provided which contained some pretty straight forward mid level spirits. Air Canada has joined others around North America by not offering an actual list of wines available on it’s printed menus.
It’s a really nice touch that Air Canada still offers a printed menu in Air Canada Business Class. It’s nice to be able to see what you can expect from your in flight dining experience.
Departing Vancouver International Airport:
We departed Vancouver International Airport under grey December skies. It was training throughout the morning, and I’d be happy to be landing in Phoenix later that day under bright sunny blue skies.
It was a quick climb and we were up to altitude pretty quickly as we departed the mountains and islands of the Pacific Northwest. The engines on the Boeing 737Max are substantially quieter than those on the older Airbus series aircraft, and it is a much more peaceful climb to altitude.
The flight tracker provided a multitude of views of our aircraft and position as we navigated out of the Vancouver International Airport airspace. While it didn’t show. the exact projected flight path, there was enough information there to identify your journey.
We had a towel service once we reached cruising altitude. The towels weren’t super elegant, and the condition of the towels seemed to be pretty beat up. It was a nice feature anyway, and consistent with what you’d expect on a medium haul business class.
In Flight Entertainment:
Air Canada offers a modernized in flight entertainment system. The system has been modernized and features an easier user interface compared the last Enroute product found on the Air Canada Airbus Series. Unlike many of the American carriers, Air Canada offers a monitor at every seat on the aircraft, so there is no need to use your own device for entertainment, unless you want to watch your own content.
The Meal: Breakfast
We had a three hour flight time travelling down from Vancouver to Phoenix. With our flight departing at 9:30 AM, breakfast was the meal being presented.
On today’s flight, we had the choice of a parsley omelette, chicken sausage, roasted potatoes with red pepper relish, or pancakes with maple butter compote. Both of these breakfast menu items haven’t really changed much in the last twenty years of flying Air Canada Business or Executive Class as it was known back then.
Breakfast was presented all at one, with a warmed cibatta roll presented after the main course.
The breakfast was more than enough for a three hour flight. Although, Air Canada loses a few marks here for originality.
After breakfast service was completed, the cabin was cleared. I was offered a drink and a warmed nut service for the balance of the flight. The wines on offer were a Canadian Niagra Region white or a French Chablis.
The service on board was the usual Air Canada politeness; pleasant but not super interactive. Staff were available for drink refills, although I didn’t partake in many as I was driving on landing in Phoenix.
Landing at Phoenix Sky Harbour International:
Before I knew it, we were descending into the Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport. The Southern States of Arizona is a very pretty place to land into, and I had forgotten that the desert mountains were so interesting.
I was even able to see some of Lake Pleasant Regional Park while we lined up for our landing runway.
We arrived to Gate E8 in Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport under bright sunny skies. Being up front, it was a very quick deplane and I was in the terminal really quickly.
I headed onto pick up a Hertz Rental Car at Phoenix Rental Car Centre, which was quite an experience, and headed onto the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa for a terrific overnight stay.
The Bottom Line: Air Canada Business Class B737 Max 8
The Air Canada Business Class on the Boeing 737 Max 8 represents Air Canada’s business class of the future. It is a substantial improvement on the old Air Canada Business Class Seat with more comfortable seating, along with a more functional space for working or relaxing. The Air Canada breakfast omelette meal made a familiar re-appearance, but other wise everything was great. Given that the last minute upgrade was so cheap, it was an easy decision to upgrade your travels.
If you’ve flown Air Canada Business Class, have you enjoyed an Air Canada Business Class Omelette in your travels ?
The pandemic allowed Plaza Premium Vancouver to conduct a full “tear down to the studs” renovation of the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver – Transborder. After being closed for two years, the lounge recently re-opened to a resurgence in pent up travel demand. The new Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder is a much more functional space and does a better job of using the available space. Read on to see what awaits you, on a visit to this new lounge.
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge – Transborder “E” Gates, Vancouver International Airport, Canada
This review is of the Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder Vancouver. For the only other lounge in this transborder part of the airport, please see our review of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Transborder Vancouver
The Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder at the Vancouver International Airport recently underwent a large expansion and renovation. With the property shuttered for most of the pandemic, the property recently re-opened. If you want to check out what the lounge looked like before the renovation, please see our earlier review of The Plaza Premium Transborder Lounge Vancouver
Checking In to Air Canada Priority Business Class:
I was headed off today on an easy and short Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Phoenix flight. I arrived to Vancouver International Airport and passed by the Air Canada Priority Check in Area for Transborder flights.
Air Canada has recently upscaled their Priority Check In space to make it more spacious. The check in area was a bit more opulent than the usual check in ranks across the concourse.
I quickly passed by the Air Canada kiosks to get a boarding card re-print. There was no wait at the kiosks and I headed straight through to the secure side.
Locating the Plaza Premium Lounge:
The Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder Vancouver International Airport is located within the Trans Border area of the gates. The Vancouver International Airport operates a United States of America Customs and Border Services Pre-Clearance Facility. This allows all flights landing within the United States to arrive to Domestic Departure gates, and allows passengers to easily connect to other flights.
Map Courtesy yvr.ca
After passing through the air security screening and US customs and Border Protection Global Entry, I found myself on the secure side. I wandered down the concourse to the Plaza Premium Lounge, which is easily located next to Gate E88.
The new Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder lounge has moved it’s entry over one retail storefront to the left from it’s prior location. It’s fair to say that the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder is quite a popular place. I had a short queue in order to get in. Like a popular nightclub, there seemed to be a line to get into the lounge, throughout my entire stay.
Accessing The Plaza Premium Lounge:
There are several ways to access the Plaza Premium Lounge.
The Plaza Premium Lounge accepts reservations for entry on it’s website. The reservations are split into blocks of time ranging from two, three and six hours. As of the time of writing, the prices was as follows:
- Two Hours = $41.36 USD or $55.63 CAD
- Three Hours = $50.59 USD or $68.04 CAD
- Six Hours. = $67.47 USD or $90.72 CAD
The above pricing including applicable taxes and fees.
The Plaza Premium Lounge network also partners with several credit cards to provide access. This includes many credit cards worldwide, which include DragonPass, LoungeKey, LoungeClub, and the Club. You do not need to make a reservation while using these systems.
Plaza Premium recently split with it’s affiliation from Priority Pass. As a result, if you’re attempting to get in using Priority Pass exclusively, you’ll likely not be permitted access.
Within North America, the lounge is also part of the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which offers a suite of lounges available for access with it’s premium American Express Platinum Card and American Express Centurion Cards. Access can be granted by presenting one of these cards.
I gained access as a result of my American Express Platinum Card as part of the American Express Global Lounge membership.
There was a short line to gain access access today. There were many US travellers that seemed to not know whether they had access or not, which often involved the hosts explaining everything on a repeated basis. This led to quite a few delays.
Inside The Plaza Premium Lounge:
The new Plaza Premium Lounge Transborder is a vast improvement over the previous space. Occupying almost double the space as the old lounge, the new lounge offers a brighter and more comfortable seating environment.
At the centre of the lounge is a large bar that offers seating on both sides of the lounge. The bar acts as a natural divider between the two sides of the lounge. The lounge seating flows around each side of the lounge, with tables and chairs located closest to the bar.
Given heavy demand, the lounge was configured with a lot of table and chairs seating. This means that there are few chair loungers in this version of the Plaza Premium Lounge and most of the seating is on high density seating. There are also a few American Express Centurion Lounge styled communal tables thrown in for good measure.
I eventually located a mini lounger in the far corner of the lounge. Many of the lounge seating spaces are partitioned with small dividers for privacy.
The lounge footprint fronts into the terminal and has views over the Vancouver Airport’s International Arrivals’ customs’ clearance hall. While you’ll never mistake this for apron views, its’ nice to have windows to somewhere.
The lounge also featured showers available for use. This is a unique feature that we don’t always see in North American lounge. We never see them in the United Clubs, and as far as I am aware, the only other lounge showers in Vancouver International Airport lounge facilities are over in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver – Domestic lounge.
While there wasn’t any additional charges listed for shower suites on the Plaza Premium website, this is an area we have seen some lounges charge for usage.
Food and Beverage:
The Plaza Premium Lounge networks are pretty generous on food. On today’s visit, they had much more hot and cold food than the nearby Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Transborder that I also had access to.
The food and beverage station is set up right next to the entrance. It features a combination of a rail countertop serving hot items, a stand up cooler of refrigerated items. During my breakfast hour visit, there was also a few items set up on the bar.
The breakfast items appeared tasty and appealing.
The bar offered some additional items. In this case, the toast and cereal towers were located on the bar.
In terms of drinks, the full service bar offered a limited amount of free “house” drinks, and a number of premium paid drinks. These included house spirits and top shelf spirits.
In a first to for me, the lounge also offered a bubble tea menu. While bubble tea is pretty popular in Vancouver, I didn’t see anyone actually ordering any during my lounge visit.
I was able to charge up with a coffee and some scrambled eggs over toast, prior to heading off to my Air Canada Business Class Vancouver – Phoenix flight.
My Thoughts on the Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder:
The new and updated Plaza Premium Lounge Vancouver Transborder is a vast improvement over the older lounge space. The re-configured lounge offers a proper bar, plenty of high density seating options, and a much more open seating arrangement.
Will this lounge be a place I strive to get to the airport early? Probably not, but it’s a much better place than waiting out on the concourse while you wait for your flight.
If you’ve recently visited the updated Plaza Premium Vancouver Transborder Lounge, did you find the new lounge much better than the old one ?
This particular trip was one born out of needless travel comfort necessity. With elite mileage counters resetting to “zero” at the end of the calendar year, I needed a few extra miles and nights in order to re-qualify for Air Canada’s Aeroplan Elite Status and Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level status. While it isn’t essential to maintain status, it certainly makes travelling life a lot more comfortable. This is how I tipped the scale over for the end of the year.
This post is one chapter on my brief trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Air Canada’s Aeroplan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: A Mileage Run to Scottsdale via Air Canada Business Class
- Plaza Premium Lounge – Vancouver Transborder
- Air Canada Business Class: Vancouver – Phoenix
- My Experience Renting as a Hertz President’s Circle Member at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport
- The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, Arizona, USA
- The American Express Escape Lounge – A Centurion Studio Partner, Phoenix, USA
Trip Introduction: A Scottsdale Arizona – USA Mileage Run via Air Canada Business Class.
Planning the Trip:
Planning Flights:
Flights from Canada to USA
I was short a few miles to maintain Air Canada Aeroplan’s Elite status to close out the year 2022. While we’ve generally seen devaluations of the program, I still find it worthwhile to maintain some form of status with Air Canada, as it makes my work trips just that much more comfortable with Zone 2 advanced boarding (great for the carry on’s), the lounge access to Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and the occasional e-upgrades that it offers.
I had initially planned the year out to balance with the magical number of miles, but when I had challenges getting my last Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Paris flight credited to Air Canada, decided I’d better book something as a back up just in case.
In this case, since I only needed about 525 status miles, I didn’t have any particular destination in mind. I used Google Flights to explore the options and came up with cheap departures from my home base of Vancouver to Calgary, Edmonton (not so exciting in the winter) or Palm Springs and Phoenix.
All of these offered the required amount of miles that I’d need and had low weekend fares that I’d need so I would haven’t take any time off of work. Since I had never really explored Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, I opted for Phoenix Arizona and a visit to the legendary JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa.
With the timing of Cyber Monday occurring in the fall, I was able to further capitalize on the first thousand tickets being sold on Air Canada with a thirty percent off promotional code. I was able to book the fare from Vancouver – Phoenix into a Comfort Fare bucket for $120.40 CAD ($90 USD) in base fare. With all taxes and fees, the return ticket came out to $381.13 CAD ($285 USD).
In the end, the trip was a simple:
YVR-PHX (paid – Air Canada)
PHX-YVR (paid – Air Canada)
Planning Hotels:
I only needed one night’s hotel for this particular trip. With dozens of great properties to choose from, I ended up selecting the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa.
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa was created in a different time. It was initially built and opened on December 15, 1936 as a horse riding resort with 75 Casita’s. It was eventually acquired as the very first Marriott Resort by the Marriott family in 1967. It’s so popular amongst the Marriott family, Bill Marriott is supposed to spend his birthdays at the property.
I was able to get a reasonable rate of $347 USD for this property, booked about two weeks in advance of travel. I would end up getting an Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level upgrade into a Signature View Casita.
The JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa offered some old school but exceptionally comfortable surroundings for the brief stay in Scottsdale.
While this trip was substantially less complicated that designing some of my other trips, it still required a bit of research on the property and the routes.
Our points and miles redemption summary:
This was a pretty straight forward earning’s trip. As a result, there weren’t any great redemption opportunities on this particular voyage.
In summary, we earned:
- Earned: 2,826 Air Canada Aeroplan Miles (1,413 SQM 1 SQS 121 SQD 1,413 EDQ X 2)
- Earned: 11,070 Marriott Bonvoy Points, (5,183 Base + 3,887 Elite + 2,000 Extra)
- Earned: 90 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Points
- Earned: 100 Open Table Points
The luxury resorts of Scottsdale Arizona are never a terrific deal, but at least I got a little taste of what the area has to offer for a potential future trip with MrsWT73.
If you have visited Scottsdale Arizona, USA, how do you maximize value ?
A work trip found me at latitude “North of Sixty” in the Yukon Territory in Northern Canada. Travelling in the North is always a different experience from the usual inner city travels. Often, there are less amenities and substantially higher prices, with a lot less usually offered the farther that you get away from the region’s urban centres. With this trip to Whitehorse, I would get the opportunity to stay at the historic Edgewater Hotel. Follow along to see what a stay in Whitehorse is like in the middle of winter.
Review: Edgewater Hotel, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
“The historic Edgewater Hotel has enjoyed a recent full refurbishment. Located near Whitehorse’s original White Pass train station, it offers conveniently located accommodation, which is perfect for leisure travellers”
I had a one night business trip to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Given Whitehorse’s remote location north of latitude 60, I thought it would be interesting to document my stay.
Given that this trip occurred in winter, there is only six hours of daylight in Whitehorse. The sun rises at about 10:50 AM, and sets at 5:00 PM. As a result, almost all of my photographs involve some form of darkness.
About the Edgewater Hotel Whitehorse:
The Edgewater Hotel is a modernized historic hotel that has been around for over 133 years. While it doesn’t have the same charm as a brick and mortar railway era historic hotel, it’s got a pretty neat past, as a centre of activity in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada.
At inception, the Edgewater was named The Windsor Hotel. The hotel served the stampeders travelling down the Yukon River to Dawson City’s Klondike gold fields during the Great Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s.
With a great location across from both the paddle wheeler docks on the Yukon River and the White Pass and Yukon Route Train Station, at the time, Windsor Hotel enjoyed a bustling business in the heart of the transportation district.
The Windsor Hotel and White Pass Depot, as well as much of the downtown core, were destroyed in a devastating fire in 1905. Robert Service, a well-known poet and Bard of the Yukon, contributed to the firefighting operations and helped rescue the CIBC Bank building where he worked.
The Windsor was reincarnated as the White Pass Hotel following a hearty community effort to repair it. It served Whitehorse during the war years, the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942, and the end of the steamboat era in the mid-1950s.
After another fire on Christmas Day 1961, the White Pass became the Edgewater Hotel, which it has remained until this day.
The Edgewater Hotel continues to welcome visitors to the same historic location, from gold seekers, railroad passengers, and river boat captains to miners, mushers, and Mounties, and focuses in warm Yukon hospitality and interesting tales.
Booking the Edgewater Hotel:
Accommodation in Whitehorse is strictly limited. Although it is the capital city of the Yukon Territory, there are a finite number of beds available across approximately five hotels that seem to change with rapid frequency.
The Best Western Gold Rush Inn is currently the only hotel in town affiliated with a major brand. Unfortunately, it was completely full on our scheduled travel dates, as a result we opted for the Edgewater Hotel.
I ended up booking direct on the Edgewater Website. The best available rate was $259 CAD ($193 USD). It’s also worth noting that due to scarce availability, rooms often sell out well in advance. If you are planning a visit during the peak summer months, I would recommend booking up to 3 – 4 months in advance, for the best selection.
Getting to the Edgewater Hotel:
My trip up to the Yukon Territory was from Vancouver via Air Canada Express on a CRJ-900 regional jet. With only one flight per day, the Yukon Territory is not always the easiest to access. There are also flights available through Air North, which is based in the Yukon.
After a stop by the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Vancouver Domestic, (which I had reviewed previously) and courtesy of Air Canada Aeroplan elite status, I headed to the boarding gate. It was a pretty compact journey up on Air Canada, with a distance of 923 miles flown, and approximately two hours and fifteen minutes journey.
Our flight track took us into Whitehorse over it’s snowy mountains, and we were off on the ground at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport before I knew it.
My work colleagues rented a vehicle from Budget Rent a Car, and we drove the twelve minutes into the Whitehorse from the Whitehorse International Airport. There were only a few rental vehicles available, and I’ve never had great luck in getting a good quality rental vehicle in Whitehorse. Given it’s location north of latitude 60 degrees, I’ve had some heaps over the years; including an Oldsmobile Alero that had over 110,000 kilometres on the odometer.
The Edgewater Hotel has a prime location in downtown Whitehorse that is close to all major attractions. From the hotel’s base, you can walk to any attraction on Main Street. In terms of a tourist visit to Whitehorse, or even a business trip with meetings located in the city centre, it’s hard to go wrong with the Edgewater’s location.
Everything is walkable from the hotel, and unless you are going to provision supplies for a week long road trip around the Yukon Territory, there is no need to drive your car when staying at the
The hotel is located immediately across from the historic White Pass Train train station.
Checking into Edgewater Hotel:
After our brief drive from the airport, we arrived to the hotel. The hotel does not have a full loading zone area, and the unloading / reception space is limited to a few angle stalled parking spaces on the street in front.
The check in desk was immediately located inside the double front doors of the lobby. Being a small property, there was no wait to check in. My check in was handled promptly was limited to just the details.
The hotels attached restaurant, the “Belly of the Bison”, was also located just off the main lobby. The lobby contained a black grand piano and a prospector sculpture, which led to a somewhat historic theme of the gold rush in Whitehorse.
As we discovered when we arrived and checked in, the hotel has very limited parking. The hotel offers a small parking lot at the rear of the hotel. When we arrived at 7 PM on a winter weekday, the hotel lot was completely full. It was -12 Celsius on our visit. Many were interested in taking advantage of the winter plug in’s located behind the hotel.
We ended up parking on the street at metered parking during our first night. The hours of the meters were 9 AM – 5:30 PM, so we didn’t have to pay. The limited parking is a bit of an Achilles heel of this particular property, as guests with a vehicle need to manage their parking circumstance if no free parking is available.
The Room: Deluxe King
I was assigned the Deluze King that was booked per my original reservation. The Edgewater Hotel has been re-built and expanded upon, so there was a bit of a labyrinth maze to get to my room.
My room was situated on the ground floor of the property. After passing through a kitchen access hallway, up a short ramp, I was led into a long hallway that fronted the White Pass train station. My room was located at the end of the hallway, facing westward.
The initial impressions were quite favourable. The hallways were clean and sparkling. The hotel had a recently full renovation. Sometimes, hotels complete a soft renovation and don’t renovate right down to the studs. In this case, everything at the Edgewater appeared shiny, new and contemporary.
Upon entering into the Deluxe Room, the effort soft the renovation showed. The room presented in excellent condition. Arguably, these are the newest looking hotel rooms in Whitehorse. The darker theme was also pleasing to the eyes.
As a standard hotel room, the room offered a King Size bed. There was a nice looking occassional chair located on the wall side of the bed.
Two light stands on either side of the bed offered night lights. The room power ports had been upgraded to feature USB charging ports and plugs located above the bed on both sides.
Without space for a formal closet or armoire, the room offered an open coat rack. This was also set against a flat screen television, a small microwave, and a small unstocked mini fridge.
I couldn’t help but find that this space looked a little cluttered in appearance. Although I’m not an interior designer and don’t play one on television, I could have thought that this space could have been organized in a little more of an attractive manner, in my humble opinion.
The room offered a small work space. As I was travelling for business reasons, I did end up using this space to conduct work. Although the space was compact, it was perfectly sufficient.
In an upscale touch that I wouldn’t have expected from a Whitehorse hotel, the Edgewater Hotel featured Nespresso coffee in the room. The hotel also offered proper glassware and a kettle. I always appreciate proper glassware in a hotel, even if I didn’t get the chance to use them on this particular trip.
Consistent with the new renovation, the room featured a modernized bathroom. Given that it was an older hotel, the bathroom wasn’t all to spacious, but it was perfectly fine for a solo business traveller.
The room also featured two fluffy bathrobes. This was another feature that I wasn’t entirely expecting from my stay in Whitehorse.
In terms of sleep quality, I found the walls of the hotel to be a little thin. Perhaps this is a a result of the hotel being an older structure. I had a few noises throughout my sleep coming from creaking of the building, and other guests returning after a late evening out. On my one night stay, the sleep wasn’t all that restful- despite the wonderfully comfortable surroundings.
Around the Hotel:
As city hotel, the hotel doesn’t offer a lot of resort amenities other than an attached restaurant.
It’s worth noting that the Edgewater Hotel does not have a breakfast restaurant on site. As a result, you’ll have to venture out of the hotel for a morning coffee. We enjoyed the Burnt Toast Café, which was located a two minute walk and 170 meters from the Edgewater Hotel.
The Belly of the Bison Restaurant:
The Belly of the Bison Restaurant was open between the hours of 4:30 PM and “Close”. The Belly of the Bison provided a contemporary space which proved to be popular amongst the other visitors. The Belly of the Bison is the only restaurant attached to the Edgewater Hotel. The Belly of Bison was more than half full during the supper hour.
The Belly of the Bison featured a contemporary menu which was modern in taste and ingredients. Given the remote location of Whitehorse, I didn’t find that pricing on the menu to be too beyond what would be expected.
The Belly of the Bison also featured some interesting looking cocktails, along with some micro brewery beers.
The White Pass Train Station:
The Edgewater Hotel was located across the street from the historic White Pass train station.
The White Pass Railway is a narrow gauge railway that links the town of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada and the town of Skagway, Alaska, United States of America. As an isolated rail line, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route.
The White Pass Railway now departs further down the line at Carcross, Yukon Territory, which is about an hour drive away by car or 73 kilometres. The original White Pass Train station was nicely lit up in holiday lights, despite this being a January visit after the holiday season.
The Klondike Paddle Steamer:
The SS Klondike is the name of two sternwheelers which ran freight between Whitehorse and Dawson City, along the Yukon River. The ships were active between 1929 to 1936 and the second, an almost exact replica of the first, from 1937 to 1950.
The Klondike II carried freight until the early 1950s. Due to the construction of a highway connecting Dawson City and Whitehorse, many Yukon River sternwheelers were decommissioned.
In an attempt to save Klondike II, she was converted into a cruise ship by White Pass and Yukon Route. The Duke of Edinburgh (consort of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada) was invited to tour the ship in 1954, being taken on a short trip down the Yukon River and back to Whitehorse during his day-long visit to the city. The venture shut down in 1955 due to lack of interest.
The ship was donated to Parks Canada and was gradually restored until 1966, when city authorities agreed to move the ship to its present location.
I took a walk from the hotel through the dead of night and the middle of winter to the Klondike II. It remains proudly on display at the edge of the waterway. While it was not open as a tourist attraction during the winter months, it was neat to get a sense of history during a visit to Whitehorse, Canada.
Above all, the Edgewater Hotel was well located and nearby everything that you’d want to see in Whitehorse. It’s location on Main Street allowed for most attractions to be seen within a five to ten minute walk across flat and level surfaces.
Checking Out of the Edgewater Hotel:
I had a business as usual check out the next day at 8 AM. My bill was printed and everything was in order. While it wasn’t the most personable check out, it was pretty efficient.
The Bottom Line: The Edgewater Hotel
The Edgewater Hotel was a perfectly functional stay for my brief overnight in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
The Edgewater has undergone a terrific renovation and everything is sparkling new and meeting current standards. The location of the hotel can’t be beat, as it’s centrally located to everything in downtown Whitehorse.
Unfortunately, being an older building, there are occasional creaks and noises that come with staying overnight here. If you’re a light sleeper, this may bother you. The hotel also offers limited parking, which may be an irritant for some.
Ultimately, I wouldn’t hesitate staying at this property again.
Have you visited the Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory of Canada ? If you have passed through town, where did you stay?
On of my favourite local Marriott Bonvoy stays is achieved by driving two hours from my home in Vancouver, Canada down to the W Bellevue in nearby Washington State in the United States of America. As a hotel located in an upscale urban neighbourhood home to technology giants, the hotel features luxury retail shopping and an exceptional variety of restaurants in the area. Read on to see how our most recent W Hotel’s stay met the tone for an urban and contemporary stay.
Review: W Bellevue, Washington, Nevada, United States
“An Upscale W Hotel located in the tech centre of Bellevue – Washington, USA. The W Bellevue offers an excellent breakfast at the James Beard awarded “The Lakehouse” Restaurant, and the hotel offers easy and convenient access to over fifty Bellevue Collection Restaurants”
About the W Bellevue:
The W Bellevue is located in upscale Bellevue, Washington State, United States of America. The city of Bellevue is located about twenty minutes and ten miles from downtown Seattle, Washington. Most prominently, there is a large technology centre in Bellevue, Washington with over one hundred and forty companies being located within the city limited. Currently, Microsoft, Expedia and Amazon have offices headquartered within the city. This brings a lot of business travel to the area, along with a resident base that has a fairly high income base.
Booking The W Bellevue:
I needed two qualifying nights in the remaining calendar year to achieve Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status at seventy five nights. Unlike the United States, we are unable to stack credit card nights onto our accounts in order to pad our annual elite stays. As a result, I needed a couple of stays at the end of the year in order to re-qualify for Marriott Bonvoy status.
With a number of great hotels in Bellevue, Washington, we decided on the upscale W Bellevue over it’s neighbour the perfectly fine but slightly corporate Westin Bellevue. The two hotels are attached through an elevated pedestrian walkway.
I usually see softer rates in Bellevue on the weekends, given that it is a business centre. At the time of our review, it was the end of the pandemic and many holiday parties were returning after a several year absence. We ended up on a AAA rate for $269 USD into a base level Cozy Guest Room One King.
Like many W Hotels, the W Bellevue offers several room categories. At this property, the categories consist of Cozy, Wonderful, Spectacular rooms, up to Suites in the Fantastic, Marvellous and Wow Suites. Given that there are lot of big spenders in this postal code, the suites tend to go fairly quickly, in my experience.
Getting to W Bellevue:
We drove down to the W Bellevue from Vancouver in a brand new Tesla from Hertz. We easily found the property courtesy of the integrated navigation system in the Tesla.
The W Bellevue is very conveniently located in an upscale apartment hotel complex attached to the Bellevue Collection Mall. This allows hotel guests to have easy access to upscale shopping. The hotel is within walking distance of over fifty restaurants and thirty quick service food and café spots.
Checking into The W Bellevue:
As returning guests, we parked in the underground of the Bellevue Collection Mall accessed off the alley behind the hotel. We navigated ourselves t othe marked level P4, which was identified through sandwich boards as designated hotel guest parking for the W hotel. Parking on the weekends is presently free; a great added value for a city centre hotel.
If you’re arriving for the first time, you’ll arrive at this covered alley reception that has limited loading and unloading space.
The lobby for the W Bellevue is actually on the second floor. Regardless of whether you arrive to the main loading area pictured above, or the underground parking garage, you’ll need to take an elevator up to the second floor to speak with hotel reception. As you arrive to the lobby level, you’ll pass by the open staircase between the three lower levels of the hotel.
As a high rise hotel, the hotel reception at the W Bellevue is located in a thin hallway adjacent to the pictured Whatever Whenever Concierge desk.
There was no wait in line to check in. Our reservation was promptly processed and we were thanked for our Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level loyalty. We were given a soft Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level upgrade from our Cozy Guest Room – One King to a Fabulous Guest Room – One King, High Floor that had been pre-assigned a few days earlier.
As a Marriott Bonvoy Elite welcome benefit, we opted for the breakfast benefit. We were provided a series of coupons for breakfast for two valued at $20 USD per person for the attached The Lakehouse Restaurant.
The front desk easily agreed to a 2 PM late check out as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level without any negotiation. We were offered assistance with bags at the front desk, but we declined as we had only minimal luggage.
The Room: A Fabulous Guest Room
1 King – High Floor
We self guided ourselves up to our assigned room of #1245. The W Bellevue had contemporary decorated hallways with enough personality to it, not to make the space feel conventional and boring.
Our Fabulous Guest Room was set out in a basic open concept rectangle. The standard rooms (Cozy, Wonderful and Fabulous) rooms are all configured the same way, and appear to be mostly categories based on the location within the hotel and the view. Each of these rooms have a glass shower in the middle of the room.
There is no taking away from that first impression when you walk into the room. The glass shower is the first thing that you see, since it takes up such a prominent space near the front of the room.
While the glass shower might not be for everyone, it is the separator between the bathroom and the bedroom. Without a separate wall, the glass shower is the only partition between the two spaces.
The Bedroom:
Moving into the bedroom, the Fabulous Guest Room offers standard W Hotels décor. The walls. are wallpaper concrete looking with pink purple accent tones. Urban lighting rounded out the space.
There was a small desk attached to the counter top where a flat screen television accented the room. Instead of an occasional chair, the room offered bench seating against the window.
The room offered Bottled Water bedside, in addition to convenient telephone chargers near the bed.
In true W hotels style, the room also featured proper glassware. In our case, the room offered a small bar next to a Nespresso Coffee Maker. A Martini Shaker was also present in the room, along with a stainless steel ice bucket.
The room offered an empty mini fridge. While this would be convenient for storing beverages, it would be even more convenient if it actually contained spirits, beer or soft drinks.
The Bathroom:
The W Bellevue Fabulous Room Bathroom offered a single vanity. As I mentioned earlier, privacy isn’t the bathroom’s strongest feature. Given the sink configuration, it was a little challenging to place toiletries bags for two as a result of limited surface space.
The W Bellevue offered Momo Toiletries after quietly switching away from the beloved Bliss Toiletries in late 2020. The Momo Toiletries are an upscale brand licenced by Davines to LaBottega.
It’s worth noting that the Momo Toiletries offered in W Hotels are different than the Momo Toiletries offered in retail locations due to a different chemical composition for the W hotel version that reportedly allows for greater shelf life.
The bathroom did offer a private WC room, featuring a single toilet. The space was marked with bright wallpaper in a flowery pattern.
The room also featured an open closet in the foyer. Along with space to hang jackets and coats, the room featured two W white bathrobes.
The floor plan of the W Bellevue offered a few suites per floor. There wasn’t a lot of availability in terms of suite upgrades, if you’re reverse engineering your possibilities based on the floor plan.
Room with a View:
The room offered probably among the best views available at the W Bellevue. Unfortunately, the view isn’t all to exciting. Our view was west facing across the Bellevue Collection mall with distant views of Lake Washington in the background.
In terms of sleep quality, the room offered a quiet night’s sleep. Being a W Hotel there were a few late night guests returning to the room after midnight, but I didn’t find that the noise detracted from the sleep all that much.
For the most part, unlike other W Hotels I have stayed at, there seems to be very little difference between the Cozy, Spectacular and Fabulous Room categories at the W Bellevue. If room location isn’t important to you, or you happen to have Marriott Bonvoy Elite status, I would probably recommend grabbing the first available room regardless of category. With some luck, you’ll get an elite upgrade.
The Room: A Marvellous Suite
1 King – City Floor
On a previous stay, I was very fortunate to be upgraded into a Marvellous Suite. At the time, it happened to be on the occasion of my 250th stay as a Starwood Preferred Guest Lifetime Gold member. While under the Starwood Preferred Guest Program, the hotel recognized this and provided me a massive weekend upgrade into this Marvellous Suite.
While I hadn’t done a full review at the time, I thought that I would include the photographs in this review for context.
The Living Room:
The Marvellous Suite is a very comfortable 793sq feet or 71 sqm. Upon entering the room, you immediately notice the pedestal bar which is situated just off the entrance. Much like the regular rooms, there is also a martini set on the bar. The bar is accented by a neat looking chandelier, which makes a great accent piece.
The room is a proper suite with a separate living space. The living space has a sectional couch, which was comfrotable for relaxing.
The Bedroom:
The Marvellous Suite Bedroom was a separate distinct bedroom decorated much like the Cozy, Spectacular and Fabulous guest rooms. It featured a king size bed, with comfortable bedding accented by ink and purple colors.
In a unique feature, the bedroom offered an elegant but contemporary compact tub near the window of the bedroom. It marked a great focal point for the room, as it’s not all to often you have a nicely done bathtub in the bedroom.
The bedroom featured a second flat screen television, along with open closet space for storage of coats and jackets.
The Bathroom:
The Marvellous Suite featured a slightly larger bathroom. The Suite offered more counter space for storage of toiletries.
Around the Hotel Property:
The W Bellevue has a few features for an inner city hotel. Given that it’s in a high rise that is split with residential condominiums, some specific features are limited to owners of the property, whereas others are made available to hotel guests.
The Living Room:
The W Bellevue offers it’s version of The Living Room. It is branded as a Living Room bar and Porch. The W Bellevue’s version of the Living Room wraps its way around corridors surrounding the check in desk. Given the orientation, it offers select seating spaces in a compact environment.
Many of these spaces are in hallways, so they aren’t the most private areas. The Living Room also featured a small decorative library.
The Living Room was quite popular on Saturday night when we passed through.
The Hotel Gym:
The W Bellevue has one of the largest hotel gyms’ I’ve seen anywhere in the world. I was pretty much blown away by this space when I visited, as I can’t say that I’ve seen anything quite like it.
The gym at the W Bellevue features dozens of elliptical machines and dozens of treadmills. The space was so large, it even had it’s own reception lobby of couches and chairs for those waiting for their partners to finish their workouts.
While I didn’t get the opportunity to experience a workout, I would definitely pack my work out gear if I was staying here on a longer stay.
Food and Beverage:
The Lakehouse:
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast
The W Bellevue’s in house restaurant is the Lakehouse Restaurant. There are over fifty restaurants and thirty quick service restaurants located in the attached Bellevue Collection mall, so it’s fair to say that there is some competition within the area.
Fortunately the Lakehouse Restaurant in the W Bellevue is excellent and easily holds its own against other restaurants in the area. The Lakehouse Restaurant is helmed by James Beard award winning owner James Wilson, currently under chef Scott Emerick and pastry chef Tanya Emerick.
After arriving on a Sunday morning at around nine thirty AM, we had a twenty minute wait before we could get seated. The reservation system operated on a text message basis. As a result, we killed off the wait back in our hotel room.
The Lakehouse Restaurant is dressed up much like a modern Lakehouse. Although brighter than your local Abercrombie and Fitch retail store, it does have a nice inspiring dining space.
The Marriott Bonvoy Elite Breakfast benefit for Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador members currently offers $20 USD off a breakfast item at the Lakehouse. The Lakehouse menu is pretty awesome, and it’s one of the best Marriott affiliated restaurants that I know of that is worth taking advantage of the breakfast benefit.
I enjoyed the Lakehouse Chilaquiles; two fried eggs with avocado, spicy enchilada sauce, house made tortilla chips and parmesan. It was mighty tasty and paired well with a glass of Italian processo.
MrsWT73 devoured a brunch board consisting of charcuterie, devilled eggs, pickles, and fruit, granola and toast.
With our $20 USD credit for two persons, our breakfast came to $52 USD. The Lakehouse Restaurant adds a 20% service charge to all it’s bills to provide its staff a living wage. As a result, additional tipping is not expected, but appreciated.
Checking Out of the W Bellevue:
We had a friendly check out the next day with our 2 PM check out. There were no issues with the bill and was all in order. Our points posted to our account without any issues and no follow up was required.
The Bottom Line: The W Bellevue
The W Bellevue was a comfortable stay. Bellevue, Washington marks one of my favourite cities to visit for shopping and entertainment purposes.
While most of the standard Cozy, Spectacular and Fabulous rooms are mostly similar, the W Suites are where the magic happens. My favourite feature of this property remains the Marriott Bonvoy Elite Breakfast at the attached The Lakehouse Restaurant. I’ve never been disappointed eating here, and it usually marks the pinnacle of my W Bellevue stays.
Have you enjoyed the breakfast at The Lakehouse Restaurant at the W Bellevue ?
Hertz has started offering Tesla Electric Vehicles for rental throughout North America. It has been on my to do list to try one of these electric vehicles. When a trip from Vancouver to Seattle came up, we rented one of these cars putting almost five hundred kilometres on it over the weekend. How would the experience go and would we actually save any money? The truth would end up bearing a lot different than we initially expected.
A Dream or a Headache? Review: Renting a Tesla Electric Vehicle from Hertz.
I’ve had the opportunity to rent a lot of automobiles over the past fifteen years because I’m one of those people that travels a lot for work. I think I’ve probably hired several hundred cars over the course of my business and personal travelling career.
For this trip, I had a need to get from Vancouver, Canada to Seattle, United States for a last qualifying stay at the W Bellevue to renew annual Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. This was a distance of about 200 kilometres or 125 miles one way. Given that this weekend trip was going to put on 500 kilometres onto a car, I figured I’d rent a vehicle for the journey as opposed to taking my personal car.
Being voracious recyclers at home, it was a perfect opportunity to try out an electric vehicle, and see whether this would be a dream or a headache experience.
Renting a Vehicle from Hertz:
Hertz has ordered 100,000 Tesla Electric Vehicles to compliment it’s worldwide rental car fleet. While they were initially a little slow to roll out during the mid days of the pandemic, most major city locations have Tesla’s now available to rent.
Renting a Hertz Tesla EV is fairly easy. I picked the city and location of where I wanted to book through their global website. In my case, I selected the Vancouver International Airport, Canada and the Tesla’s were located at the top of the rental car selection of vehicles through the Hertz website.
At Hertz Vancouver International Airport, Hertz had three varieties of Tesla’s available for rental:
- The Tesla 3 SR (compact RWD luxury car – standard range – approx 430km)
- The Tesla 3 LR (compact AWD luxury car – long range – approx 560km)
- The Tesla Y (Sport Utility Vehicle – approx 531 km).
The price point of the Tesla’s were about double in cost for what you would expect from renting a regular car. I figured that I might offset the additional through gasoline savings over the 500 kilometre trip.
I ended up using the American Express Platinum Card’s discount code for Hertz, which offered a twenty percent discount and a complimentary additional four hours on the rental. As a result, I booked a Tesla Y rental for 28 hrs on a weekend rate from Friday 2 PM to Saturday at 6 PM. Given that there was also 20% discount for prepaid rentals, I ended up pre-paying for this rental.
About two days prior to my rental period, Hertz sent me some automated emails about what to expect driving a Tesla. The emails took viewers to a Hertz Tesla Educational Series webpage that offered some basic questions and answers surrounding how to operate, unlock and charge a Tesla.
Unfortunately, as a result of having a busy work schedule, I didn’t get the opportunity to fully watch every video on the web page before our weekend rental. While I did get the basic concepts down of how to unlock and drive a Tesla, I didn’t get much information on the process to charge a Tesla. If at all possible, it would be better to get these videos at least 5 days in advance of any rental.
Picking up a Tesla:
On rental day, I aimed for convenience and took the bus into Vancouver International Airport. I went to the Hertz rental counter and went through the usual process. There was additional paperwork for the Hertz Electric Vehicle, but as a Hertz Gold Plus Reward member, there weren’t any additional forms to fill out. Since I had booked the Tesla Y as a specific model, there was no further Hertz President’s Circle upgrade offered.
I was given the keys and walked out to stall number 22, which was located at the end of the bank at Vancouver International Airport. A 2022 Tesla Y Performance was waiting for me in sharp Red Multi Coat Paint. It’s been a while since’ I’ve owned a red car, but the look of the red was actually pretty sharp and a change fro the usual whites and black luxury cars out there.
The Telsa Y has a higher centre of gravity and had the jelly bean shape of my old BMW 535i Grand Turismo. The vehicle had been given a government decal “OK” sticker for its use in High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in my home province of British Columbia, Canada.
The trunk offered a fair amount of room, although it was a bit smaller than you might expect for a sport utility vehicle. It had more than enough for two rolling carry on suitcases, along with power lifts for the trunk lid.
The interior of the vehicle was clean and futuristic. The interior is described on Tesla’s website as an “all black premium interior“. Tesla’a only offer a large monitor screen in the centre of the car. There is no analog (or digital impression of an analog) speedometer or tachometer. While it took a little getting used to, the screen was, for the most part, intuitive and fairly easy to navigate.
There are no physical metal keys provided with a Tesla. The Tesla is unlocked by swiping a key against the B Pillar of the Door. The Tesla is also started by placing the key card in the centre console of the vehicle.
In my case, the Hertz Rental vehicle was presented with a 100% fully charged battery and 9,857 kilometres on the odometer. I was offered the opportunity to “purchase electricity” from Hertz at the end of the rental for $35 CAD. I foolishly declined this- which I’ll get into more later. I was verbally told to bring the vehicle back with 80% charge, but this wasn’t written down anywhere on any paperwork that I received.
Instead, the attendant marked my Hertz Vehicle inspection slip as “Full” and “8/8” on the gas / electricity level. I was quickly released and sent on my way.
Driving a Tesla:
After a quick check for pre-existing damage at the rental facility, I set out on the open road from Vancouver to Seattle. With about two hours in the vehicle and two hundred kilometres to travel, I would get a fairly comprehensive feel for the vehicle.
One of the first things that you might notice is that the Tesla EV’s have a fair number of proximity sensors around the vehicle. Tesla displays a rather unique display on the left hand side of its monitor that offers imagery of vehicles present around the car.
Starting our journey, we made a run for the international Canada / United States Border at Peace Arch Crossing at Blaine, Washington, United States of America. It was pretty quiet at the border today, and we were on Interstate 5 headed south really quickly.
The Tesla’s offer a best in class navigation system. In addition to the usual features of a navigation system such as arrival time, the navigation system gives you an idea of the expected charge left on your vehicle on arrival. In our case, our two hour drive was showing an arrival with a 33% charge remaining.
This version of the Tesla Y featured the basic level Tesla Auto Pilot. Tesla describes this as “Autopilot enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane. Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous”. It’s worth noting that this set up does not include a full navigate while on auto pilot, a summon feature or a self park feature that has received a lot of media attention for it’s occasional accidents.
While the Tesla Auto Pilot feature did add some convenience to the vehicle, I actually found it a lot less intuitive than the features in the comparable Volvo and Audi vehicles that I’ve driven. The Tesla system required a re-set every time I changed lanes; perhaps discovering the real reason why I always see many Tesla drivers clogging up the fast lane in my part of the country. It also included some annoying computerized chimes when you activate the system; the perfect thing for interrupting the rhythm of conversations with your other vehicle passengers.
The other feature that took some getting used to was the Tesla ReGenerative Braking. When you are driving, Tesla allows the momentum and the velocity from the vehicle to charge the vehicle’s batteries. Unlike the BMW Efficient Dynamics system or the Audi Re-Generative Braking Systems (which are almost completely transparent), the Tesla ReGenerative Braking systems are much less invisible.
In short, Tesla ReGenerative Braking is about as subtle as a gun. When driving at freeway speeds, taking your foot off the accelerator is similar to throwing an anchor out of your car, or dragging a brick along side the under carriage of your car. Releasing the gas, the Tesla immediately starts to slow, almost akin to a hauling a refrigerator behind your vehicle. The Tesla ReGenerative Braking took some getting used to, and it took a lot away from the free wheeling experience of coasting down a highway without a care in the world.
All features aside, we had a straight forward drive down from Vancouver, arriving to the W Bellevue without any incident. Although straight foward, the Tesla Y wasn’t all that much fun to drive. I would probably rate it as a 6 out of 10 on the “fun to drive scale”. It seemed to clomp along over the segments of the interstate in a cumbersome manner. The higher centre of gravity also seemed to make it a little top heavy in the corners. It wasn’t something that I would look forward to driving, and I’ve actually had more engaging drives in a boring Kitchen Aid styled Toyota Camry.
Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #1
Forty Three Minutes and $10.86 USD
Tesla advertises that a Tesla Supercharger can charge a vehicle up to 322km in 15 minutes. With this branding in mind, I was expecting a fast charging experience. What I would end up getting was a cumbersome process that was inconvenient to navigate on a rental or occasional basis.
After driving a short 200 kilometres, we found ourselves arriving into Bellevue / Seattle on a thirty three percent charge. We had a range of 156 km left on the car. As a result, we needed to charge the car in order to get the vehicle back home from Seattle to Vancouver – a distance of over 200 kilometres.
Tesla Superchargers are pretty easy to find on their website, or within the navigation system located in the vehicle. In our case, there was a Tesla Supercharger located about two blocks from the W Bellevue, so we didn’t have to physically drive a long distance to get to the Tesla Supercharger.
After a night at the W Bellevue, I snuck the car out the next morning at about 12:30 AM while MrsWT73 was getting ready. I had no idea how long the charging process would take, but allowed myself about 30 minutes in order to complete the charging process.
I would end up finding the Tesla Supercharger located in the underground of a private parking garage. I would end up having to pull a paid parking ticket at $7 USD an hour just to enter the garage, on top of any electricity charging fees. The fact that the chargers are located behind a pay wall aren’t really identified anywhere, and I thought that this was a bit of a hidden expense.
There were eight Tesla Superchargers at this particular Bellevue Washington, USA location. I was able to grab the last available supercharger. The charging is pretty straight forward. After parking, you plug the supercharger into the vehicle. Hertz bills your credit card used to rent the vehicle directly, and there is no need to present a card or membership card at a Tesla Supercharger.
While the vehicle was charging I received these friendly reminders on using the integrated navigation system. I didn’t bother putting theTesla Supercharging station into the system as a destination, given that it was only two blocks away from the W Bellevue hotel.
The view from this particular Tesla Supercharger wasn’t all that aspirational. I would rather frankly spend my time looking at something else than a drab and dark underground parking garage. At this particular station, most owners appeared to wait with their vehicles. Next to me was a woman in her early thirties with an Oregon plated Tesla Model 3 with a poodle dog in her car. On my other side appeared to an Indian tech type programmer; both skimmed through their smart phones while they were waiting for their charging cycles to complete.
While I was here, this particular Tesla Supercharging station would end up with a queue of two vehicles all waiting to get onto a supercharger. I find waiting for a gasoline pump to be off putting at times, so I couldn’t really imagine waiting for a Tesla Supercharger space. I assume once you’ve pulled a paid parking ticket, you’re committed to waiting for a charger.
The Tesla Charging configurations are set in the computer within the car. Unbeknownst to me, the Tesla Charging Configuration had been set by the previous operator to 50% charge. As a result, my charging session abruptly ended without enough electricity to get me back home to Vancouver, Canada.
After my car stopped charging at the 50% halfway mark, I eventually figured out to charge the vehicle up to the fastest 80% charge level. This was a bit frustrating, but if you were a Tesla owner, I presume that you’d get this figured out pretty quickly. As a Tesla renter, this took a bit of time to guess your way through it.
My two charging sessions at this single location cost $3.95 USD and $6.91 USD totalling $10.86 USD for charge number one up to 80% battery capacity.
As I left the parking garage, I had to also pay $7 USD for the forty three minutes that I was parked in the garage. Like I mentioned earlier, I found this to be a bit of a scam. Tesla doesn’t outwardly advertise additional parking charges, or that it’s Tesla Superchargers are hidden behind a pay wall on their Tesla Supercharger maps or websites.
Making matters more inconvenient, this particular garage didn’t like Canadian Credit Cards at the payment kiosk. For our Canadian readers, they will empathize as this is sometimes found at US Pay at the Pump pay stations at many gas stations. I ended up on a “Press Here for Help” line with several cars backed up behind me. I eventually was let out without payment after the operator recording my name, drivers licence number and vehicle licence number.
While this isn’t exactly on Tesla (or Hertz) for this matter, in today’s information environment, they should be indicating where their chargers are located. It would ultimately end up being a whole hour expended, after I took into account the time I drove to the Tesla Supercharger, charging of the vehicle, negotiating with the parking garage attendant, and driving back to the hotel.
Inconvenience Factor: 8 out of 10 (ten being highest)
Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #2
One Hour and Twenty Minutes and $27.45 USD
After our stay at the W Bellevue, it was time to return to Vancouver. We set off with our 80% charge, and headed back up Interstate 5 for a two hundred kilometre journey returning back to Canada.
The drive itself was pretty straight forward. Using the Tesla navigation system, I navigated to the closest Tesla Supercharger to the Vancouver International Airport. This happened to be the Tesla Supercharger at Richmond Centre, located about 15 minutes away and 8 kilometres from the Vancouver International Airport.
Near the end of my rental, I arrived to the Tesla Supercharger with a 15% charge left on the battery. The Richmond Mall was a popular spot on Saturday night at about 4:30 PM when I arrived, and almost all of the twenty superchargers at this location were occupied. Most appear to have been left by their owners, as they dined in nearby Chinese Restaurants, or engaged in retail therapy in the nearby mall.
My Tesla was due back by 6PM, so with ninety minutes left in my available rental time, I was a little time constrained. I was still under the mind set from Tesla’s marketing that I could get an 80% charge in fifteen minutes.
The first Tesla Supercharging station space that I pulled into didn’t seem to connect with the car to allow for charging. This cost me about seven minutes fiddling with a charger that didn’t seem to want to sync with the vehicle and allow for delivery of charging. The Tesla kept reporting “Starting to Charge“, which was pretty ambiguous and non committal.
After changing stalls, I was a bit horrified to learn that it was going to be one hour and fifteen minutes to get back to 100% full charge. I would later learn that the fastest charging for Tesla’s are up to the 80% mark, wheres Tesla’s take forever to charge the last 20% of their batteries. This is a really difficult standard for those that need to return a vehicle at 100% charge.
Toward the end of the charging cycle on the second Tesla Supercharger station, my car seemed to be get stuck on “Calibrating” while stuck at a 99% charge. I was never able to get it to a full 100%, despite sitting there for about eight to ten minutes. Together with my first charging failure, this added another twenty minutes of idle time onto my time spent at the charging station.
I was aware that I was going to start to get into the period of time during any car rental when you were going to be charged for half a day’s rate due to being late for one extra hour. Given that I had already used up my four hour grace period, I ended up abandoning the effort to get to 100% charge. I disconnected myself from the Tesla Supercharger and headed off to the airport to return the vehicle.
My two charging sessions at this single location cost $36.91 CAD or $27.45 USD for charge number two; over an excruciating one hour and twenty minutes of time. It is also worth mentioning that the fee for electricity in Canada is almost double what it is in the United States, eliminating most of the cost savings factor.
Inconvenience Factor: 10 out of 10 (ten being highest)
Charges on the Hertz Bill:
I returned the Tesla Y car at Hertz at Vancouver International Airport having covered 466 kilometres travelled. The Hertz roving attendant closed my contract out. He promised me a bill by email, which actually never arrived.
I ended up chasing after the bill through hertz.com customer service. I was a bit surprised to see that I was charged for two hours of additional time, which was appeared to be as a result of bringing the car back one hour and one minute later.
These extra charges is pretty much killed any savings that I might have had by operating an electric vehicle instead of a gas one. Even as a Hertz President’s Circle member, I thought it was a bit chintzy to charge for a full extra hour when the car was one minute late. Apparently, there is no further grace period there, with time clocked down to the minute.
In additional, some thirty days after my rental, my electrical charges don’t seem to have appeared to have been charged to my credit card. I’m not sure when it’s reasonable to expect them, but so far, they haven’t turned up. For a business traveller, this makes expense reconciliation a little problematic.
Cost Benefit Analysis:
In choosing a rental car, it’s a reasonable question as to whether it’s going to going to be cheaper to rent an electric vehicle versus a more conventional gasoline powered vehicle.
Comparing the two options, between the likely Hertz President’s Circle Upgrade Full Size Toyota Camry I would have received, I came up with the following price and time comparison. I have assumed a Toyota Camry with its 15.8 gallon fuel tank, and 3.99 USD a gallon for Regular Gas in Washington State, at the time of this trip.
| Full Size Toyota Camry or Similar | Add Time to Fill Up (in mins) | EV Tesla Y | Add Time to Charge Up (in mins) | |
| Distance: 466 km | ||||
| Price Premium of Tesla EV over a Full Size Rental | $40 | |||
| Gasonline Tank #1 | $63.08 | 5 mins | ||
| EV Charging #1 | $14.60 | 40 mins | ||
| EV Charging #2 | $36.91 | 80 mins | ||
| Additional Time charges resulting from additional charging | $47.10 | |||
| Total | $63.08 | and 5 mins | $138.61 | and 120 mins |
| Cost Difference Advantage: Gasoline | -$75.03 | |||
| Time Difference Advantage: Gasoline | +115 mins | |||
| Carbon Emissions Output Goodwill Feeling | ? | Zero |
- Despite initial intentions to save money on an Electric Vehicle rental, it actually cost substantially more than a gasoline equivalent version.
- The EV almost cost double the gasoline equivalent.
- I spent $75 CAD more on electrical charging, rental price additions and late fees, as a result of the Tesla Charging
- The Tesla also cost me an additional two hours of my life, fiddling with the charging system.
- The expenses haven’t fully reconciled with the Tesla Rental, despite being more than 30 days after the rental.
Ultimately, beside the wonderful green commitment of no green house gases, the advantage between the two options is very clearly the gasoline version. I actually looked forward to rolling into my next gasoline station, and filling up my own car in five minutes with 900km range on the tank.
Lastly, I happen to be at that stage in my life when time is my most valuable resource. I would have rather spent those two hours waiting on the supercharger doing something else. Even assuming I didn’t have to pay the rental late fees, I would have only saved about $30 a tank. I think my time, at least these days, is worth more than $30 / hour. I might feel different if I was retired or a student.
My Thoughts on Renting a Tesla with Hertz:
Hertz has taken the rental vehicle experience to a new level with the addition of Tesla Electric Vehicles to their fleet.
While I initially thought that I would be saving money by renting a Tesla to travel long distances, it actually cost me about $75 more than a comparable gasoline version. Perhaps worst of all, it cost me an additional two hours of time waiting and dealing with superchargers that didn’t always work, or weren’t easily accessible.
Perhaps of you had a charging system available to you at home as a Tesla Owner, this value proposition might be completely different. However, as a Tesla renter, it makes absolutely no sense at the current price point.
Wasting almost 90 minutes out of your rental cycle in order to return a car fully charged makes for a really inconvenient rental. The Hertz pre-delivery information doesn’t speak to this time commitment. The Tesla marketing of 15 minutes of charge fills that void and it’s not completely accurate. My advice would be to allow an additional two hours before you return the vehicle to the airport.
This equation is especially problematic for people like myself who travel on business and try to catch the evening flight home, after a day’s worth of meetings. In that equation, I can’t imagine spending additional time at the charger, prior to getting to the airport.
In my humble opinion, the Hertz EV Rental Experience very much falls into the “Headache” department, instead of the “Dream” department.
If you have rented an EV with Hertz, did you find it a “Dream” or a “Headache” ?
Quirky Icelandair is one of the few major airlines left in the world that does not form part of any major international airline alliance. It operates on a model that offers connection to many European destinations through their hub in Keflavik Reykjavik Iceland. It is also known for offering the Iceland Stopover program that allows for a free seven day stopover in Iceland at no extra charge. Today’s journey was courtesy of a deeply discounted business class fare that would allow us to get over to Europe from the United States. How would our paid travels fare with one of the lessor travelled European airlines?
This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
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✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Introduction: Driving 1,265 kilometres in Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish Airlines and Royal Jordanian Business Class
- My Favourite Long Layover Restaurant at SeaTac Airport: 13 Coins
- The Club at SEA Business Lounge, “S” Concourse, Seattle Tacoma, USA
- Icelandair Saga Business Class: Seattle – Reykjavík
- Icelandair Saga Business Class: Reykjavik – Paris Charles de Gaulle
- The Residence Inn by Marriott Paris Charles de Gaulle Central Airport, France
- Salon Paul Maxence Lounge, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2A, France
- Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2A, France
- Turkish Airlines Business Class: Paris – Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines Business Lounge: Istanbul International Airport, Turkey
- Turkish Airlines Business Class: Istanbul – Amman
- What to Expect Driving through the Kingdom of Jordan
- Dead Sea Marriott Resort and Spa, Jordan
- Top Five Tips for a Day of Canyoning – Hiking the Wadi Mujib Trial, Jordan
- Petra Marriott Hotel, Jordan
- How to Tackle the Ruins of Petra, Jordan
- Is it Worth Seeing Petra by Night?
- Al Manara, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Saraya Aqaba, Jordan
- Going Local: Al Mohandes Cafeteria, Aqaba, Jordan
- Memories Aicha Luxury Tented Camp, Wadi Rum, Jordan
- Getting Sandy in Wadi Rum, Jordan
- The St Regis Amman, Jordan
- Views from the Citadel in Amman, Jordan
- Royal Jordanian Crown Lounge, Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan
- The Petra Lounge, Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan
- Royal Jordanian Business Class: Amman – Tel Aviv
- The Sheraton Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Intersection of the World’s Religions, Visiting Jerusalem, Israel
- Visiting Tel Aviv’s Beaches, a Day at Gordon’s Beach, Israel
- The Dan Lounge, Ben Gurion International Airport – Terminal 3, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Turkish Airlines Business Class: Tel Aviv – Istanbul
- Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles Lounge, Istanbul International Airport, Turkey
- iGA Sleep Pod, Istanbul International Airport, Turkey
- iGA Lounge, Istanbul International Airport, Turkey
- Turkish Airlines Business Class: Istanbul – Paris
- The Westin Paris Vendôme, Paris, France
- Returning to the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
- What’s Left of the Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre, Paris, France
- Bateau Mouches Seine Cruises, Paris, France
- Le Cafe de la Paix, Paris, France
- Bouillion Pigalle, Paris, France
- Le Café du Trocadéro, Paris, France
- Extime Lounge, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2B, France
- Icelandair Saga Business Class: Paris – Reykjavík
- Icelandair Saga Business Class: Reykjavík – Seattle
Review: Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class, Boeing 757-200, Reykjavík (Keflavik) – Seattle Tacoma International Airport
This would be the second time I would fly this exact route and my sixth Icelandair flight overall. For our past experience on the Icelandair Boeing 757-200 aircraft, please see our past review of Icelandair Saga Business Class B757-2 Seattle – Reyjkavik and for our flight out on this route, please see Icelandair Saga Business Class B767-300ER Seattle – Reykjavik.
In terms of booking this flight, I had stumbled upon a great discounted business class fare from North America to Paris for travel in the off season. With a ticket price of $1,145 USD round trip, there was nothing not to like. It was even worth positioning in from Vancouver for this fare, so we arrived to the Seattle Tacoma International Airport on a separate Alaska Airlines flight. To read more about how we came across this fare, please see our trip introduction for more details.
We would end up crediting this paid flight to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, earning 125% Elite Qualifying Miles. Icelandair allows for frequent flyer accumulation in a limited number of programs that include Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Jet Blue Airways True Blue and it’s own program Icelandair Saga Points.
The Lounge: The Icelandair Saga Lounge
We arrived into Keflavik International Airport on Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Paris – Reykjavík. With about ninety minutes of connection time, we headed straight to the Icelandair Saga Business Lounge for a little exploration.
We have previously visited and reviewed Icelandair’s Saga Business Lounge Keflavik. Little has changed between our visits, so I won’t be reviewing it fully again. Please see our earlier review of Icelandair Saga Business Lounge Keflavik for more lounge details.
New on this visit, the Icelandair Sage Lounge Keflavik continues to have one of the more complicated lounge access rules out there. Since our last visit, they’ve added this clarifying sign for those that aren’t flying on Icelandair metal directly. If you happen to be flying a different carrier, access is entirely dependent on whether your carrier is paying Icelandair for your entry.
We settled in for a short connection in the Icelandair Saga Lounge, enjoying the lounge fireplace with a Gin drink in hand.
Boarding Icelandair Saga Business Class:
It was recommended on our boarding cards to leave for the gate at 45 minutes prior to departure. Our departure time was scheduled for 5:05 PM with an original boarding time of 4:15 PM.
While we were chilling in the lounge, we received a notice by SMS of a flight delay in the lounge to 5:30 PM. This in tern yielded a change in boarding time posted to about 4:50 PM.
We eventually left the Icelandair Saga Business Lounge. As Iceland was out last point of departure from the European Union we had to clear departure immigration. There was no line at departure immigration and we were stamped out of the European Union.
After passing towards the turnstile to let us into the main international lower departure concourse, I used the bar code on boarding card for the turnstiles and found ourselves randomly selected for additional questioning. The questions were pretty easy being solely based on travel history and we were underway really quickly.
We wandered down to gate D31, which appeared to be a bus gate. About a dozen people were queuing already but without any real staff present to manage the line. As a result, I ended up walking around looking at 66 North souvenirs that were price for New York City’s high street instead of being a bit more reasonably priced.
We eventually return and joined the queue at Gate D31. The queue started to process into the hold room.
A screener eventually came along working the line to review passports. When our boarding card was checked, we were provided an opportunity to get to the front of the line. We were asked to “walk up the right hand side of the hold line”. We did as instructed, bypassing all of these travellers. We eventually ended up at front of queue while we waited for a bus.
We eventually boarded a bus out to our remote stand. While Icelandair Saga Business Class was permitted to board first, it didn’t yield transport out to the plane in a separate or private bus.
Once the bus was full, we took the bus out to a remote stand. We were given instructions for double jet bridge boarding through 2L and 4L for all passengers above row 20, with the rest boarding through the rear stairs.
By this point, MrsWT73 started to comment on how bargain basement Icelandair was. The bus transfer wasn’t all to her likely, despite the deep discount on the air ticket and the boatload of Alaska Mileage Plan miles she’d be earning.
Using the front stairs, we boarded Eldborg. Our aircraft was named after a symmetrically shaped crater featured in Iceland.
Icelandair
FI 681 – Saga Business Class (A)
KEF-SEA (Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport – SeaTac International Airport)
October 25, 2022
5:05 PM – 5:50 PM (scheduled)
Booked: Boeing 767-200
Flown: Boeing 757-200
On board Icelandair Saga Business Class:
After climbing those outdoor stairs, we boarded through door 2 L and had a left turn immediately into the Icelandair Saga Business Class cabin.
Icelandair Saga Class is set up in a 2 – 2 configuration on their Boeing 757-200. Unlike our Icelandair Boeing 767-300ER flight out, this business class cabin was missing a central row. This more compact arrangement made the cabin feel a little less airy.
Icelandair must have had chosen to downgrade of aircraft or a swap from our original Boeing 767-300 ER that we had originally booked. Many travellers appeared to not have seats assigned next to each other, which resulted in on board crew dealing with seat swappers and other seating assignment requests during whole boarding process.
By the time this was all sorted, the Saga Business Class cabin completely full with twenty seats being fully occupied by take off.
We located our seats 2A and 2C. We positioned ourselves on the south side of the aircraft for our flight to North America with light pretty much guaranteed for the whole flight.
Waiting for us on the seat were a bottle of Iceland Bottled Water, in addition to a small lumbar pillow and rolled up blanket.
While the seat space wasn’t super generous, it was more than enough for a seven and a half hour flight to Seattle. You won’t get the same experience as a reverse herringbone business class seat that offers ample work space and space to relax. In seat storage is really limited to the seat back pocket in front of you, and there are no other compartments to charge phones or other devices.
Despite not having storage space, the seats do offer individual seat power. As there is no direct to USB charging mechanism, I would end up fishing out my iPhone North American Plug in order to charge my iPhone while we headed overseas.
The seats also offer the proprietary two pin headphone connectors which were located underneath the pull out table tray in the armrest.
The Icelandair Boeing 757-200’s are older aircraft. Despite this, the Icelandair versions had individual air nozzles above us. Having air nozzles make the trip that much more comfortable.
Pre-Departure Services:
We were offered a pre-departure beverage of sparkling wine was made available from a tray in a plastic cup. There were no other choices available, such as water or juice.
While we were waiting for the flight to get underway, we were also presented with Icelandair branded noise cancelling headphones. The headphones fit into the two pin holes located in the arm rest.
The Amenity Kits: Hanns Dottir Branded
We were also presented with an amenity kit which was waiting on the seat when we arrived. While Icelandair can get the reputation as being a bit of a low cost carrier, it’s nice that they still offer an amenity kit for a trans-continental flight of over seven hours in duration.
The amenity kits were Hanns Dottir branded, having dropped their partnership with Blue Lagoon from the last time we travelled with Icelandair. The kits contained Hanns Dottir lip balm, personal mist and hand lotion. A tooth brush / toothpaste, ear plugs and eye mask was also found inside the amenity kit bags.
We had a pilot announcement of seven and a half hours flight time to Seattle Tacoma International Airport with radar showing good weather the whole way.
Departing Keflavik International Airport:
As it came time to get underway, we had a short taxi over to the departure Runway 01. We had no waits departing. We appeared to be among the last aircraft to leave Keflavik International Airport in this sequence of fights.
In Flight Entertainment:
As we got underway, I looked at the in flight entertainment options. The Icelandair in flight entertainment system consisted of a monitor in the seat back in front. The monitor was lightly adjustable in case of a seat recline.
The system had been upgraded from our last trans continental flight and contained about seventy movies and television shows; an upgrade from the previous version that consisted of only about thirty movies.
I played with the flight track feature, which pictured our flight track from Iceland to Washington State, USA. Our track would take us over Greenland, Western Canada and eventually down to Seattle, USA.
While there were more movies on the system than in the previous generation, I’d find that a regular traveller on Iceland air might tire of the limited selection quite quickly. Most of the major international airline players have a substantially greater selection, so you’ll have to settle for what you’ve got while flying Icelandair.
In a bit of irritating viewing, the Advanced Video on Demand would often disconnect. This would require you to restart your movie, pass through all the commercials, and then fast forward to where the interruption occurred. While I wouldn’t normally mention it, this occurred five or six times on our flight length; a surprisingly irritating amount.
In Flight Wifi Internet:
Icelandair also featured in flight wifi internet available. The service was available for 12€ for the flight, or on a complimentary basis for Saga Business Class Passengers.
Perhaps a bit irritatingly, the system required a different URL to connect, dependent on the version of aircraft that you were flying on. I would end up discovering a QR code located within the entertainment system. A scan of the QR code would end up linking you to the correct URL.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to actually get the wifi to work on this particular flight. Even after trying a multitude of connection combinations, I was unsuccessful. I eventually gave up on the wifi as a measure of entertainment.
Food and Beverage:
Once we were airborne, the crew passed out the dinner menus. Icelandair still offers a printed menu, which adds to a nice touch for minimal effort.
The Icelandair dinner menu only offers two options; neither one is vegetarian. If you need a vegetarian meal, you’d have to order it in advance as a special meal.
The wine list was also presented. It offered an old world European centric wine list, along with a surprise red from Argentina. Overall, we had no complaints about the wine list.
One of the more unique features of Icelandair are their collection of Gin and Tonics. Icelandair offers a variety of no less than six Gin and Tonic’s, that are all served in individual portioned containers.
If the wine and Gin weren’t enough, there were also Icelandic Gull Beers available, along with Espresso Martini’s.
Rounding out the menu presentation, a series of salty and sweet snacks were also listed on the menu.
The Meal: A Full Dinner
As we climbed to cruise altitude, the supper service started slowly with a beverage cocktail service. I enjoyed an Olafsson Icelandinc Gin with Franklin and Sons Natural Light Tonic water, accompanied with lemon and crisp crackers that appeared to be off menu.
I went onto enjoy the main dinner item which was presented as aVeal Ossobuco with truffle mashed potatoes, fried onions and a Madeira sauce. The veal was racy for an airline meal. Along with being a bit of a drippy meal, I really enjoyed it and it was something completely different than the safe dishes that come to expect most times from international airline cabin food.
We had pleasant sunset views as we finished the meal service with a constant view of the sunset along our entire flight.
I tucked myself into sleep after the meal. I attempted a rest of the reclining seats. While it wasn’t exactly a fully flat seat, it was enough to get some what of a bit of relaxation. The Icelandair Saga Business Class seat itself is pretty compact; especially when it’s reclined in front of you. As I indicated earlier, it was more like a premium economy or a domestic first class product. For the price paid, I couldn’t complain. I did mange to get a little sleep in the light recline of the business class barca lounger seat.
The Second Service: A Light Snack
At about 90 minutes prior to landing, we had a second service. We received a small plate of a canapé stick, with some crackers and cheese. While it was a nice touch, it wasn’t very filling.
If I was sleeping, I probably wouldn’t bother waking up for the second service.
Arriving into Seattle Tacoma International Airport:
We had an easy approach into Seattle Tacoma International Airport. It had been a number of years since we’ve arrived into Seattle Tacoma on an international arrival.
On this visit, we’d get the opportunity to try Seattle Tacoma’s South Concourse arrival facility. The new facility is a marked improvement from the dark basement that Seattle bound travellers used to arrive into.
After disembarkation, we proceeded down a few corridors to access the overhead walkway. We rode the escalators up and over the south satellite terminal apron and taxi ways. It was an easy walk thanks to a moving sidewalk. We had some great views of United Aircraft as we descended into the international arrivals hall of Seattle Tacoma International Airport.
The new international Seattle arrivals’ facility is a world ahead of the rest of the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The arrivals hall featured a massive arrivals’ area that was in stark contrast the rest of the older Seattle Tacoma facilities which were dating from the 1940’s.
We collected our bags and proceeded through the international connections desk to connect to an Alaska Airlines flight back to Vancouver.
My frequent flier points for this Icelandair flight credited without issue to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan about fourteen days after the flight. While it wasn’t the fastest partner airline credit, it posted without any intervention.
The Bottom Line: Icelandair Saga Class
Icelandair offered a cost competitive way to get over to Europe in a reasonable amount of comfort. While the business class seats certainly aren’t state of the art, we did have access to the usual amenities in business class; additional luggage allowance, access to a lounge at the departure airport and in Iceland, and a full meal along with a complimentary beverages and bar service.
While you won’t ever confuse Icelandair business class seats for a fully flat business class product in a major international airline alliance, it’s a reasonable way to get over to Europe, assuming the price is right.
World Traveller 73 
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