Everywhere we go, people ask us if it's our honeymoon. It's not - we were married over three years ago. Trust us, the honeymoon is over. But one day in Japan we decided to just go with it - and next thing you know a lovely bottle of wine showed up at our door, compliments of the hotel. Naturally this got us thinking. Why not ...volunteer... that it's our honeymoon when checking into hotels. I mean we're practically newlyweds... Tacky? Perhaps. But when you're going to be staying in over 200 different hotels, the shwag can add up fast. Here's a list of stuff this happy couple has received:
Park Hotel, Tokyo, Japan: Bottle of wine
New Otani Hotel, Osaka, Japan: Upgrade to a suite with a view of the Osaka Castle
Royal Park Hotel, Tokyo, Japan: Mini bottle of lovely French wine
Sofitel on Remnin Square, Xian, China: Upgrade to a junior-suite
Yuzile Hotel of Modern Art, Yanghsuo, China: Upgrade to a huge suite like twice the size of a normal room
Metropark Causeway Bay, Hong Kong: Upgrade to a city view room, plus a bottle of champagne
Rennaisance Hotel River Saigon, Vietnam: A gorgeous bouquet of rose and lily flowers delivered the day after we checked in
Sunrise Beach Resort , Nha Trang, Vietnam: Upgrade to a large sea view room, plus the “honeymooner” setup of being greeted by a rose petal arrangement on the bed in the shape of hearts, and a bathtub full of floating rose petals.
Life Resort, Hoi An, Vietnam: Again, the heart shaped rose petal setup, this time with lit candles and two heart shaped pieces of cake laid out on the bed.
De Syloia Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam: They upgraded us to the De Syloia Suite, which was basically a ginormous room. You had to take a staircase from the entrance to get in it, and it was just massive. Definitely not the nicest of rooms, but a very nice gesture.
Sheraton Hanoi, Vietnam: Upon checking in the welcome desk informed us in honor of our honeymoon we'd be upgraded to a suite over-looking the lake (not bad considering we booked the cheapest room in the place on expedia). This was a totally gorgeous room, that even came stocked with a fruit plate and a small bouquet of flowers in honor of our joyous occasion. Update at 9:30 pm -- we just got a mini cake and card delivered to our room compliments of the hotel wishing us a romantic honeymoon.
Maison Souvannaphoum Hotel, Luang Prabang, Laos: This was a whole new "honeymoon experience". Two women brought us to our room, and had us sit on the veranda so we could do a traditional Laos ceremony for newlyweds -- they had us cross our feet on top of each other, while they sprinkled water on them. Then, we were each handed a shot of whisky and told to take a shot. Also, the bed had flowers in the shape of a heart. Lastly, we just got a knock on the door and were delivered a "happy honeymoon" cake.
FCC Hotel, Siem Reap, Cambodia: Believe it or not, we're not exactly sure whether we got hooked up or not. After we returned from dinner our first night, was a little bowl of fruit turn down service had left for us in front of our door (since we had the do not disturb sign on). The questions is, did everyone get that, or were we special since it was our "honeymoon".
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Now these are the sort of places that know how to hook you up. Upon checking in at the front desk, I was handed a lovely bouquet of 2 dozen red roses. They also upgraded us to this amazing corner room with great city views. This is such a hook up, since we always make a reservation with the cheapest room available.
Park Hyatt, Dubai, UAE: Upgrade to a deluxe marina view room, with fruit basket and a dozen red roses
Elite Grande, Seef Distict, Bahrain: Although there was no acknowledgment of our honeymoon when we checked in, upon arriving to the apartment there was a cake waiting for us.
Le Meridien Pointe Aux Piments, Mauritius: This was the ultimate hook up. Upon check-in, we were infromed of an upgrade to the newly added Nirvana section of the hotel, which is only for adults, as well can only be accessed by a limited number of guests. Then, they hand us an envelope that has a coupon for a free "honeymoon" candlelight dinner at Shells restaurant (including wine), as well another voucher for a couples head and neck massage. Lastly, we get to the room, and on the bed is a Le Meridien polo shirt for Jason, and a beautiful sarang for me -- wedding gifts from the hotel. On top of it all, there's a bottle of chilled champange waiting for us. Gotta love the honeymoon!
Hotel Estherea, Amsterdam: We not only got an amazing rate on the room , but were welcomed to a deluxe room instead of a standard for a honeymoon treat. This boasted a sitting area, and an amazing view of the canal.
Airport Hotel Basel, Switzerland: This 2 month old hotel really had it's act together. They not only upgraded us to a 10th floor suite with an incredible view, but also had a bottle of champagne and fruit basket waiting in honor of the special occasion. They also gave us 2 free drink tickets for the casino next door.
Catonlonia Las Cortes, Madrid, Spain: I called ahead to check to see if we could have a larger room for our honeymoon, and wasn't guaranteed anything. When we arrived, we were shown to what appears to be a junior suite, euqipped with an extra large bed, a couch, work desk, and amazing top floor view. Plus, we got them to include breakfast for us, all for a mere 95 euros a night!
Sheration, Tiberias, Israel: Upgrade to a junior suite with amazing views over the Golan Heights.
Arcotel Rubin, Hamburg, Germany: Brought up a delicious chocolate cake all decorated with berries. We ate some of the cake, and sadly had to leave the hotel that same afternoon because of that bad internet connection.
Melia Berlin, Germany: Brought up a full bottle of champagne.
The Park City, London, UK: A bottle of red wine, that we think may have went bad, since it tasted really strange. You can't exactly complain about a comped bottle of wine:)
