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Conrad Los Angeles

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Not too often do I opt to stay in LA but on this occasion I stayed at the Conrad Los Angeles . Overall, I found the location and hotel appealing.  Conrad Los Angeles King Room Disney Hall view from lobby bar Rooftop seating area Disney Hall view from room Pros For those who are paying cash rates, the resort fee includes a small dining discount. Likely to encourage you to spend time in their two bars or two restaurants. For Diamond members, you get a $25 per person credit (usually $50).  There is no car service but the concierge will request a Lyft ride for any destination within the area. Probably cheaper for them to request Lyfts than to have a few cars on hand to drive people around.  Public areas are smartly designed to maximize occupancy without feeling too cramped. They have coffee/tea service in the morning in the lobby. They have a make your own herbal tea bar in the Spa. They lobby bar will still serve food until last call. Cons Often, US based Conrads tend not to give Diamond
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Louisville

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 A first for me, I am visiting Kentucky for a work event. Hopped onto my long flight on United to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport . I wasn’t sure what to expect outside of what I see on the news. The downtown area seems very quiet when I checked into the Marriott Courtyard Louisville Downtown . It is an easy walk to the Galt Hotel where my event was being held. The Galt Hotel in comparison to the Courtyard is probably three times larger with two towers. The interesting thing about the Galt is that the towers are connected by an over street pedestrian bridge where a coffee shop and bar is located. You can get some nice views with the river. There is a plethora of hotels in the area and I waffled between many. I ulitmately chose the Courtyard because it was the closest to the Galt Hotel but in hindsight, any of the hotels would do. The only thing is that my final day was the day of a marathon which made getting an airport ride near impossible because the Courtyard was in t
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Seattle

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I ran to back to the airport after landing from Maui to take a short overnight trip to Seattle. I had mistimed my dates and I wasn't able to get into Seattle earlier on Alaska Airlines . I think this is my first time flying Alaska? For a cost carrier, the flight was good. It is cheap to buy a business seat and get the amenities you need if you wanted to be treated like a high flying frequent flier. Given the quick turnaround, I didn't see much of Seattle but what I did see was very quiet in the downtown and Pike Marketplace area. I haven't been to the city since pre-pandemic and it doesn't have the hustle as before. Even the homeless groups were quiet. I did opt to take mass transit as the cost of taxi/uber was out the door. It ended up working out as the train took about the same time as a car would and I didn't have to sit in awkward silence.  Unfortunately, I had canceled the wrong date of my hotel reservation and the one I had active was for the following day. T
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Maui

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I normally go to Maui when I'm obligated by a timeshare presentation deal. And so I return to Maui with friends in tow to see the 'real' Hawaii. My friends had not been to Hawaii before and ended up in Oahu six months earlier for a work event. They did not enjoy the curated tourist destination that Waikiki has become and I told them that Maui would be different. After arriving back from Turlock, I jumped onto a United Airlines flight to Kahului Airport . I was able to snag a Jeep rental from Alamo rental. Since I knew that the potential for off-road was high, I wanted to make sure I had a Jeep to navigate the island. Ultimately, I didn't need it as the road to Hana from the west was closed. Westin Nanea Ocean Villas - The Westin is a nice property composed of several compounds. They fairly dominate the footprint in Kaanapali and the Nanea Ocean Villas is part of the Westin timeshare portfolio. Although we enjoyed the space, it was almost convincing to get the timesha
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Turlock

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After much debate, I decided to drive to Turlock, California. It is difficult to get to Turlock and I had a work obligation. Other than flying into a private airport, the travel time by plane/rental car and driving was the same. As a silver lining, I was able to make a pit stop in Yosemite. Hotel Bakersfield Marriott - I wasn't thrilled with the idea of working all day and driving all night to Turlock so I opted to break the trip up in the middle and overnight in Bakersfield. Since I wasn't in town long, I didn't really do much but sleep and go. I did enjoy the light breakfast offered in the lounge and the hotel seemed really fancy for the area. Since there is a convention center attached, I'm assuming this Marriott property is the nicest one. It was definitely priced higher than I was expecting.... Bakersfield Marriott Home2Suites Turlock - There aren't alot of options in Turlock but my host site was wanting to put me in the Holiday Inn and I had debated about ta
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Big Island with a quick stop in Waikiki

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Due to a Southwest Airlines promotion, went to visit the Big Island laying over in Oahu overnight. Ironically, this trip will trigger me going to Hawaii even more often through the timeshare ownership. Suffice it to say, I'm more committed now to visit Hawaii leaning towards visiting Maui more often. I also returned to Big Island because I was curious about the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival and wanted to learn more about the activities of this festival. After visiting, my impression of the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is it is a loose collection of events across all the independent coffee farmers trying to promote their coffee practices and brand Kona Coffee. It is a little confusing to understand what is going on and their website/PR needs more work but I did enjoy myself and would come back again. Due to how Southwest gets to Hawaii, I opted to take a night in Waikiki before taking the inter-island flight to Big Island the next day. I was able to snag a Camaro from Hertz  on B
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