Advantages: Excellent facilities, comfortable rooms, convenient for the motorway network, good link with Heathrow
Disadvantages: EXPENSIVE, bad planning on the bar for big events

...There are lots of hotels to choose from in and around London Heathrow, so you may well ask why I elected to stay at the Crowne Plaza, which is off the main drag known as Bath Road, and certainly not the cheapest if my recent visit to the Marriott is anything to go by. A friend was meant to be passing through London on his way back to the States the same night as I was anticipating an early morning flight to Madrid to visit my sister in law, and he was staying here. Plus, I get Priority Club points on my stays, and IC Hotels were offering an additional 1,000 points for stays booked and completed during February, thus the decision was made. ------------------------------------------------------ LOCATION Superbly positioned on Stockley Road, literally a stones throw away from Junction 4 of the M4, the hotel is reminiscent of a 1970... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Excellent food, spotlessly clean, leisure facilities, central location
Disadvantages: rates can be high, no on site parking

...? A quick browse found little I really fancied, except a listing for the Midland Hotel Crowne Plaza – well saves me the hassle of trying to get it listed, I set about getting myself a room there. LOCATION Adjacent to GMEX and the Manchester Conference centre, about 5 minutes walk from the tram hub at Piccadilly gardens, 10 minutes walk from Piccadilly and Oxford road train stations, it is about 5 minutes drive from Mancunian way, 10 minutes from the Arndale centre and 2 minutes from Granada studios – in reality you couldn’t ask for anything more convenient. It is also about 2 minutes from china town, so if you fancy a change and don’t fancy eating in the hotel, there is plenty around to tickle your fancy from every combination of Chinese to Indian, to Italian to good old pizza hut and McDonalds, you really are spoilt for choice. BOOKING... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A quick and easy read, dealing with slight mythical figures
Disadvantages: paints a slightly sentimental view of Ireland

...of Faeries. But instead of giving her words of love, and therefore showing her his heart, he offered her instead Jewels of the Sun, Tears of the Moon, and the Heart of the Sea. Gwen turned from him and so Carrick put the both of them under a curse, that the would not join again until love met love three times, and Jude and Aidan are only the start. Jewels of the Sun is one of Nora Roberts' lighter reads, which doesn't use violence to make the book a page turner. Instead her characters, as always, are well drawn and it's the main protagonists evolvement through the book that keeps you interested. Jude's transformation from a woman when she first arrives in the village of low self esteem, unsure of who she is, what she should do in her life and still hurting from an unsuccessful marriage to one able to stand up for herself in either an argument... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The salad cart, some of the desserts
Disadvantages: Can be bad service, limited menu, variable service.

...The Crown Inn Harvester, 126 Bath Rd, Longwell Green, Bristol. 0117 9322849 The Crown Inn is one of a chain of Harvesters in the city, including Snuff Mills in Frenchay, Lamb and Flag in Cribbs Causeway and the Red Lion in Westbury, but it was decided on the Crown Inn because the Snuff Mills has a fishpond in the middle of it and the kids get more interested in the fish! So off we go at 6.30pm on a sunny Sunday, the place was very quiet, so we were surprised when the waitress said she was rushed off her feet. You see they also have a garden where you can also order your meals, I'm sure the fact that the indoors is now completely non-smoking assisted! They have an rapidy shrinking and unimaginative menu, the starters cost from £2.95 and include soup, the immortal prawn cocktail, chicken wings and more. Harvesters are known... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Location, Locatin, Location!
Disadvantages: None really - see text

...I had to attend a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel. The conference was in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, so it made sense to stay there! In Israel the currency is the New Israeli Shekel, which in this review will be called NIS. When I changed my money at Heathrow, the exchange rate was 7.79 NIS to the £. Some of the cost was in US $ so the exchange rate that was on my credit card statement was $1.81 to the £ *** Before I got there *** I booked my stay on line at the Intercontinental hotels web site, check the web site for the latest deals www.ichotels.com I didn't know how to get from Tel Aviv airport, to the hotel, so while still in the UK I sent the hotel an email asking if there was a courtesy bus. They promptly responded, telling that there wasn't, but the ways to get to the hotel were either by train, bus (number 222... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Excellent location for the NEC and airport. Fantastic customer service.
Disadvantages: None

...I stayed at this hotel in November 2006 as I was in Birmingham for a business conference which was being staged at the NEC. As normal our company travel agent (who shall remain nameless) messed up the booking and despite being asked to book this hotel (complete with postal code) had managed to book my colleague and I into the city centre Crowne Plaza. On arrival and discovery of the mix up we steeled ourselves for a fight (mainly with the travel agent to try and get them to sort out the mess they had created - not for the first time!) However it was completely unneccesary. The hotel staff were fantastic and arranged a transfer with the other hotel and booked us into two beautiful suites. I stayed in the Hendrix suite which contained cd's of his music, complimentary copies of Vogue and Q magazines and a corner balcony. We ate... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots to do
Disadvantages: Hard to see it all

...I’ve complained before to all the good people on Ciao about not being much of a fan of Melbourne. It’s just one of those cities that doesn’t grab me. There is a local tension between Sydney people and Melbourne people, each side saying their city is the best and it’s true that Melbourne was once voted the most liveable city in the world. Although it’s got many things going for it, it’s just not for me. It was with some reluctance then that I spent a few days there last week for work. On Thursday night I had a colleague with me so when we’d finished the daily drudge of meetings we thought we’d have a night on the town. Crown Casino is the jewel in Melbourne’s crown (excuse the pun) of night life. Standing resplendent on the south bank of the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the casino, built in 1996 is a must see. The 39... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Has everything, does everything.
Disadvantages: No memory slot.

...I now have his phone, and am very well pleased with it. It is sort of nice, like an old friend, the feeling you get after a lot of ups and downs with someone special. The thing is, I have only had it for a few days! I am not the easiest person to please, and for me to say this is special, is a real compliment. I now have a relationship with one of these "Jewels in the Nokia crown". I am also a bit of a closet technophobe, and even I have got to grips with it. You can get a leather case for them from about four Pounds. Mine is used without a leather case, proving it is easy enough to slip in your pocket, purse, or wherever you like. It is the easiest phone to operate since the Nokia 3310 in my opinion. It is so light you could use it as a key ring! The phones are very cheap, and being Nokia, you can apparently unlock them using codes... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent storylines. Great con work.
Disadvantages: Can make people think that conning people is acceptable.

...Stacie back. He challenges Mickey to a game of poker, which is going to be the highlight of the episode. They then spend ages teaching the viewer how to play Poker! Madness! The episode didn't entertain me at all and is probably a bad influence to get people gambling. Episode rating - 0/5. ~~Episode 6~~ The gangs biggest ever con takes place in this episode. The gang are going to steal the crown jewels. Due to the jewels being moved to a gallery for an exhibition, Mickey thinks that the jewels protection will now be easy to breach. At night the group need Danny to cut the electricity for 30 seconds so Stacie can cover the laser and motion pads. But this goes wrong because Stacie Trips up. When they finally get the diamond and out of the gallery the police are onto their tail and arrest the group. They soon hitch a plan and are found... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: The Grand Prix of all Grand Prix's
Disadvantages: Monaco ain't cheap!

...FORMULA 1 MONACO GRAND PRIX - MONTE CARLO Now, I was fortunate enough to attend the Monaco Grand Prix in 2001, on an incredibly hot, but glorious May afternoon. This Grand Prix is the Jewel In the Crown of the Formula 1 Racing season and the most eagerly awaited of all the races. Despite the current boring predictability of Formula 1 racing, Monte Carlo is probably the one race circuit likely to throw up a wild card winner. Although, things did go true to form during my attendance, when a certain Mr Michael Schumacher was victorious in Millionaires playground. Packages for the weekend can range from circa £1,500-£2,500 with the specialist tour companies, who provide packages including return flight to the U.K, 2 nights stay in 3-5 star accommodation, airport transfers, and balcony viewing for the main event. Conclusion, it... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful