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Just had 3 nights at this hotel after 2 years of cancellations – I think either @Tracey or @Tracy has it booked for next year so I thought I’d share a few thoughts.
We booked a North Sound studio (i.e. car park view) and were upgraded to a Spa Studio with pool/sea view. The rooms are huge and it’s worth booking one with the kitchenette for making drinks etc.
@Aston100 – there is a Keurig coffee machine and Oster kettle (never heard of the brand but it has a display for the temperature and pings when it’s boiled!). Coat hangers are both wooden and padded varieties.
@meta – toiletries are full size Atelier Bloem. I think you would like it very much.
The resort fee is a hefty $80 pn, however you can get good value out of it, e.g. morning coffee, afternoon wine and valet parking which was very convenient (the underground parking meant that the hire car stayed mercifully cool!)
Food offerings were excellent and actually not unreasonably priced for GCM. The 3 course tasting menu with wine and rum pairings at Ave restaurant was about £250 for 2 of us which I’m sure is similar to high end London establishments.
We were given free breakfast on all 3 days as Diamond. This represented superb value as the very good buffet breakfast is normally $47 US pp. There was a huge variety of hot and cold options, including Caribbean, British and US-style offerings. It was OH’s birthday the day we arrived and they sent up a huge cheese and fruit plate after check in (sadly he hates cheese but it lasted me the full 3 days of our stay!)
Service was top-notch; about 5 minutes after check in all the staff seem to know you by name. The pool and beach are absolutely beautiful with plenty of loungers (and cabanas if you have an extra $300 to spare). These seem to be closely guarded for guests – on our first afternoon the pool attendant kicked out the family who had taken the loungers next to us as they had only eaten at the restaurant and weren’t staying at the hotel! There’s also F50 sunscreen, chilled fruity water and swim nappies provided.
We booked using 1 credit card free night certificate and 140,000 IHG points (shout out to Creation). Cash prices can reach £1000 pn night for standard rooms so this is a real sweet spot redemption and one can only wonder how long it will be before they catch up with dynamic pricing.
There’s an Indigo currently being built next door so it will be interesting to see what that has to offer when it’s finished.Great report. I don’t know the toiletries’ brand, but they do look right up my alley.
They can be bought online and currently with 20% discount.
https://www.kimptonstyle.com/category.aspx?atelier-bloemThanks for the report @NorthernLass, we are indeed staying for 7 nights next March. I have 3 nights booked and OH 4 nights booked, all on points (again thanks Creation lol). I will be Diamond, OH will drop down from Diamond to whatever IHG decide in December 2022…I will be entitled to the 3 nights breakfast, just wondering if its worth upgrading OH to ambassador to ensure breakfast for all 7 nights, might be worth it….
What car hire did you book? We may book a car for some or all of the trip….@Northernlass wondering if you stayed elsewhere on Grand Caymen as we are looking at staying at a timeshare either Wyndham Reef resort or The Londoner at Morritts Tortuga Club, just wondering if you may have come across them and any thoughts? Thanks for the report as we would definitely like to pay a visit maybe next year.
Apologies, still in transit and having log in issues!
@Tracy, ambassador doesn’t get you free breakfast so you may want to acquire some more points and put the bookings on the same account! I need to try & requalify for our stay next April as well 😬
@shilly – we have a timeshare at Morritt’s and go for 2/3 weeks most years. It’s a nice place, as is The Reef, but it’s quite a remote location so you’d need a hire car and won’t be near many restaurants etc. That area suffers badly with sargassum weed at the moment as well, so if a pristine beach is a priority I’d stay over at 7 Mile Beach. Who are you looking to book with? We’ve just had 2 weeks in the Londoner but they usually reserve the newer buildings for owners so it helps if you rent from someone who owns in that building.Also @ Tracy, we got an estate car from Andy’s car rental which we find reliable and good value, it was just over $1k US for 18 days which to be fair is pretty typical for GCM despite the recent price hikes seen in other places. That included full insurance so if you have the Amex Platinum or other cover you could knock about $250 off that price.
Tip – get a taxi from the airport on arrival and pick up the car the next day, it’s much more relaxing, especially if you want to fully enjoy CW en route! (Though the offering was pretty mediocre this time 😩)Thanks @Anna, good tip re. car hire next day after flight 😂. Just trying to decide if we should hire car for all 7 days or just as and when….sounds like you enjoyed your stay…
Thanks for the review, really interesting. Disabled access at all? The killer qiestion is are the hangers stealable hahaha
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@SSS – the Kimpton is quite new and I can’t think of anywhere a disabled person would struggle – the lifts go to ground level which leads to a well made path taking you to the beach or pool, and the pool itself has a combination of shallow and step entry. The sea is beautifully calm along that stretch.
In general older buildings tend not to be very accessible but the newer the better as a rule. Probably one of the best islands in the region for people with mobility issues. At the airport you always see loads of staff around to help people out and again it’s brand new and all in one level – taxis are right outside the arrivals hall and the supervisor will find a car to suit your needs.Lol hangers were removable but the myriad toiletries were much more appealing (toothbrush kit, shave kit, sewing kit, grooming kit etc!)
Very helpful. Going in Feb – can’t wait. Any tips for things to do with 14 year old? Also booking with points – do you know which room type is best to book using points?
Hi @Mandy – there are 2 room types you can book with points, a North Sound one and a sea view. The former is bigger and has the kitchenette/wet bar so I would always go for that and hope for an upgrade to sea view, which we got (also a slightly bigger room with a bath). You also have the choice of 2 Queen beds or 1 king/sofa bed in these categories. The sofa bed was very comfortable for my teenager even though he was quite disgruntled at having to share with us for the last 3 nights of the trip!
It depends what they like doing. There are plenty of swimming/snorkelling ops, a skate park, cinema in Camana Bay shopping complex, duty free perfume and jewellery at various locations. Ordinary purchases are fiendishly expensive though, so don’t plan on US mall-style shopping sprees! Lots of organised trips, e.g. Stingray City, sunset sail, bioluminescence bay tour, I’d recommend all of these.
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Very nice Anna as this means you will be able to prove on your claim to Creation for non-provision of earned night, that the cash value of a night at the Kimpton Seafire was really what the free night was worth to you.
@LL – as and when the FOS decides to act …!
Anna, so glad you’re having a fab time!
Our Newquay trip turned into mini nightmare as GWR cancelled
the only train back with 1 minute’s notice (they’d literally just said
“Next train arriving on Platform 1 is…”!). Queue dozens of people
trying to find a room on the coast in July at 3pm of the same day….Oh no! Just think how blissful it’s going to be when (and if) travel is really back to normal …
It was fab but also a bit surreal. Our “concierge” (as they call holiday reps) in our timeshare resort was a guy called Armie – we thought he was just another American with a daft name but at the end of the week a huge news story broke and it turned out he was the actor Armie Hammer (we didn’t realise who he was having only seen him in Death on the Nile) Then Rolling Stone magazine messaged us and asked us for a comment! It was certainly an entertaining trip 😂Just came across this article – you are at the epicentre of an international storm Anna ! 😂
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/19/is-armie-hammer-really-selling-timeshares-in-the-cayman-islandsHa! We also got one of those flyers, they definitely weren’t fakes …
Ha! We also got one of those flyers, they definitely weren’t fakes …
Did you keep it? A collector’s item of the future methinks!
Oh yes! Partly because I was slightly nervous when his lawyer started denying everything and thought we might get slapped with a lawsuit for confirming that we’d seen him on our FB owners’ group, and we might need evidence. Though on reflection maybe even the Yanks would struggle to sue people for telling the truth in a foreign jurisdiction 😂
Thanks for the review.
Any thoughts on the loo roll?Surprisingly flimsy, @Aston100.
Great update/insight @NorthernLass – just about to book 10 nights on points, so your update makes me much more comfortable that the F&B spend will be worth it!
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