The FlexStays Journal
Honest write-ups of the hotels we have actually stayed in, plus pricing guides to the cities around them — each one ending where it should: with the dates that cost the least.
- Hotel reviews
- 38
- Destination guides
- 5
- Countries
- 26
- Covering
- 2020–2026
Latest
Reid's Palace review: Madeira's clifftop classic, best in winter
Subtropical gardens on a cliff above Funchal bay, three pools and sea access by lift. A rare hotel that is at its best in January.
27 May 2026 · 8 min read · 9.2/10
Pan Pacific London review: the City's best hotel pool, four years in
An 18-metre pool, an Asian-leaning restaurant floor and Liverpool Street on the doorstep. Pan Pacific's first European hotel has settled into itself.
19 May 2026 · 8 min read · 8.9/10
Soneva Fushi review: barefoot luxury that actually means barefoot
Big jungle villas on a large island in a UNESCO biosphere, with an observatory, an outdoor cinema and no shoes for a week.
5 February 2026 · 8 min read · 9.6/10
Badrutt's Palace review: St Moritz in its purest, most theatrical form
The Alpine grand hotel that invented the winter season. Lake views, a legendary bar and rates that swing wildly with the calendar.
15 January 2026 · 8 min read · 9.3/10
Six Senses Zighy Bay review: paraglide in, then disappear for a week
A stone village between mountains and sea on the Musandam peninsula, reachable by mountain road, boat or tandem paraglide.
12 October 2025 · 9 min read · 9.3/10
When to visit Tokyo: the cheap months nobody books
Cherry blossom and autumn leaves carry an enormous premium. The gaps between them are where Tokyo becomes surprisingly affordable.
30 June 2025 · 7 min read
Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab review: Dubai's biggest opening in years
A yacht-shaped tower with a private beach, a huge spa and the best possible view of the Burj Al Arab: the one next door.
9 April 2025 · 9 min read · 9.0/10
Eichardt's Private Hotel review: five lakefront suites and no crowds
A tiny 1860s hotel on Queenstown's lakefront with suites the size of apartments and one of the best bars in the South Island downstairs.
21 March 2025 · 9 min read · 9.2/10
Chablé Maroma review: barefoot luxury in the Riviera Maya jungle
Private-pool villas in dense jungle, a Mayan-inspired spa built around a cenote and one of the best beaches on the Riviera Maya. Adults only.
11 February 2025 · 8 min read · 9.3/10
Fairmont Banff Springs review: the castle in the Rockies, warts and all
A vast 1888 railway hotel with a mountain spa, a good golf course and 700 rooms. Magnificent from the outside; know what you are booking inside.
30 January 2025 · 7 min read · 8.8/10
London hotel prices by month: when the city is cheap
London's rates are driven by business travel and events, not weather — which is why a Saturday in a five-star City hotel can cost less than a Tuesday.
22 January 2025 · 6 min read
One&Only Cape Town review: Table Mountain, an island of suites and easy logistics
The most convenient luxury base in Cape Town: Table Mountain framed from the pool, and the Waterfront restaurants two minutes away.
4 November 2024 · 8 min read · 9.2/10
One&Only One Za'abeel review: a city resort suspended over Dubai
The Link cantilever, a 60th-floor infinity pool and some of the best restaurants in the Gulf. Dubai's most architecturally interesting hotel, reviewed honestly.
12 October 2024 · 9 min read · 9.2/10
When to visit Dubai: the cheapest months, week by week
Dubai's hotel rates move more across the year than almost any city on earth. Here's how the calendar actually works, and which weeks quietly cost half of the peak.
5 September 2024 · 7 min read
Rosewood Baha Mar review: a calm corner of a very large resort complex
Rosewood provides the quiet, adult end of Baha Mar while giving you access to the pools, casino and restaurants of the whole complex.
19 August 2024 · 7 min read · 8.9/10
Park Hyatt Sydney review: the Opera House from your bed
Low, curved and right on Circular Quay, this is the only hotel in Sydney where the harbour view is the entire room.
8 June 2024 · 9 min read · 9.3/10
Four Seasons London at Tower Bridge review: the City's quiet weekend secret
A former Port of London Authority building with a rooftop bar, a 20-metre pool and rates that collapse the moment the bankers go home on Friday.
2 March 2024 · 8 min read · 9.0/10
Raffles Singapore review: all-suite, all-butler, and better after the restoration
The 2019 restoration fixed the museum problem. Raffles is now a working luxury hotel again, with suites only and a butler on every floor.
16 February 2024 · 8 min read · 9.4/10
The Datai Langkawi review: a rainforest resort that earns its reputation
Ten million years of rainforest, a resident naturalist team and one of the best private beaches in Southeast Asia. Here's what six nights actually cost and felt like.
16 January 2024 · 7 min read · 9.3/10
The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto review: riverside rooms and the best onsen in the city
Set on the Kamo river between the Imperial Palace and Gion, with a genuine onsen downstairs and Higashiyama across the water.
12 November 2023 · 8 min read · 9.3/10
Riviera Maya: when to go, where to stay and how to dodge the seaweed
Sargassum, hurricane season and the winter premium shape every booking on this coast. Get the timing right and the same villa costs half as much.
9 November 2023 · 7 min read
Rosewood Vienna review: an old-world address with a very modern rooftop
Rosewood took a 19th-century bank on Petersplatz and turned it into Vienna's most quietly confident hotel. Here's what the rooms, the rooftop and the rates are really like.
18 September 2023 · 8 min read · 9.2/10
Viceroy Riviera Maya review: the original Playa del Carmen hideaway
Thatched villas, a copal-smoke welcome ritual and a beach a short drive from Playa's Quinta Avenida. A boutique alternative to the coast's all-inclusive giants.
14 August 2023 · 8 min read · 8.5/10
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas review: still the best room on the Strip
Wraparound terraces over the Bellagio fountains, a Marriott Autograph badge and a resort fee you need to plan for. What the Cosmopolitan is like now.
23 June 2023 · 8 min read · 8.6/10
Jade Mountain review: rooms with three walls and the Pitons in the fourth
Every sanctuary is missing an entire wall, so the view of the Pitons is the room. Add an infinity pool per suite and no televisions.
15 June 2023 · 7 min read · 9.4/10
Royal Mansour review: 53 private riads and the most invisible service in Morocco
Instead of rooms, you get your own three-storey riad with a courtyard and a rooftop. Staff move through underground corridors so you rarely see them arrive.
9 March 2023 · 9 min read · 9.7/10
Four Seasons Singapore review: the grown-up alternative to Marina Bay
Michelin-starred Cantonese, a Nobu, tennis courts and rooms twice the size of the city's newer openings — just off Orchard Road.
14 February 2023 · 8 min read · 8.9/10
Capella Bangkok review: riverside calm and the best service in the city
Every room faces the river, the pool runs the length of the property, and the staffing ratio is high enough that you stop asking for things twice.
27 January 2023 · 9 min read · 9.6/10
Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah review: the value pick on the Palm
200 metres of private beach, big classic rooms and rates that consistently undercut the Palm's newer arrivals. Where it wins, and where it shows its age.
5 December 2022 · 9 min read · 8.7/10
Four Seasons Tokyo at Otemachi review: the best skyline view in the city
Floor-to-ceiling glass, a 39th-floor spa and Tokyo Station five minutes away. The Otemachi Four Seasons is small, sharp and worth the premium — on the right dates.
7 November 2022 · 7 min read · 9.4/10
Rosewood Hong Kong review: harbour views that make the price make sense
Victoria Dockside's flagship faces the island head-on. The rooms are large, the art is real, and the view runs the length of the harbour.
21 October 2022 · 8 min read · 9.4/10
Vienna city break guide: the cheapest months for a great hotel
Vienna's hotel prices track its cultural calendar: ball season, Advent markets and summer festivals. Between them sit some genuinely cheap weeks.
12 October 2022 · 6 min read
Copacabana Palace review: Rio's landmark, and the pool is still the point
Belmond's white Art Deco block has faced Copacabana beach since 1923. The rooms have been quietly modernised; the pool terrace has not needed to change.
30 August 2022 · 8 min read · 9.2/10
One&Only Portonovi review: the Adriatic's most ambitious resort
A Chenot-run wellness programme, a marina full of superyachts and a fjord-like bay that most of Europe still hasn't discovered.
21 July 2022 · 10 min read · 9.1/10
Il San Pietro di Positano review: a cliff, a lift and the Amalfi Coast beneath you
Carved into the rock outside Positano, with a private beach reached by lift through the cliff. Romantic, remote and seasonal in the extreme.
26 May 2022 · 7 min read · 9.5/10
La Mamounia review: Marrakech's most famous garden, and it earns the fame
Seventeen acres of walled gardens next to the medina, four pools and a spa the size of a small hotel. La Mamounia is spectacle done properly.
14 February 2022 · 8 min read · 9.2/10
Hotel de Russie review: Rome's secret garden between Popolo and the Spanish Steps
Rocco Forte's Roman flagship hides terraced gardens behind a plain Babuino facade. It is the most useful location in the historic centre.
8 September 2021 · 9 min read · 9.3/10
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok review: 150 years of practice, and it shows
The city's oldest hotel still runs the tightest service operation on the river, with a spa across the water and a lobby that never quite stops moving.
13 July 2021 · 8 min read · 9.4/10
Cheval Blanc Paris review: the best hotel view in the city, at a price
LVMH's Paris flagship sits inside the old Samaritaine building with a rooftop looking straight down the Seine. It is spectacular — and it is priced like it.
19 April 2021 · 9 min read · 9.6/10
Four Seasons Bora Bora review: overwater villas with Mount Otemanu in the window
The lagoon really is that colour. What matters is which villa faces the mountain, and which months cost thousands less.
25 January 2021 · 7 min read · 9.4/10
Le Bristol Paris review: the grande dame that still feels lived in
Le Bristol has the rooftop pool, the garden and the three-star kitchen — but its real advantage is that it never feels like a museum.
2 November 2020 · 8 min read · 9.4/10
Hotel Cipriani Venice review: the quietest address in a very loud city
A boat ride from San Marco buys you a garden, an Olympic-length pool and silence. Here is what Belmond's Venetian flagship gets right, and when it costs least.
11 June 2020 · 8 min read · 9.5/10
The Chedi Muscat review: minimalism, a 103-metre pool and adults-only calm
Twenty-one acres of clipped gardens on the Gulf of Oman, three pools, and a design language of black stone and white linen.
27 February 2020 · 8 min read · 9.3/10