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Kimpton Sylvan Buckhead Atlanta
Hello STYLE! If you’re looking for throwback vibes and the feeling that maybe you need a poodle skirt, frayed bottom jeans, and a headband cause you’ve been teleported to the 60s…you’re not alone. The Kimpton Sylvan officially opened its doors early in 2021 and I’ve had the pleasure of staying here a few times since opening. My latest stay was early December 2022 and the hotel still feels fresh, stylish, and exudes a Palm Springs, mid-century, come to be seen vibe.
The Kimpton Sylvan is the latest addition to an ever growing fleet of luxury hotels that line the streets of Buckhead – the Beverly Hills of Atlanta, Georgia. Away from hotel row, you’ll find the Kimpton Sylvan situated on a sidestreet within Buckhead Village, walking distance to high end shopping, great dining, and even a Shake Shack ( yes, I used my $10 Amex Gold credit there).
Over the past few years I’ve visited Atlanta a lot, and I ended up moving to the city. I’ve stayed at quite a few of the hotels nearby including The Whitley, The Thompson, and the Grand Hyatt, and honestly I’m not the biggest fan of hotel row since most of the hotels feel a bit tired, in need of TLC, and sit off a very busy PeachTree Road . Both the Thompson and The Kimpton Sylvan are the antithesis of hotel row and provide a much needed boutiquey vibe to the Buckhead hotel scene.
I hemmed and hawed over using a IHG credit card anniversary nights at either the newly renovated Intercontinental or the Kimpton on my most recent stay. My mom had a 40k IHG Select night expiring at the end of the month and I chose to do a quick pet friendly staycation. Rates were running around $200 a night at the Kimpton and $350 at the Intercontinental but the Intercontinental charges for pets so the decision was made. I’m sure I’ll visit the Intercontinental on another occasion since I’d love to review their updated rooms.
IHG Credit Card Award Nights
There are two different kinds of IHG credit card award nights. One, from the new set of IHG credit cards, is valid at properties up to 40k a night. But, if you want to add points to it, you most certainly can.
I’ve gotten an enormous amount of value out of this card
Chase IHG Rewards Club Premier
( Learn More )
The second kind of free night is from the old IHG Select card that only allows redemptions UP TO 40k. This is what I used for my most recent stay.
IHG Resorts & Hotels
IHG Hotels & Resorts has really increased their footprint via acquisitions over the past several years. Not only did they purchase Kimpton in 2014, but they folded in Regent hotels on the high end, and most recently added uber lux Six Senses to their portfolio.
Stay Details:
Since this review covers a couple of stays here are the details of each
First Stay:
- When: May 2021
- Where: Buckhead – Atlanta, Georgia
- How much: 5 anniversary award nights
- $250/night or 26k to 39k points
- Status: Ambassador Platinum
- Upgrade: Yes, to Premium King, Pool View
Second Stay
- When: December 2022
- Where: Buckhead – Atlanta, Georgia
- How much: 1 IHG Rewards Select free night
- $200/night or 32k points
- Status: Ambassador Platinum
- Upgrade: Yes, to Premium King, City View
Check In
One thing to note if you’re driving to the hotel, there is only valet parking and it’s $42 a day. We were promptly greeted and checked in without any problem. Don’t forget to the google the current secret password for a little welcome treat – usually free parking, a drink, etc.
The only gripe I would have has nothing to do with the hotel itself, but rather the way multiple award nights have to be processed – since my first stay involved using 5 of them. Since they are all individual nights, each night needed to have a credit card added to the reservation rather than one card across all nights. Each night also needed to be checked out and back in. I believe you could avoid this by calling into IHG ahead of time and linking the reservations…so don’t be like me lol.
Secret Password
Kimpton hotels usually have a secret password. For this stay it was “The snuggle is real” – I was presented with a bunch of Christmas presents and asked to choose one.
And inside was some plastic food meaning I got a food and beverage credit. Technically I was supposed to use it on breakfast, but I swapped it for a bar credit and had an old fashioned.
The Betty bar where I sipped my tasty old fashioned
Daily Happy Hour
Don’t forget that Kimpton has a happy hour every evening for guests. As for hours at the front desk as they may vary, but they were hosting it in this small sitting area adjacent to check in.
The Room – first visit
Vibes on vibes on viiiiiiibes. We were upgraded to a 4th floor Premium pool view king and would have been a $100 premium over the base room rate. It’s roughly 310sq ft and features a small sitting area, king bed, plenty of outlets, and a nice pool view. Space was also economized by using a barn door for the bathroom.
You can link your device to the tv via Chromecast and there is a small wireless speaker that can be used via bluetooth. There are two closets, one featuring a safe and empty mini bar.
The Bathroom
Large, open shower with a single vanity. Bath products provided by Atelier Bloom – small individual soap and lotion with large multi use bottles for the shower. Personally…I’m not a fan of the multi use bottles even though I’m sure they are more environmentally friendly. I love to take bath products home as a reminder of my stay, but I understand the choice.
The Room – second visit
At the time of booking I could choose a city view premium room for no extra cost and that was what I was given. It was on par with the pool view room and the space was quite good.
View from the room:
Bathroom:
Dining
There are three places to dine at the hotel and we enjoyed two of them while staying at the property.
- The Betty
- St Julep
- Willow Bar
The Betty
Each morning you can grab a self serve coffee and there are little snacks as well. We had dinner one night – delicious food and cocktails. Total vibes.
I’ve also had dinner here multiple times and it’s delicious. In fact, this past trip was focused around meeting my buddy here for dinner.
St Julep
This is a very cool spot to grab a drink whether you’re at staying at the hotel or not. It’s open starting at 4pm and has various closing times depending on the night. Sweeping views, nice breeze, and we enjoyed the ambience as well
Willow Bar
A plant based menu that is located just off the lobby in the hotel’s courtyard. You can see it lit up here with igloos to beat the cold.
Fitness/Pool
We had a great view of the pool, 90+ degree weather, and it was definitely utilized by many during our stay.
The fitness center is just off the pool and features a couple of Peloton bikes, treadmills, and free weights.
Between the fitness center and pool you’ll find a water station
Overall
I love traditional luxury, but Kimpton brings an effervescent charm to the market that will make this a favorite amongst both the staycation and roadwarrior crowd.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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