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New this year, the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea is offering a variety of volunteer opportunities for guests who may want to offset their luxurious spending by helping to build a home or dishing out food for the homeless. Is voluntourism simply a way to exonerate guests from feeling guilty of their spendthrift ways? Maybe. But is it well intentioned? Definitely. On the winter-spring itinerary this year…
The newest accommodations at a Disney Good Neighbour Hotel now can be found at the Radisson Resort Orlando-Celebration following the resort’s $10-million transformation of its guestrooms, meeting and event spaces, restaurant, lobby and public spaces. Located a half mile from the Walt Disney Resort with complimentary, all-day shuttle transportation to the Epcot Transportation Centre (saving families $14 a…
Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London is set to open on 6 May 2014. Located on the historic South Bank of the River Thames in the 306-metre-high, glass-clad Shard, the hotel will be the Hong Kong-based luxury hotel group’s third in Europe, following debuts in Paris in 2010 and Istanbul in 2013. As the tallest hotel in Western Europe and the first high-rise hotel in London, the Shangri-La occupies levels…
The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto has opened its doors marking the group’s fourth property in Japan. The 136-room property is located next to the Kamogawa River and its rooms have views of the Higashiyama mountains. Located in the heart of a city famed for its Zen temples, palaces and gardens, the riverside resort brings the unsurpassed elegance and renowned service of The Ritz-Carlton to Kyoto, while honoring the…
Sochi's 2014 Winter Olympics is starting to look like a joke as journalists take to twitter to share the appalling state of their hotel rooms. One journalist tweeted that he was willing to trade three light bulbs for a door handle. Two days to go before the olympics start and only six of the nine media hotels have been completed. CNN reporter Harry Reekie tweeted "CNN booked 11 rooms in one @Sochi2014 media…
Thailand's "The Palace Luxury Boutique Villas" was awarded the 'best hotel for romance' title by TripAdvisor. The resort is located in Koh Tao and ranked first against 25 other hotels in the same category. The same hotel also ranked 2nd in two other categories: Top 25 Small Hotels in Asia and Top 25 Luxury Hotels in Asia. Have you been? Do you think it deserves the title? Let us know - tweet @irhal or…
Talal Liwa Hotel, a secluded hideaway resort perched on the edge of Rub Al Khali Desert in Abu Dhabi’s Empty Quarter, ranked 7th in TripAdvisor's best family hotels category. Guests who stayed at Tilal Liwa Hotel left comments on TripAdvisor such as “hidden gem”, “comfort in the middle of nowhere!” and “a great way to experience the desert charm”. They particularly praised the hotel’s location, facilities,…
The Arts Club, the private members’ club established in 1863, is to add 16 beautifully designed hotel rooms and suites to its impressive Mayfair townhouse in late 2014. Located on popular Dover Street, the hotel will offer a discreet escape and enable guests to access all of The Arts Club facilities, including the three restaurants, garden and nightclub. The suites, which are on the second, third and…
Starwood Hotels is testing a new feature that would replace keys and membership cards with a smartphone app. The new feature, called a keyless key, would enable its Starwood Preferred Guest members to go straight to their rooms and open the door via their smartphone, rather than having to go through the process of checking in. It will be trialed at the Aloft Harlem New York and Aloft Silicon Valley…
The Ibis Hotel chain has unveiled an insane advertising campaign to promote its new “Sweet Bed”. Hailed as the bed that provides “ultimate comfort”, the adventurer Aaron Chervenak and his team are journeying all the way to Mount Roraima—“The Devil’s Mountain”—in the Amazon, choosing to sleep 2,810-meters above ground. What makes this publicity stunt more challenging is this—Mount Roraima is one of the most…
Following a soft launch in December, the Hôtel du Continent with its 25 rooms and globe-trotting atmosphere, will hold its grand opening on February 3. French couturier Christian Lacroix designed the interior of the three-star establishment and each floor in the hotel is dedicated to a different continent. Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania are represented “far from any anthropological or strictly…
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has opened Holiday Inn Muscat Al Seeb in the heart of capital’s new business district, making it the third IHG hotel in the city. The hotel is located within ten minutes’ drive of Muscat International Airport and next to the new centres of business and government, perfect for business travellers on a tight schedule or families looking for a convenient stay in the serenity…
The bright green bus has spent almost 30 years servicing the streets of Coventry, Birmingham and Hull—the refurbishment of its interiors from public transport to cozy plus-sized camper took its new owner £10,000 to complete.
Hong Kong, Macau, New York City and London have emerged as leaders in Forbes magazine’s latest travel guide, with each city boasting seven 5-star rated hotels. In the 56th edition of the Forbes Travel Guide Star Ratings list, inspectors bestowed new stars to properties like the Four Seasons Hotel Macao and The Pierre, A Taj Hotel in New York, expanding the five-star group to 97 hotels. The Four…
Hilton Worldwide has opened its 30 room Double Tree by Hilton Seychelles-Allamanda Resort & Spa, its third resort in the Republic of the Seychelles. From its prime beach-facing location on the South East coast of Mahe, the Seychelles largest and best known island, Double Tree by Hilton Seychelles-Allamanda Resort & Spa is a true paradise escape.
DUBAI, UAE, 20 January, 2014 - Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) will mark its debut in the emirate of Ajman on February 1, 2014 with the opening of Ajman Saray, A Luxury Collection Resort, Ajman. The resort will mark the brand’s entry into the emirate, reinforcing The Luxury Collection’s global growth as the brand remains on track to surpass 90 hotels by 2016. A beachside retreat, Ajman Saray…
Accorhotels.com, the multi-brand reservation website for Accor Hotels, has continued its development and its adaptation towards high-growth markets. Now available in Arabic, the website offers a choice of 31 geo-localised versions and 16 languages. These include sites in English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Brazilian-Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Indonesian,…
The romance of Paris and the wilderness of the Arctic Circle might seem worlds away from one another, but they have been brought together thanks to a new suite at the Icehotel in Sweden. Created by French design duo Les Ateliers de Germaine, ‘Up There’ features the skyline of Montmartre carved into its icy walls. The suite features jagged rooftops and the basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, along with chimney pot…
