Top Tips

Hotel Gym Review Website

HotelGymReview.com provides information about hotel fitness facilities from around the world. They invite fitness minded travelers to share their experiences - good or bad - by writing a review. These reviews are used to provide a ranking of the best to worse hotel gym's. Users looking for a hotel with a great hotel fitness facility or gym can search and find a hotel with a gym that is a perfect match.

While I believe this to be a great idea it is currently a bit hit and miss as review information is slowly building on this start-up site. 
www.hotelgymreview.com

Hotelzon launches 'next generation' mobile option
26 Apr 2010

Hotelzon has upgraded its mobile hotel booking technology for corporate clients.

The key feature of the new LiveView booking tool is its fully interactive satellite navigation-style maps.

As travellers approach an area where a hotel is located, a balloon appears with the name of the hotel and the lowest available price.

The global positioning system (GPS) also connects to Hotelzon's booking system.

Bookings can be made in five steps and once the reservation has been confirmed the option to get driving instructions to reach the hotel can be selected.

Jani Kaskinen, chief executive of Hotelzon, said: ‘The recent disruption to many independent and business travellers' itineraries proves how important and useful a tool like this can be.

‘With the emergence and growing distribution of GPS-enabled smartphones and mobile-based map engines, it has become possible to create a tool which uses localisation to provide specialised services to mobile users.

‘By adding LiveView to our application portfolio, Hotelzon is aiming to strengthen its already established position as one of the leading online hotel reservation providers.'

No small beer...

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has opened its 1000th property, the 250-room Sheraton Qiandao Lake Resort in China.
Beyond its 1,000th hotel, Starwood expects to open 80-100 additional hotels in 2010 - 70% of which will be outside the United States, with the majority in Asia Pacific. In China, Starwood is slated to open more than 20 hotels this year. Growth is also accelerating in India where Starwood already has 26 hotels and plans to increase its portfolio by 60% by the end of 2012.
www.starwoodhotels.com

At last! TSA Approved Travel Products

If you've ever packed your shaving cream or facial cleanser for a weekend trip only to have it thrown away in the airport security line (monsters!), the online grooming store 3floz.com has your solution. Everything sold on the site-from Anthony algae facial cleanser to Baxter of California clay pomade-comes in TSA-friendly packaging of no more than 3 fluid ounces, which means it's all carry-on safe no matter where in the world you're headed. And even if you're not traveling, the smaller sizes also equal lower prices, making 3floz a great option for testing out new products without dropping too much coin.
www.3floz.com

 

Marriott Expansion

Marriott is to double their number of rooms in Europe in the next five years. Read the full article -www.http://tinyurl.com/y9nm5zt

Budget Hotel for Olympics

Whitbread-owned Premier Inn is investing £25m in a new 267-bedroom budget hotel at Stratford, adjacent to the Olympic Stadium.

Conde Nast delivers Visual Heaven

Conde Nasts fabulous new book - Room with a View - 140 incredible views from hotels all round the world. http://tinyurl.com/yjqaq4d

New Mauritius Idyll

The Four Seasons at Anahita opened recently and, in the usual Four Seasons manner, opened with ease and style. A lovely 45 minute drive north along the eastern coastal road of Mauritius guides you to the hotel, which is positioned within The Anahita Wilderness Sanctuary which stretches along 6 kilometres (4 miles) of uninterrupted shoreline and provides a thoroughly tranquil environment.
The property offers 123 spacious villas and residences all with their own private pools. The Lagoon Pool Villas and Presidential Suite are located on a private 4.5-hectare (11-acre) island, Ile aux Chats, while the Mangrove Pool Villas, Garden Pool Villas and Private Residences are on the mainland. Ile aux Chats island is where the two beaches, main pool, beach restaurant and water sports are located so we really feel it's worth spending a bit more and staying on the island. The rooms are lovely, contemporary in style and extremely comfortable.
With four restaurants, all delicious in their own right- from French to Mauritian, it's unlikely you'll get bored. The spa is also beautiful with treatment rooms located over the marshes and a treatment menu as long as your arm!
For more details please visit http://www.fourseasons.com/mauritius

Borg-Inspired US Embassy Design for London

The new US Embassy in Nine Elms, by Philadelphia-based firm KieranTimberlake, which has won the competition to design the $1 billion building. Building work is expected to commence in 2013 for completion by 2017.
Comments please??

The Weight Issue

Eliminate the guesswork when it comes to the weight of your checked bags, and you'll avoid the embarrassing unpackinBorg-Inspired US Embassy Design in London Revealed

The new US Embassy in Nine Elms, by Philadelphia-based firm KieranTimberlake, which has won the competition to design the $1 billion building. Building work is expected to commence in 2013 for completion by 2017.
Comments please??

and repacking of your luggage at the airport, in full view of your fellow passengers. The convenient Balanzza digital luggage scale, £16 ($25), weighs less than 10 ounces, can lift up to 100 pounds, and beeps quietly when it's finished calculating how heavy your bag is. Check the digital readout, accurate within ounces, to determine just how many of those sales kits you really want to take with you. Two AAA batteries are required. You'll find a list of retailers of Balanzza scales and accessories at www.balanzza.com

Ultimate Umbrella

Sudden downpours are a fact of life in many cities around the world, and even a quick dash from your taxi at curbside into the lobby of an office building can leave you dripping wet. The ultimate travel accessory to combat rainy weather is the Knirps X1. It's the world's lightest folding, telescopic umbrella, weighing just eight ounces. Praised for its German engineering (what other umbrella is wind tunnel-tested to 55 mph?), its snazzy colors and patterns, and its durable zippered carrying bag, the X1 is also a fair-weather friend. Should your travels take you to super-sunny climates, the umbrella offers 75% UV protection from the sun's rays. www.knirpsumbrellas.co.uk/.

 

Go Community!

To counter hyperpolarisation, we have ‘hyperlocalisation' - the marketing buzzword for 2010. As individuals seek out like-minded communities where they feel valued, brands will benefit from the direct contact they can make online.
Enter WTMO!

Top 10 tech hotels

Men's website AskMen.com (www.askmen.com) has come up with a list of the top 10 high-tech hotels.

1. Helix Hotel, Abu Dhabi

The Helix Hotel is yet to be built but its hi-tech credentials come in the form of heat and energy conservation with state-of-the-art GROW panels, which harness energy from the sun and wind, to be affixed to the outside of the hotel. The temperature and humidity inside the 208-room hotel is set to be managed by a waterfall in the atrium. There will also be a giant glass wall that will periodically slide open, allowing a fresh sea breeze to blow in.

2. Hotel Sax, Chicago

There's the free Wi-Fi, massive wide-screen TVs, and the 6th floor Studio Lounge, free for all guests, where you can relax on big sofas or play Rock Band, Wii games and Guitar Hero. Guests each receive a laptop and Zune MP3 player for use during their stay. The hotel also has tech studios and tech suites.

3. Hotel 1000, Seattle

Besides innovative plumbing like water pouring from the ceiling to fill the bath, Hotel 1000 also boasts a "silent electronic doorbell" system -- housekeeping staff push a button at your door which sets off an infrared scanner inside your room. If it detects any movement, an electronic "do not disturb" sign appears and the housekeeper knows to come back later.

4. The Peninsula Hotel, Tokyo

The Peninsula takes its tech so seriously that it even has an electronics service department. Rooms have Internet radio boasting 3,000 stations, mood lighting controls, and wireless phones with Skype capability that you can use throughout the hotel. Lastly, there's a nail polish dryer.

5. Blow Up Hall, Poznan, Poland

Blow Up Hall is a snazzy establishment described as an electronic art hotel. Renowned artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has created an intriguing video installation around which the design of the hotel is based. The moment you step inside, you're a performer in the video being played in the lobby comprising 2,400 tiny images gathered from as many cameras inside the hotel. No keys or door numbers here, just iPhones. Every guest is supplied with an Apple phone which, through recognition tech, you use to gain access to your room. You can also use it to call your concierge, surf the net and view preloaded local tourist info.

6. The Upper House, Hong Kong

All guests at this virtually paperless hotel are supplied with an iPod touch preloaded with games, music and everything you need to know about the hotel and its environs. There's free and unlimited broadband access with even the hotel's cars (Lexus RX450H hybrid models) equipped with Wi-Fi.

7. Mama Shelter, Paris

Once a parking garage and now a Philippe Starck-designed boutique hotel, Mama Shelter has a 24-inch iMac in each one of its 172 rooms. The iMac acts as your entertainment center, and there's free Wi-Fi available too. Something else the rooms at Mama Shelter have that you won't find in most other hotels is a microwave oven.

8. Montage, Beverly Hills

A real practical feature for the guys -- a fog-free shaving mirror in all bathrooms. The Montage this year became one of the first hotels in the world to receive gold-level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for its use of, for example, energy efficient heating, lighting and air conditioning systems.

9. Element Hotels, across the United States

Rooms at Element Hotels feature ambient lighting made possible with energy efficient light bulbs, and specially designed, cutting-edge low flow rain showers that minimize water wastage. All rooms have state-of-the-art kitchens and soon guests will be supplied with a Nintendo DS console loaded with Personal Trainer: Cooking software.

10. Pod Hotel, New York City

Targeted at the younger traveler, New York's Pod Hotel has an in-house Pod Community Blog, open to those with reservations, that allows guests and guests-to-be to interact, ask questions and exchange information. The hotel is sure to satisfy the tech-hungry budget traveler with its free Wi-Fi, LCD flat screen TVs and iPod docking stations.

Five Cities to Run In

Feeling like off loading some of the holiday sloth?

Munich

Englischer Garten is a huge central park, or if you're near the main rail station go south west towards Theresienwiese, site of Oktoberfest for lots of space and fresh air - albeit fairly unlovely.

London

Hyde Park is the top choice and easily accessed from most areas. Ring the changes from running the perimeter track by checking out the Serpentine or Rotten Row where you might catch the spectacular sight of the Queen's Life Guards exercising in the early morning.

Good spots elsewhere are Regents Park to the north or the Thames Riverside with paths on both sides. If you're out east at Canary Wharf, great circuits include Isle of Dogs (a natural loop that darts between riverside paths and the road).
Go to Londonsightseeingruns.com for guided runs throughout central London

Budapest

In an urban city prone to heavy traffic and unreliable pavements, head north to Margaret Island which is laced with running and cycling paths. Though only 2.5km by 0.5km, it is full of blooming flowers in Spring, is a blessed escape from the Summer heat and gives Massachusetts a run for its money in the Autumn. Nobody runs in Winter so soak up some heat in a Thermal Spa instead.

New York

World famous Central Park is hard to beat. Run anti-clockwise (counter-clockwise) to keep with the flow and head to the popular Jackie Onassis reservoir.
Go to Centralpark.com for running maps.

Edinburgh

Whilst the new tram installation is set to disrupt the central area around Princes Street and the Royal Mile until 2011, head for the Meadows Park, 2 km south of the High Street. This flat area of lush grassland was once a loch but is now criss-crossed with long tree-lined paths with views of Salisbury Crags and Arthurs Seat in the distance. With only a short run back to many popular hotels (Radisson Blu, the new Missoni and Hotel du Vin)

Visit gmap-pedometer to find out how far you have run in any place covered by Googlemaps.

 

Okyo, betwixt youth culture and bespoke,

classic and experimental is Mr Hollywood's new clothes store, Horajuku in Tokyo - beyond cool.

Spectacular new store

Tommy Hilfigger has just opened a 22,000 square foot spectacular new store in 5th Avenue - be stunned by it!

Merci, Paris - the new Colette

Go to Merci , Paris's new concept store at 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais. The newest in luxe style, furniture, clothes, cafe and all the profits go to a co-op for women in Madagascar.

Travel Deals

The really strong Aussie dollar makes a trip to Hong Kong a bargain. A 20% cheaper bargain in fact. And the US is cheap with a fading US dollar.

The 'Real' Deal in NYC

Go to Jimmy's Corner to escape the maddness in Times Square for atmosphere in buckets, cheap drinks and a great jukebox. A jammed bar where the walls are lined with fight posters and photos that owner and professional trainer Jimmy Glenn has pasted up over nearly thirty years. The house drink, Jimmy's Hurricane, is an intriguing blend of spiced rum, juices and amaretto - beware!

 Always a Girls' Best Friend...

Looking for diamonds? Premium Cut Diamonds in Lane Crawford House, Hong Kong offers high value quality rings and stones. And charming service.
 

It's not just Booking a Table

When I call, I check out which table the restaurant is planning to give me. If it's an important dinner/lunch, I try to pop along and survey the room, then I point to the table I like and request it.
It's not nice if one of you faces a blank wall... are next to the loos, or by the noisy "clear up" station. Apart from enjoying the food, we all like to see what's going on and a well positioned table can help you do that. If I like a table, I ask for the table number, put it in my phone and request it the next time!

When booking for three, ask for a table for four, and when you arrive say that the fourth can't make it. Otherwise you could find yourself in a tight and uncomfortable corner!

Finding an Edge whilst Checking In

If I check in at the counter, I smile broadly and greet the lady/man as I approach the desk. I like to look for the person's name and use it at an appropriate time. If poss I check in at a female counter....a woman should check in at a male counter! I open a well stuffed travel pouch to reveal my passport and hope to impress, I aim to look worldly...or at least entitled to something...
Being courteous at check-in gives me a chance of being upgraded, (rarer and rarer these days) or it helps to get the seat that I want. Yes it's all common sense, but passive travellers and get given the worst seats. If all fails and you don't get any benefits, you leave the counter having been nice to someone, who has to deal with hundreds of passengers every day, some of them not very nice!