United Kingdom Travel Guide
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Rates Are Rosey at The Lanesborough For the Chelsea Flower Show
It's nearly time for the oh-so-English Chelsea Flower Show, "the ultimate event in the gardening calendar" as it so thrillingly self-defines. Lordy. How can we wait until May 19th, when it starts? And how will we survive when, four days later, it's all over?
Luckily, a couple of hotels in London are determined to assuage our pain and make the whole shebang a little more interesting. For the duration of the show (May 19-23), The Lanesborough is offering a "floral breakfast" complete with edible flowers, and "floral techniques" on offer throughout the premises (don't they usually have flowers and stuff anyway?). More excitingly, they're offering a special rate of £255 per night (minimum stay two nights, Friday to Sunday only, breakfast and VAT not included). At first we thought that was expensive. Then we looked up prices. That weekend, rooms start at £475. We soon shut up.
Meanwhile, just up Park Lane, Grosvenor House is offering two nights in a deluxe room, with breakfast, two tickets to the Flower Show and a rose-themed afternoon tea for two (to celebrate its 80th birthday, the hotel has created a rose which will be unveiled at the show). Rooms start from £605, including VAT, for the two nights. But seeing as you can get a room for £209 per night, that doesn't look like such a good deal to us. We'd go with the Lanesborough (if we weren’t skint and posing ourselves a totally academic question).
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NYT 'Roughs It' at London's Rough Luxe
If you like your hotels with an oxymoronic twinge, London's Rough Luxe Hotel might be for you. The New York Times checked in to the buzzy boutique hotel for a review this weekend and, all things considered, seemed rather pleased with the property's unique flair.
If you'll recall, the hotel claims to be "half rough, half luxury," which translates into an "almost industrial" effect that's "like the interior of a guerrilla warehouse art gallery," explains the Times. Think distressed walls and salvaged furniture alongside posh linens and rainfall showerheads.
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Hilton's Legal Department Is Working Overtime These Days
Goodness. We were cruising for some news this morning, you know, checkin' out what's going on in and around the ol' hotel world. Not surprisingly, lots of headlines were about Hilton getting sued. We didn't think much of them until we realized that not all of those headlines were about Hilton getting sued over Denizen. Oy.
Hilton's legal department seems to be working overtime these days: now the massive hotel company is getting sued by a Northern Ireland company in a £10m case involving the Hilton Belfast. Goodness. From the Financial Times:
Ewart Properties, which owns 25 per cent of Belfast Hilton, the company set up to finance and build the hotel, claims it is owed unpaid dividends of £1m.
As a result of alleged breaches of the shareholder agreement and a related lease, Ewart claims it cannot reasonably be expected to remain as a shareholder and is seeking a court order requiring Hilton to buy its stake, valued by property experts at around £10m.
This one is (obvs) not as insane as the Denizen case, but we can't help but notice that times are definitely pretty tough for Hilton who, not one month ago, was kind of on top of the world after announcing two new brands, Home2 Suites and Denizen.
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Sneak Peek at London's 'Rockstar Hotel,' The Sanctum Soho
It's ready! The Sanctum Soho — London's new "rock star hotel," and possibly the one we've heard the most rumors about in a long time (recall the Iron Maiden thing), opens its doors tomorrow.
Luckily for us, we got a sneak peek on Monday. Unfortunately, it was at the very un-rockstar time of 8am, so most of the rooms were taken (friends of owner Mark Fuller have been road-testing it for the past few weeks) and there wasn't really a distinctive "vibe" established — but we liked it.
There are only 30 rooms, all of which are built for romping, from huge suites to (our favorites) the "crashpads," called-so because they're for crashing when you get caught late in town or happen to find yourself on a date that's going particularly well (but your moldy apartment might endanger the mood). There are no wardrobes in these ones; there's just about room for a bed, a minibar, a TV and a bathroom — but that's part of the fun, isn't it? The decor's fab too: in the room we saw, the wallpaper was a combo of dark brown, sparkly lurex, and brown sheeny pebbles. It was very dark, but that, again, was probably intentional.
Tags: Hotel Packages / London Hotels / Marathon Hotels / → All Tags
Ease the Burn of the London Marathon in a Posh Hotel
The London Marathon is happening on Sunday. Usually we'd be yawning by now, but it just so happens that two hotels have some rather nice packages available for us to do it up in style, should we choose to lace up our trainers.
The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge (let's hope they've called in the decorators since the last time we visited it) is encouraging us to carb up by offering all you can eat pasta at its Le Metro Brasserie the night before, and helping us wind down with a complimentary 90 minute massage at Urban Retreat in Harrods post-marathon. It costs £260 for one person, or £365 for two (although you'll only get one massage). It's only on this Saturday night, and you can book it by calling +44 207 591 1200 or emailing reservations@capitalhotel.co.uk
Meanwhile, City hotel Threadneedles is offering a pasta dinner (not unlimited, but it should be good — the head chef is a fellow runner), accommodation in a luxury room, a "goody bag" filled with energy drinks, bananas, nuts and chocolate, and, subject to availability, a late checkout. It's the avoidance of the return journey caked in sweat which sells that one for us. And it's cheaper — costing from £195. To book, call +44 207 657 8080 and quote your marathon number. Just in case you were thinking of cheating.
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Is a Luxury Hotel With a Bowling Alley On Its Way to Heathrow?
Good news for frequent London travelers: A "new design-forward, energy-efficient 5-star hotel" is going to be going up (well, supposedly will be going up) super close to Heathrow airport. According to Inhabitat, Foster + Partners — the designers behind the Bowery Art Gallery, the NetJet airline interiors, and something called an "elephant house" — will design the place, while Riva Properties have signed on as developers.
Some notable design features, per Inhabitat:
The exterior of the new hotel will be covered in layers of glass, just one small part of the highly energy-efficient strategies characteristic of Foster+Partners designs. In addition to flooding the interior with daylight, the glass shell will act as a noise barrier from planes taking off and landing. While the hotel is actually 13 stories high, many of the floors are sunk below ground level, which gives the building a lower profile similar to the surrounding structures. Hotel rooms are contained into six different pavilions connected by bridges and enveloped by the glass shell.
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Toast the Queen at The Goring On Thursday
Not that the Brits are always ones to be patriotic, but it's St George's Day on Thursday. And while for most of us that means a day in the office as usual, the Goring Hotel in London has other ideas. And it involves stuffing our faces.
Of course, if there was one hotel to celebrate St George's, it would be the Goring. It's 'round the corner from Buckingham Palace and has regular royal visits, as well as counting Margaret Thatcher and Tory leader David Cameron among its clientele.
For Thursday, they propose an all-English lunch menu. And it's not half bad either: home-made potted shrimps, then roast rib of beef and Yorkshire pudding, and rounded off with baked rhubarb and custard tart, with crumble ice cream. Looks like the only foodie stereotype they’re missing is fish 'n' chips.
Not that we're complaining – it sounds delish. As well it should, for £40 a head. We're telling ourselves it's our patriotic duty to go. It's the Queen's birthday today and everything, so there's a double excuse.
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Will London's Savoy Become An Orphan?
It hasn't even started accepting its first post-renovation guests yet, but London's grand Savoy may already be in trouble. The 120-year-old hotel is currently nearing the end of a £100m refurbishment; its doors were on track to reopen after 18 months at the end of the summer.
Except now we're wondering: will it? Because apparently, the owner's in deep doodah. Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia (because it's only fitting that a royal should own an institution like the Savoy, right?) has seen his wealth slashed from nearly £15 billion last year to just £9 billion this year. He's already sold off his stake in the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, and now there are rumors of some shakeups with his other assets, like Raffles in Singapore and the Savoy as well.
If he did sell the place, he'd get about £200 million to fill his pockets, which should tide him over for a little bit. Wonder who’d be up for filling his shoes, though?
Tags: Hotel Deals / Travelodge Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Travelodge Will Slash Room Rates to £9 This Week
Where: United Kingdom
We know US hotels are getting despo these days (desperate, that is — in case you're not hip to the abbreves) and chains are slashing room rates in an effort to lure you into their rooms. Things are just as tough across the pond: According to the Telegraph, the average price of a hotel room in Britain fell to its lowest point in four years at the end of 2008, and the economy has been rough on hotel operators across the UK — bad news for them, but good news for you: rates are going down. Way down.
Wallet-friendly chain Travelodge is the latest to hop aboard the rate-kickback train and, starting Thursday morning, they'll be launching a sale offering 50,000 rooms across Britain at £9 per night (about 13 USD), and 100,000 more rooms will go on sale for £19 (about 28 USD) a night. Also, you'll be able to snag rooms for 10 euros at the chain's three Spanish properties (in Madrid and Barcelona).
Per the Telegraph:
The sale kicks off at 6:00 am on Thursday and will be available for stays between August 27 and November 30, including over the August Bank Holiday and the autumn half term break.
For US folks, 6 am Thursday over there is 1 am Thursday morning (so, like, Wednesday night, really) on the East Coast. The sale will go live here.
[Photo: AP via Telegraph UK]
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Get a Taste of Chiva-Som This Week at Claridge's London
With the good ol' economy the way it is right now (and those problems in Bangkok, come to think of it), we can't really get to Thailand at the moment. Let alone to a posh place in Thailand like the internationally-known wellness resort Chiva-Som.
But all is not lost, because (a bit of) Chiva-Som has made its way to London. Well, the resort's Executive Chef Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat has made his way to London, to be precise. To combat Easter's over-indulgence, Claridge's has flown the chef over to cook up some "gourmet spa cuisine" (i.e., low on the bad stuff like calories and fat, and high on super-fresh ingredients).
Chef Paisarn's three-course menu is being served until Friday in Claridge's Foyer & Reading Room (choose from things like herbed chicken coconut soup and steamed mussels with basil). That one costs £32.50; if you really want to go all out, you can try a gala dinner tomorrow evening (including a champagne reception) for £100.
To book, contact the Foyer & Reading Room on +44 (0)207 490 6307.
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Indulge Mom (And Yourself) at The May Fair London's Spa
If your mom is as special as ours, we've got a suggestion for a way to spoil her on Mother's Day. Pop over to one of London's poshest hotels, the May Fair, and sign yourself and your mum up for a decadent Moroccan Steam Cleansing Ritual.
While at first you might think of steam cleansing as something you want to do to the carpet, once you hear what the May Fair's spa staff have in store for you, you'll think otherwise. After cleansing your skin with a crushed olive and eucalyptus oil mix, you head into a private steam chamber to apply a selection of products (including a scrub and mineral clay), chosen to match your individual needs: relaxing, healing or energizing, for example.
The nicest part about this spa treatment is that it's a whole lot cheaper if two of you do it. At £60 ($90) for one and £90 ($130) for two, this Mother's Day gift easily does triple-duty: a nice gift for mom, an opportunity for some quality mother-daughter bonding time — and a chance to sneak in some relaxing spa goodness of your own.
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Have a Post-Easter Picnic Feast at The Isle of Wight's Hambrough
Apart from gorging on too much chocolate, a proper English Easter involves ditching the city and getting a taste of fresh air in the Great British Countryside. Picnics are an essential part of this. So for anyone who already did this and is feeling exceptionally hearty this week, or for those who didn't because they were put off by the prospect of soggy marmite sandwiches and tepid tea, here's one for you.
The Hambrough hotel on the Isle of Wight is a bit of a foodie destination already, seeing as it's under the helm of the youthful (26 years old) Robert Thompson who earned his first Michelin star at the tender age of 23. But you don't have to enjoy his cuisine indoors. Oh no. Because it's spring, he'll give it to you al fresco: sign up for a picnic package and he'll whip up a Michelin-starred basket for you to take out into the, er, wilderness, including Bellini cocktails, pea and truffle soup, a crab cocktail, homemade bread and, our favorite, rhubarb and vanilla tarts. That's just the spring menu and it runs till the end of May; come June, there's a summer basket with such delights as gazpacho and lobster and mango.
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