Not all of us are traveling the world with celebrity-sized wallets in our back pockets, especially as fears of a recession mount so we are pulling up an old UK Times story on the world's 20 best budget hotels.
It's obviously biased towards British tourists and that means a lot of the listed hotels are in France or Italy, but their aim was to find "a gorgeous place to stay, with stylish service, stunning views and epic bedrooms" that wasn't too expensive, and the results are pretty interesting.
Top of the list is the Hotel De L'Amphitheatre in Arles, France, a renovated 17th-century building in the very town where Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. Also in France is the Les Deux Freres (pictured) in the small village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. The rooms here are themed, including an African room with leopard-print bed headboard and the Bride room which obviously features a lot of white.
The list also goes as far afield as Bali, starting with the Ulun Ubud Resort & Spa, which consists of 22 thatched cottages in the local style. Also on Bali they suggest the Rumah Cantik on the north coast of the island. It's a very personal four-room hotel run by a Balinese-Danish couple with really cute rooms.
All of these hotels offer rates of between £35 and £50 a night (that's between US$70 and $100) so even with the poor exchange rate, you're not going to spend a fortune but you'll still have a comfortable and finely-furnished place to stay.
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven JennM escapes the cold of NYC. Enjoy.
It's freezing in New York this week and there's nothing I can't stand more than having to brave the cold only to arrive at a cubicle. Plus, all this recession talk has me stressed out. I'm not sure why, because I don't work for or follow the stock market, but I know this can't be a good.
Which is why I'm wishing I had a few nights at Uma Ubud in Bali, part of Como Hotels and Resorts. From the hotel:
"Expect not to be disturbed by the sound of traffic, but the laughter of villagers...Light floods the open ground, picking out an orchid among the velvet grasses. At night, dew begins to settle, lifting softly with the wisps of morning cloud."
Sigh. Bali's 85-degree temperature is taunting me, as is the hotel's large Shambhala Suite that features its own infinity pool and private treatment area, the perfect place for the massage my tense body and dry, scaly skin so desperately need.
Plus, if I were to spend at least three nights in the Shambhala Suite, I'd be entitled to daily breakfast and two complimentary hour-long massages, all for the bargain rate of $410 per night. The hotel also offers guided walks through the surrounding rice paddy fields and free daily yoga classes.
That's frugal enough to justify such extravagance during a pending recession, don't you think?
Today we pick a new site where we can feel at one with planet earth while safely surrounded by ceramic and covered in chlorinated water. Each of the 38 villas at Ubud Hanging Gardens in Bali has a heated private infinity plunge pool that overlooks the Ayung river. Rather than visually blending with the sea, these infinity pools offer bathers the serene feeling the water takes on before it plunges over a cliff -- without the threat of falling to one's death.
The pools are supported by wooden pillars and surrounded by terraced gardens. And the individual heaters ensure each pool's temperature never dips below 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Rooms start at $270 per night. Not a bad deal, since in Manhattan, that kind of price gets us a stay at a hotel with plastic covering the chairs. For a private infinity pool, king-size four-poster bed, marble bathtub, and all the spa and cuisine options we never even knew we craved, $270 seems like a steal.
Maybe Mother Nature isn't too happy that the climate conference participants in Bali, Indonesia couldn't arrange a video conference instead of flying across the world to let out a lot of hot air. A 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the island of Bali last Friday. There were no damages to the hotels where participants are staying though, so perhaps it was a warning shot.
According to this estimate from Bloomberg, the conference will generate as much pollution as 20,350 cars used for a year. So where are these people staying? At eco-lodges using gray water for irrigation of the landscaping? At bungalows made of bamboo and other natural materials, powered by solar? Ummm, no.
With some 15,000 delegates attending (some arriving by private jet), most are staying at the biggest, brashest hotels on the island, located in the Nusa Dua area. The names kind of give it away: Grand Mirage Resort, Swiss Grand Bali, Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort, Nikko Bali Resort & Spa, Grand Hyatt Bali, and others that certainly did not have the word "energy efficient" in their business plan. According to the Telegraph, they're not above a little price gouging either:
Hotels, many of which fall into the bracket of some of the most luxurious in the world, have spotted the chance to charge accordingly, with many saying accommodation is only available now at around £400 to £500 a night for a small single room.
The hotel where British ministers will stay, the Westin Resort Nusa Dua, describes the experience of staying there as "sheer indulgence."
While Bali's still recovering from the a few scary terrorist incidents, that hasn't stopped the Accor group from opening up a new hotel there--in fact, the first they've built there from the ground up. It's a Novotel in Nusa Dua, built in the middle of a golf course and 30 minutes away from Bali's international airport. As of March 15, the Novotel Nusa Dua Bali has been officially open for business, and opening rates have a few bargains if you meet their minimum stay requirements, getting down as cheap as $53 a night on a Deluxe room.
There are also apartments at the Novotel Nusa Dua complex, apparently in "modern Balinese style" with the bonus of a plunge pool for every ground floor apartment. There's even a wellness center for all called "My Spa" (although obviously it should be "Our Spa" if we have to share it with the other guests). Management is sure that travelers are regaining their confidence in Bali and expect to see a big surge in guests in the next six months. There are good deals to be had and as yet, no major teething problems with the new hotel.
Luxury hotels aren't for all of us. Well, we'd like them to be, but our pockets aren't always so deep. And since the Times in the UK knows this, they wrote up a neat minted and skinted summary naming a few of the "minted" resorts--the ones the average Joe can't afford--along with the "skinted" versions, which are the next best thing "just around the corner" from the big ones. With tips roaming the world from Italy to India and Mauritius to Malaysia, you'll probably learn about somewhere worth staying whatever your budget and wherever your destination.
It's the Bali tips that especially caught our interest. The "minted" pick is Amandari which we already know and love from a T&L Top 10 list. There's little doubt that it's a great place to stay, but with doubles from $850 a night, it's not for all of us. The Times suggests the Melati Cottages, just a mile away from Amandari:
You won't be roughing it -- the rooms, in a cluster of six thatched cottages, are big, airy and neat -- but it's their position, overlooking a succession of deep, deep green paddies on the edge of the village, that makes this place special. The local gamelan orchestra uses one of the hotel's buildings, a short walk over the fields, for practice, and you're welcome to wander over for a listen: they're terrific, and when you know they're playing for themselves rather than tourists, the whole thing's somehow more moving.
And you get in here for just $40 a night. Minted or skinted? It's a nice concept, just check your bank balance and take your pick.
The Fashion Hotels trend is definitely not slowing down as Bulgari has opened their second resort, this time in Bali.
The Bulgari Resort Bali has 59 villas (no hotel rooms) located near the village of Pecatu on the island's southwestern tip.
The three key elements that distinguish the Bulgari Resort in Bali are its unique location, the blend of traditional Balinese style with dramatic contemporary Italian design, and the variety of services that have all been crafted with the same attention to quality that has always distinguished Bulgari creations.
Indeed this is a drastically different hotel than the Bulgari Hotel in Milan. The resort is 40 minutes away from anything "touristy" on the island and the only way to access the beach is through the resort's inclined elevator.
But of course, you have to some serious fashionista dough to stay here. The one-bedroom ocean view villas are going for $1,110 a night and Bulgari Villa for $5,000 a night.
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by amandak
