Tag: Cambodia Hotels
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What’s Out, What’s In: Your Roots Are Showing
We've started a series of what’s trending in hotels these days: What’s Out, What’s In. Do we like what we see? Think it's a dud? You be the judge!
What’s Out: Hotel-recommended city tours
What’s In: Hotel-led cultural immersions
Hotels are taking a lead in ensuring guests remember that they’re actually in a foreign city when they travel. Except for some solid holdouts, gone are the days when you walk into your hotel in Amsterdam, say, and you could just as easily be in Istanbul or Portland. Whether through design details, cuisine or cultural tours, hotels are proudly showing their roots.
The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui offers guests a full gamut of authentic Hawaiian experiences led by the hotel’s full-time Cultural Coach. Not only can you explore some historical sites, you can learn the basics of Hawaiian paddling and the canoe's importance to the culture, the uses of native and non-native plants by the Hawaiian people, plus the history of the Hawaiian language, which you can then try to pronounce what seems to be unpronounceable. Rates at the resort start at $519.
The Goring –- the hotel with the Royal Warrant –- is launching their High Days and Holidays walking tours. Six tailor-made tours, all celebrating special occasions (or High Days in London-speak), were designed by Art History UK’s founder Rose Balston. Art’s on the menu but, as Rose says, “Think juicy tales, conversation, challenging ideas and plenty of hidden corners of London, past and present…” We’re talking tours that include dragons, pagan rituals, ghosts and treason. Does it get any better? Rates for the package start at 595 GBP ($902).
Island Hotels / Cambodia Hotels / Private Island Hotels / Villas / → All Tags
Sustainable Luxury At Song Saa Resort Island in Cambodia
After a weekend of snow and cold, you might be looking for your escape to warmer temps and relaxing atmosphere. Imagine trading your snow shovel for a snorkel and boots for a bikini (or board shorts) and head to a private island off the coast of Cambodia. The ultra-luxury Song Saa Resort has your cure for not only winter doldrums, but year round stress.
Cambodia's first private island luxury resort will be setting the tone for resorts to come with their private villas perched over a marine reserve. Technically, it isn't a private island since it spans over 2 separate islands that are connected by a foot bridge, but it most definitely is private and luxurious.
Each of the 27 villas are inspired by Cambodian fishing villages, and the resort features beach-side, rainforest and over-water buildings. Unique in their own way, every one boasts thatch roofs, rough-hewn natural timbers and driftwood furnishings. Imagine waking to the gentle sound of the sea directly below your bed and soaking up the 360-degree views of the Gulf of Thailand. Yeah, this is paradise.
Hotel Christmas Trees / Cambodia Hotels / Fashion Hotels / Holiday Hotels / → All Tags
And the Award For Best-Dressed Christmas Tree Goes To...
...the Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia! We got sent a photo yesterday of their colorful, bright, silk-adorned tree, which manages to make our tree at home look about as elegant as a bundle of twigs with a star on top.
But then again, we don't normally hire a Paris-educated couturier to design our tree, now do we?
Internationally-acclaimed designer Eric Raisina, who relocated to Siam Reap because of the region's native silk, and who has created textiles for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Lacroix, decided to use the lotus flower as his inspiration for the tree, citing its associations with "purity." Hats off to him, because this is definitely one of the coolest trees we've seen yet, with its bright blossoms and irregular shape, looking like it sprouted straight out of the hotel lobby floor.
Private Island Hotels / Island Hotels / Private Hotels / Cambodia Hotels / → All Tags
My Own Private Island: Cambodia's Song Saa Sweethearts
Where: Cambodia
All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen will be taking us on a guided tour of the globe’s most exclusive, luxurious, over-the-top vacation retreats in our new Private Islands Series. We’ll venture from the Bahamas to Fiji, from Africa’s crystalline Lake Tanganyika to the emerald waters of Cambodia, and everywhere in between. That is, everywhere you can be ruler of your own little island.
Last month we told you about a resort in Cambodia's jungle hinterlands in our Glamping Series, but since this week we're heading to the tiny country's undiscovered islands for a preview of the next exclusive resort in our series on Private Islands. Song Saa started construction last March, and won't be open until November, but that doesn't mean we can't tell you all about it and stoke your wanderlust with a few choice photos.
Glamping / HotelChatter Guides / Cambodia Hotels / → All Tags
Places To Get Your Glamp On: Four Rivers Floating Lodge, Cambodia
All this week, we’ll be trekking across the globe with HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen as he tells us about the most exciting new glamping experiences out there. From the savannahs of Africa to the shores of Western Australia to the peaks of Patagonia, this is a full-fledged, five-star adventure to the most thrilling and luxurious camping resorts in the world.
So far this week, we’ve been to the savannahs of Africa, the Western Australia beach, the mountains of Patagonia and the Dubai desert. For the final installment of this edition of our Glamping Series we travel to the jungly hinterlands of the Cambodia-Thailand border…and the watery wonder that is the Four Rivers Floating Lodge.
Siem Reap Hotel Guide / Cambodia Hotels / → All Tags
Siem Reap Hotel Guide: Hotel De La Paix's Hidden Water Wonderland
A few weeks ago, we discussed the merits of Hotel De La Paix from afar. This week, we had the chance to step inside the hotel and snoop around. Despite a distinct feeling of inferiority like only the French can impose, the experience was pretty sweet.
Our takeaway? Other than enjoying the avant garde installations in the hotel's swank lounge and discussing with a cocktail waitress the myriad wildlife living in the giant Bayon tree in the center of the hotel's courtyard, the thing we most enjoyed about the place was its pool. This thing is ridiculous.
Hidden on the hotel's second floor, it has everything: a bridge, an infinity ledge overlooking the ground-floor courtyard, poolside beds and cabanas, benches and tables in the water, and a series of tree-laden canals that made us wonder how many lovers have taken advantage of the privacy all the nooks and crannies afford.
Whereas the rest of the hotel has this understated, Egypt-meets-Art-Deco feel to it, everything about the pool is over the top. And we like it.
Siem Reap Hotel Guide / Cambodia Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Raffles Hotels / → All Tags
Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: Raffles, In Contrast, Is Fit For A Queen
Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor provides what's expected of it...no more and no less. Like Amansara nearby, the hotel focuses on understatement to liken itself to royal tastes and emphasize its subtle class. The hotel's sterile, colonial exterior continues inside the building's hallways and guest rooms. The result is a removed feeling from the air and bustle of Siem Reap--welcome to some and disconcerting to others.
Still, it's the best way to see how high society of yesterday (and today) experience Angkor, from a safe, removed distance. The newly-built extension continues the hotel's austere feel that the more critical might (and do) call "uninspired." The rear gardens resemble a place where Queen Elizabeth might let her basset hounds roam. And the buiscuits served at tea resemble something she might serve her guests, though the confections seem a bit too rich for such a disciplined woman.
Siem Reap Hotel Guide / Cambodia Hotels / Eco-Hotels / → All Tags
Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: La Residence Gets A Facelift But More Work Is To Be Done
La Residence D'Angkor is Siem Reap's greenest and wettest hotel. And as of August 1, the place just got greener and wetter. La Residence reopened after a three-month revamp. Orient-Express, which owns the hotel, brought in Pascal Deyrolle, a 16-year veteran manager with the company specializing in "troubled properties."
Pascal added even more trees to the already dense foliage, he says, updated the grounds' many ponds, redecorated the outdoor lounge terrace, and added a new outdoor BBQ spot (complete with $50 imported Australian steaks). To hammer the theme home, guests receive complimentary coconut-flavored, green welcome cocktails.
And Pascal has more grand plans for the hotel, he tells Hotelchatter. While a few guests right now have to suffer through the adjacent construction, by next year, the hotel will feature a multi-story spa with VIP treatment rooms.
He's also adding eight new suites, with indoor/outdoor spa bathtubs. And with all the new trees, nobody swimming down at the saltwater pool below can see how you choose to use this amenity.
Cambodia Hotels / Siem Reap Hotel Guide / Resorts / → All Tags
Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: Angkor Century Resort Goes Big
More than eight million tourists visit Angkor Wat annually. The innumerable hotels in Siem Reap, the neighboring town that houses and feeds these visitors, all seem to shout for market share. Cheapest! Priciest! Best Golf Course!
Undoubtedly, Angkor Century Resort & Spa, yells the loudest. It's by far the largest hotel in Siem Reap, in terms of the size of its ground--2.4 hectares--and its number of rooms--190. Even the swimming pool is the biggest in town, the hotel's friendly Malaysian manager informed us.
Cambodia Hotels / Cambodia Hotel Guide / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Cambodia Hotel Guide :: Boutique Cambodia Hotel Found in Kompong Cham
HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.
With its French influence, it's a wonder there aren't more boutique hotels in Cambodia. Too often, it seems the chasm between bargain basement hostels and opulent resorts is vast. The omission of midrange hotels and boutiques mirrors the absence of a middle class here.
Sokleap Guest House sticks out of Kampong Cham. The city, a two-plus hours driving distance from Phnom Penh, makes a nice weekend trip for residents of Cambodia's capital. It rests along the Mekong River, with renown pagodas and villages all short boat or moto rides on tree-lined streets away.
For $10 a night, guests have a soft bed with sturdy sheets, water, tea, and a bathroom with a separate shower that isn't perched over the toilet. The $20 double rooms come with two large beds, a wide porch, and rare-to-behold sight in Cambodia--a bathtub.
Cambodia Hotels / Cambodia Hotel Guide / → All Tags
Cambodia Hotel Guide :: Basic Amenities In Cambodia Equal Bliss
HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.
The Cambodian aesthetic, at least when it comes to buildings they think will appeal to Westerners, involves fluorescent lighting, cold, white tiles, and ceilings high enough to make make Yao Ming look petite. Still, austere-but-comfortable hotels can sometimes be a welcome respite from dusty streets, squat toilets, and markets lined with hanging raw meat.
Mekong Hotel, in Kampong Cham, lacks any semblance of atmosphere. Still, this lumbering building along the Mekong River offers large, clean rooms with air conditioning, hot water, views of the water, and a close proximity to the Western bars and restaurants. For masochistic, prideful backpackers and volunteer workers who don't like to treat themselves but find themselves in the quiet Cambodian city, at $12 a night, it's a stealth way to sneak in a little comfort.
Cambodia Hotels / Eco Lodges / Kep Hotels / → All Tags
Cambodia Hotel Guide :: More Eco Lodging In Kep
HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.
Earlier this week, we told you about Rainbow Lodge in the jungles of southwestern Cambodia. Turns out, the place has some company in the world of midrange eco lodges in the country wedged between Thailand and Laos.
Veranda Natural Resort, in Kep, Cambodia, has many of the amenities of Rainbow at half the price ($25 versus $50, though Rainbow's fee includes three delicious daily meals). It also includes 24-hour electricity and air conditioning, welcome amenities that might call the eco-friendly claims into question.
Kep, a sleepy town that's just now, for better or for worse, waking up to tourism, is located on the ocean. The beach there is lousy, we hear, but a short boat ride from the virtually uninhabited Rabbit Island a 20-minute boat ride away, which offers better sand and debris-free surf.
[Photo: murimboh]
