While we are sure golden-boy Michael Phelps is safely ensconced in the Olympic village somewhere, far, far, far away from any distractions that could derail his eight golden medals quest, the International Olympic Committee is kicking it at the Raffles Beijing Hotel.
And they aren't shy about letting you know that either. In fact, there's a press release on this which says that Raffles recruited the best of its employees from around the world to serve at the hotel during the Olympics:
In preparation, Raffles Beijing, which has 100% occupancy during the Olympics, has undergone more than 1,500 hours of Pre-Olympic preparation training since March 2008.
The Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris has had some issues, to say the least, over the past few years. From booting out guests to playing hot potato with luxury brands, the historic hotel has seen far too many ups and downs.
But all that is in the past now as the hotel readies for a complete overhaul and a new look from Philippe Starck. As a way to clean house, the hotel held an auction of its furniture and now they are letting guests demolish whatever is left behind.
A while back we were griping that the luxury Raffles Resort Canouan Island (and its golf course) was a bit pricey at $455 a night during summer (and almost a hundred bucks more in winter). But the Raffles has come through with a summer special that's quite a bit more reasonable.
The promoters claim that the Summer Getaway special rates for this resort are a saving of 56% per cent, although we're not exactly sure where they get that figure. In any case, the rates for summer (through to September 18) are now starting at $360 a night in a double, for a minimum of three nights, plus you get a full buffet breakfast each day, airport transfers and non-alcoholic drinks in the mini-bar all included.
What they don't do is help you out with any tips on surviving the world's most demanding golf course; we can only hope that a satisfying buffet breakfast will at least give you the energy to get around the course, and at least you won't be paying so much.
Moscow is ever faster becoming home to a whole host of really expensive hotels. And apparently there's no limit to demand because there's going to be a Raffles Hotel Moscow opening up by about 2011.
Like all those other pricey, luxury hotels in Moscow, it's within spitting distance of Red Square and is going for the real high end of the market--room rates will go from $800 a night to, well, a heck of a lot. With just 130 rooms in a heritage building, it sounds like they're also trying to get mileage from the fact that there's a Russian Orthodox Church in the same complex which Napoleon Bonaparte used to stay in.
We're still a bit unsure about the whole luxury in Moscow thing--isn't it more interesting to hark back to the lining-up-for-bread days of the socialist era? Perhaps we're missing something.
We did some good daydreaming about staying at the Raffles Dubai before it opened last year, and that made us keen to check back in on how it's been going since this grand pyramid started admitting guests.
And so far, feedback has been pretty good, as you'd hope for a place that's this expensive (you're unlikely to get out of there for under $700 a night). But boy, does it have some impressive features, including something we'd never heard of: they somehow "refrigerate" the pavement around the pools so that even though it's under hot sun all day, it will never burn your feet.
The rooms are larger than average, with even small "rooms" being a size usually reserved for large suites. Staff are friendly, if at times over-friendly and over-attentive, but that's far better than being ignored.
The only common complaint is that the food and drink prices are high, although they're probably only in line with what the hotel rooms cost. You might be lucky to snag a room for around $700, but it's pretty easy to pay a couple of thousand, too.
Uh-oh, the Raffles L'ermitage Hotel better watch out. Britney Spears, who has been known to hit up Los Angeles area hotels and inadvertently give them the kiss of death just by showing up with her newest assistant, newest puppy, newest hair color, newest jean skirt and the ever constant throng of paparazzi, has shacked up at the swank hotel on Burton Ave.
The Raffles is best known as being the hotel where Angelina Jolie stashed her kinky sex toys but Britney Spears might change all that. Apparently, her arrival was somewhat tame with the hotel able to successfully push back paparazzi but c'mon this is Britney. We can't wait to see what sort of dramz goes down here.
Thanks to a tipster who wants to remain anonymous, thus we are calling him E.T., there is some drama going down at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris that involves a game of hot potato with a bunch of luxury chains. Last we heard of the hotel, they were booting out guests. Here in E.T.'s very own words is a description of what else is going down.
Seems the Royal Monceau saga is not finished yet - I had heard the rumor before, but now it is official: from 2008 onwards, it will be Raffles Royal Monceau. A press release is on the Raffles website. It also talks at length about the 'rebirth' of the Royal Monceau and how it is scheduled for renovation in 2008. Wait, didn't it renovate already at the time that Mandarin Oriental was planning on integrating this property in their portfolio?
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 Amanda K heads to Dubai. Enjoy.
It's not open until next month, but since I might need to win the lottery first that's not really a problem for my dream of staying at the brand spankin' new Raffles Dubai. I mean, come on, how could I resist a hotel that says "Magical moments and inspirational adventures to last a lifetime await at Raffles Dubai". While I doubt that it can live up to such a high expectation, the new Raffles does sound rather nice, and it looks cool too, all pyramid-like and fancy.
What about on the inside? Details are sketchy at the moment--though full superlative adjectives such as "blissful, stunning and enchanting"--but the hotel will feature an Asian-style design, Wifi, and (of course) fantastic service.
Raffles Dubai is offering an opening Celebration Package staying in a Grand Stateroom, including breakfast daily and airport transfers for $680 (plus 10% service charge PLUS 10% "municipality fee") so get in for that deal if you want to try out this Dubai pyramid for yourself. Then tell me if it lives up to all the adjectives.
While we are sure golden-boy Michael Phelps is safely ensconced in the Olympic village somewhere, far, far, far away from any distractions that could derail his eight golden medals quest, the International Olympic Committee is kicking it at the Raffles Beijing Hotel.
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by juliana
