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Tags: Richard Branson / Eco-Resorts / Australia Hotels / Virgin / Virgin Hotels / → All Tags

Makepeace Island's Got A Very Private Hotel for Richard Branson and Friends

There's some accommodation opening up in Queensland that most of us won't be able to visit--unless you're one of the 35,000 employees of Richard Branson's Virgin mega-empire.

After buying Makepeace Island about five years back, Branson and his co-owners have been lovingly getting it fixed up as a place for Virgin employees and their families and friends to vacation. They call it an "eco-tourism retreat" and the three villas will apparently house about 20 guests. There's a swimming pool and tennis court and it sounds like no expense was spared to make everything look good.

Makepeace Island, which is in the middle of the Noosa River, is nearly ready for visitors, according to recent reports, and we're wondering who we have to get friendly with at Virgin to score an invite to the big opening party. Suggestions, anyone?

[Photo: Michael Dawes]

Tags: Richard Branson / Virgin Atlantic / Virgin Hotels / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags

Virgin to Launch "Urban" Hotel Brand

Last week, we wondered on Jaunted what Virgin Atlantic was announcing via an email to loyalty club members. We thought it might be something like in-flight massage chairs, but according to Marketing Week it's probably three new Virgin Hotels that we first heard of back in March.

Bossman Richard Branson, who already has a few luxe hotels under his belt, says the product will be sorta like Starwood's W Hotels:

Urban, townhouse-style properties, half way between a hotel and a private club.

Apparently other brands have approached his company for ideas, but Branson is ready to just start up some new hotels himself. Rumor has it that the first three properties will be in New York, London and LA.

Tags: Killer View / Richard Branson / Morocco Hotels / Virgin Hotels / → All Tags

Room With a Killer View: History, Nature and a Pool from Branson's Kasbah

Where: BP 67, Marrakech, Morocco

We are suckers for a room with a killer view.  We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.

Thanks to HotelChatter tipster srte for dropping this in our Flickr pool. It's from Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco, and we're more than impressed with this magnificent view from the terrace of the hotel overlooking the pool, and a fantastic garden.

We fell in love with this hotel the first time we looked at it and views like this only make our craving to get there stronger. In a perfect world we'd be booking the Deluxe Suite (which includes a pool) but the Escape Package for that (a three night stay) costs €2,470 (US$3,800) a double, which sadly doesn't fit into our budget this month.

The cheapest option during low season is €320 (US$500) a night for the double, which is more within the realms of possibility.

[Photo: srte]

Tags: Richard Branson / Virgin / Virgin Hotels / → All Tags

Richard Branson Rocking the Kasbah in Morocco

Where: BP 67, Marrakech, Morocco, 042150

If you've seen Casablanca, you've dreamt of nights spent at the kasbah, no? Rest assured there are plenty of riad and kasbah accommodations throughout Morocco; some remain empty and some like the Kasbah Tamadot have been turned into luxury retreats.

At the bidding of his mother, Sir Richard Branson bought this property as he began a round the world hot-air balloon excursion from Marrakech. He renovated the magical walled-in building and, in 2005, it became the latest addition to his Virgin Limited Edition portfolio.

Amidst the fairy-tale setting, you'll find 18 individually designed guest rooms, each one offering some sort of outside space, be it a balcony, terrace or private rooftop area, with magnificent views.

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Tags: Richard Branson / Virgin / Hotel News / Virgin Hotels / Hot Hotelier News / → All Tags

Richard Branson, Not Satisifed with Dominating Airspace, Wants to Open Virgin City Hotels

Richard Branson pokes his nose into everything and has sticky fingers in every business pie. Now we hear he's got his beady eyes on a skyscraper hotel in Manchester.

If the deal comes off, there'll be a shiny Virgin City Hotel sign on a 44-storey skyscraper on Aytoun Street, Piccadilly. The four-star hotel would only take over 23 floors of the building, and the rest would be taken up by whatever brings most profit to the Albany Crown developers - offices and shops mostly.

Virgin City Hotel is a baby brand and has not actually yet signed any deals with any hotels anywhere. But if it follows the Virgin style, we can imagine the hotel - fluffy bathrobes, hot-tubs, shiny glass-and-steel décor in the bar, dark red sofas and seats, and hopefully working Wi-Fi.

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