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Hotel Openings / Malaysia Hotels / → All Tags

Water Ski World Cup Speeds Up Putrajaya Opening

Where: Lot 5P2 Precint 5, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 62000

The Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel isn't really supposed to be ready until January 2009, but there's nothing like the smell of publicity from a nearby world sports event to get hotel management talking about a soft opening.

Located on Putrajaya Lake in Malaysia, not too far away from Kuala Lumpur, the resort includes a spa, five restaurants and 283 rooms split across four different accommodation wings, each with a different slant on the Malaysian multi-ethnic theme. With a few different purposes in mind, the resort also has more than twenty meeting rooms plus an outdoor amphitheater for 250 people.

With the International Water Ski Federation holding the fifth leg of the World Cup at the water sports complex next door in early November, the folks at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside obviously decided it was worth trying a soft open. Their website isn't showing any availability for November or early December dates yet, but with the Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup happening on November 7 - 9, we're expecting some rooms to pop up closer to the time when they're sure they'll be (partially) ready.

Mexico Hotels / Relais & Chateaux / → All Tags

Peacocks and Gourmet Mexican at Las Mañanitas

Where: Ricardo Linares #107, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 62000

Mexico seems to land more hotels each year on those "best of" lists published by the luxury travel magazines. Clocking in with a score of 87.5 on Travel & Leisure's 500 List is Las Mañanitas in Cuernavaca.

Built in 1955 as a private home, the estate has expanded many times over the years and it is now made up of 32 rooms and suites. (Plus gardens with resident peacocks, as pictured here.) It still retains the feel of an intimate residence, especially if you're booked in a casita with a private pool. Attentive service and fine cuisine have made it a part of the Relais and Chateaux collective since the early 90s.

This is one of those hotels that's memorable enough to make upscale tourists journey an hour south of Mexico City just to stay here. T&L calls it "an oasis of tranquillity, accented by renowned art and formal gardens." Cuernavaca is an attractive colonial city of 350,000, but its main claim to fame for gringos is that it's a major center for immersion courses in Spanish.

Rates at Las Mañanitas are $215 to $482 per night, plus the usual "stick it to the rich man" Mexican taxes of 22.5 percent.

[flickr photo by james]