Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

Mexico’s biggest airline has stopped flying after the failure of a last-ditch bid to rescue it.

Mexicana suspended all operations almost a month after filing for US bankruptcy protection. It had been bought last week for a nominal fee by a group of local investors, who planned to make all cabin crew redundant and then rehire about a quarter of them. However, the cost-cutting plan couldn’t be agreed with the unions.

The group operated 69 aircraft under the Mexicana brand and 35 under the low-cost MexicanaClick, which it started in 2005. MexicanaLink, a separate unit which opened last year, had 15 planes.

Mexicana served more than a dozen routes to the United States, as well as flights to Latin America and Europe. Over the past couple of years, it’s lost market share to budget airlines, and the whole industry suffered when tourism dropped last year in the wake of the swine flu outbreak and the economic crisis. Reports about violence in Mexico have also continued to discourage travel.

by Andy Moreton

Plenty of other airlines have flights to Mexico’s resorts, and Luxique can help you book the best luxury hotels.

I’ve featured a few quirky hotels in these posts, and here’s another: the V8 in Germany, which offers guests the chance to sleep in beds made from cars.

The luxury hotel is based in Stuttgart’s Meilenwerk – an international hub for car dealers – and guests can choose to sleep in anything from a small family saloon to a large limousine.

Built inside the city’s old Boblingen Airport, the hotel also has rooms on three levels within the building’s former control tower. For around £312 ($488) a night, visitors can stay in the spacious Zeppelin Suite featuring a sauna, terrace and landscape views over the old airport grounds.


The four-star hotel incorporates 34 rooms, all themed around the car, so you can rest your head in an old Cadillac at a drive-in cinema, a Mercedes at a car-wash or a Morris Minor at a service station. The motoring motif extends to the reception and the restaurant.


by Andy Moreton

For non ‘petrol-heads’, Luxique offers the best rates at a range of other luxury hotels in Germany.

I’ve written before about the scourge of pigeons in the centres of many cities visited by tourists.

One city, Barcelona, is now taking drastic action by hiring a company to catch and kill a quarter of the pigeons that frequent the Catalonian capital.

Barcelona City Council has described it as a ‘plague’ that’s causing damage to the city’s monuments through the corrosive droppings. It’s ordered the extermination of 65,000 birds during the next 18 months.

The technique involves luring unsuspecting birds into a small area to feed. A large net is then ejected from a catapult, which traps dozens of the pigeons in one shot. They are then taken away and asphyxiated.

The head of the council’s pest control unit, Victor Peracho, said the insistence by some people on feeding the birds, coupled with the warm climate, had caused the population to become uncontrollable.

The decision has upset some animal rights groups. The President of the Association for the Defence of Animals, Carmen Mendez, said: “It’s cruel and in the end it will do nothing to curb the pigeon population.” She argued that extermination methods only resulted in the pigeons laying more eggs to compensate.

Meanwhile, London – which has long had a pigeon problem – is suffering a new urban menace: seagulls. Many more birds have been attracted inland by rubbish on the streets and in landfill sites.

Seagulls have been known to dive-bomb pedestrians if they feel threatened or are protecting their young. However, a spokesman for the Royal Society for The Protection of Birds, Tim Webb, commented: “They’d much rather poo on people than peck them.” Charming.

by Andy Moreton

Have a flutter and book your luxury hotels in Barcelona and London through Luxique – we have an unrivalled selection.

Scotland’s only year-round passenger ferry service to mainland Europe is to be scrapped.

The operator, DFDS, said the Rosyth to Zeebrugge (Belgium) sailings would end in December after failing to attract enough passengers. Travellers who have booked later trips will be offered a full refund.

The 489-passenger ferry Scottish Viking was purpose-built for the three-times-a-week service, which was launched in a blaze of publicity in May last year.

Despite a busy summer and heavy promotion, the company said it had managed to achieve only 60 per cent of its expected passenger numbers for the year.

DFDS Vice-President, Andreas Teschl, said: “We are aware that the ferry service has provided an important link between Scotland and the continent so it is a matter of deep regret that we have had to take the decision to no longer operate passenger services on the Rosyth to Zeebrugge route.” He said he believed the route had a future as a freight-only service.

Several people who posted messages on the website of the Scottish Daily Record complained that the passenger ferry service had simply been too expensive.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a range of luxury hotels in Edinburgh, Glasgow and many other cities in Scotland.

There was something of a shock for 135 passengers heading for Milan in Italy on an overnight sleeper train. They woke up in Zurich, Switzerland.

Travellers boarded the carriages of two trains on Sunday night in the Spanish city of Barcelona – one was destined for Zurich and the other for Milan. They travelled in convoy to Lyon in France where, in the early hours, technicians were to split them and send them their separate ways. But they confused the destinations.

The staff on one train realised the mistake at the Italian border and the train was sent back, finally arriving at its destination three hours late. However, the Salvador Dali travelled all the way to Zurich before the error was realised.

Still confused? Let a spokesman for Renfe, the Spanish rail company, explain: “Signallers made a mistake during the points switch in Lyon. The drivers of the two locomotives went the right way but they left Lyon with the wrong set of carriages.”

This ‘train hotel’ service called Elipsos is particularly popular with British students who spend the summer inter-railing around Europe. Its slogan? Wake Up To A New Skyline.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can help you find a luxury hotel in Barcelona, Milan or Zurich … whether you’re there by accident or design.

Spare a thought for some of the unluckiest holidaymakers in the world.

They’re the people who booked vacations with the travel company, Goldtrail, which collapsed last month (see previous post) and then re-booked flights with Kiss, which also suddenly ceased trading.

Kiss Flights

Clive Rees from Wales was one of those who suffered this double-whammy. “I’m really disappointed. You wait for a long time for your holiday and it’s gone up in smoke. It’s tough. It puts us in a bit of a dilemma, whether we book for a third time with another company. We’re undecided at the moment.”

Customers of both companies should get their money back, but it might be a long wait.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, fourteen UK travel firms have gone bust in 2010 so far – three in August alone. The economic downturn, as well as a drop in British travellers going on holiday overseas, has been blamed for some of the failures. Analysts say they expect up to 20 more budget firms working on tight margins to go under before the end of the year.

by Andy Moreton

The Statue of Liberty will be closed to tourists next year for security upgrades, including a new staircase.

The 22-storey structure currently has just a single staircase spiralling up to the crown. Construction on a second will begin in October 2011.

“The $26 million [£16 million] project will add fire-proof staircases, elevators and exits,” said David Luchsinger, Superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

In the event of an emergency – such as the smoke alarm that went off last month – hundreds of tourists are evacuated down the single staircase, the same one that firefighters use to ascend the monument.

The additional staircase will run from the ground to the pedestal, the highest point reached by most tourists, located a little over halfway to the top.

The statue has a total of 354 steps from base to crown, but only 10 visitors at a time are permitted to make the climb up the narrow staircase to the very top – in part because of evacuation concerns.

by Andy Moreton

The Big Apple is full of ‘must see’ places. Here at Luxique we can help you plan your visit with our comprehensive city guide and, of course, our selection of the finest luxury hotels in New York.

The body promoting tourism in the UK – VisitBritain – has found some interesting pre-conceptions about the British weather among would-be foreign visitors.

Around half the 1,000 people questioned apparently agreed that ‘wet and foggy’ was an accurate general description of the British climate. Seems to me they’ve been watching too many Sherlock Holmes movies!

However, it was reassuring to the tourism bosses that in answer to the question: “Would it put you off coming to Britain?” the majority said no.

VisitBritain’s Chief Executive, Sandie Dawe, said: “This survey shows that Britain’s weather is not as bad as folklore would have us believe. Visitors do not come with a belief that if a few drops of rain fall then their trip will be ruined.”

In fact, for many places in southern Britain, this has been a better summer than most – dry with quite a few days of sunshine. The north, though, has not had it so good.

Another survey from VisitBritain (don’t these people take vacations?) estimated that the British monarchy brings in £500 million a year from overseas tourists. This figure takes in visits to such attractions as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Tower of London.

And apparently the people most likely to visit places linked to the Royal Family are Russians, Brazilians and Malaysians.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re coming to the UK this year, Luxique can guide you to the perfect accommodation, with a wide selection of luxury hotels in London. We can also help you book luxury hotels in many other parts of the UK.

Every year, about six million pilgrims head for the famous Catholic shrine of Lourdes in south-west France.

However, in this age of GPS (sat-navs) and sloppy spelling, a fair few are arriving at Lourde (without the ‘s’), a sleepy village about 57 miles west. The village does not have a shrine or, indeed, a hotel or a shop.

Over the years, the 94 residents of Lourde have become used to cheerfully re-directing the lost souls, but the popularity of GPS has apparently increased the number going astray. Recently, twenty bemused pilgrims turned up in one day.

Despite the confusion, the villagers are adamantly resisting calls for them to modify their name in a bid to help. And one municipal councillor came to the defence of new technology: “The GPS is not at fault, people are,” he said.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique offers a choice of a wide range of luxury hotels in Paris and many other French cities.

A French tourist cheated death when he toppled into the Grand Canyon while on a sightseeing tour.

The 18-year-old man was taking photographs at Mather Point, on the south rim, when he lost his footing and fell 75 feet. He was conscious when park rangers abseiled (rappelled) down to him, and a helicopter took him to hospital.

The National Park Service said he suffered neck, wrist and ankle injuries, but was in a ‘good’ condition in hospital.

by Andy Moreton