Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

Luxury hotels in Copenhagen are not generally known for their flamboyance or psychedelic art, but the launch of the new Volkswagen Fox 21 town car brought out the wild side of the chic Hotel Fox.

The new arty décor was commissioned for this boutique Copenhagen hotel from a team of international artists, graphic designers and illustrators to reflect their interpretation of the newly launched baby VW. Incidentally the car is anything but funky, its main claim to fame being that it lost in a Top Gear TV football match against a team of Toyota Aygo cars, but I digress.

The hotel is a real winner for those who know their art. Twenty-one artists contributed to designing the hotel’s 61 individually decorated rooms including Hort, Antoine & Manuel, Speto, Freaklüb, E-Types, Neasden Control Center, MASA, and Container (these names all mean more if you’re into street art, graphic design or Japanese manga).

Guests pick a room at check-in by selecting the design of the Do Not Disturb tag which offers a sample of the color and theme of each room. You can choose the Geissenpeter room, modeled on the classic story of Heidi; the Two Swans room which includes life-size photoscapes of trees and llamas, or try the Boxing Room complete with punch bag, trophy case and gold boxing robe.

Hotel Fox rooms have no minibar – they offer a portable cooler, also themed to match your room. When the bubble-gum pink clouds start to make the room feel a little claustrophobic, take refuge on the roof terrace or the Fox Kitchen and Bar where sanity prevails.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

High-flyers will love this exclusive luxury hotel accommodation. The two-bedroom suite is housed inside the fuselage of a 1965 Boeing 727, which was destined for the scrap-heap.

It’s located at the luxury Hotel Costa Verde on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio National Park. Jutting out from the hillside, the Boeing offers views of the ocean and jungle from balconies built on each wing.

The plane was transported piece by piece on five big trucks from San Jose airport to its current resting place on a pedestal 50 feet above the beach.

There are two air-conditioned bedrooms, each with private bathroom, a kitchenette, dining foyer and flat-screen TV. The plane’s interior is Costa Rican teak panelling from the flight deck to the tail. The hand-carved, teak furniture comes from Java, Indonesia. The private entrance is up a spiral staircase hewn from rock.

And the cost of booking a luxury hotel room in this piece of cleverly recycled aluminium? Between $400 and $500 (£266-333) a day.

by Andy Moreton

Abba’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are releasing their first new material as a musical partnership for more than 15 years, including a track performed by the staff of Andersson’s Stockholm hotel, Rival.

One of their two new songs, 2nd Best To None, was inspired by festivities at a party last September celebrating the fifth anniversary of the hotel. Andersson said he realised that at least 20 hotel employees were singing in amateur choirs in Stockholm.

“I asked them, ‘Do you want me to write a song for you …?’ They said yes, so I asked Björn if he would like to write the lyrics, and we recorded it with the staff. It’s just a lot of fun and it’s taking care of the staff at the hotel more than anything else.” The song has been released as a single in Sweden.

The pair’s other new number, Story of a Heart, will appear on the first English-language album from Andersson’s current band.

by Andy Moreton

You can hear see the staff performing 2nd Best To None at http://www.rival.se and, of course, you can book rooms at the Rival hotel in Stockholm at the best rates through Luxique.

The ubiquitous TV presenter and talent show judge, Piers Morgan, has recently been doing a globetrotting series about three haunts of the rich and famous – Dubai, Monte Carlo and Hollywood.

But where does Piers, who’s now become rich and famous himself (at least, in the UK and US) like to hang out? One favourite is Antigua in the Caribbean where he told The Independent newspaper he likes to ‘eat fresh fish and drink Puligny-Montrachet under a stunning sunset.’

He also loves Los Angeles – ‘driving up Sunset Boulevard in my shades, listening to Aerosmith in my Aston Martin convertible on my way to the set of the TV show, ‘America’s Got Talent.’ That’s certainly a far cry from his first holiday – netting shrimps with his mother on Hastings beach on the south coast of England.

Where is this all leading? Well, two of Morgan’s favourite luxury hotels are available to the likes of you and me – through Luxique, of course. He says the Carlisle Bay resort in Antigua and the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles are ‘very different, but magnificent.’

And Morgan’s top travel tip? Go light on clothes and heavy on technology. “You can survive anywhere in a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and sandals, but nowhere without the right chargers.”

by Andy Moreton

There was a great picture in the papers a couple of weeks ago of a candelabra on a table made of ice.

An Icey Welcome

You might have thought it was the latest wacky entry for the Turner art prize, but it was, in fact, a shot of the restaurant at Snowvillage, Lapland’s largest ice hotel, which has recently opened its doors to guests.

Up to 60 visitors a night sleep on beds made of ice, with no natural light and room temperatures that never reach more than zero degrees. The ‘igloo-dwellers’ are provided with sleeping bags, fleeces and instructions on how to survive.

In the morning, hot berry juice helps to thaw out those who haven’t been driven to take refuge in one of the ‘warm’ rooms provided.

All the suites are decorated with ornate carvings and lit with multi-coloured lights. An ice bar, restaurant, walkways and lobbies have also been made in the hotel, which is situated near Kittila in Finland. Outside, visitors to Snowvillage can play on ice slides and marvel at ice sculptures.

An ice hotel has been built on the 7,500 square metre (24,600 square foot) site every winter for the past eight years; the present complex will simply melt away as temperatures rise in the Spring.

by Andy Moreton

If you prefer a warmer welcome (with ice strictly confined to your drink), Luxique can offer the best deal at Finland’s finest hotel – the Kamp in the capital, Helsinki.

Missoni is the latest designer name to go into the hotel business.

The Italian fashion house signed a deal a couple of years ago with the big hospitality group, Rezidor, which already has around 330 hotels in 51 countries, including the brands Park Inn, Regent and Radisson SAS.

The first two hotels from Rezidor’s partnership with Missoni will open next year – in Kuwait City and Edinburgh. “We believe that hotels are a natural extension for our core brand and that they will work with, and complement, our fashion business,” said Director, Vittorio Missoni.

Since 2000, more than a dozen designers have either set up a partnership with a hospitality company to co-brand a new property or signed on to redesign the interiors of an existing hotel. They include Armani, Versace and Lagerfeld.

Lucian James, founder of the Paris-based brand consultancy, Agenda, said: “In the past five or ten years, fashion designers have begun to understand that the best way they can increase business is by recreating themselves as lifestyle brands. They have to find other ways to build revenue in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.”

Designs for the Kuwait and Edinburgh hotels are being kept secret, but the Missoni team will be heavily involved in creating the look, so expect the signature zig-zag print on curtains and cushions. And the branding is likely to extend to other areas such as tableware and furniture.

by Andy Moreton