According to the Miami New Times, luxury hotel breakfast buffets are being seriously affected by the economic downturn. Locals are apparently posing as guests and helping themselves to free hot breakfasts, muffins, bagels, fruit and whatever else may be on offer. Hotel General Managers in luxury hotels in Miami are reporting that the problem is worse in hotels where the buffet is on the first floor, or visible from street level.
Many luxury hotels have a two-tier system; free breakfast for those with room keys and a charge of anything from $12-30 for non-residents. In practise, these hotels rarely ask guests to show their room key. They simply ask for their room number before seating them, for fear of causing barely-conscious guests a bad start to their day. However, this is allowing brazen free-loaders the chance to enjoy a tasty breakfast for free on a regular basis.
Some on-the-ball restaurant managers in boutique hotels know all their guests on sight. However, many city hotels in Miami have a stream of one-night guests who are catching flights. Adam Zembruski, spokesperson for Pharos Hospitality was quoted as saying, “When I was GM, I was very hands on and knew most, if not all of my guests personally. More importantly, they knew me. So, I was out there at breakfast every day – and knew the regulars (so) the ‘outsiders’ stuck out like a sore thumb.” While some hotel managers involve the police, others either give the offender the bill or remove them as quietly as possible.
by Gillian at Luxique
USA Today reports that luxury hotel spas in the USA are weathering the recession by being open longer hours and dropping their prices. The average price per treatment dropped significantly in 2008 when the recession first hit and has not yet recovered, according to Smith Travel Research.
Despite lower prices and tempting special offers, the report shows that in the first six months of 2012 spa treatment rooms are only used for 23% of the time they are available. This may be caused by spas having less overall business for massages, scrubs and beauty treatments, or by them being open for longer hours to accommodate guests wanting evening appointments.
Spas are filling their expensive empty spas by offering all-inclusive packages to non-residents for a set price, heavily discounting the regular price of single treatments. They often include access to the hotel pool and fitness center and may end with a glass of wine or champagne.
Other attempts to boost spa business include the use of luxury branded products by companies such as Guerlain or Elizabeth Arden. But according to spa industry expert David Stoup, the days of opulent high-end spas are over with the valuable space in luxury hotels being put to better use, a departure from past trends in the luxury hotel trade.
by Gillian
The economic downturn has been brought into sharp focus in Italy by the news that the palatial and celebrated Grand Hotel in Rimini is to close over the winter months for the first time.
The luxury hotel on the Adriatic was a favourite of the film-maker, Federico Fellini, and featured in many of his movies, most notably as a sumptuous backdrop to his 1973 picture, Amarcord. It was officially listed as an Italian national monument in 1994.
The current proprietor, Antonio Batani, said plain financial necessity had forced his hand – there simply weren’t enough guests. “It’s a painful decision but I really had no choice,” he said.
The regional tourism councillor, Maurizio Melucci, added his voice to the concern at the news. “I hope this is just a temporary measure. The Grand Hotel is not only the symbol of Rimini and Italy for the summer, but for the whole twelve months of the year,” he said.
Boasting 117 guest rooms and suites, the Grand opened in the summer of 1908 and remains the only five-star luxury hotel in Rimini – and the only one with a private beach. Its imposing appearance is complemented by rooms decorated with 18th century Venetian and French antiques, together with original, restored parquet floors and chandeliers.
by Andy Moreton
Book the Grand Hotel in Rimini through Luxique – after Easter 2011.
Spain seems to have staged a recovery after suffering a slump in tourist numbers.
Figures recently released by the tourism ministry show that in July, arrivals rose by 4.5 per cent – the third consecutive month of increase. Seven million visitors went to Spain or its islands.
Spain is consistently ranked among the world’s top three tourist destinations — both by arrivals and income earned — along with France and the U.S.
Britons have always been the largest group travelling there, but the recession and the weakness of the pound have seen more and more of them staying at home – the so-called ‘staycationers’.
But it seems another disappointing summer and the gradual strengthening of the pound have inspired the beginnings of a return to the sun-kissed beaches and cultural attractions offered by Spain. Aggressive cost-cutting by tour operators of up to 40 per cent has also helped to turn the tide.
by Andy Moreton
Whether soaking up the sun on the beach or the culture in the city, Luxique has an unrivalled selection of luxury hotels in Spain.
I’ve just spent a long weekend in the northern French city of Lille, where there’s some fine architecture and some appetising specialities: moules et frites (mussels and French fries), gaufres (waffles) and crêpes (pancakes).
The city, which is close to the border with Belgium, used not to be a hotspot for tourism, but that all changed in 1994 with the arrival of the Channel Tunnel, linking the United Kingdom with the European mainland.
Lille suddenly found itself at the centre of a triangle connecting London, Paris and Brussels. Ever since then, tourists have been able to take the option of stopping off from the high-speed Eurostar trains and spending a pleasant break in Lille, where French life’s at a slower pace than in Paris.
The Eurostar link has, of course, transformed the place, with the huge Euralille shopping mall evidence of an economic boom. In 2004, the city was European Capital of Culture.
But not everyone, it seems, has benefited from the largesse brought in by tourist Euros. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many beggars in such a relatively small city. Men and women with pathetic paper cups were squatting on street corners, beside automatic cash machines and on church steps. Sometimes they approached while you were out walking.
A few were alcohol-fuelled, but in the main these were simply the dispossessed and desperate – a sad sideshow in a modern, thriving city.
by Andy Moreton
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.
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’s been a big fall in the number of British people going abroad for their holidays.
Last year, there were ten million fewer trips – a drop of 15 per cent, the biggest annual reduction since the boom of cheap package holidays in the 1970s.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the deciding factor for many was the fall in the value of the pound against the euro and the dollar. Many opted to stay in Britain for what’s become known as a ‘staycation’.
Visitors to the most popular foreign destination, Spain, fell by 2.2 million to about 11.5 million last year. France was down 1.1 million visitors to 9.8 million, Italy down 760,000 to 2.6 million, and Portugal down 720,000 to 1.8 million.
Trips to the U.S. slumped by 20 per cent – 820,000 – to 3.2 million last year, while the most dramatic turnaround was the 41 per cent fall in visitors to Mexico after it was identified as the source of the global swine flu epidemic.
Trips to Spain have been falling steadily since 2006, and separate research predicts that Mediterranean resorts will no longer top the destination league table for Britons by the end of 2011. It’s thought they will be overtaken by those in the ‘Mett’ – Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.
by Andy Moreton
When these stats appeared in the national press, many people posted messages to say that there were bargains out there ready to be snapped up. Start with an affordable luxury hotel from Luxique!
The collapse of the British package holiday company, Goldtrail, has sent shudders through the travel industry, which has been struggling to emerge from the recession.
About 16,000 holidaymakers were left stranded when the company, which specialised in budget holidays to Greece and Turkey, went into administration last Friday. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has arranged flights to bring them back to the UK, and two-thirds have already arrived.
Some people have complained that hotels have been trying to make them pay extra money or be thrown out of their rooms. It was reported that at one hotel, staff confiscated guests’ passports and refused to return them unless they paid an extra £400. The CAA says any additional hotel bills will be covered by the ATOL emergency scheme. This, though, doesn’t help the 50,000 people who’d booked with Goldtrail and whose holiday plans have been left in tatters.
Travel law expert, Nick Harris, says there could be further travel company failures. “Although a growing number of small holiday firms have gone belly up, the peak of the holiday season usually goes some way in postponing these failures,” he said.
“It is usually in the autumn when travel firms go bust. The timing of the Goldtrail failure is concerning but I doubt it will be the only travel business to face closure in 2010.”
by Andy Moreton
With the World Cup soccer tournament beginning in a few days, a junior minister in France has caused a stir by criticising the national team’s luxury hotel arrangements at a time of economic difficulty.
The French players are based at the Pezula Resort luxury hotel and spa on the Indian Ocean at Knysna in Western Cape province – described as ‘Africa’s first truly luxury resort.’ Normal low-season room rates range from £410 ($594) a night for a studio suite to £5,300 ($7,680) a night for a suite in the hotel’s ‘castle’ built into a rock face on a private secluded beach.
France’s junior sports minister, Rama Yade, said she hoped the French side would dazzle everyone with their sporting skills and not ‘for staying in showy hotels’. She commented: “Spain, which is one of the favourites [to win the tournament], chose a university campus.”
Yade, who described herself as ‘a No 1 fan’ of the team, added: “Personally, I wouldn’t have chosen that hotel. In times of [economic] crisis you have to consider this.” The French Football Association said the cost of the hotel was not falling to the taxpayer.
In Italy, where a debt-slashing budget is imminent, a minister demanded that Italy’s national team chip in by giving up their win bonuses if they lift the World Cup. “It would be the right thing for footballers to participate in the sacrifices being made by Italians during this crisis,” said Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League party.
by Andy Moreton
