Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

Four Seasons Atlanta and Whistler luxury hotels are giving their room service menus an overhaul – and guaranteeing a speedy delivery to your door. The new service aims to satisfy guests that are tight on time but need a hot snack.

The latest in-room menu will offer a range of fast-food items and guarantees the order will be delivered to your room within 15 minutes of ordering. Each Four Seasons hotel (and Luxique offers 52 of them worldwide) has a different twist on what to offer. For example the Four Seasons Hong Kong will have traditional quick and easy favourites such as wonton noodle soup with Chinese greens while the Four Seasons Hampshire England will lay on a typical British ploughman’s lunch. Hot snacks will include nachos with Winchester cheese and chive crème fraiche.

The second neat idea from Four Seasons is the “to go” menu which offers packed meals that are airline-friendly. Simply order from your room 15 minutes before checking out and pick up your meal-to-go at the front desk as you head for the airport.

Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North offers delicious portable lunches that will also suit guests wanting to enjoy a picnic as they enjoy the local sights. It includes tequila-lime chicken wrap with slaw, kettle chips, iced tea and a chocolate chip cookie.

As airlines cut back on VIP services, luxury hotels are stepping in to fill the gap by offering new airport services to their valued guests. One of the first luxury hotels to see the need for a resident airport concierge was the Peninsula Beverly Hills. They now employ a team of five staff to meet guests at Los Angeles International Airport and help departing guests by securing better seats or helping with minor emergencies. The airport concierge service is free on arrival but departing guests are charged $100 per family for speeding them through security and giving them access to private airport lounges.

Luxury hotels in Jamaica, including the Island Outpost Hotel and Round Hill Hotel and Villas offer a similar Club Mobay service at Montego Bay Airport. For $30, departing guests can enjoy speedy processing through security and immigration and can relax in the private hotel lounge with Wi-Fi internet access, a mini-spa and a kid’s corner. The Four Seasons Marrakesh goes one better and whisks its guests out of the line at immigration to a VIP lounge where their passports are checked in comfort. Guests are catching on and are choosing to stay in luxury hotels which offer these valued extras.

As in-flight food becomes an optional extra, luxury hotels are also offering meals-to-go. The Jefferson in Washington D.C., the Four Seasons Seattle and the Montage Deer Valley in Park City, Utah are all offering delicious lunch boxes for passengers to enjoy in the airport lounge or onboard. Treats include sandwiches made with Creminelli salami, homemade granola bars and honey pops made by the hotel’s resident beekeeper!

by Gillian

Middle Eastern hotel group Jumeirah has ambitious plans to double the number of hotels over the next 14 months. Its newest offering is the exclusive all-suite Ocean Pearls resort, part of the Jumeirah Dhevanafushi Hotel on the Gaafu Alifu Atoll in the Maldives.

Offering a Robinson Crusoe castaway experience, the cluster of 16 over-water villas sit above the ocean and are surrounded by water on all sides. Access is along an 800m long boardwalk or by boat to the jetty. Along with the private villas there is an infinity pool, spa, seafood restaurant, bar and library all suspended above the water, which creates a tranquil peace and unique desert island atmosphere.

Each Ocean Pearls villa has a private deck with daybeds, a sunken bathtub and steps down for a swim in the warm Indian Ocean with its pristine coral reefs. Butler service is available for those requiring a “Man Friday” and guests can choose from a choice of suites ranging from 270-340 square meters, all with unobstructed ocean views, of course.

Jumeirah is keen to compete with luxury hotel brands such as the Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. It has planned openings in Kuwait, Majorca and Azerbaihjan in the forthcoming year.

by Gillian

Canada seems to be riding the downturn in world travel very nicely, thank you!

Not only is Canada earmarked to become the very first destination for an official royal visit by Prince William and his new bride, it also seems to be expecting plenty more well-heeled business and leisure guests in the near future.

Toronto in particular is bucking the trend of other major city destinations in the current financial downturn and is enjoying a run of luxury hotel openings. Earlier this month, the Ritz-Carlton chain opened its first ever hotel in Canada, in Toronto. The 53-story tower of luxury will include 267 rooms and is superbly located near the entertainment district. It also has an uber-sized spa which takes up 23,000 square feet.

Close on its heels, the Trump International Hotel will open its 60-story glass tower with a further 256 luxuriously appointed rooms. Again, this is a first in Canada for Trump and is aimed at business-oriented visitors, being located in Toronto’s financial district.

A further two luxury hotels in Toronto are nearing completion. Shangri-La, best known for its Asian luxury hotels, will open a 220-room hotel in part of the historic “Bishop’s Block”, one of Toronto’s oldest buildings. When it opens it will be an easy stroll to major downtown office buildings.

For shopping, which is one of the main draws to Toronto, the Four Seasons will open a new hotel in Yorkville Village in 2012, just steps from the doors of the Bloor Street boutiques.

It seems Toronto will have a high profile for international visitors during 2011, hopefully attracting many more visitors to sample its cultural and business attractions, with a choice of world class luxury hotels competing for their business.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

I read this week that luxury hotels are now so stylishly presented that guests want to copy ideas for their own interior design plans.

Amy Popp, of the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain, says it’s not uncommon for guests to fall in love with a chair in the lobby, a duvet cover or something even more outlandish. “One of the most unusual requests we’ve had is for the door going into the executive office … someone wanted to buy the door,” she said.

It’s a fact that luxury hotel chains hire the best interior designers with cutting-edge ideas, so people look to hotels to see what’s fashionable. Each location is styled individually, capturing regional charm.

If you do see something in your luxury hotel that you can’t live without, ask the manager about it. You might be able to do a deal, or he/she could tell you where you could order it. However, many pieces of hotel furniture tend to be custom-made and one-of-a-kind.

The Four Seasons soon cottoned on to the trend and, after receiving multiple requests, began selling a complete bedding package including beds and linens — right down to the pillow.

by Andy Moreton, with acknowledgements to Delaney Seiferling of the Toronto Sun.

There’s nothing like a Presidential vacation to give a boost to tourism – at least that’s what Hawaii is hoping.

As many parts of the United States were facing heavy snow and wintry rain, the Obamas were enjoying the warmer climate of Kailua in Hawaii for their Christmas break. Tourism officials hope others will have seen them enjoying the sun and fun and decide to follow suit.

This is Mr Obama’s first trip as President to the state where he grew up. He spent last Christmas there as President–elect. The state visitors bureau has set up a ‘Barack Obama’s Hawaii’ page that entices tourists with images of him golfing, body surfing and strolling along the beach.

Tourism in Hawaii has dropped by about 5.5 per cent from last year. Rob Kay, who runs the ‘Obama’s Neighborhood’ website, said: “It’s hard to anticipate that his visit will bring any kind of boom, but it can’t hurt.”

by Andy Moreton

Searching for some winter sun? Try Luxique’s pick of the luxury hotels in Hawaii – the Four Seasons Resort Maui and the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai.

The Maldives has said it’s introducing a new environment tax on all tourists who use its resorts.

The low-lying archipelago has been at the forefront of efforts to mitigate climate change because rising sea levels are forecast to submerge most of its islands by 2100. In March, President Mohammed Nasheed announced plans to make the Maldives the world’s first carbon neutral nation within a decade.

If approved by parliament in the capital, Male, the tax will be $3 (£1.80) per tourist per day. At a rough estimate, the measure will bring in $6.3 million (£3.8 million) a year.

President Nasheed has said he can’t afford to go the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, much as he’d like to. The Maldives would be represented only if someone offered to pay for his trip.

He hoped the Copenhagen summit would come out with positive plans, like renewable energy promotion, rather than stressing what he called negative ones such as capping carbon emissions.

by Andy Moreton

The Maldives is famed for its high-end luxury resorts and white sand atolls, and Luxique can guide you towards some of the best secluded places to stay, including the Banyan Tree and the award-winning Four Seasons resort at Kuda Huraa.

A leading US magazine has named Tokyo as the world’s hottest city for food lovers – for a second consecutive year.

Food and Wine singled out the Japanese capital for its cutting edge restaurants and superb ingredients. “Tokyo is the best food city hands down,” said the magazine’s travel editor, Jen Murphy. “That’s where chefs are going for innovations. They are so far ahead of us.”

The magazine said Japanese chefs were dictating the world’s dining trends with their fierce devotion to seasonality and respect for aesthetics.

Barcelona came in second, followed by Copenhagen, London and New York. Of Copenhagen, Food and Wine said: “The world’s foodies are fascinated by the city and its avant-garde chefs, who experiment with unconventional ingredients.”

One surprise was that Paris slipped out of the top list. “Right now, there’s no new excitement to the food scene there,” claimed Ms Murphy.

Also out is Food and Wine’s 2009 list of the top restaurants at hotels worldwide. It includes Celadon at the Sukhothai in Bangkok; Moo at Omm in Barcelona; NoMI at the Park Hyatt in Chicago; Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons in Hong Kong; Le Meurice at Le Meurice in Paris and Mathias Dahlgren at the Grand in Stockholm. All these luxury hotels are bookable at the best rates through Luxique.

by Andy Moreton

A beautiful marble staircase has been rediscovered at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in California.

This historic area of the hotel had been boarded up for decades and nobody quite knew why. Now, a veteran member of staff has revealed all.

Apparently, it had served as a back route to the Veranda Suite on the 10th floor, occupied in the 1970s by movie star Warren Beatty; adoring female fans used to sneak up it to try to get to their heart-throb.

“We had to block up the passage and plaster over it for Warren’s safety,” said the hotel’s man-in-the-know.

The Beverly Wilshire tells me the staircase – restored to its former glory - is being used by guests going to the Second Floor terrace overlooking Rodeo Drive which is now being used for meetings, weddings and other functions.

by Andy Moreton

The fabulous five-star Beverly Wilshire is part of the prestigious Four Seasons group and Luxique can offer the best available rates.

You know how it is. You’re having a quiet drink at the hotel bar and Angelina Jolie asks you for a light.

What do you mean it’s never happened to you? Well, all I can say is that you’ve been staying in the wrong joints. Allow me to mark your card with a view to a bit of celebrity-spotting in some of the luxury and boutique hotels of Europe.

If you happen to be in Paris and want to catch a glimpse of Ange, try the award-winning George V or, to give it its full name, the Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris. This Paris luxury hotel is one of her favourites.

Now, if a place is good enough for George Clooney, it should do for you and me and I’m reliably informed that George and the cast and crew of Ocean’s Twelve stayed at Hotel Le Bristol.

Another classic luxury hotel in Paris is the Ritz, the last point of departure for Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed that tragic August night in 1997. The Ritz has always been a mainstay for the rich and famous – Coco Chanel lived in a luxury suite there for more than thirty years. These days, you might at any one time bump into Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow or Uma Thurman.

Luxury Rome hotels abound. The Hassler Hotel, at the top of the Spanish Steps, has in the past welcomed everyone from Juan Peron to Audrey Hepburn and the Kennedys. Clooney likes this one too, while just recently it hosted the photocall for the movie Get Smart with Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell.

Not far away is the Hotel de Russie. This historic hotel was a favourite of Picasso and today is a popular meeting place for the bright young things from the worlds of fashion and media.

The Hotel Eden is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Rome which prides itself on its elegance and tact. It would never release its guest list, of course, but my source tells me that it’s welcomed the likes of Jane Fonda, Pierce Brosnan and Richard Gere.

The luxury hotels in London have names that resonate throughout the world – the Dorchester, for instance. It was here that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton spent one of their honeymoons in 1964. Recently pictured arriving were Jerry Springer and Forest Whitaker. Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise have been guests, too.

The Ritz is the Grande Dame of London luxury hotels and has played host to any number of celebrities over the years, including Edward VII, Churchill, Chaplin and Judy Garland. It’s never lost its charm and these days is fashionable with celebrities like Julia Roberts, Johnny Depp and Hugh Grant.

One of the newer kids on the London block is The Lanesborough, a former hospital in fashionable Knightsbridge. It’s pricey, sure, but you might be lucky enough to run into Madonna, Jim Carrey or Leonardo di Caprio.

Amsterdam is one of the most laid-back capitals in Europe and a popular destination for celebrities. The Intercontinental Amstel is arguably the most beautiful and prestigious of the luxury hotels in Amsterdam and has welcomed royalty, government leaders and film stars. Jennifer Aniston took a room with a river view last month and the Rolling Stones have also pitched up there.

The Dylan Hotel in Amsterdam has also been much visited in the past by royalty. These days it’s favoured by international personalities who welcome the discretion and privacy that are the hallmarks of Anouska Hempel-designed luxury boutique hotels. It’s so discreet, in fact, that I couldn’t possibly reveal any names.

So, splash out, be a celebrity for a day, a weekend or a week – live like a star, but don’t make a habit of it. As Charlie Chaplin once said: ‘The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.’

by Andy Moreton