Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

The luxury travel market is suddenly being inundated with a new term – “Pop-up”. While the term is common in temporary pop-up seasonal shops, it is also now being applied to hotels. One British company calling itself the “Pop-Up Hotel” specializes in crafting temporary spaces for events and retreats, and other hotel chains are now joining in.

While temporary usually equates to cheap, in the case of the Papaya Playa Project in Mexico, it is anything but. Priced at up to $675 per night, the hotel group Design Hotels has created a pop-up hotel in a series of cabanas and casitas right on the beach at Tulum. Claiming that it offers a luxury “glamping” experience (being a type of glamorous camping) it does promise high thread count sheets, a spa incorporating Mayan shamanism and food from KaterHolzig, better known for its Berlin Bar 25 fame.

Design Hotel Founder Claus Sendlinger also plans to bring famous DJs and musicians to perform on the natural amphitheater on the beach, introduce an on-site designer boutique and offer the luxury traveler perks such as sustainable and organic food-on-the-go.

Not to be outdone, the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas luxury hotel is offering a Pop-Up Wedding Chapel for a short time. There is a choice of ceremonies: the Hitched in a Hurry economy package which includes a photo booth picture and space eraser rings, or the deluxe “Going to the Chapel” package which has a silk flower bouquet, logo tee shirts and party favors.

by Gillian at Luxique

If you fancy starting 2012 off in decadent style, consider booking a room or suite at the newly completed Octavius Tower at Caesar’s Palace. This will be the sixth tower at the luxury hotel complex and marks the completion of a $860 million expansion. Octavius Tower will satisfy the need for a resort-within-a-resort experience which is a growing trend in Las Vegas luxury hotels.

Octavius Tower will open its doors for the first time to guests on January 2nd, 2012 and will cater exclusively to the high-end market. It has a private entrance, separate lobby and direct access to the gardens and pool area, known as the Garden of the Gods.

Just six months ago Caesar’s Palace opened the sister Augustus Tower which, according to Gary Selesner, regional president of Caesar’s Palace, is already an unqualified success with very high occupancy levels.

Octavius Tower will have luxurious rooms starting at 550 square feet with modern luxurious décor and superior levels of service. iPod docking stations and iPad touch devices will relegate in-room telephones to history with direct communication with room service, housekeeping and front desk services via the neat touchscreen tablets.

by Gillian

Cruise ships have long been called floating luxury hotels. With their butler service, designer shopping, choice of restaurants and spa facilities some are certainly in the same league. The latest idea being trialed at Echo Bay Marina on Lake Mead, NV are luxury floatels.

These moored lodgings are ideal for larger parties, families and gatherings of friends but can they really compete with luxury hotels in Las Vegas? Thankfully the boats are climate controlled for the dry desert environment, and they do come with a kitchen, four bedrooms, a TV and a sundeck with hot tub. Waterfront views are a given.

However, room service is not available and it is a long drive back to bed after dining on the Strip. While some places spring to mind as being a pleasant place to stay on water - Vancouver Harbour or Sidney Australia for example - most marinas with spare capacity for floatels tend to be seedy docklands and places you certainly would not want to return to alone after dark.

On the plus side, pets are welcome at these floatels and prices are lower than comparable luxury hotels. For me, floatels are closer to camping than pampering, despite what their optimistic advertising claims them to be.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

Some luxury hotels offer massage services, some are pet-friendly and some luxury hotels in Las Vegas have seen a new opportunity to combine the two. Their new special offer packages provide both dog owners and their pets with an in-room massage.

This idea comes from the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas as the ultimate for pampered pooches. Promoted as a Paws Massage Package, it costs $150 and provides a 30 minute massage for the owner followed by a similar treatment for the dog – a new take on his ‘n’ hers massages.

The deal includes a dog bed, pet treats and bottled water with a doggy bowl, but with the price of the rub downs, plus room rate (starting at around $189), taxes and gratuities and a non-refundable $200 cleaning fee it is not a cheap afternoon in.

Dog owners apparently thought the massages were a great idea but the dogs made “no comment”.

Most visitors however may find it more relaxing to leave fido at “Camp Bow-Wow” and drop the $600 on a shopping splurge at the Fashion Show Mall just across the road.

by Gillian at Luxique Luxury Hotels

Reflective windows seemed like a good, energy-efficient idea for MGM’s Vdara luxury hotel in Las Vegas, which opened last December.

But sunlight bouncing off the building has resulted in a dangerous concentration of rays, and a guest complained of burns from the midday sun.

The problem occurs when the sun hits the crescent-shaped south façade of the hotel, concentrating intense rays over a 15-foot area of the pool deck for an hour. Guests are encouraged to avoid the area during that time.

Some have dubbed the phenomenon ‘death rays’, but MGM Resorts prefer ‘potential solar convergence’. Spokesman Alan Feldman said a high-tech solar film had been installed on the windows, which had reduced the problem by about 70 per cent. Designers are looking at additional shading options.

“What remains are seasonal hot spots that are most acute, of course, in the summertime,” said Mr Feldman. Historic high temperatures in Las Vegas this summer have intensified the problem. Hotel staffers are aware of the hot spots and move guests around the pool deck when necessary.

by Andy Moreton

Heading for The Strip? Check out Luxique’s selection of three of the most impressive luxury hotels in Las Vegas – where you won’t need Factor 200 sun cream.

Not many people would associate Las Vegas with a museum, but when it’s dedicated to the king of bling, Liberace, where else could it possibly be situated?

But now, sadly, the Liberace Foundation is to close the building on 1775 E. Tropicana Avenue that has exhibited the entertainer’s extensive costumes, cars, pianos, candelabra and jewellery for the past 31 years.

Foundation chairman, Jeff Koep, says the reasons are a steady decline in attendance, the off-Strip location and a waning interest in the flamboyant entertainer, who came to TV fame in the 1950s. Attendance last year was down to 50,000 from 450,000 just 12 years ago, and even that number was inflated by two-for-one discounts, and free admission on Sundays for Las Vegas residents.

Gloria Kritzler, who’s in charge of sales and marketing for Grand Canyon Tour & Travel, conceded that the tour buses no longer rolled up to the museum on a daily basis, but, she said, “people still look for this place. It’s part of history.”

A small, but colourful group of protesters recently staged a lunchtime demonstration against the closure. They called for an investigation into the financial management of the museum, which will close its doors for the last time on October 17th.

by Andy Moreton

Heading for The Strip? Check out Luxique’s selection of three of the most impressive luxury hotels in Las Vegas.