Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

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

Not content with an airline, music and entertainment, mobile phones and a hundred and one other interests, the Virgin Group’s billionaire owner, Sir Richard Branson, is moving into the luxury hotel market.

He’s currently seeking properties in the United States in order to launch a contemporary four-star chain under the Virgin brand. He’s initially looking at New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington DC, although there are plans to expand globally in the long-term.

The group aims to acquire the management contract or ownership of $500 million (£316 million) worth of 150-400 bedroom properties in ‘appealing neighbourhoods’ over the next three years. The luxury hotels will be aimed at what the company terms ‘high income, well educated, metropolitan, creative class customers’.

Sir Richard said (modestly): “I’ve had great fun turning quite a lot of different industries on their heads and making sure those industries would never be the same because Virgin took them on.”

The entrepreneur has already dipped his toe into the waters of the luxury travel business with Virgin Limited Edition, a collection of exclusive vacation retreats around the world. They include Necker, a small island in the British Virgin [!] Islands owned by Sir Richard and available to hire for up to 26 guests.

by Andy Moreton

Now here’s the craziest thing. No sooner had the iconic Hollywood sign survived an attempt to demolish it and replace it with executive homes, than an enterprising young architect has come up with the idea of building a luxury hotel – with rooms inside each of the letters!

Christian Bay-Jorgensen from Denmark has produced an impressive set of designs which would see the giant letters rebuilt to twice their current size of 45 feet.

He says luxury hotel facilities like the bar, restaurant and pool could be built behind the letters, giving the ten floors of rooms stunning views of the LA skyline. And Mr Bay-Jorgensen favours a roof terrace on top of each of the letters.

“I’m a fan of the Hollywood sign and the unused spaces of America,” said the 28-year-old. “It could be interesting to make it a centre for such events as the Golden Globes and Oscars. This could be the future of the sign.”

He believes his plan for a luxury hotel offers the chance to develop the site and provide the city with the funding it badly needs, but he is also fully aware of the sensitivities surrounding the sign. “I know people are scared – I know they are afraid this idea will turn it into Disneyland,” he said.

The idea has already had internet message boards buzzing. Said one contributor: “The Hollywood sign faces south, perhaps south-south-west, so the swimming pool and sun terrace will have no sun for most of the day because of the letters creating large shade. Why can’t he leave it as it is: a classic Los Angeles tourist attraction and piece of history?”

by Andy Moreton

If you’re heading for America’s West Coast, Luxique can guide you to some of the finest luxury hotels in Los Angeles – such landmarks as the Beverly Wilshire, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air.

A post-script to last week’s article about the battle to save the famous Hollywood sign that was to make space for a luxury hotel in Los Angeles.

It’s just been reported that the final, decisive $900,000 (£580,000) has been donated by the Playboy mogul, Hugh Hefner, and so the iconic landmark survives.

The sign is owned by the city, but the property around it belongs to a group of Chicago-based investors. Their original intention was to sell it to developers looking to build exclusive homes and, possibly, a luxury hotel.

But with Hefner’s help, a conservation trust has now raised the $12.5 million (£8.1 million), which the investors were willing to accept for the site.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger described the news as ‘the Hollywood ending we hoped for’.
Hefner, who calls the sign ‘Hollywood’s Eiffel Tower’, said: “My childhood dreams and fantasies came from the movies, and the images created in Hollywood had a major influence on my life and Playboy.”

Inevitably, some newspapers have doctored the sign to show one of the Os with Playboy Bunny ears.

by Andy Moreton

If you have a visit to the City of Angels in mind, take a look at Luxique’s selection of luxury hotels in Los Angeles, which includes all the top names.

A battle has been going on in Los Angeles to save the iconic Hollywood sign that’s been a must-see for tourists for more than 80 years.

The land on which it stands was bought by Chicago-based investors, whose intention was to sell it to developers looking to build exclusive homes and, possibly, a luxury hotel.

But a conservation trust says it’s on the verge of raising the $12.5 million (£8.1 million) which the developers would accept for the 138-acre area known as Cahuenga Peak.

The investors initially planned to sell the land to developers (who wanted to build a luxury hotel) for $22 million (£14.4 million) but agreed to turn it over to the trust for $12.5 million if the money was paid by April 14th. This deadline has now been extended to April 30th.

Los Angeles city councillor, Tom LaBonge, said he was confident the trust would raise the remaining $1.5 million (£1 million). “We are grateful to have a little more time to reach our goal, and we’re going to get there,” said LaBonge.

The 45-foot Hollywood sign was originally put up in 1923 as a billboard for a Los Angeles real estate company.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re heading for America’s West Coast, Luxique can guide you to some of the finest luxury hotels in Los Angeles, including the Beverly Wilshire, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air.

Work has begun on a $1.5 billion (£1 billion) expansion of the international terminal at Los Angeles airport (LAX).

Upgrades to the Tom Bradley Terminal will include new restaurants, fifteen new boarding gates and other passenger services. It’s thought the project will be completed by 2013.

All this is not before time, some travellers might say, as LAX has frequently been judged among the worst in the United States. A recent survey found the airport received poor ratings for accessibility, terminal facilities, food and retail services, security screening and overall customer satisfaction. It achieved a ranking of just 2 among large airports in the US.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was at the ceremony marking the beginning of the project. “By modernizing the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, we will provide a better service for passengers from around the world,” he said.

“Tourism and international trade are major contributors to Los Angeles’ economy that generate jobs and contribute to the city’s ability to retain its position in the ever-increasing competitive global marketplace.”

by Andy Moreton

If you have a visit to the City of Angels in mind, take a look at Luxique’s selection of luxury hotels in Los Angeles, which includes all the top names.

As surveys go, this one is pretty gross. Our friends at Tripadvisor.com have come up with a top five tourist attractions that could be bad for your health as they’re so germ-ridden. Here they are in reverse order:

At number 5 is the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where celebrities leave their hand- and footprints for posterity. Apparently, it’s covered in grime from the countless visitors who see if their hands and feet match those of the stars.

St Mark’s is a beautiful square in Venice, but it’s always suffered from a surfeit of hungry pigeons and the mess they leave behind. That brings it in at number 4.

At number 3 is Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris. People clearly like to kiss it, because it’s covered with lipstick prints. Yuk!

A wall outside Market Theatre in Seattle was placed runner-up in the survey. Since 1990, tens of thousands of people have stuck their unwanted chewing gum to the wall, turning it into a tourist attraction. The display was started by people waiting in line to visit the theatre. The wall has been scraped clean twice but is still covered with gum, some moulded into shapes and faces.

But the ‘favourite’ tourist attraction for picking up germs is the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle near Cork in the Irish Republic. More than 400,000 tourists a year literally bend over backwards to kiss the Stone, as legend has it that it will give you the gift of eloquent speech.

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can promise you ultra-hygienic facilities at top-class hotels close to all the tourist attractions mentioned above: browse our selection of luxury hotels in Los Angeles, Venice, Paris, Seattle and Cork.

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

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.

With Hallowe’en approaching, I was reminded of one of the world’s most famously haunted hotels.
The Roosevelt was at the centre of the Hollywood scene in its heyday and was where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929.

Opened in 1927 as a luxurious hotel to service the new movie industry, the Hollywood Roosevelt was the place to catch a glimpse of the stars … and it seems a few left an indelible mark.

Marilyn Monroe stayed there for two years in Suite 1200, which looked down on the pool. In Monroe’s room there was a full-length mirror and it was eventually moved to the hotel manager’s office. An employee was dusting the mirror one day and saw the face of Marilyn Monroe staring back at her. The mirror is now in the hotel lobby and some guests say they, too, have caught a glimpse of the movie star.

Montgomery Clift lived in Room 928 at the Hollywood Roosevelt during the filming of From Here to Eternity. It’s said his ghost can be seen pacing the hallway outside his room while rehearsing his lines. Witnesses say they’ve also seen Clift playing his bugle in the hallway. Guests who have stayed in his room have felt an occasional ghostly presence and a pat on the shoulder.

In the Blossom Ballroom, where the Oscars ceremony was born, a cold spot has been detected – about ten degrees cooler than the rest of the room. Psychic investigators have seen the spirit of a man dressed in black. Maybe it was Douglas Fairbanks, who presented the show in 1929.

The Hollywood Roosevelt - now part of the Thompson Hotels group - was refurbished in 2005 by the acclaimed designer, Dodd Mitchell. And as Vanity Fair said at the time, ‘The ghost of glamour past has a new lease of life.’

by Andy Moreton

Luxique can offer the best available rates at the Roosevelt as well several other luxury hotels in Los Angeles.