Unique luxury hotels, fashionable travel and much more

Some hotels are just great when it comes to romantic gestures.

A round of applause, then, for the Menzies Welcombe Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare country).

John and Patricia Staite booked the luxury hotel to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary because it was there that they’d spent their wedding night fifty years before. The hotel, having been tipped off about the booking, not only gave them the same room (131), but charged them only the 1960 price: £9.20 ($14.50).

The hotel could be sure of the price because Mr Staite had kept the original receipt for dinner, bed and breakfast of £9, 3 shillings and 3 pennies [before the UK went decimal].

The hotel’s surprises for the couple also included champagne and an anniversary cake.

Mr Staite told his local newspaper: “It was a very generous gesture from the hotel to offer us the same room rate as in 1960. I can remember our wedding day as if it was yesterday and we couldn’t have wished for a better hotel in which to stay on our wedding night.

“It has been a real pleasure to return 50 years later and see that the hotel is just as magnificent as it was then. The decor and furnishings in room 131 have changed however, including having a TV.”

by Andy Moreton

The power of movies to boost tourism has been demonstrated in a survey carried out on behalf of the UK Film Council.

The study suggests that ten per cent of foreign tourists come to the UK because they’ve fallen in love with a location they’ve seen on the big screen. This ‘film-induced tourism’ contributed £1.9 billion ($2.7 billion) to the UK economy last year.

The most popular locations include Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, which doubles for Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter films, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the setting for the Keira Knightley film The Duchess, and Basildon Park in Berkshire, where parts of the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice were filmed.

One movie, Miss Potter, in which Renee Zellweger played the writer Beatrix Potter, caused such a rise in visitors from Japan that one company in the Lake District now employs a full time Japanese tour guide.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re coming to the UK this year, Luxique can guide you to the perfect accommodation, with a wide selection of luxury hotels in London. We can also help you book luxury hotels in many other parts of the UK.

The bracing coastal resort of Blackpool in north-west England is unashamedly brash and glitzy with its pleasure beach, illuminations and pier.

In its heyday – around 1900 to 1950 – Blackpool thrived, as factory workers from the north took their annual holidays there en masse. It’s remained popular, although visitor numbers have dwindled over the years.

Now the resort is about to enjoy a renaissance because its modest football team (who play in tangerine coloured shirts) have unexpectedly risen through the ranks and will compete in the Premier League next season with the millionaires of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Blackpool’s promotion to the top flight is said to be worth £90 million ($129 million) to the club alone, and the wider local economy is also poised for a bonanza, with hundreds of thousands of extra visitors expected during the off-peak winter months.

Bars and restaurants are all set to cash in on the influx of fans, as are budget hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. But local tourist chiefs predict that more upmarket venues and luxury hotels will also benefit, with companies switching business meetings and conferences to the town, drawn by the prospect of top-flight football matches.

Tony Openshaw, of the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board, said: “We’ve already had bookings from companies who were making inquiries almost as soon as the final whistle was blown, so they could secure conference and meetings rooms first.”

“The result is a huge fillip for Blackpool and the whole of the Fylde Coast, which will benefit in terms of increased tourism spend,” said Mr Openshaw.

Kill-joy bookmakers seem to think the euphoria will be short-lived. They’re offering odds of 4–11 that Blackpool will be relegated from the top division at the end of the season and 10,000–1 that they’ll win the title.

by Andy Moreton

Cash-conscious tourists in the UK have flocked to visitor attractions with free entry, according to figures just released.

Britons staying at home for their vacations, and overseas tourists attracted by the weak pound helped Britain’s leading attractions welcome 10.9 per cent more visitors in 2009 than the previous year.

The British Museum topped the list with 5.57 million visits, followed by the National Gallery (4.78 million) and Tate Modern (4.74 million). All these have free entrance except for major exhibitions.

Of the attractions charging, Blenheim Palace enjoyed a surge in visitors, welcoming more than half a million – 43.6 per cent more than in 2008. Blenheim, where Winston Churchill was born, is a unique example of English baroque architecture, set in 2,000 acres of Oxfordshire parkland landscaped by Capability Brown.

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions has said there’s a feeling of optimism in the tourism industry about the immediate future, but it’s called for more government funding to promote Britain to potential tourists abroad.

by Andy Moreton

If you’re coming to the UK this year, Luxique can guide you to the perfect accommodation, with a wide selection of luxury hotels in London. We can also help you book luxury hotels in many other parts of the UK, including the university city of Oxford, close to Blenheim Palace.

We all love those hotels that go the extra mile for their guests, but here’s one free service you might think you can do without.

The Holiday Inn chain in the UK is to pilot a scheme in Manchester whereby someone sleeps in your bed to warm it up before you get in. Sleep experts say a cold bed inhibits sleep – the ideal temperature is 20–24 degrees Celsius (68–75 Fahrenheit).

The human electric blanket will be dressed in an all-in-one sleeper suit and spend five minutes under the duvet.

Holiday Inn spokeswoman, Jane Bednall, said:

“People want to leave the cold outside and climb into a warm bed. The service is a bit like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed, warming it up before guests climb in to give them a great night’s sleep away from the cold. Of course they jump out before you jump in.”

Of course. But it could take some explaining if you forgot to tell your partner you’d booked the service …

by Andy Moreton

Forgive me, British readers, while I briefly explain the traditions of November 5th to our overseas friends.

Every year, on that date, bonfires are lit and fireworks set off to mark the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when Guy Fawkes and his associates planned to displace Protestant rule by blowing up the Houses of Parliament.

It’s known as Guy Fawkes’ Night or Bonfire Night and part of the modern jolly celebrations involve making a Guy Fawkes effigy and burning it on the bonfire.

It would be true to say, then, that if your real name is Guy Fawkes, you come in for a fair bit of ridicule and abuse around this time of the year. So … and you’ll be pleased to hear I’m finally coming to the point of this story …

… the Future Inns hotel chain in the UK has promised a free night’s stay between November 5th and 11th to any Guy Fawkes who can prove that he really does legally bear that name. The offer – for a stay in Cardiff, Plymouth or Bristol – is also open to anyone named Catherine Wheel (a popular and colourful firework that’s fixed to a tree or post and spins wildly when lit).
Future Inns’ Managing Director, Del Brett, said:

“We hope our offer will provide some respite for the namesakes of Guy Fawkes. All our rooms are sound-proofed so anyone who wants to escape fireworks celebrations will be able to enjoy a restful night.”

A quick search of Facebook produced 500 people purporting to be called Guy Fawkes, but how many of them have the birth certificate to prove it …?

by Andy Moreton

We’re burning to tell you all about Luxique’s spectacular selection of luxury hotels in London and many other cities in the UK.

There are ambitious multi-million pound plans to transform Northern Ireland’s oldest prison into a four-star hotel.

Armagh jail, which is a listed building, has stood on a prime site in Armagh city for 230 years, during which time it hosted numerous executions. It closed as a prison in 1986.

It was one of the key detention centres for women prisoners during the sectarian unrest (‘The Troubles’) that blighted Northern Ireland for more than thirty years.

Bernadette Devlin, who was jailed there for six months for her part in riots in 1969, commented: “I just hope the food is better there now.” The former Republican MP, who now works with a community group, added: “My main concern would be ensuring that such a beautiful building is maintained and that the money from the sale is put back into improving prison conditions.”

A spokesman for Armagh City Council, which owns the site, said it had chosen the developer who had converted Oxford jail into the award-winning Malmaison Hotel. The council liked the sympathetic way it had treated that project.

by Andy Moreton

With The Troubles now in the past, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board has been extolling the delights of a visit there. Luxique offers the most competitive rates at three luxury hotels in Belfast.

I’ve just been re-visiting an old haunt – the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of England.

Coincidentally, I see it’s one of the Great British Getaways for 2009 recommended by our friends at the magazine, Condé Nast Traveller.

Brighton became popular towards the end of the 18th century through the patronage of the Prince Regent. He spent much of his leisure time in the town and had the Royal Pavilion constructed. The Victorian era saw the building of many other attractions, including the Grand Hotel and the Palace Pier.

These days, Brighton is a vibrant town with attractive architecture, plenty of shops of all kinds - especially antiques and clothing - and restaurants. And it’s all neatly contained within a small area. With a big student population, it has a young feel.

Brighton is only about an hour’s train ride from London and there are some really chic boutique hotels to enjoy. We agree with Condé Nast that two of the coolest are Drakes, which is set in two Regency townhouses with great sea views, and Myhotel Brighton, where cutting-edge design meets feng shui.

by Andy Moreton

The chairman of VisitBritain, the UK’s tourist authority, has said grumpy staff and poor value for money at hotels are in danger of deterring overseas visitors when the economy needs them most.

Christopher Rodrigues said that at some hotels, tourists had to put up with a failure to provide basics, while others were blighted by Basil Fawlty-type characters who were bad-tempered and rude.

“We’re now in an environment where you have to do quality. Poor value for money and poor service cost jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession,” said Rodrigues.

The decline in the value of the British pound against the Euro and the US dollar should make holidays in the UK attractive to tourists and VisitBritain is launching a ‘value campaign’ that aims to change Britain’s reputation abroad for being expensive.

Rodrigues reckons earnings could fall by up to £4 billion ($6 billion) leading to the loss of up to 50,000 jobs this year unless standards are raised.

“We need to improve service levels and attention,” said Rodrigues. “When you ask people what’s memorable it doesn’t have to be five-star. A really nice English breakfast served with a smile and a comfortable bed, where there’s a clean bar of soap and the towels are fluffy – that can be all it takes.”

Just as a footnote, I heard this the other day: “The recession’s got so bad, hotels have started stealing the guests’ towels.”

by Andy Moreton

Take advantage of the weak pound with a trip to the UK. We can promise (fingers crossed here) service with a smile at any number of luxury and boutique UK hotels.

Work on a £2.3 million ($3.5 million) hotel project at Suffolk in eastern England has been held up because a colony of rare great crested newts was found in a pond at the site.

Heavy machinery was removed while the environmental watchdog, Natural England, and the local Wildlife Trust relocated the newts.

The great crested newt population in the UK has been dwindling because of over-development near their habitats. It’s an endangered species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, making it an offence to kill, harm or disturb them.

The 47-room budget Travelodge at Lowestoft had been due to open by Christmas, but because of the four-month delay, it will now be ready in April.

by Andy Moreton

For something a little bit more upscale, Luxique has several wonderful luxury hotels in East Anglia, including the charming Hintlesham Hall, a country house hotel with gourmet dining.