Author: Shawon Hannan

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world’s largest hotel group in terms of rooms, is set to open a new 296-room hotel under the Crowne Plaza brand in Muscat, the capital of Oman, after reaching an agreement with Oman Tourism Development Company SAOC (Omran). Crowne Plaza already has a presence in Muscat, and three such branded hotels in the country as a whole. The latest addition, Crowne Plaza Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, will be a completely new building boasting extensive meeting and event facilities, including a ballroom. It will also host five restaurants – including one set on the rooftop,…

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline by amount of passengers, has today set out its winter 2013 schedule of flights for sale, for the period of 27th October 2013 to 2nd March 2014. More than 71,000 flights have been added to the schedule, which is now available for bookings at easyJet.com. It covers over 300 routes flying from 11 UK airports, with over  11 million seats on offer for customers to select from. Malaga and Alicante are popular easyJet destinations for travellers looking to escape the miserable winter weather, and these routes are well-serviced. Other popular escapes include Amsterdam, Barcelona and…

Ireland-based low cost carrier Ryanair and Europe’s largest scheduled coach operator National Express have announced a partnership deal to provide travellers arriving at and departing from Manchester and London airports with direct and affordable coach links. Passengers travelling to or from London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted and Manchester with Ryanair will be able to book online for direct National Express connections. This can be made via Ryanair’s own website, Ryanair.com, or by purchasing tickets onboard Ryanair flights in the UK. National Express has a strong focus on providing links to and from airports and other destinations in the UK,…

The Hertz Corporation, a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, a US-based car rental company, has added to its supercar rental line-up in Europe. Supercars can now be rented from Hertz outlets in France and Italy, with the Netherlands also offering the service from April this year. The new European coverage is augmented by the addition of more up-market models to the existing fleets in Spain and the UK. The supercar rental segment is experiencing good growth, with more motorists than ever prepared to pay for the opportunity of driving exotic models with purchase prices that exclude all but the very…

Germany-based air carrier, Lufthansa, is adding to its services on UK routes as part of its recently announced summer schedule. The new schedule will include an increase in capacity between Aberdeen in Scotland and Frankfurt, in addition to two completely new services to Glasgow in Scotland and to the Welsh capital, Cardiff from the German city of Dusseldorf. The introduction of B737-500 aircraft with seating for 114 passengers, to replace the 70-seat CR7 will enable the increase in capacity on the Aberdeen route without the need for additional flights. Of the two new services to Glasgow and Cardiff from Dusseldorf,…

London’s culinary might has been recognised with its achievement of top spot on a list of the world’s greatest restaurants. According to the list, which was compiled by Elite Traveller magazine, a US-based publication, ten of London’s restaurants have a place in the world’s top one hundred. Paris came second with nine of its restaurants gaining favour, while New York restaurants could only muster five positions. The Elite Traveller list was contributed to by ‘ultra high net worth’ influencers and experts associated with the magazine. They reportedly made their choices based on the quality of food, surroundings and service at…

Adagio Aparthotels, a brand of France-based hotel group, Accor, has just opened its first UK property in the city of Liverpool. Designed as a long stay hotel, the Liverpool Adagio has 126 self-contained apartments with their own fully equipped kitchens, but guests will also have the benefit of hotel services, including a fitness room, a laundry and two meeting rooms. The new hotel, which is located near to the city’s Albert Dock, brings the company’s aparthotel ethos to the UK, adding to its 90 existing properties in European cities including Berlin, Brussels, Munich, Paris, Rome and Vienna. Another 60 aparthotels…

The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is urging holidaymakers that are booking getaways over the Easter holiday to make sure that they receive an ATOL (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) certificate for their travel. The CAA is so concerned that travellers are overlooking the importance of being ATOL protected on their journeys that it is placing adverts in a number of daily newspapers to emphasise the point. The adverts are to appear in The Mirror, Sun, Daily and Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday, People and Daily Record this Saturday and Sunday, and online until Easter Monday. This latest publicity is part…

With weather forecasters predicting that Britain is likely to stay in the grip of the current cold snap over the coming Easter holiday weekend and beyond, a mass exodus to warmer climes is already underway. According to travel industry figures, 1.7 million Britons will be taking advantage of the Easter break and jetting away from the ice, snow and biting winds that are currently afflicting the UK. A flood of last minute bookings by chilly Brits has boosted traveller numbers to well above the average for Easter, and topping the winter escape destinations are Tunisia, the Canary Islands, Turkey, Egypt…

The UK is to be on the destination list of the world’s largest cruise ship in 2014. Mega cruiser, Oasis of the Seas, the pride of Royal Caribbean Cruises’ fleet, is to offer Europe-based itineraries for the first time from September next year, embarking from Barcelona, Spain. It is scheduled to visit Southampton on October 15, 2014, as it returns from a routine maintenance stop in the Netherlands. Sharing its ‘World’s Largest Passenger Ship’ title with its equally enormous twin ship, Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas weighs in at a hefty 225,282 gross registered tons and has…