Author: Shawon Hannan
The new Sonesta ES Suites Myrtle Beach opens in Myrtle Beach, US, in the place of an earlier extended stay hotel, the Staybridge Suites Myrtle Beach, on August 27, 2012. Sonesta International Hotels, a US-based hospitality company with properties in North and South America, Africa, and the Caribbean, and owners of the new 445-room extended stay hotel, has announced that the hotel is to offer studio, one and two bedroom suite accommodation, each with a work area, a kitchen, and complimentary high speed wireless Internet access. The hotel is also offering a roof top swimming pool, a 24-hour exercise room,…
National Trust, the charitable organisation that looks after around 250,000 hectares of countryside, 720 miles of coastline, and numerous historic places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has announced the opening of a visitor centre at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the National Trust, have jointly funded the visitor centre at the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The centre has taken an investment of around £18.5 million, and has been designed by Dublin based architects, Heneghan Peng. The centre, designed to blend…
Travel perks and extras give holidays the flying start that travellers want according to a recent survey. The survey, by HolidayExtras.com, has reported that holiday embellishments, like travelling in a private jet, are what holidaymakers dreams are made of. The company polled around 1,962 travellers, and in general they expressed their desire to live the high-life, including taking rocket trips to outer space, and nearly one in two, or 47 percent, would like to go on holiday in a private jet. Although such grandiose trimmings may be beyond the finances of most travellers, the holiday company is of the opinion…
Travelodge Hotels, a US-based company that owns and operates hotel properties, has announced the opening four new properties in London in July 2012, making it the largest hotel brand in London for the 2012 Olympics. The company has provided around £36 million in investment to open new Travelodge brand properties in the Balham, Enfield, ExCel and Woolwich areas of London. With the new properties, the company has around 54 hotels in London, offering a total of 7,024 rooms. The company currently has plans to open another four hotels in London after the Olympics, offering a total of 1,015 additional rooms.…
TripAdvisor, an online travel community offering user-generated travel information, has announced its TripIndex 2012 for travellers. The TripAdvisor TripIndex is priced in British pounds and includes the cost of one night for a couple in a four-star hotel, including accommodation, cocktails, a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine, and return taxi transportation. For the summer months until August 31, 2012, Hanoi, in Vietnam offers the most affordable travel for British travellers, with a TripIndex cost of £89.93. With the huge hype around the cost of London accommodation for the 2012 Olympics Games, the city tops the list of most…
British travellers can easily land themselves with excess baggage charges if they do not take more care when packing for their travels, according to a survey conducted by UK-based, Kelkoo Travel. This summer alone, the excess baggage spend by British travellers is likely to be around £1 million a day, the report claims. The survey said that 55 percent of reported travellers have exceeded their excess baggage allowance in 2011, and spent a total of £186 million, or £48 per person. Travellers, on average, carry around 3.5 kilos of excess baggage, paying a charge of around 15 percent of the…
The new Cosmopolitan Hotel has opened in Dubai, UAE recently as the latest entrant on the boutique hotel scene. The hotel is built on seven floors. It is located in the Al Barsha area of Dubai and has 114 rooms and suites, as well as three food and beverage venues, and a 24-hour fitness centre. It is just a few minutes away from the Mall of the Emirates shopping mall, and is also close to the Sharaf DG metro station. The property also features the Cosmo Executive Floor, offering supplementary benefits and services, including complimentary in-room breakfast, and complimentary access…
Greece may have an economy that has been strongly shaken by its debt burden, but the Eastern Mediterranean country still remains a favourite with tourists, and demand for Greek villa rentals remains high according to Luxury Retreats, an international luxury villa rental specialist. Luxury Retreats chief executive officer, Joe Poulin, said, ‘It’s business as usual for us in terms of reservations at popular destinations like Santorini and Crete. On the islands, the importance of tourism to the local economy and jobs cannot be overstated. Our travel partners in Greece remain committed to providing a premium vacation experience for each and…
Fastjet, a new airline that will be offering low-cost services to Africa, is due to be launched in October 2012. The airline will be operated by Rubicon Diversified Investments, a UK-based holding company, in consultation with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of Easyjet, a UK-based low-cost airline. Fastjet has recently entered into an agreement with Airbus to lease A319 aircraft for the launch of its services. Ed Winter, the chief executive officer of Rubicon Diversified Investments, said, ‘The decision to launch FastJet with the Airbus A319 enables us to expand rapidly with each aircraft potentially carrying around 250,000 passengers a year.…
Long delays at London Heathrow Airport immigration counters are showing little sign of improving, and with the 2012 Olympic Games being just around the corner, difficulties faced by visiting games fans are again surfacing as a potential nightmare. While the situation has been fluctuating recently, travellers are reporting delays of more than 90 minutes at immigration counters manned by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), the UK government’s border control authority, and a part of the Home Office. BAA Ltd, the owner and operator of six British airports, including London Heathrow, has said, ‘Immigration is a matter for the Home Office.…