A historic landmark transformed into a youth hostel
Transforming a historic landmark on the North Yorkshire coast Whitby cliff-tops into a flagship facility for the Youth Hostel Association wasn’t an easy task.
Work began at Abbey House in 2005 to turn the Grade 1 listed landmark into a 105-bed flagship Youth Hostel. Converting Abbey House has been a long and tricky road but the [...]
A grand old-style luxury hotel with a minimalist makeover
One of Paris’ top-end hotels, the luxury Meurice overlooking the Tuileries Gardens, went through a minimalist makeover by French designer Philippe Starck.
The legendary Le Meurice is a luxury hotel in the heart of Paris with a prestigious location between Place de la Concorde and the Louvre on the fashionable Rue de Rivoli. Following centuries in which Le [...]
Cruising Chicago’s famous architecture
Chicago’s Architecture Foundation offers river boat cruises viewing Windy City’s landmark buildings [53 historical architectural sites] including the Sears Tower and the Home Insurance Building.
As we cruise along the Chicago River viewing the city’s world-famous architecture, our tour guide motions to the former location of the house and barn belonging to Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, where the [...]
Movenpick Hotels to launch Dubai first residence
Having been a successful part of the Swiss international hotel group’s portfolio since summer 2003, the Movenpick Hotel Bur Dubai has now extended its offering by opening a new residence building to launch the Movenpick Hotel & Residence Bur Dubai in February this year.
Kingdom Hotel Investments, the leading resort and hotel investment company, acquired [...]
Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallinn adds Skype in rooms
Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallinn, a business and conference hotel, is the first one in the Baltic states that offers its clients the opportunity to use Skype telephones from February this year.
The new business class rooms are specially designed to meet all the needs of business travellers. All rooms have wireless internet connection with Skype [...]
A Greek village at Sandals Grande St. Lucian resort
Sandals is making plans for a 220-room expansion to Sandals Grande St. Lucian.
To be called The Greek Village, the new addition is scheduled to open in 2011 in the Gros Islet area of St. Lucia.
The Greek Village at Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa and Beach Resort include swim-up river suites, rondoval suites and 20 over-the-water [...]
Home and housed > France and Italy
Good planning and research can make bedding down in France and Italy affordable
So we fly into Paris where the monstrous pile of architectural excrement erected in honour of Charles de Gaulle is still, for my money, the ugliest building of its kind in the known universe.
Quelle horreur, we shudder as we escape, eyes averted, to [...]
Grand Hotel Sitea > Turin, Italy
THE BASICS > The Grand Hotel Sitea, part of the Turin Hotels International chain, an 80-year-old, four-star hotel, went under renovation in time for the Winter Olympics. By the time the Olympic Flame was ablaze in this northern Italian city, the hotel had a completely refurbished facade, six more rooms and high-speed Internet connections in all 120 rooms.
THE [...]
A London hotel with a view
London’s Montague on the Garden Hotel is more than the sum of its well-appointed parts
The Montague on the Gardens, an appealing boutique hotel in London’s Bloomsbury neighborhood, occupies a townhouse and has more the feel of a bed-and-breakfast inn than a conventional hotel.
There are hundreds of public squares in London, grassy, leafy oases offering a [...]
Have you heard?
> …that Eleven Madison Park in New York has received the honor of being designated Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux, the only stand-alone restaurant in North America to be newly inducted this year?
> …that the first MCM boutique in the U.S. is now open in The Plaza Hotel in New York?
