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Friday, February 01, 2008

Small Gem In The Heart of Manhattan - Hotel Mela

The Hotel Mela is a departure from your ordinary New York City hotel. This unique boutique hotel combines both the rich history of New York with the fine art of Italian living. The hotel is also the first new construction in the famed "Hotel and University Club Row" in over 20 years. While you are staying at this hotel, you will be charmed by its "At-Home Sophistication" and superb service.

When you walk in the door of Hotel Mela you will be embraced by its at-home ambiance. Red mohair sofas and white faux-leather banquettes bring sophistication and warmth, while the black-trimmed marble flooring against Venetian plaster walls effortlessly fuse style and comfort. Guests will notice the artwork depicting landmark buildings and historic districts of New York City on its plastered walls. Hotel Mela's hospitality doesn't stop at the lobby, walk into any one of its 235 rooms and you will understand why people return to this hotel.

Enjoy specialty pillows, throws, Egyptian cotton duvet covers, 400-thread count sheets, and spa amenities like Turkish Cotton towels and H20 Bath products. Besides is luxurious linens and toiletries, the rooms are elegantly designed in rich mahogany and mohair-covered sitting chairs with overstuffed pillows beckon guests to lounge and relax. Other in-room features include complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access, 26" flat-screen LCD TVs, CD/Alarm clock with MP3 connection, mini-bars, and ergonomic seating and desks.

Located on 44th Street between Broadway Avenue and 6th Avenue, you will be within a few blocks of some of New York's most popular attractions. Hotel Mela is only one block away from Times Square, less than two blocks from Fifth Avenue shopping, within five blocks of Rockefeller Center and less than a 15 minute walk from Central Park and the Museum of Modern Art. At this New York hotel, you are ideally located to explore the Big Apple. Take a stroll around Times Square underneath its brilliant lights, or catch a play just a few blocks away in the Theater District. All of the hot spots are at your fingertips.

Hotels In Mumbai - Choose From Budget To Luxury Accommodations As Per Your Convenience

If you are planning to visit this port city then you need not worry about accommodation since you have a lot to choose from in terms of hotels in Mumbai. You can choose from budget hotels, guest houses and even some of the most luxurious hotels in the city. Choosing accommodation in Mumbai would depend upon money in your pocket since you can choose from cheapest to costliest hotels in this city of dreams. Most of the hotels are centrally located therefore you wont have any sort of problem in seeking accommodations and moving around in the city.

You could choose from a beach side hotel where you could enjoy the cool breeze or choose one which is near the commercial areas so that you can easily access those areas. When you compare it with the rest of cities you will realize that Mumbai is a costlier place to stay when compared with other metros of India.

You could choose from hotels with dingy rooms or luxurious suites in some of the most plush areas of Mumbai. If you have the money then you can take your choice of accommodations. Some of the most popular hotels in Mumbai are Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi and Leela to name a few. Most of the tourists are on a lookout for budget destinations since the city sees a lot of business travelers everyday.

In most of the hotels the check in/check out time is from noon to noon and in certain cases you won't be charged if you stay for few hours beyond noon. In case you are looking forward to spending only a few hours in Mumbai, a good option would be to arrive at hotels such as Centaur or Leelawhere. There you can deposit your luggage for a small fee and use their coffee shops, hotel lounges and health clubs without having to check into the hotel.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Winter Park CO Lodging - Hotels, Condo Rentals And Lodges

Winter Park, Colorado lodging includes ski in / ski out hotels, cozy condo rentals and mountain lodges to fit any travelers accommodation needs. Located on the fringe of the Front Range of Colorado, Winter Park's convenient location to Denver and Colorado Springs make it a popular ski vacation for both Colorado natives and out of state visitors. Here is more information about lodging and accommodations in this unique mountain town.

Those travelers who are looking for full service amenities will feel right at home in any of Winter Park Colorado's convenient hotels. Offering guests a wide variety of lodging styles many of the hotels in provide slope-side accommodation while remaining close to the town's happening nightlife. You can wake up to continental breakfast, hit the slopes for a couple of hours, and then relax in the warmth of a outdoor hot tub. Nightly prices for hotels range from budget accommodations to luxury rooms. Choose your own adventure in the mountains of Colorado!

Another popular choice for accommodations in Winter Park, CO is to rent your own condo rental. The added advantage of having your own private 1-4 bedroom condo is the ability to cook your meals and gather with friends and family while having enough space for all your luggage and ski equipment. Condos are scattered throughout the entire valley. Some offer close proximity to the ski resort while others offer the quiet solitude of being tucked away next to a meandering river deep in the pine forest of Colorado. Some condo rentals in Winter Park are for the budget minded travelers who just need a place to crash, while other units provide luxury amenities like private outdoor hot tubs, full scale kitchen and cookware and of course wood burning fireplaces.

Lodges in Winter Park are where hotels meet private condos. The perfect blending of two offer guests authentic mountain ambiance while providing full service amenities such as concierge service and guest reception. Many of the lodges are decorated in true Colorado architecture which consist of log structures and intimate meeting space.

The best part of the varied lodging is that many of the units offer slope-side access to the Winter Park & Mary Jane ski resort. Simply head out the door, click into your bindings and let any of the numerous lifts take you to the top of the Continental Divide. Ski in / Ski out lodging tends to be a little more pricey than other lodging in the area but many find that the convenience factor is a big value worthy of spending a little more on their vacation accommodation.

Premium Segment Hotels Stake on Children

On the market of VIP-tourism survive only those who are able to offer anything exclusive. Above all, this refers to hotels that appear in big business cities and resorts.

This may be either an ancient castle-hotel, or a villa on the ocean coast, or a fashionable modern architectural creation. The main characteristic feature of these hotels is assurance of the highest service level. An exclusive hotel is a common notion. The term "premium segment" hotel does not exist in the official hotel classification.

France is the only exception to the rule, since instead of five-star hotels it has three categories of four-star hotels for a while now.

The most expensive hotel in the world is considered the Geneva hotel "President Wilson". One night in its royal penthouse costs more than 53 thousand dollars. The second place is occupied by the hotel "Palms Casino" with 40 thousand dollars per night. The third place belongs to the Tokyo hotel "Ritz-Carlton" in which a well-to-do guest shall have to pay 17 thousand dollars for a night. The fourth place is occupied by the "Martinez Hotel" in Cannes where the price for the President apartment makes up 13 thousand dollars and more. The top five hotels are brought up by "Emirates Palace" in Abu Dhabi (the United Arab Emirates) with more than 12 thousand dollars per night.

However, new players appear on this market - the countries of the South-East Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), where high service level hotels are being built. Russia also learns to surprise with unique service and high prices. The base room in the Moscow hotel "Ritz-Carlton" costs more than one thousand dollars per night and the President apartment shall cost you 16 thousand dollars.

Although, the representatives of the hotel business note that Asian and European tourist flows do not cross, the sphere of hotel luxury is informally competing in creation of even more luxurious hotel complexes that can offer their guests exclusive services. Some of them put an emphasis on accommodating married couples with children. In particular, this is one of the latest trends in hotel business in Paris. If parents arrive with their child, they are given gifts, milk and cookies are served for children right to the room.

Another modern hotel trend represents hotels that are prohibited for children below certain age. Owners of these hotels are governed by the fact that their clients do not like hue-and-cry made by children.

It is traditionally believed that premium-class hotels are characterized by incomplete load due to their high prices. However, guests of the program "The Sphere of Interests" claim the contrary. As a rule, hotels cannot offer anything to their customers who book a room one day before their arrival.

At the same time, on the threshold of the New Year holidays or at the height of the season prices in hotels of this category remain the same. The difficulties may arise only due to the fact that you shall not be able to stay at premium segment hotels for one night only, since they offer their customers only accommodation for several days.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Mountain Resorts With Ghosts

At first sight, a mountain resort is actually not the best place for ghosts. But if you consider that fact that most of the winter ski resorts are built in that places where previously some horrible and frightening stories happened - then a presence of an unholy soul is quite imaginary. In New England, for example, there are lots of stories about ghosts and these stories and the ghost visions have left their traces in forests and villages located near the resort area.

The Mount Washington hotel, located in the ski zone Breton Woods in New Hampshire is well-known for many years for it's ghosts. They say, that the ghost of Caroline Stickney, the wife of the person that built this hotel still dwells in the tower suite. The ghost leaves inscriptions on the walls and periodically switches on and off the lights. Before this could be noticed only in summer but now, when the hotel is open during the whole year, the winter visitors also tell about the encounters with the "princess". This title was assigned to Caroline when she was still alive and got married a French prince Aimon Fossine-Lussine again after the death of the husband. The hotel has rich history - here in the year 1944 the world currencies conference has been held, so you can see sometimes a group of diplomats crowded around the huge stone fireplace, discussing their economic problems.

The ghost stories surround most of the Vermont hotels. In the Stove village, the visitors of the Brass Lantern Inn tell about curious actions of the ghosts. In the Gren Mountain Inn they tell about a ghost tap-dancer on the third floor that dances during the snow storms.

In the Equinox hotel in Manchester that is located near the Stratton resort, likes to stay Mary Todd Lincoln with her children. There are rumors that this place has remained beloved even after her death. At the neighboring Wilmington resort Mount Snow in the White House Inn dwells the ghost of Claire Brown, wife of the baron that built this house.

In the West, the ghosts terrify not only the famous hotels but also numerous towns abandoned by the miners and cowboys in the past century.

On the giant slopes of the Hud Mountain, at the Timberline resort, there is a luxury hotel Timberline Lodge. This hotel has been built in the great depression times and is known as one of the most beautiful wooden constructions of his time. It's unusual village style makes it to a frequent movie scenery. Exactly this hotel appeared in the Jack Nickolson movie "Shining". After they watched this movie, most of the hotel guests said that they have seen the ghost wandering along the corridors squeezing an axe in his transparent hand or the white shadow hiding in the bushes.

The hotel that inspired Steven King for the creation of this novel has the name of Hoten Standley and is located in Estes Park, near the national Rocky Mountains park. The hotel is very proud about their connection with "Shining". Near the hotel, there is a small pet cemetery that inspired Steven King for another novel named "Pet Sematary".

In Breckenridge, Colorado, according to the rumors, there is a ghost named Sylvia. She was a wife of a miner that lived in a pansion located at the place where now the popular restaurant "Gold Dredge". However, there is another version that tells that Sylvia was one of the women of the best town brothel located directly at the place where the new restaurant has been built.

The town Purgatory, located near the Durango Mountain resort has the glory of an old town full of ghosts. On the railroad connecting Durango and Silvertone gorge appears sometimes a ghost of an old railroad worker that has lost his legs after an accident with the trolleys. In the town itself, people staying in the Rochester hotel in the room of John Wayne, tell that they have seen a ghost of a woman dressed in a Victorian dress.

Crested Butte, Colorado - an old miner town converted to a ski resort. The reconstructed town houses keep lots of stories and evidences of ghosts encounters. The local inhabitants swear that they have seen a ghost hitchhiking at the road leading to the town. Others tell about women ghosts that could be seen in early mourning looking out of the Slogars hotel or dancing in the Eldorado hotel.

Nowadays, according to the stories, the News Mexico mountains are full of ghost Indians. The inhabitants of the Taos Pueblo village think that the Taos mountain is holy but the ski resort has been anyways built there. They say that even the Santa Fe ski resort was founded also on the sacred places of the Indians. Further to the South, there is a town Ruidoso on the Ski Apache resort territory, there the Apache Indians spirits are neighboring the soldiers ghosts that have been staying in a camp in fort Stanton and the ghost of the Billy Kid. And don't forget - Roswell is the American center of the ghost tales.

In the North, in Canada, a castle-like hotel Fairmont Banff Springs offers apartments for the hundreds of ski-riders and snowboarders that have rest at the three neighboring resorts Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise. There are several ghosts in this hotel, whose existence has been proven with lots of evidences. These are the ghost concierge that opens the doors since 1960 welcoming the guests and repairs the lights, the ghost of a bride that got tangled in the train of the wedding dress and rolled down the stairs. They say that she is still wandering along the corridors of the hotel and sometimes they see her dancing in her elegant but unlucky dress.

Jumbo Hostel - A New Kind of Accommodation Made Reality

Nothing could sound further from reality, but it is a fact that the new Jumbo Hostel is coming. And it came to one between many crazy swedes to take the decision to buy the property of a landed Jumbo 747 that used to belong to Transjet, a company that lost it's license to operate back in 2002.

During all those years this old Jumbo has been simply landed there, in the third runway of Arlanda airport, the main one in Stockholm, Sweden. The fact is that many times in my flights I wondered about this Jumbo being always there. I didn't really know why it was not being used, and it seems that somebody has taken initiative and is going to give new wings to the bird.

By the way, not wings to make it fly high, but to make it become a permanently landed youth Jumbo Hostel that will offer competitive prices in a privileged location very very close to the airport.

The idea for the Jumbo Hostel is to take the 500 seats away and convert it into an 80 bedroom youth hostel where the cabin will be used as the main suite. At same time, I guess that rooms on the second floor will be priced higher, or maybe he has a better and/or craziest idea to place in the upper floor. Whatever it is done with the Jumbo Hostel, it will be a complete revolution, as never an idea like this one has been developed. In any case, the creator feels very comfortable with it and in fact is planning to further expand and create a youth hostels chain called "Jumbo Hostels" in all main airports in the world.

We'll have to wait and see if this goes further, but what seems to be sure is that in my dear Stockholm soon we'll have a revolutionary place where to spend the nights at. And that's what I have always said. If an American does not have an idea... only a swede could!

The only thing I am really looking for is that competence arises and I hope that as soon as the first models of Airbus A380 become inactive, somebody is going to convert them into the biggest plane hostels in the world. Let's see how the Jumbo Hostel chain reacts to that. That's pure competence between airlines brought to the accommodation world, isn't it?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Charms of a Cape Country Village

Greyton was the kind of country village that visitors stumbled across by accident, and then were grateful that they had done so. The beauty and tranquillity of the Riviersonderend Mountains, along with the bubble of the water canals that run throughout the town, provide the perfect backdrop for rest and relaxation. About a decade ago it was discovered by urbanites looking to escape the chaos of big city living for a weekend away. Since then, tourism has become one of the village's primary sources of income. Even though the tourist trade has increased, it has retained its quaint nature and rustic charm, and has avoided falling into the mainstream commercialism that ruins so many country towns.

The peaceful atmosphere drawn from the magnificent landscape inspires artists, writers and other creative souls, who set up studios and galleries among houses that have been restored to their old structures. A great place to meet local artists and buy their art is at the Saturday Market. The Market is held every Saturday morning and gives visitors the opportunity to interact with the residents as well as sample local products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, baked goods, shrubs, and various crafts.

Summer in Greyton brings with it a beauty that few mountain towns can rival. Oak trees, daunting in size and heavy with large green acorns, line the lanes and avenues. Golden beams of sunlight dance and flicker between the leaves and reflect off the water canals. Winter has its own delights, as snow powders the surrounding mountain peaks and Greyton begins to feel like an alpine wonderland. Coffee shops and restaurants serve rich, decadent hot chocolate and delicious coffee.

For active tourists seeking to experience nature on a more intimate level, there is plenty to see and do. Serious hikers can take on the 17km hike that goes through the Greyton Nature Reserve, from Boesmanskloof to McGregor. Along the hike you will find breathtaking gorges, waterfalls, bird life, and fynbos. The long hike follows the Boesmanskloof Trail and takes about six hours to reach McGregor. During the great trek you will come across the Gobos River gorge, refreshing mountain pools and nine waterfalls.

Visitors with a less active mien need not worry, as the village has many facilities able to cater to their pampering needs. Yoga studios offer classes to unify the body and soul, as well as cleanse the chakras of toxins and blockages. There are specialists in acupressure, massage and reiki to help you relax and boost your immune system. If you're not interested in taking classes or visiting health experts, you can always pack a picnic lunch, sit on the riverbank and simply watch the world go by.

Accommodation options in Greyton range from comfortable B&Bs to self catering lodges and luxury 4-star hotels. Acorns on Oak Country House has rooms expertly decorated to replicate the styles of Tuscany, Province and Exmoor. Each room has a bathroom en-suite, a private entrance, mezzanine lounge and private patio with mountain views. The hosts provide a full Traditional English or Continental breakfast, which you can enjoy out at the 12m heated pool, on your patio, or on the dining room verandah. They also pack picnic rucksacks for guests who use their courtesy bicycles to get to know the town and surroundings.

Sunset House is a wonderful old sandstone building that offers B&B as well as self-catering facilities. There is a loft, which sleeps 2 people comfortably. It offers basic facilities such as open plan kitchen and lounge, separate toilet and shower, but its major draw card is its large deck which is ideal for admiring mountain views, especially at sunset. The second option available at Sunset House is the Cottage, which sleeps 4 people. There are two bedrooms linked by a bathroom. The lounge and kitchen are open plan. There is a private courtyard, braai facilities and a modern outside shower and toilet. The owners stipulate, however, that they don't allow children or pets as they have an unguarded pond and swimming pool.

One of the tastiest reasons to visit Greyton is to go to the chocolatene, Le Petite, Choclat. Le Petite has professional chocolate tasters that help visitors choose delicious chocolates that suit them. Visitors are allowed to taste the wares before making a decision. The quality of Le Petite's chocolates is known throughout South Africa and they are sold in the top delis and hotels.

Nestled within the picturesque Riviersonderend Mountains, Greyton is one of South Africa's best-kept secrets as far as the tourism industry is concerned. A thriving arts and culture hotspot, it's only recently been brought to the attention of harried city dwellers as a haven of relaxation and serenity. The village caters to the physically active as well as to those seeking rest and relaxation. No one who visits the village regrets his or her stay, and almost all return to satisfy a need newly awoken.

Spend Time with Your Family in Style with Self Catering Cottage

While meeting the commitments we make towards our work and towards various people, most of us miss out on the commitments we make towards our family and as a result families fall apart. The main reason cited for most of the divorces and family break ups is that people are increasingly getting busy and they do not have time for their family. But now many people in UK have found out a wonderful solution to this growing problem - self catering cottages.

This article will concentrate on how you can utilise the benefits of self catering cottages to reconnect to your family members. How you can spend some quality time with your loved ones and establish profound relationship with them? Self catering cottages are gaining popularity and getting booked rapidly. More and more families have found a great solution in them as they are located quite near to their cities and also are an ideal getaway for a short period of time.

There are different kinds of self catering facilities available to us. There are those which are particularly meant for families. These self catering cottages are so arranged and located in such places, where a complete family can stay peacefully and also not disturb others. They are furnished in a way that is suitable for young children, including toddlers. And therefore the parents can also be free of worries and hassles.

Christmas is round the corner, and so is a big vacation. Now is the time that you should utilise to keep promises that you have always made to your spouse and children. Now is the time to take them out on vacations. So make haste and book your self catering cottages today. Booking for self catering cottages is now so easy with online booking - all you need to do is go to a good web site and select what seems the best to you.