A Luxury Travel Blog

A Luxury Travel Blog has teamed up with the publishers Thames & Hudson to offer you a great chance to win one of 5 copies of the fabulous book ‘Dive in Style’ by Tim Simmond. I have a copy of this beautiful book myself and it contains over 700 fabulous illustrations of where you can “chill, snorkel and dive”… a must for anyone who has a passion for the most luxurious diving spots around the world!

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is comment on the posts within this blog. The five readers with the most approved comments during the remainder of August and September 2010 will each receive a free copy of the book. (Naturally, comments need to be of a certain quality, otherwise they won’t be approved.) So… what are you waiting for? Have a browse of the blog – there’s literally thouands of blog entries which you can discuss – and comment away!

The LUXE City Guides range which feature the best of the best of a city in one handy, unique pocket guide, has just introduced 10 of its most popular destinations in mobile format. The apps are compatible with a multitude of handsets including iPhone, Blackberry, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and HTC and can be downloaded directly to handsets from their website,  or for iPhones, from iTunes stores.

Initially covering 10 popular destinations – New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Rome, Bali, Sydney and Bangkok, there are 10 more international cities coming soon. The apps contain handy online and offline maps featuring the hundreds of entries listed in the guides, and each app comes with a year of free updates sent directly to your mobile. What’s more, when the year is up, re-subscription is half price.

With LUXE City Guides Mobile apps travellers can check out rich content anytime, save their favourites, arrange and build personal itineraries, click through to websites and touch dial telephone numbers. Chic, simple and above all, useful.

Check out the sample app for yourself from their website. Recently voted “Travel App of the Week” by the UK Sunday Times Travel Section, the LUXE City Guides are ultra researched and curated, written by city resident editors and packed with the finest and funkiest dining, leisure, culture, accommodation, bespoke shopping, and city secrets that most visitors would simply never find.

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Craving for Travel: Celebrating Life’s Moments
• Check out the luxury spas portfolio from Johansens
• Rollable travel shoes (!) from Spare Pear
• Boutique chic from Villa Elena, Sicily

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Enriching lives through distinctive journeys: Big Five
• Luxury in the Lake District from Kendal Cottages
• Untamed wilderness from the Botswana Tourist Board
• See the exclusive La Posada Villas with pools

To mark the 30th anniversary of Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, guests who have stayed at one of the hotels in the international hotel chain before are getting a special thank-you: bookings made at least 30 days in advance qualify for a 30% discount on the best overnight rate available.

The hotel chain with Swiss roots was founded in 1980, which is why it’s celebrating its anniversary non-stop throughout 2010. The special offer is one of numerous activities taking place at the 28 deluxe hotels in 17 countries around the world to mark the anniversary.

The Leading Hotels of the World annual directory for 2010 was released worldwide this week.  There are 13 new Leading Hotels in the handsome hardcover volume which showcases more than 450 members in over 80 countries across the globe.  They are as follows:

Royal Spa Kitzbühel, Jochberg, Austria
The Augustine, Prague, Czech Republic
Kameha Grand Bonn, Cologne, Bonn, Germany
Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sicily, Agrigento, Italy
Hotel Villa Magna, Madrid, Spain
One&Only Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Chateau Star River, Guangzhou, P.R. of China
Zendai Hotel Yin, Shanghai, P.R. of China
Capella Singapore, Sentosa Island, Singapore
Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico
Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico
Bristol Buenaventura, Buenaventua, Panama
Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej, São Paulo, Brazil

White Line Hotels, recently launched by Iain Ainsworth (formerly of Design Hotels), offers a unique and inspirational collection of personally recommended international hotels. Each hotel has been defined by the individual owners, and characterised by the exceptional creative design and style. Acting as a curator, Iain seeks to bring these hotels together, which all have a strong spirit of location and where the soul of the place can be seen, touched, felt and sensed.

The White Line Hotels Y(our) collection currently includes ten inspirational international hotels, including: the Hotel Omm (in Barcelona) the Greulich Hotel (in Zurich), Lesic Dimitri Palace (in Croatia) and Krafft Hotel (in Basel) with more recommended hotels continually being featured and added to the portfolio.

White Line Hotels has been fashioned and created to attract the True Believers, people who search for the most unusual and the most inspirational places to stay: establishing and creating an exciting new culture, a new scene and an entire new community.

As the holidays fast approach, families have a number of options for celebrating. Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club is a great alternative way to vacation with family. Membership in the club offers the freedom to choose your perfect holiday getaway ­ from a warm-weather escape to the Turks & Caicos to a cozy retreat in Deer Valley, UT. Each residence is typically 4,000 sq ft with 4 bedrooms, giving you the opportunity to even travel with extended family. The best part is that A&K takes care of all the details (airport pick-up, pre-arrival grocery shopping and more).

For a limited time, Two-Year Trial Memberships in the Abercrombie & Kent Residence Club are available beginning at $18,700 per year for 15 nights (just under $1,250/night).

IHG’s (InterContinental Hotels Group) Priority Club® Rewards has unveiled a new reward option: Flights Anywhere™. This new program lets members redeem Priority Club® points, or combine points and cash, to book flights on more than 400 airline carriers worldwide without restrictions on availability.

It’s the first and only hotel loyalty program to offer the flexibility to redeem points and cash for flights, and there are no blackout dates or limits on available tickets whatsoever. It is available to consumers in nearly 20 countries, including the U.S., Canada and most countries in Europe.

Slideshow of amazing beach huts from across the globe including Tahiti and Maldives.

The 11th successful Conde Nast Traveller annual Readers’ Awards were announced on 2nd September 2009 and give the readers of the magazine the chance to voice their views on all things travel. Over 40,000 entries were made this year with readers filling out questionnaires in April 2009, either in print or online. The replies were collated and analysed by an independent market-research company, Market Management. The 26 categories include hotels from each continent, tour operators, airlines, cities, countries, islands, spas and airports.

Cool Victory, a Gran Turismo (GT) motorsport organization that races Lamborghinis internationally, has created a new fractional ownership package that gives its participants an all-inclusive travel and racing adventure experience.  The Fractional Owner chooses an international race location of his or her choice and is championed by the Cool Victory team for a trip surrounding a race in an exceptional location.  Whether in Budapest, Silverstone, Dubai, Atlanta or Zolder, the details of the trip are arranged per the fractional owner¹s needs and specifications.  Designed to be a luxurious endeavour that provides the fractional owner with all of the excitement associated with owning a racing team and the behind-the-scenes of GT racing, each owner has a team coordinator who personally arranges the trip plans and itinerary.  Whether the excursion is being used for a business venture for clients or purely an entertainment opportunity, the fractional owner can promote him or herself in respect and stature in distinctive settings.

Most hotels, and perhaps particularly some luxury hotels, could be in for a torrid time in 2009 and 2010 depending on what the economy brings. If you’re someone who frequently travels, however, it could mean big savings and they might well be available for a while. The terrible 9/11 tragedy in 2001 was followed by a 40% cut in hotel room rates which remained for some time after.  In short, hotels are competing for fewer guests and, if they want a share of that dwindling market, they will need to cut prices.  Have you managed to bag some bargains?  If so, please let us know by posting a comment.

You’ve probably heard of some of the ridiculous demands made by celebrities and musicians, but have you ever wondered what the most unusual requests ever made by guests in luxury hotels are?  Well, look no further! As part of their “91 days of summer promotion”, Great Hotels of the World has revealed some of the funniest guest requests ever made at their member hotels around the world. From requesting a bath full of ice to bungee jumping off the top of the building, some of these requests you will be able to relate to, whereas others are just plain ridiculous.You can view the list here.

Also as part of the “91 days of summer” promotion, you can pick up some exclusive tips on how to make the most of your summer and be inspired by some mouth-wateringly delicious summer recipes.

The travel agency Luxum Travel has launched a new luxury hotels search engine. Dluxehotels.com, created by a team with long experience in the tourism and new technologies industry, is born with two clear objectives: to develop the best selection of luxury hotels in the world and to facilitate online bookings without renouncing the guarantee of a trusted travel agency. This web site allows real-time booking of 4 or 5 stars hotels that have been carefully selected for their charm, their avant-garde design and singular architectural forms, their excellent service service or idyllic location. The hotels are classified by feature in order to facilitate the search to those looking for a hotel with golf course, with spa or a business hotel.

Congratulations to the winners of our popular Hyatt competition which ran throughout last month.  Irene, John, Kay, Kendal and Spencer will each enjoy a night at a Hyatt hotel of their choosing.  An email is on its way to each of the winners.  In the meantime, keep reading… we have plans for one or two similar competitions in the not too distant future.