A Luxury Travel Blog

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Compare prices on UK hotels
• Luxury hotels and resorts from Kiwi Collection
• Meet Francis Gimblett, The Wine Adventurer
• Hotel Babylon is back on the BBC

Recently I was reading the Tripadvisor reviews of a hotel that I’m familiar with and noted that all the reviews, although seemingly plausible, were all consistently giving full marks.  That alone shouldn’t necessarily be grounds for suspicion but I delved a bit deeper and noticed that most of the reviewers had not reviewed another hotel (or restaurant or whatever) on the site.  Again, that alone isn’t grounds for the reviews necessarily having been fabricated but it does arouse a little suspicion.  This was heightened further when I noted that the few exceptions (ie. reviewers of this hotel who had reviewed more than one property on the site) had in fact just reviewed a sister hotel to the one in question with equal praise.  This had been going on for at least 2 years and seemingly Tripadvisor has done nothing about it (presumably because they are not aware). When I delved further, I was interested to see that the hotel - despite having consistenly good reviews - still didn’t hold the #1 position for the hotels in the town where it was situated; on the contrary, it was a few places down.  So, being curious, I looked at the hotels that were ranked above only to find that they, too, were getting good reviews by a seemingly similar means.

Tripadvisor have a thankless task keeping on top of misleading reviews, but are they doing enough to combat it, do you think?

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.

Microsoft are making another attempt at conquering the search engine arena, this time with Bing.  Although the search results seem generally good (this blog is in the top 10 for a search for ‘luxury travel’ so I could be a little biased!), I am left thinking that they needed to offer something better still to make a significant impression on Google’s dominance.  I don’t personally buy into the ‘decision engine’ nonsense that they talk about (in fact, I find that terminology a little irritating!) and I’m not convinced that a pretty background is what users want.

Anyway… now they have unveiled Bing Travel.  You may recall that last year Microsoft bought Farecast and Bing Travel looks to be a combination of this technology and editorial from MSN Travel.  It’s a little early to give any well-researched feedback at this early but it looks to be a good facility, if a little cluttered and US-centric.  What do you think?

Catherine Leech has worked in luxury travel for more than 25 years. She started in PR before becoming European Director of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, then Managing Director of luxury tour operator, Caribtours. After the tsunami of 2004 she moved to Sri Lanka where she worked for two years, mostly as a volunteer, to develop sustainable tourism projects in affected communities. Catherine is now director of a new travel website, 101 Holidays.

What is it that you do exactly?

No two days are ever the same. In the last few months, I have been focused on bringing 101 Holidays to life. We launched it in January after an intense period of planning, designing, testing and liaising with the two editors (travel writers David Wickers and Mark Hodson).

I am based in a chocolate-box village in south-west Dorset where I take daily walks on the hills with the next door pub’s springer. I make occasional trips into London for meetings, client briefings, etc. In the past month, I’ve written an outline proposal for an emerging new destination, completed a client benchmark survey for a PR agency, moderated a weekend conference of independent travel agents in Warwick and organised a client event for an alliance of luxury tour operators called Seven Wonders.

London is 2hrs 40mins away by train. There was a time when I would have viewed that as too far but after the six-hour car journeys to get to each of my project sites in Sri Lanka, the train ride goes by in a flash and I keep in constant touch with my iPhone.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

I relish being involved in the industry I know and love but, especially, I value the variety and being relatively removed from the day to day office run, staffing issues, office politics, etc. In fact, I think it is my distance from the daily drag which allows me to cut through some of the BS and see solutions, come up with ideas and work with people to find new ways of moving forward. I also love not having to doll up in heels and make-up every day.

What would you say are the 3 best places you’ve ever stayed?

My “life-changing place” was Huzur Vadisi in Turkey, on a week’s yoga retreat where I bared my soul amongst 22 strangers and changed my life (resigned from my job and moved to Sri Lanka).

For romantic bliss, it is definitely the Koyao Island Resort close to Phuket where I had a week with the dishiest of boyfriends - yoga on the beach at sunrise, breakfast, dive, Jenga, lunch, swim, massage, backgammon, dinner, backgammon etc.

For ultimate luxury, it was joining my gay best friends’ honeymoon at the Plaza Athenee, just weeks after returning from Sri Lanka. The sheer hedonism was dizzying but such a treat and a delicious reminder that you can take the girl out of the luxury tour operator but…

What’s been your most memorable dining experience to date?

It was my 46th birthday in Sri Lanka. I asked my new-found friends to join me at my favourite spot, Beach Wadiya, just outside the centre of Colombo. It will never win awards for interior design (it’s a shack on a beach across a railway track) but I loved the warm sea breeze, toes in the sand, haphazard but charming service, devilled prawns dripping from sticky fingers, baked crab backs, grilled fish and an ice-cold beer or two - all for about £6. Of the 14 people around the table, I counted 10 nationalities, seven religions and not one over-inflated ego.

Have you rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, either through your work or your travels?

I don’t suppose I can count the evening I leg-wrestled with Oliver Reed in the Malta Hilton? I’m not a great celebrity spotter but I did share a lift at the Waldorf Astoria with Tom Berenger and dived with Jean-Michel Cousteau for a week in the Cayman Islands.

What currently ranks highest on your travel wishlist?

The Isles of Scilly, snorkelling with whale sharks on Ningaloo Reef and a return to Sri Lanka to see how the various communities I worked amongst are getting along.

Thank you, Catherine. I’ll be watching 101 Holidays with interest to see how it progresses.

I’m pleased to be able to announce that we’ve converted our long-established UK hotel site into a UK hotel comparison service.  Currently the site is able to search availability with Active Hotels, LateRooms and Superbreak (with more being added as I type) and return the best price.  Sometimes there is little difference but every now and then it throws back some fantastic savings.  For example, a double room for the nights of 13th, 14th and 15th February (Valentines weekend) at The Goring in Belgravia would set you back £1304 if you booked it through LateRooms but £775.08 if you went via Superbreak - a massive saving of over £500!  To add insult to injury, the LateRooms booking is on a room only basis, and the Superbreak one includes breakfast.

You might think that certain sites are consistently cheaper than others, but this does not appear to be the case.  For example, for the same period and requirements, LateRooms comfortably beats Superbreak for a stay at the five star De Vere Grand Harbour in Southampton (£423 versus £463).

The moral of the story: using a comparison service can save you a small fortune… enough in some cases to allow you to stay an additional night!

From early next year, the entire portfolio of hotels with Kiwi Collection (2,100 in total) will be available for online booking to visitors of Forbes Traveler.  Speaking of the partnership, Kiwi Collection CEO Erik Haugen has said:

This is a great fit. Forbes Traveler and Kiwi Collection are completely focused on providing luxury travelers with trusted advice. Our sole purpose is to help people achieve their ultimate travel experience and get the best possible room, rate and service during their stay. Not only is it a great match for us but, more importantly, for our customers.

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Beautiful by nature: the Turks & Caicos Islands
• A new Mexican resort and residences: Nizuc
• Passionately designed jewellery from Loree Rodkin
• Designed for New York’s long term visitor: Bristol Plaza

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• On the Baja Peninsula’s southern tip: Villas del Mar
• Ulysse Nardin: fine timepieces since 1846
• Luxury motor yachts from Sunseeker
• Revolutionary jet ownership from Vitesse Flight Partners

OK, so it’s far from the real thing… but it’s not a bad attempt at it.  An online golf game called World Golf Tour that’s currently in beta lets you play holes from the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort near Charleston, South Carolina. The free version lets you play a ‘get as near to the hole as you can’ game, but presumably you get various extras if you register.  Fantastic, vivid graphics make for added enjoyment. Give it a try, but don’t blame me if you ending up wasting an hour.  I played one quick round of 9 holes and got a score of 299.44 so that’s your benchmark to beat.

Luxury Asset Trader is a free, online trading house for upscale items such as yachts, exotic vehicles, motorcoaches, properties, aircrafts, luxury services, jewellery and more. This site allows investors to  bargain their assets in any manner they desire - full, partial, or  cash trade. This website is free of charge and exchanges are made  directly between principals. Individuals who visit the site can  register, upload photos, write descriptions, post their assets and contact others directly. It was created to help those experiencing a weakening economy and to help  those who want to buy, sell and trade their luxury assets.

The Great Hotels Organisation has officially launched the Special Hotels of the World 2009 Exclusive Travel Collection Directory. The latest edition includes a hand-picked selection of over 50 of the world’s best hotels that offer something special or unique to the discerning traveller. The new coffee-table style directory features breathtaking photography, hotel facts and tips on restaurants, spas and local attractions.  Special Hotels of the World also provides consumers a luxury travel advisor service online. This includes 24/7 live chat where clients can discuss their travel needs in real time with an advisor.

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Luxury hits the beach at sunny.org
• The dazzling Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta
• Luxury motor yachts from Ferretti Yachts
• Luxury for the select view, from Seaside Properties Group

A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…

• Resort and spa management from Six Senses
• One of Dublin’s best sleeps: The Shelbourne
• Dazzling silks from Bao Khanh Silk, Vietnam
• One of Asia’s finest resorts: Laguna Phuket

At work we’ve recently completed two new European travel sites, providing tourist information for Norway and Spain (sites for other countries in Europe are being worked upon as I type). A Norway Attraction and A Spain Atraction have information on over 1600 and 2500 tourist attractions respectively and, we think, are the biggest resources of their kind for those particular niches.  Even the official tourist board sites for each of these countries hold nothing like the same level of detail. Please have a look and tell us what you think. There are still improvements that we would like to make (in order to improve user-friendliness, in particular) but even as they stand at present, we feel they are large resources offering useful, unique content to anyone travelling to either of those two countries.

Peninsula Hotels has launched a new website. The new site has been designed so that it is more user-friendly, so that it is easier to navigate through the various pages, and so that the new text and photography “will almost make you feel like you’re already staying at one of our hotels”. There’s extensive information on each of the Peninsula destinations, including where to go, eat, drink and shop, plus a calendar of events and activities, all illustrated by stunning images.