Wow! Thanks again Paul


In my post Hotel Blogs: Thanks Guillaume I paid already attention to Guillaume’s Hotel Blogs. He has an interesting tag 20 Blogs I Like. There, in a short interview he presents the person behind the Blog. In his interview with Paul Johnson from A Luxury Travel Blog.
He asks Paul the question:
Your top 3 hotels you have stayed in?
and Paul answers:

This is difficult. I have been lucky to stay at numerous very special places. Here are three relatively recent picks:

Wow! I am simply blushing with the honor Paul gives my little luxury baby with all his experience….

Last edited by gje on December 17, 2016

WWW: What Woman Want

WWW also stands for World Wide Web. Nevertheless, just for the fun of it and to confuse the search engines, I will tag this post with my WWW tag that I originally intended for items related to the Internet. The other posts filed under WWW have now the tag “Internet”. My spell checker keeps saying Internet is spelled with a capital “I”. I am not sure this is correct, but English is not my mother tongue.

First

My attention was drawn by a post of

Hotsheet

Kitty Bean Yansea’s noe defunct Blog Hotel Hotsheet had as motto: “Check it out before you check in” and was written for USA Today.
The post is this: Hotels: What are you most thankful for?
Kitty being female, I thought it wise to incorporate her list here, be it only to keep it as a memo for myself:

  • Free Wi-Fi.
  • Bright bedside reading lights.
  • Curved shower rods that give the illusion of more space in a standard tub or rather the walk-in, glass-door shower.
  • Free wine happy hours. Not only is it delightful to come back to a complimentary cup of cheer at the end of a long day, but it’s a chance to chat with fellow guests if you care to.
  • Pillow top mattresses. We’re getting so spoiled in the USA that it’s harder to stay in non-luxury hotels elsewhere, where I’ve found mattresses to be harder or saggier.
  • Hotel housekeepers earning better pay. They deserve it, especially considering the extra lifting and pillow-casing they do with those heavenly new beds.
  • Most of all, I’m thankful for a cheery face and a compassionate welcome when I arrive at a hotel jet-lagged, work-worn or frazzled by trying to find it. A kind and caring staff is the No. 1 hotel amenity as far as I’m concerned.

Then

My attention was drawn to

Jim Butler

The Hotel Law Blog of Jim Butler, who is a partner of a Los Angeles law firm that “does a couple of billion dollar deals (mostly hotels cum condominiums) on an annual basis”, and who gives some interesting observations in his postWhat Woman Really Want post on his Hotel Law Blog after reminding us that the US counts three (only three?) very influential Ladies: Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, he stresses:

Women are making:
85% of all consumer decisions! and
70% of all travel decisions!

His list goes as follows:

  1. Security  Women value extra measures that ensure their safety and security;
  2. Cleanliness  Women care more than men about cleanliness;
  3. Transportation  Women want complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport, and to areas other than the airport;
  4. Simplification Women care more about express check-in and checkout, and are more interested than men in an interactive system through the guest room television set that provides information about local events
  5. Business Services  Women want the same business services that men want, but more women want service enabling them to send and receive faxes from their laptops;
  6. Creature facilities  Women want full-length mirrors, make up mirrors and hair dryers; they want spa services and more diversity of restaurants on the premises;
  7. Ambiance  Women value the ambiance of small boutique hotels, as well as distinctive hotel decor;
  8. Perks Frequent guest points are more important than frequent flyer miles—women want to be rewarded for their loyalty

Jim continues with a couple of very good suggestion: Woman want to be asked what they want and they want to be listened to! Well, as Jim continues, Isn’t that what man like also?

Thirdly,

Sean Dodson writes for the Guardian. His column Best of the net: Pod Hotels demonstrates a remarkable similarity between him finding Pod- or Cube alike hotels to my own findings here on Happy Hotelier. In What is Travel Networking? his tip about the site The Thelma and Louise Club

an on line community of women worldwide which enables members to meet like-minded women, find travel companions and fulfill their aspirations. Also enjoy great holidays, day trips, articles, and our favorite products and services.

made me think: “They could give us even more insight in the subject of this post”!
But, alas this is a strictly female site. Therefor this simple but happy male would like to ask the female readers of this post to give us some input about the site and their experience.

Finally

Very recently, a Dutch Ladies Glossy by the name Libelle (a title owned by Sonoma) started a story or a B&B for a year in Barcelona by the name of Casa Libelle. They screen ladies who they send in 12 foursomes for periods of four weeks to a B&B in Barcelona. As yet it is not clear to me whether they have started the B&B just for this purpose or that they simply send their readers to an existing B&B in order to help the owners out. In any case the Dutch ladies sent to Barcelona have to report via Blogs and via videos and all is shown on Libelle’s Website which is in the air for a week or two now after experiences some difficulties. As the site is entirely in the Dutch language, a link is not necessary. For those who read Dutch the story can be found on the Dutch language sisterblog weekendhotel Mama goes Barcelona. I will keep you posted in English from time to time.
This also seams a great source for What Woman Want!

Well ladies (and gentlemen of course), what do you think?

The Real The Hague Promotor: Congratulations Barney The PDC Champion!

Barney

No he is not bubbling gum. On the photo (thanks to AD) Barney kissses the PDC Trophee.

Yesterday Raymond van Barneveld, with nickname Barney won the final of the PDC Darts Championship against Phil Taylor who defended the title and had won it already 11 times. The PDC stands for Professional Darts Corporation, sometimes also known as “Phil’s Dart Club”.

Barney’s site was temporary down, due to the enormous interest and is now clearly up again on an emergency server.

The final was one of the best dart parties I have ever seen on TV. It was a bone chilling shoot out.

The Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Pieter Balkenende officially congratulated him with the championship.

Today Barney will get an official City of Den Haag reception. Yes, he lives in Den Haag and to my view he is a better ambassador for the city than the new City Marketing Logo ever will be.

Suite with a Vault in Vienna

Coburg Loft Suite

You have suites with a view, but at the Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz in Vienna you can have a suite with a view and a safe in the vault.

Palais Coburg was built in the period 1840-45 by Duke Ferdinand Georg August of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (1785-1851) on the Braunbastei [‘Brown Bastion’] – a part of the city defenses dating back to the 16th century. It is thanks to this “super-construction” that a large part of the Renaissance fortification, in particular the casemates, have been preserved.

The Late Neo-Classical/Early Historicist building is notable for its portico with its freestanding columns in the central section of the facade; this feature soon led to the Palais being given an affectionate nickname by the locals, the “Spargelburg” [literally, “The Asparagus Palace”].

The house of Saxe-Coburg has many strong ties to European Royalty, as for instance Queen Victoria of the UK was a niece of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg.

During the period of occupation after World War II, Russian soldiers were quartered in the Palais. In September 1947 the exhibition “800 Years of Moscow” was shown in the Palais. After the occupying troops moved out, the first and second floors of the Palais were leased to the Austrian federal railways, which used the premises until 1997. The Palais was sold in 1978 to a property dealer by the last Coburg to own the building, Princess Sarah Aurelia, who lived in the Palais until her death in 1994. The property dealer used the Palais as a means to speculate. Through the onward sale and subsequent bankruptcy of the purchaser, the Palais ultimately came into the ownership of the Länderbank, subsequently the Zentralsparkasse (central savings bank), from whom the building was acquired by a private foundation, the POK Pühringer Privatstiftung, in 1997.

Coburg Front

The Palais Coburg has been restored by the POK Pühringer Privatstiftung, in close collaboration with the Federal office for the preservation of buildings and monuments (Bundesdenkmalamt), over the period from 2000 to 2003.

The hotel has 35 suites.

Staying at The Coburg is for the haves:

Look for instance at this promotion:

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS …
New Years eve at the Palais Coburg

Experience and tour the incomparable and authentic splendour from 16th to 19th Century Imperial Vienna and celebrate New Years’ Eve in the casemates and the Grand Ball Rooms on the ‘Bel Etage’ of the Palais Coburg.

This exquisite Gala Evening commences at 19.00 hours with a Champagne reception in the Coburg Vaults Foyer ‘Stadtbild’, followed by a classical concert in the ‘higher casemate’. Then it is time for a six course Gala Dinner prepared by Palais Coburg’s lauded Chef Christian Petz and his brigade. Each course is accompanied by specially selected wines from the Palais Coburg’s favourite Cellars, unrivalled for the extraordinary collection of rarest vintages and specialised in vintages from Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Entertainment is provided by a live band and an Austrian New Years’ tradition of ‘lead casting’. Fine cigars and digestifs are enjoyed in the adjacent Blue Salon. And finally bid farewell to the year 2006 from the terrace of the Palais Coburg with views over the legendary city park, fine champagne and a ‘little surprise’.

New Year’s Extravaganza € 10,760 for two people sharing Stay for four in a deluxe Suite, join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve and enjoy the ‘Wiener Philharmoniker’ live in the best seats at the Musikverein on New Years’ Day. Two spa treatments of your choice are also included.

New Years’ Eve Concert Special € 5,160 for two people sharing
Stay for two nights in an elegant City Suite, join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve and enjoy the ‘Wiener Philharmoniker’ live in the best seats at the Musikverein on New Years’ Eve. Two spa treatments of your choice and a late checkout are also included in this special arrangement.

Gala Dinner € 3,360 for two people sharing a Stay for two nights in an elegant Suite and join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve.

All arrangements include all taxes, service and the airport transfers as well.
Dress Code: Formal (Black/White Tie)

The tickets for the New Years concert are easily two thousand Euros. Taking that into account I would say the promotion is even reasonable and very tempting, as waltzing into the New Year in Vienna is still on my wish list…

Palais Coburg is the seat of the Palais Coburg Tresor where one can hire a safe in the Vault with 24/24 access. This seams to me an ideal drop off for a character in one of Robert Ludlum future stories….

Also the Institut für strategische Kapitalmarktforschung (ISK) (Institute for Capital Market Research) has its seat at the palace. Next to research it performs asset- and portfolio management.

I have been in the entrance Hall of the Palais and bought their book about the renovation which is excellent. However the atmosphere was a bit cold, as if entering a bank rather than a hotel. For further entrance you have to pass a security guard and/or have a key card. No way to enter the restaurant or the bar: It is very private off course, but a bit uncharacteristic for a typical Relais et Chateaux member.