Best Holiday Lettings

Category: News

  • Halifax Downtown Hotel unveils $5m lobby renovation

    After a $5-million renovation, the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel is able to unveil its brand-new Great Room, a thrilling new twist at the traditional hotel lobby concept. The downtown Halifax, NS hotel also expanded its event space to 22,000 square feet as a part of the renovation, and is now fully prepared to satisfy the wishes of any sort of meeting or event.

    At the center of the hotel’s new Great Room is the harbourstone sea grill & pour house, which replaces the hotel’s 44 North and Fife and Drum restaurants. The restaurant, with seating for 177 diners, specializes in specialty offerings including a breakfast buffet and native beers on tap.

    The bar at this downtown Halifax restaurant is a really unique venue. Featuring comfortable lounge seating, it really is prominently placed and simply accessible to guests in every stage in their stay and day. The bar is the ideal place to fulfill with colleagues or socialize with friends while not having to fret about ordering a drink or meal. For many who want some alone time while still within the company of others, an “Individual Zone” offers space to sit back with a book or hunker down for a couple of hours of labor.

    For meetings that require a little extra space, the renovation at this Halifax hotel also added 4,600 square feet of event space with its Sable Ballroom. The waterfront event space offers spectacular views and many natural light through floor-to-ceiling windows. With seven meeting rooms in total and 22,000 square feet of event space, the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel can accommodate everything from conferences and board meetings to weddings and family reunions.

    While the renovation brought big changes to the hotel, there are a few things that haven’t changed. Guests still receive service worthy of the hotel’s AAA Four Diamond rating and might enjoy quite a few luxurious amenities including an indoor pool, Interlude Spa and a contemporary fitness centre.

  • News: The Taste of Travel Theatre serves fine dining at 30,000 feet

    The highly popular Taste of Travel Theatre wooed visitors at the opening day of this year’s World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo in Hamburg with top chef Gerard Bertholon displaying his culinary skills along with wine connoisseur Duncan Brown of Concha y Toro offering advice on serving the proper form of wines within the cabin.

    The Taste of Travel Theatre opened with Gerard Bertholon, Chief Strategy Officer and Bhasker Raghav, Business Development Manager from Cuisine Solutions, presenting three delicious dishes, two of which might be currently being served by airlines. Modern culinary methods deliver quality food by enhancing flavour through cooking processes akin to sous-vide, which was explained in greater detail during Gerard Bertholon’s preparation of “Amazon Cod” and “72 hours Short Rib”.

    For over five years, the Brazilian government was supporting sustainable fish farms within the Amazonian Forest to encourage and retain indigenous culture through economic investment. This actual fish has chunky flesh, which when cooked within the sous-vide method, concentrates delicious flavours. After refrigeration, the fish is ready and seasoned, placed and vacuum sealed in a pouch after which cooked in an exact and coffee-temperature water bath. United is currently serving “Amazon Cod” to its first and business class passengers.

    “72 hours Short Rib” would be served in the course of the next six months to first and business class passengers on Hawaiian Airlines. Using a similar sous-vide process, the beef is cooked for 72 hours ensuring perfect consistency both inside and outside, that’s both safer and tastier for passengers.

    The stage was then handed over to Duncan Brown of Concha y Toro, partners to Ratcliffe & Brown, who explained find out how to get the proper from wines in a pressurised cabin, where a passenger’s sense of smell and taste are plagued by loads of factors including altitude, dehydration and ambient noise. As mild and gentle flavours lose out, Andrew described how grapes grown in a hot climate akin to Chile can step on top of things, with visitors then tasting numerous Chilean wines to illustrate the manner and selection of grape available.

    “There isn’t any doubt that flying within the air impacts negatively on our perception of flavour with as much as a 30 percent loss. With regards to wine, airlines should select the wines that best catch up on this specific lack of flavour within the air. Wines with stronger flavours, ripe fruits and balancing acidity are the most well liked styles to serve in a cabin environment,” said Duncan Brown.

  • News: Unprecedented demand for Oasis of the Seas first European season

    Following last week’s announcement that the world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, would embark on its first ever European season and transatlantic sailing out of a UK port of call, thousands of holiday hungry Brits have pre-registered their interest to be first within the queue to make a booking when it makes its debut in autumn 2014. The unprecedented demand is the very best ever volume of pre-booking registrations ever seen by Royal Caribbean International.

    With the limited cruises set to head on sale on Thursday 11 April 2013, holidaymakers keen to secure their ultimate holiday experience have made the foremost of the cruise line’s amazing news to get their first pick of the itineraries by registering their interest in droves.

    Oasis of the Seas’ European season went on sale to members of Royal Caribbean International’s loyalty club, Crown and Anchor, on 9 April 2013 to a fantastic reaction. Reservations team members are working overtime, part time workers has been drafted in to work full time and folk from other departments around the business are answering phones and taking bookings.

    Jo Rzymowska, associate vice chairman and general manager, Royal Caribbean International, UK and Ireland, explains:

    “The millions of pre-registrations to be one of many first to book Oasis of the Seas’ European cruises are simply mind-blowing and the ship really resides as much as its incredible reputation as being a game changer for the industry. We’re delighted with the massive reaction from guests and the ship’s first ever transatlantic sailing from the united kingdom is, definitely, an exceptionally hot holiday ticket.

    We traditionally always open sales to our loyalty club members first, and the decision volume into our call centre was beyond all expectations. We’ve increased the scale of the team and feature contingency team members ready around the whole business to deal with the height in calls we’re expecting when the ship opens for general sale on Thursday at midday.”

    As a part of the innovative cruise ship’s first ever European season, guests could be capable of enjoy hot Mediterranean destinations equivalent to Rome, Palma and Capri. Oasis of the Seas can even pay a trip to British shores when it calls into Southampton on 15 October 2014, a primary for the English port, which for 5 years has served because the summer base for Independence of the Seas. The 13-night westbound transatlantic sailing will depart Rotterdam within the Netherlands before calling into Southampton and Vigo in Spain before arriving into Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Lead-in cabins start at £899 in response to a 14 October 2014 departure in Rotterdam.

    Other itineraries featured as a part of Oasis of the Seas first ever European season include:

    Five-night Western Mediterranean cruise departing Barcelona (Spain) and calling at Rome (Civitavecchia, Italy) and Palma De Mallorca (Spain) from

    £769 in line with 13 September 2014 departure

    Five-night Western Mediterranean cruise departing Barcelona (Spain) and calling at Rome (Civitavecchia, Italy) and Naples/Capri (Italy) from £769 according to 18 September 2014 departure

    Seven-night Barcelona to Rotterdam cruise departing Barcelona (Spain) and calling at Malaga (Spain), Vigo (Spain) and Rotterdam (Netherlands) from

    £809 in line with 23 September 2014 departure

    Oasis of the Seas will leave Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, its home port since December 2009, on 1 September 2014 on a 12-night eastbound transatlantic cruise to Barcelona. The world’s largest and most innovative cruise ship will offer a sequence of cruises from the Spanish port – two five-night roundtrip Western Mediterranean sailings and a seven-night sailing to Rotterdam – before heading to dry-dock inside the Képpel Verolme shipyard within the Netherlands for routine maintenance.

    The ship will return to Port Everglades on a 13-night westbound transatlantic cruise on 14 October 2014, departing from Rotterdam within the Netherlands and calling into Southampton on 15 October 2014 where UK guests can join the ship to sail around the Atlantic.

    Accommodating 6,400 guests at total capacity, Oasis of the Seas is longer than four football pitches, wider than almost six London buses parked end-to-end, and is a large 225,282 Gross Registered Tons. When Oasis of the Seas arrives in Southampton, it’ll be 40 per cent larger than every other cruise ship to ever dock within the UK.

    With various exclusive features onboard including its own Central Park, Oasis of the Seas has an actual outdoor park concerning the size of a football pitch full of greater than 12,000 real trees and plants, an 82 foot-long zip wire, a hand-crafted carousel, an enormous outdoor theatre – the AquaTheater – mountain climbing walls and surf simulators. The ship features 16 decks packed filled with activities and entertainment including the West End hit, Hairspray, huge outside spaces and more activities for families than have ever been seen at sea before.

  • Radisson Plaza Hotel Minneapolis to be converted to Radisson Blu

    Chartres Lodging Group today announces the purchase of and upcoming conversion of the Radisson Plaza Hotel Minneapolistoa Radisson Blu property, element of the Radisson hotel group’s upper-upscale brand portfolio. With renovations to start this year, the valuables is ready to be completed and rebranded in 2014.

    A top Minneapolis hotel in an A+ downtown location, the Radisson Plaza currently boasts 360 guest rooms, occupying 17 floors of the 36-story Plaza Seven building. The hotel contains a popular restaurant and bar, in addition to 22,000 square feet of meeting space, access to underground parking, and an instantaneous link to the city’s climate-controlled skyway system. Currently flagged as a Radisson with the newest renovations occurring in 2003, Chartres Lodging will renovate and rebrand the hotel as a life-style-oriented, upper-upscale flag: Radisson Blu.

    The update project will include, but not be limited to, complete renovations of hotel guestrooms and bogs; a whole renovation and expansion of the property’s meeting space; a re-imagined lobby and guest welcome-way; refreshed on-site dining options including FireLake Grill House restaurant; and a rejuvenation of public spaces, corridors, and the atrium.

    “We actively seek for opportunities to accumulate hotels which are well located in rising urban and resort markets, and that present us with the chance to reposition the asset through renovation and powerful asset management. The Radisson Plaza is quite well-located in downtown Minneapolis and is a part of a high-quality, mixed use complex. Acquiring this hotel from Carlson gives us the opportunity to build on the momentum of Carlson’s aggressive expansion of their upper-upscale Blu brand,” stated Maki Nakamura Bara, President & Co-Founder of Chartres Lodging Group.

    Leading the investment transaction, Kirk Pederson, COO & CIO of Chartres Lodging Group, further explains, “We will collaborate with Carlson as they continue to manage the hotel and we execute on a complete renovation program. We will be increasing the meeting space and undertaking a full rooms renovation inclusive of the bathrooms, corridors, and executive lounge. The hotel’s FireLake Grill House, a local favorite, will also be refurbished. The lobby and entry will receive a dramatic new look consistent with the Blu standards. This is going to be another exciting repositioning of a quality hotel by Chartres Lodging, similar to other projects we have recently undertaken including the Ocean Resort (now the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach), the Novotel New York Times Square and the Baltimore Tremont Plaza (soon to rebranded to Embassy Suites).”

    Robert Kline, CEO & Co-Founding father of Chartres Lodging Group, also adds, “Minneapolis has been enjoying a strong recovery. It has a highly educated workforce, contributing to its ranking as having the 2nd lowest unemployment rate in the country. The city has even been enjoying positive office absorption for the last five years. The lodging market has, consequently, been experiencing a healthy rebound. The rebrand of this institutional, quality hotel is entirely in keeping with our real estate investment strategy.”

  • News: Saudia expands OnAir inflight connectivity

    Saudia is expanding its inflight connectivity programme on routes between the dominion of Saudi Arabia and most of Saudia worldwide destinations. This comes after Saudia was providing OnAir’s GSM and Wi-Fi on its A330s for just about three years.

    Saudia’s passengers have taken to social media to claim how much they value staying involved with family, friends and associates, updating social media and surfing the web during flights. Comments have included: ‘Thanks, it’s excellent because it’s easy to take advantage of;’ ‘I used my mobile on a flight today: excellent;’ and, ‘Awesome: keep going.’

    Saudia’s new A330s, if you want to be delivered throughout this year and next, could be equipped with Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir. They may join the A330s already flying with OnAir connectivity, bringing the whole to twelve. The airline’s existing and planned fleet of 20 B777-300ERs also will have OnAir’s GSM and Wi-Fi services fitted, enabled by the Thales TopConnect solution. Both fleets will use Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband, the simplest satellite network designed specifically to supply consistent global coverage.

    “Our experience has shown very clearly that passengers desire to have the ability to use their phones, tablets and laptops to stick involved during flights. That alone is a superb enough reason to give connectivity more widely because we value customer satisfaction very highly,” said Mr. Tarik Sindi, VP Marketing & Product Management of Saudia.

    The Connected Aircraft

    OnAir is building on its heritage of passenger connectivity by optimizing using inflight connectivity pipe, providing applications for cabin crew and the cockpit which help streamline airline operations.

    “The way forward for connectivity is especially exciting. There’s far more to it than connectivity for the passenger,” said Ian Dawkins, OnAir CEO. “Airlines run highly automated, complex IT systems. However, the interface between the crew and the bottom relies heavily on paper. That’s outdated, slow, inefficient and dear. We help airlines utilise their IT better, using the connectivity pipe to make operations way more efficient.”