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  • Rotana moves into Bahrain with Muharraq property

    Hotel giant Rotana has opened its first property in Bahrain, Majestic Arjaan by Rotana.

    The new property is conveniently located within the Busaiteen district at the island of Muharraq, just a few minutes from town of Manama.

    With the hole of this hotel, Rotana now operates 11 properties under the ‘Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana’ brand.

    Majestic Arjaan by Rotana is a primary-class property, which was developed with both short and longer term guests in mind.

    The hotel offers 128 suites, that are designed in a contemporary style, which includes spacious studios, one, two and 3 bedrooms apartments.

    The hotel features the newest high-tech facilities including fully-equipped meeting rooms with the foremost up-to-date audio-visual equipment.

    It also gives guests of venture to wind down and relax at any of the various leisure facilities including an out of doors temperature controlled swimming pool and a completely-fledged fitness centre, with steam and sauna rooms.

    Majestic Arjaan by Rotana also boasts three specialised food and beverage venues to fit every guest’s palate and dining needs, inclusive of: Ginger All Day Dining – offering international buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition á la carte; Ginger Lounge – a lobby café offering a tempting array of mouth-watering delicacies, light snacks and fresh fruit cocktails along with an outstanding choice of freshly-baked pastry takeaways; and Aquarius – an informal dining experience by the pool complemented by hearty refreshments comparable to light snacks and fresh salads.

    Commenting in this announcement, Omer Kaddouri, executive vice chairman, Rotana, said: “This opening of Majestic Arjaan by Rotana represents a terrific achievement for Rotana, and a main milestone in our technique to expand further within the Middle East and African region.

    “This is our first property in Bahrain, a desirable city with a gorgeous liberal lifestyle, a rich history and culture, with a powerful demand for luxury hotels that provide world-class hospitality.”

    A key appointment to the valuables includes Raiz Saban, a well-respected veteran of the hospitality industry with greater than 22 years of expertise within the business, as general manager.

    He will lead a team of seasoned hotel professionals who’re expected to play strategic roles in leading Majestic Arjaan by Rotana’s bid to capture a massive share of industrial within the Kingdom of Bahrain.

  • Le Royal Meridien Resort & Spa Dubai to host World Travel Awards

    Le Royal Meridien Resort & Spa Dubai have been confirmed because the host for the sector Travel Awards Middle East Gala Ceremony on May 5th.

    The event opens the area Travel Awards 2013 Grand Tour, heralding the beginning of a seek for the absolute best travel, tourism and hospitality organisations worldwide.

    World Travel Awards Middle East Gala Ceremony could be held in Dubai for the sixth year in succession, affirming the emirate’s impressive growing importance in travel, not only inside the region but through the world.

    WTA president Graham Cooke believes the choice of hosts is a vital part of the success of the world’s most influential travel awards programme.

    He explained: “I am delighted that we return to Dubai for what promises to be a thrilling and competitive Middle East Ceremony.

    “The emirate continues to respire innovation and direction into the travel industry landscape, and our host exemplifies this.”

    Le Royal Meridien Resort & Spa remains a market leader despite fierce competition in Dubai.

    Set in acres of lush, landscaped gardens with a personal beach, Le Royal Meridien is a tri-building property designed for both leisure and business travellers.

    The resort provides 500 plush rooms and suites as well as 13 restaurants and bars.

    Inspired by the rituals of ancient Rome, Caracalla Spa offers an expansion of beauty treatments with Hammam pools, a sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and 3 temperature-controlled pools.

    “We are extremely proud to host this year’s prestigious WTA Middle East Gala Ceremony at Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort, among the many region’s premier resorts,” commented Pam Wilby, complex general manager of Grosvenor House Dubai and Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort.

    “Having won numerous accolades on the World Travel Awards for the past six years ourselves, we have the honor and privilege to welcome most of the leading players within the industry for what’s certain to be among the biggest nights of the year within the social calendar of Dubai.”

    WTA Middle East Gala Ceremony 2013 will attract greater than 600 of the key decision-makers inside the region’s travel and tourism sector, in addition to a number of international media.

    There is additional information here.

  • Focus: St Christopher’s Inns Release Open Graph Facebook App for Hostels

    St Christopher’s Inns have released an Open Graph Facebook App to assist customers share their trips on Facebook. By publishing stories via Facebook’s Open Graph, the app allows customers to simply share their hostel bookings with friends.

    The app is released to coincide with the impending change in Facebook’s wall feed design. ““We desired to help customers share their trips with their friends in a visible and non-intrusive way. Open Graph allowed us to integrate booking a hostel in the Facebook experience in a more engaging way”” said Duncan Robertson, Digital Director at St Christopher’s Inns.

    Uptake was better than expected with over 6000 impressions generated from customers sharing their bookings throughout the app at the first day. ““We hope to look this figure grow significantly as we glance at more interesting how to aggregate hostels – a fundamentally social experience – into the social web.”” says Duncan.

    The app was inbuilt-house and extends the custom built booking system released by St Christopher’s in 2012. The system includes the choice to pay in six currencies, full payment or deposit toggle and a mobile optimised booking process – a primary of it’s kind within the hostel industry. St Christopher’s run 20 hostels and hotels across Europe and sleep over 750,000 guests annually.

  • Focus: European City Breaks by Train – and never the same old Suspects!

    Taking a city break, to enjoy just a few days of sightseeing and relaxation in a thrilling setting, has long been a favored solution to spend the weekend. And what finer strategy to travel than by train

    Of course, you are take away by the undeniable fact that lots of the train deals appear to visit the usual places that you’ve already been to 3 times. Fear not, however; there are new city breaks by train which are certain to yield up some unique memories.

    City Breaks to Avignon
    Instead of doing the usual thing in Paris, why not take the train for a city break in Avignon Famed for its Papal Palace, Avignon is without doubt one of the most lovely locations within the south of France.

    Located at the River Rhone, the town is surrounded by perfectly intact stone walls. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the world’s largest Gothic palace, too. In case you take a walk along town walls, you’ll be capable to visit a couple of museums along the best way.

    City Breaks to Lille
    If you’re searching for a cultural overload, the town of Lille is the only in an effort to visit. It enjoys a very unique cultural mixture of Flemish, Burgundian, French, Dutch, German and Spanish influences.

    It makes for an appropriate city break because it is found only two hours clear of London. There are three very accomplished museums, incredible Flemish cuisine and stunning architecture.

    City Breaks to Delft
    Instead of compacting past the hordes of visitors that flock each year to Amsterdam, consider visiting the house of the Dutch Royal Family in Delft. It’s a far prettier city than Amsterdam can claim to be.

    Delft is extremely, really easy to get around. Nearly your entire sights are within walking distance of each other. Delft is additionally in a major location for tourists, as other Dutch attractions are placed quite within sight.

    City Breaks to Lucerne
    The Swiss city of Lucerne is a perfect destination in the event you and your partner would like to stroll around an exquisite lake while taking within the sights, enjoying the timbered houses and Medieval architecture.

    The museums and art galleries will certainly keep you busy over the weekend. If you’ve had your share of the local culture however, you are able to always visit Mount Pilatus, a 2,100m tall mountain that overlooks Lake Lucerne.

  • Abu Dhabi plans major tourism push in Saudi Arabia

    Abu Dhabi’s tourism industry is planning per week-long promotion of the destination and its expanding offering in Saudi Arabia later this month with a high profile participation at Riyadh Travel Fair to be followed by a 3-city road show.

    The promotion, organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, is being supported by a variety of industry stakeholders including hotels and resorts, Etihad Airways, headline attractions and a novel integrated wellness facility on Saadiyat Island.

    The destination sales blitz begins at Riyadh Travel Fair – the Kingdom’s leading tourism trade exhibition, which runs on the Four Seasons Hotel – Kingdom Tower inside the Saudi capital from April 23rd-26th.

    The Abu Dhabi delegation will then move directly to road show presentations to the Saudi travel trade in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah.

    “We have superb airlift from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi with three providers – Etihad Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines and NASAIR – now servicing a combined total of 68 scheduled non-stop flights every week from the dominion,” said Mubarak Al Nuami, director promotions & overseas offices, TCA Abu Dhabi.

    “This give us huge potential to draw Saudi visitors to our emirate where we believe our product mix will meet their specific needs – one in every of our main focuses now’s to make this target market fully conscious of the truth that there may be now much more to look and do in Abu Dhabi and to steer them to stick with us longer than they currently do on average.”

    Saudi Arabia is currently Abu Dhabi’s sixth largest overseas source marketplace for hotel guests.

    In the 1st two months of this year some 12,322 Saudis stayed within the emirate’s 141 hotels and hotel apartments and delivered 27,256 guest nights. They stayed, on average, 2.25 nights.