Whilst walking down the street in my London neighborhood, I stopped by the latest bus advertising from GuestInvest. Their latest catch phrase is "We make beds, you make money".
The concept of GuestInvest is for investors to have the opportunity to buy a luxury hotel room, staying there free of charge for up to 52 nights a year and receiving a rental income from its use during the rest of the time.
The famous hotel brand Ritz Carlton is building the future tallest hotel in the world in Hong Kong as part of the ICC Tower. The hotel will have 300 rooms on 118 floors. If this project comes to completion (around 2010), it will breaks the record currently held by the Park Hyatt in Pudong, Shanghai that is due to pen in Autumn this year.
Ritz Carlton Hong Kong Park Hyatt Shanghai
Since the failure of a merger between the # 1 UK hotel brand Premier Inn (owned by Whitbread) and # 2 Travelodge (owned by Dubai International Capital), Travelodge has decided to reinforce their management team by appointing Guy Parsons as Managing Director UK and Paul Harvey as Managing Director - International and Development. Paul will overlook the expension of the brand internationally.
Probably a wise move since Premier Inn already has put a foot in Middle East with their first hotel in Dubai.
Can't wait to try these out.
Among other re-openings, The Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Florida must be one of the most anticipated hotel opening of this year. The celebration gathered numerous celebrities as shown on the video and $1B was spent for the renovation and celebration of this grand hotel.
I remember this hotel from my first visit in the US in the 80s where my parents took us in Florida for Winter holidays. This is probably where all my passion towards the hotel industry started. I was 14 years old at that time and I still remember how big that hotel was and also how delicious was the breakfast. I am sure it has all changed now, especially it is not managed by Hiton Hotels anymore.
MamaShelter is a new urban design hotel in the 20th district in Paris designed by Philip Starck and funded by the Trigano family (who created ClubMed) & Cyril Aouizerate, the philosopher of the house. This new hotel has created a lot of buzz around the designers and creators of new hotel concepts. Last year was the year where CitizenM won most of the innovation awards. 2009 could be a good year for Mama Shelter.
Their website is very well designed and has plenty of pictures, including pictures of each room type (remember my post last Friday). On the negative side, their booking engine just sucks. I don't find it easy to use and also hard to read with small characters.
The KOP Group - a real estate investment company with $2.5B worth of assets around the world - has recently invested in Stein Management Company International and has consequently appointed Michael Sagild to the position of Chief Executive Officer.
Why Franklyn? The group PR agency explains:
"Following intensive research, the company’s name was subsequently developed with ‘Franklyn’ offering a polysyllabic moniker that positions itself alongside other world-class hotel brands such as Morgans, Aman, COMO and Starwood. Franklyn is a bi-syllabic name, consisting of a free morpheme, ‘Frank’, and a suffix, ‘lyn’, and enjoys a rich cultural heritage through its etymology. The historical resonance of the name itself alludes to the notion of classicism – with the classic and contemporary forming core brand values of the company - and it also conjures warm associations of American hospitality. The etymology of Franklyn derives from a broad range of positive concepts: it carries the meaning of a frank or seal, it also denotes sincerity, authenticity and honour. The Franklyn brand will act as a seal of approval, guaranteeing a level of quality and luxury, whether it be in a Franklyn Hotel, Resort, Restaurant or Spa."
12 hotels are part of the group like the Gran Hotel Son Net in Mallorca or The Cadogan in London.
The hotel has been built with an investment of around £10M with the supervision of the designer Lesley Purcell of Can Do interior design company. This is the second hotel of the Concept Venues Group created by the chef Garry Hollihead and Mark Fuller who owns the Embassy members club in London.
About the hotel, it plays a subtle mix between sobriety and silver shiny theme. Different rooms types are available from Crash Pads (small 13sqm room), Superior Double (25sqm), Deluxe Double (32sqm) and 3 types of suites.
The hotel has already worked out their distribution partner. They decided to choose the growing Design Hotels representation company that fits well with the hotel standards.
Their website is not the best I have seen for hotels like these. It lacks of innovation and doesn't invite enough to discover the hotel. Besides some kind of diaporama on the homepage, you don't have much information about the hotel. In terms of visuals, it lacks pictures on some room types like the Crash Pad (for visitors who has a limited budget).
The booking engine is powered by Synxis (another company getting bigger and bigger every year) and announced rates starting at £175 for a Crash Pad or £210 for a Superior Double room for a Friday night stay in June 09.
The questions is if London needs another boutique hotel. Can it survives the crisis we are living in today? Do you really want to stay in Soho on your visit in London? The hotel needs some bells and whistles for sure to compete with 1,400 hotels in the capital. Also not very far from the hotel, you already have The Soho Hotel that is the 2nd most rated hotel according to TripAdvisor. Good luck to them.
Abu Dhabi Capital Gate will accommodate the 5-star ‘Hyatt at Capital Centre’ hotel and will provide the most exclusive office space in
Capital Gate leans westward an astonishing 18 degrees; by comparison the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans less than 4 degrees. Because of its unique posture, the tower is being constructed on top of an incredibly dense mesh of reinforced steel. The dense mesh sits above an intensive distribution of 490 piles which have been drilled 30 meters underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building.
Radisson Hotels part of the Rezidor Group and Carlson Hotels are going through a major facelift recently. Not only on the management front (Hubert Joly became CEO of Carlson Hotels, Jacques Dubois is now COO of Rezidor ...) but also on the online experience (their website has changed a lot last time I checked).
What is more inventive is this short film that was published on different video sharing sites in early June announcing the fantastic promotional campaign "Friday is Freeday". That's right you can stay for free on Friday in Radisson Hotels this summer if you stay Saturday or Thursday as well.
To promote this campaign, a 7'30 film has been created called "Freddy Frees Friday". A microsite has also been launched for the occasion.
The question is does this activity has been successful in terms of visibility and viewership.
Did Radisson make some return of investment with the production of the movies vs. awareness of the promo campaign?
Clearly, Radisson has been advised to distribute the video everywhere. The film and the "behind the scenes" video are available on YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Viddler and Metacafe (maybe more).
If you cumulate the number of impressions - meaning each time a visitor clicks on the video, not necessarily views the whole movie - the film has received 2,900 impressions within 2 months.
Dailymotion ==> 10 views
YouTube ==> 568 views
Vimeo ==> 2323 views
Viddler ==> 1 view
Metacafe ==> 2 views
Clearly 2 distribution channels are better than others. I am even surprised to see Vimeo clearly a big winner for the promo video. But as a whole, I believe these results are disappointing for the Radisson marketing team. When you are such an International brand, you would expect much more viewership, especially with such a professional film.
So what did the marketing team miss? Any ideas? (I will try to get Radisson giving their analysis on the comment box)
In the meantime please vote.
I was having a drink last Friday with a friend of mine at the Holiday Inn Mayfair after failing to find a quiet corner at the bar of the Radisson The Mayfair.
I was really shocked to see how tired this hotel is from the reception, the elevators, the toilets. And then the bar which smells like an old ashtray with really really tired furniture and fabrics all around. I just can't believe why such a reputable brand like Holiday Inn allows this kind of hotel to be associated with their brand. Some websites classify the hotel as 4 stars. Just by looking at the reception and the bar, it doesn't deserve more than a 2 stars. I was glad to see that TripAdvisor reviews seem to be in line with my findings.
The only goood thing about this hotel is the location. But in London West End, could it be enough to attract customers with so many hotels in the area? I mean this hotel still charges around £180 per night (I have checked the best price you could get for a Saturday night in September).
I hope with the massive re-branding campaign Holiday Inn is conducting, they will also remove this kind of hotels out of their directory unless they decide to do some major renovation.
Yauatcha
15 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 0DL
The Only Running Footman
5 Charles Street, London, W1J 5DE
I have tried a pub / restaurant in Mayfair on Friday. The place is quite famous: it is called "The Only Running Footman, part of the Meredith Group. The restaurant room is on the 1st floor so you could enjoy a bit of quietness and privacy away from the crowd of the pub on the ground floor.
We have eaten some good quality food there. I had for a starter snails "Neathercleave farm snails, laver-bread and duck fat toast" which was delicious and quite surprising for an English pub. I have always thought English couldn't stand snails and frogs. I was wrong then.
To start off with, I had some weird cocktail of Martini Bianco, Vodka with Olive jus which was absolutely awful. Don't know why I have followed my friend to taste this. 3 of these cocktails cost us £24 !!!
For a main course, I had the dish of the day which was a superb duck confit with a yummy mashed potatoe and spinash. We had a bottle of Bordeaux "2004 Château Pey de la Tour, Bordeaux Supérieur" with a reasonable price of £30 (which you can find in Waitrose for £8). We didn't have anough space for dessert but I have finished my meal with an expresso and a digestive drink "Mirabelle".
I thought the service was good even though it took a while to get my cocktail in the beginning. The décor of the room was simple and neutral.
The bill came to £45 per head with 4 people but we drank cocktails, wine and digestive. So not surprise here. Alcohol is always expensive in London. All in all, a good gastro pub in Mayfair.
Yauatcha
15 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 0DL
Last night, I had another nice dinner at the famous Asian London eatery Yauatcha (opened in 2004 by Alan Yau, the owner of Busaba and Hakkasan). The restaurant earned a 1 Michelin * in 2005.
The food is still superb with exquisite dim sums from pork buns, spare ribs, mango rolls, crispy duck rolls, Singapore Noodles, Mini Pak Choi and so on.
This time, I was innovative enough to try a new dim sum - the chicken feet - quite strange texture in your mouth. Didn't like those feet to be honest.
Service is still very quick, efficient and friendly. The damage per head came at £30 per head.
I would recommend to go on Sunday evening as it is less crowded. Lower ground floor is still my favourite.
If you fancy some Chinese food in a full service restaurant with original dishes, Royal China on Fulham Road is a place to go. This restaurant is fairly new and has quite a number of seats to accommodate quiet week days and busy weekends. The service is good, fast and helpful. The a la carte menu is rather complex but organized in a way that you can find what you want.
Last week, I have tried as a starter the soft shell crab which was delicious with some chili sauce. As a main course, I couldn’t resist to try the Royal Fish pictured on the menu. This is basically fillets of Dover sole with celery and asparagus with the whole fish (without fillets) standing on your plate. This was very nice indeed. Good portion and nice flavors.
The meal with one bottle of water, one glass of wine and one beer came to a price of £35 per person. Not bad considering how pricey the Dover sole is in restaurants nowadays.
Cha Cha Moon
15 - 21 Ganton Street, London, W1F 9BN
Cha Cha Moon is an Asian restaurant in Central London closed to Carnaby Street. This is the latest invention from the serial restaurant entrepreneur Alan Yau, founder of Wagamama, Busaba Eathai and Michelin star restaurants Hakkasan and Yautcha.
Cha Cha Moon was opened only last month and you can see by the queue to get in that the buzz has been strong with Londoners and tourists around the word. The restaurant is very much like Wagamama seating plan style where waiters sit you down on your bench on a shared long table with other people. Don't expect to eat there for hours but in less than 30min - 1 hour. The kitchen is semi open protected by glass windows and you can see how the food is preparing whilst you are waiting to have seats available. The menu has some classics like crispy duck and Singapore Noodles. I have tried the excellent crispy duck with noodles + the spicy Cod noodles. All courses are priced at £3.5 which is a real bargain for London. I am not sure if this pricing is here to stay but I will definitely encourage you you try Cha Cha. I was not very inspired by the menu though. I think there is nothing much to discover. But you are there for the food you already know and enjoy a quick meal with your friends or on your own with a book.
Galvin Bistrot de Luxe
66 Baker Street, London, W1U 7DJ
Last weekend, I was invited by a friend of mine to try a French restaurant called Galvin Bistrot de Luxe on Baker Street managed by the Galvin Brothers.
It's always a bit difficult to be objective about what you eat on a Sunday lunch if you had a a rather late night on Saturday.But I was really looking forward to eat some French food. So I gave it a try with the Fish Soup with its garlic red creamy sauce called "Rouille" and its croutons. The Fish Soup was really one of the best I have eaten in a restaurant. Plenty of flavour and the texture was perfect (in between soup and consommé). Then have indulge myself with a classic - the famous Duck Confit with its salad and mash potatoes. Again , Duck Confit was of good quality and cooked very nicely. Mashed Potatoes was so delicious. Last time I have tasted mashed potatoes like that was at l'Atelier de Robuchon in Paris (the inspiration comes from la Purée Robuchon for sure). Finally, my stomach couldn't handle a dessert so I finished my meal with ice cream sorbets. The meal cost us aroudn £40 per person with a a bottle of red wine. I will come back again to try other dishes. I highly recommend this Bistrot on the evening to taste some inspired French classic courses (have a try at the Calf Liver of Roasted Veal Brains).
Le Cercle is one of the sister restaurant of Club Gascon. Located in the privileged district of Sloane Square in London, the restaurant is quite hard to find and the entrance is very discreet.
When you enter, a receptionist is here to take your through your table and take your coat. You walk down the stairs and you find on your right a sitting - waiting area very nicely decorated and intimate. Then further down, you discover the main restaurant room with 3 semi-private boxes below the wine cellar. The décor of the restaurant is really thought through and the cellar quite magnificent. Music background (taken from Hotel Costes CDs) makes the room a place to enjoy your food with your partner or friends.
The menu is based on small portions that you usually share in the middle of the table – similar to tapas – but you can also take 3 portions for yourself (which is what we did). The inspiration of the menu is very much French…rightly so because the founders of the restaurant are from South West of France (ah, le Sud Ouest! I miss you). You have a selection of 30 dishes to choose from. All very much original and tempting. But is it all good?
Before we make our choice, the waitress gives us some bread and butter. Bread is so hard that my friend almost broke her knife. For a French restaurant, I expect good quality and fresh bread. This time, the bread was definitely frozen and clearly of not good quality. I tell the waitress and she replaces by another set of bread. Same problem with the exception it’s just coming out the oven…Bless her.
I decide to go for red mullet with lemon, slowly cooked lamb and John Dory. The lamb is absolutely delicious and served in a little pot with vegetables and herbs giving out all the flavours mixed together. The meat is tender and nicely cooked. But fish is a total disappointment. Both fishes are complimented with this wasteful and horrible lemon curd (turd) that spoils the whole freshness and unique flavour of expensive fish like John Dory. I am so surprised that at this level of cooking, you can ruin fresh ingredients with an overwhelming dressing. Then my friends start to complain about the size of their dishes (besides the fact they are known small portions) because each dish still costs between £7 and £16. The foie gras apparently should have been left alone with bread (with a bigger portion). We drink a couple of good French red wine from Sud Ouest (bien sur) overly priced (compared to French retail prices).
Then we decide to finish the meal on a more positive note, the French Cheese board otherly called "Le Tour de France". We first ask the waitress what cheese selection do we get. She responds immediately that she doesn’t know and it is up to the chef to decide. What did you just say? I am sorry, who is the bloody customer here? You, the chef or me? I give up and let the chef decides…Luckily, the cheese board is really nice with some quality breads coming up with it (again, how can you fail to deliver good bread in the beginning and succeed in the end of the meal).
Time to go back home. We ask the bill and the truth is hard to take. The meal costs us around £75 per head. What a rip off…For the same price, I will come back to Club Gascon but certainly not to Le Cercle, unless they slash their prices or come up with better portions. Having said that, I am not sure they will discount their menu pricing, considering the restaurant was full on a Wednesday evening!
Tas is one of these places that you hear from word of mouth and rightly so because a friend of mine took us there last Wednesday.
The evening was quite warm and thunderstorms were coming our way. The restaurant located not far away from Waterloo and minutes away from the famous Old Vic theater, was almost packed with people inside and outside on the terrace.
The place looked very lively and you could feel a strong team spirit behind the operations. Open kitchen, many waiters and nice food coming in and out around you. The food takes its origin from Turkey. Starters vary from Humus, Aubergine Puree, Smoked Salmon with Parsley (Tutsulu Samon) and more. I took for a main course a delicious steak of lamb with hot couscous. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the meat was really tender and nicely flavored with oregano. For drinks, we experienced a new world Malbec wine from Argentina priced at £25 a bottle. The staff is quick and very helpful when you ask questions regarding the menu. After two hours, our party of four was very satisfied with a bill of £25 per head. Definitely a restaurant to try if you are around Waterloo.
Chez Patrick is a small restaurant in Kensington on a very nice residential street called Stratford Street. The owner Patrick welcomes you as soon as you enter the restaurant and takes you to your table with a smile. We were surrounded by 5 tables from party of 6 to party of 1. This restaurant has definitely its loyal and frequent customers probably coming from the same living area. The menu is very simple and takes its roots from France with traditional starters like Salade Landaise (foie gras, ginners) or Goat Cheese Salad and main courses with a big focus on fish. Patrick told us the fish is wild and organic with the exception of the salmon. You can pick a fish course for about 15£ with the choice of Salmon, Hake, Seam Bream or Sea Bass plus a sauce. All dishes are served with spinach, potatoes and French Fries. Finally, we finish our meal with some nice dessert like the carpaccio of pineapple with salty toffee ice cream. To go with this meal, we took a £25 bottle of Chinon. The service is quick and efficient and Patrick is the typical French man who likes to tease his customers (even French like me). He definitely knows how to please his customers. For the “petite histoire”, Patrick used to work at Lou Pescadou in Earls Court.
