Hotel Review: The Cary Arms & Spa in Torquay is a highlight of the Devon coastline June 10, 2019 Whatever they paid the marketing wizard who rebranded Torbay as the ‘English Riviera’ – where the Cary Arms & Spa resides – it wasn’t nearly enough. The name evokes images of sun-beaten beaches lined with palm trees swaying in the hot afternoon sun. Of ice creams melting down sticky hands, thick paperbacks with broken spines [...]
Welcome aboard the Amore Mio, a 7,620 horsepower luxury sports yacht with more toys than Hamleys June 10, 2019 Luxury journalism: It won’t make me a billionaire, but I do get to act like one on occasion. The 45-metre Amore Mio is one of the largest and most powerful ‘sports’ yachts in the world, and it isn’t available for charter. Instead, its owner – who shall remain nameless but, predictably, he’s Russian and in [...]
How a relationship break-up spurred this founder to build ‘Ebay for travel’ to help flog unwanted holidays May 20, 2019 When you think of unwanted items, holidays don’t tend to spring to mind. But according to Simon Powell, founder of TransferTravel, billions of dollars are wasted globally on unwanted travel every year, while an estimated 220,000 hotel rooms are paid for and never used every day in the US alone, wasting $8.6bn annually. And with [...]
Island hopping, dodging coconuts and chasing giant tortoises in Seychelles May 10, 2019 Biking around the flat sandy paths of Desroches island in the Indian Ocean, with only birds, turtles and tortoises for company, I happen across a warning sign nailed to a palm tree on the edge of the new Four Seasons resort. “Beware of falling coconuts”. Just moments later I encounter a similarly rustic sign bashed [...]
Millennials create rewarding experiences with new Miles & More’s Global Travellers Card May 3, 2019 | Sponsored These days, we want to be rewarded for being loyal. Many brands are rising to the challenge of giving back to the millennial and gen Z consumer. As avid adventurers, who regularly seek out new places, cuisines and memorable experiences, some travel companies are leading with offering something new and experiential to this profitable traveller [...]
Ashwin Bhardwaj travels to the cultural heart of Russia, to eat and drink with the locals of St Petersburg April 17, 2019 There are not many places that have left me literally gobsmacked, but the moment I stepped outside the Finljandski Train Station in St Petersburg, I knew that I had arrived somewhere special. It was here, in 1917, that Vladimir Lenin stepped back onto Russian soil after nearly 20 years of exile. He had taken the [...]
Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa review: There’s more to this historic region of France than fizz April 15, 2019 There are plenty of things to do in Champagne, but for starters you’ll probably want to get sozzled on fizz. That is, of course, great fun, but what next? Well, it’s also a beautiful place in its own right, well worthy of exploration. Its hills and forests are a UNESCO World Heritage site and you can [...]
Debate: Given the problems at Wow Air, should we be worried about the future of the airline industry? April 5, 2019 Given the problems at Wow Air, should we be worried about the future of the airline industry? Yes – Anthony Hynes is chief executive of eNett international. With Iceland’s Wow Air and other airlines going bust recently, it’s undeniable that the airline industry is going through some turbulent times. In fact, our recent study shows that [...]
Holiday Homes: New homes in a Renaissance palace set out to convert luxury second home buyers to the charms of Mallorca April 1, 2019 It would be too easy to dismiss Mallorca as simply a package holiday destination crowded with ex-pats and fake-tanned Love Island wannabes. But Palma, the Balearic Island’s elegant and historic capital, has now firmly shaken off its package-holiday past. Once the gateway to Mallorca, Palma is now a high-end destination with two Michelin-starred restaurants, designer [...]
London tourism industry pivots to long-haul markets in the face of Brexit March 24, 2019 Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the royal family: London is blessed with renowned attractions wrapped in tradition and heritage most cities can only dream of. But with Brexit looming, the UK tourism industry, which supports more than one tenth of the country’s jobs, has hit turbulence. Almost every industry representative I spoke with used the [...]