Daily Pampering: Harper’s Bazaar suite at Willow Club New York

by McLean Robbins on

Ever wonder what it’s like to shop like a celebrity, including custom wardrobe selections, VIP fashion show access and merchandise straight from designer’s archives? Members visiting New York through new private membership group Willow Club now can, thanks to the Harper’s Bazaar Style Suite. Located at the Shoreham Hotel in New York City, the Style Suite marries the best fashion, accessories and stylish amenities, plus special events – including Friday and Saturday evening makeup touch-ups, blow-outs and fashion advice from top stylists – available exclusively to members.

Located on the main floor of The Shoreham, the Style Suite features a revolving display of Harper’s Bazaar-edited merchandise, most of which appears in the magazine’s current issue and may be purchased with the help of a Willow Club Style Suite Concierge directly from the display or through the brand’s personal shoppers. Past items for purchase include include a Derek Lam dress worn by Jennifer Aniston in the September issue of the magazine as well as over 75 pieces on display from brands including Michael Kors, Ports 1961 and Donna Karan.

Access to the Style Suite is complimentary for Willow Club members. Willow Club, is a private membership organization that offers members entrée to events and lifestyle experiences that would typically be inaccessible or cost prohibitive. In addition to stays at Willow Club’s three luxury Manhattan hotels, as well as stays internationally with no additional room night charges, examples of club benefits include: season tickets to all major New York sports teams, including the club’s luxury suites at select venues; use of the club’s private yacht; the club’s tickets to premier Broadway shows and performing arts; insider access to New York Fashion Week; use of limited-edition, luxury and high-performance cars; complimentary entry into New York City’s most celebrated and internationally-noteworthy cultural attractions and museums; member golf and tennis; and insider shopping and fashion experiences with personal stylists. The Club is currently accepting new members at www.willowclub.com.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Travel to Macau: See, sleep and eat your way through Macau’s top tourist spots

by Jenny Block on

This piece was written by Red Room contributor Jenny Block.




Macau, it’s not your modern-day Las Vegas. Yes, Macau does have a number of casinos from the classic Lisboa to the enormous and glamorous Venetian. And, yes, it has gobs of neon, killer entertainment, great shopping, and over-the-top hotels. But that’s just a glimpse of what really comprises Macau. There are also serene temples, busy shopping alleys, and street food from basic to extreme.

Although once a Portuguese Colony, Macau is now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. The delight of Macau, however, is that from moment to moment you can’t tell if you’re in Europe or China – from the food to the architecture to the street signs, there’s a confliction of countries in every direction. It’s a strangely surreal and singular experience to eat Portuguese food in front of a Buddhist Temple, with smells of incense and ocean air wafting on the breeze and strains of English, Portuguese, and Chinese filling your ears.

To be in Macau is to be in many cultures all at once. Although you can spend your time in Macua gambling, you can also spend days on end exploring the sites, tasting the delicacies, enjoying the beaches, and pursuing adventures without ever setting foot in a casino at all.

The choices are endless, so here are a few hot spots and tricks of travel for your next visit.

[Photo credit: Flickr, Yong Shimin]To sleep

Mandarin Oriental Macau: The latest hotel to open this year. It’s the first property of its kind in Macau without a casino. If you go, be sure to book a Spices of Portugal Journey treatment in their spa.
Address: Avenida Dr Sun Yat Sen, NAPE
Telephone: 853 8805 8888
Email: momac-reservations@mohg.com
Five Star hotel with 25 meter heated, outdoor pool and fitness center
Rates: Starting at $243.00

Pousada de Sao Tiago: A former Portuguese Fortress that is now a 5-Star Boutique Hotel. Regardless of if you stay here, stop by and visit their restaurant bar at sunset for a spectacular view.
Address: Avenida da República, Fortaleza de São Tiago da Barra
Telephone: 853 2837 8111
Email: reservation@saotiago.com.mo
Five Stay hotel with outdoor swimming pool and terrace
Rates: Starting at $230 a night

Grand Hyatt at City of Dreams in the COTAI Area: High-end digs for those looking to experience the “new” Macau. Because the Grand Hyatt is part of the City of Dreams urban resort, entertainment, dining and shopping options are on the property.
Address: Estrada do Istmo, Cotai
Telephone: 853 8868 1234
Email: macau.grand@hyatt.com
Five star hotel with 40m lap swimming pool and fitness center
Rates: Starting at $143.00 a night

To survey

A-Ma Temple: From which Macau gets its name. Here you can truly get a taste of old Macau and be witness to what the first Portuguese sailors saw when they arrived in Macau almost 500 years ago.
Rua de S. Tiago da Barra, Macau
Admission: Free

St. Paul’s Church: Key to understanding Macau’s Portuguese legacy, St Paul’s is the first Jesuit Church in China and houses a rich collection of relics from Asia’s first missionaries.
Rua de Sao Paulo, Macau
Admission: Free

Senado Square: The feel of a European city…in Asia! For centuries, locals and visitors alike have flocked to the square to celebrate Macau’s major holidays. You can feel the past in your feet as you wander the square.

Around the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro
Admission: Free

To savor

Antonio’s: Nestled in Taipa Island, Antonio’s is home to local celebrity chef, Antonio, whose big personality is in complete contrast to the tiny restaurant. Order steak cooked on hot stones or desserts that are flambéed, both of which are cooked right in front of your eyes. If you ask nicely and order a bottle of champagne, Antonio himself will saber it for you. Now, that is a sight not to be missed.
Address: António, Rua dos Negociantes No. 3, Old Taipa Village, Taipa
Telephone: 853 2899 9998
Email: reservations@antoniomacau.com
Entrees: From $13.00 – $23.00

O Porto Interior: Located in Macau’s old harbour area, Porto Interior can give you a taste of the city’s juiciest African chicken (a local delicacy) and of Macau’s abundant history. You’ll find a variety of Portugeuse specialties here as well as stuffed crab Macau, which is well worth the visit.
Address: 259B Rua do Almirante Sergio, Macau Peninsula
Telephone: 853 2896 7770
Entrees: From $9.75 – $23.00

Fat Siu Lau: Over 100 years old, Fat Siu Lau is Macau’s oldest restaurant and serves classic Macanese cuisine. Their signature dish, roasted pigeon, is not to be missed. Although, you can hardly go wrong in a restaurant whose dishes and atmosphere have lasted a century.
Address: Rua da Felicidade No.64
Telephone: 853 2857 3580
Email: fsl1903@macau.ctm.net
Entrees: From $11:00 – $23.00

To see

House of the Dancing Water: The latest show from Frank Dragone, House of the Dancing Water cost a billion dollars to produce and opened to rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. Think: an alternate Cirque du Soleil with water. Through the insanely ingenious use of fountains and elevators, they are able to convert the stage from a stage pool 3.7 million gallons of water (a record breaker in this category), equivalent to 5 Olympic-sized swimming pools to a solid stage surface. Be sure to book your seats early, House is one hot ticket.
Address: City of Dreams, Estrada do Istmo, Cotai
Telephone: 853 8868 6688
Email: contactcentre@cod-macau.com
Tickets: From $44.00 – $114.00

Zaia: Macau’s resident Cirque du Soleil show. Located in the Venetian, Zaia is as magical and inspiring as the Cirque shows that preceded it. Highlights include a polar bar gliding through space, a massive globe floating above and around the audience, and a miniature city built right on the stage.
Address: The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel,
Estrada da Baía de N. Senhora da Esperança, Taipa
Telephone: 853 2882 8888
Email: inquiries@venetian.com.mo
Tickets: From $25.00 – $162.00

MGM’s Lion’s Bar: Locals and tourists flood the place on weekends and weekdays alike. The bar is known for its exceptional cover band fronted by the handsome and charismatic singer Baby Boy.
Address: Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen, NAPE
Telephone: 853 8802 8888

Words to the Wise

Rome wasn’t built in one day, and you can’t see Macau in one either. While some visitors think they can pop over to Macau and see it all in a few hours it’s important to remember that Macau also has two islands, Taipa and Coloane, which you don’t want to miss.

Going to Macau without having a Portuguese Egg Tart at Lord Stow for breakfast or afternoon tea is like visiting Paris without catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. If you want to get a real taste of Macau, start with a tart.
Address: 1 Rua da Tassara, Coloane Island
Phone: 853 2888 2534

Free samples aren’t just for Sunday at Costco. Take a scenic stroll from historic St. Paul’s Church to Senado Square and enjoy a variety of free goodies from beef jerky to almond cookies.

If you’re looking to feel the thrill of Macau, try jumping off the Macau Tower. You can also walk along the outside of Tower’s top or, for the less fearless, walk along the tower’s glass floor and see the view below without setting your heart racing.

Did you know Macau has a Grand Prix? The third week of November is Macau’s Grand Prix races, much to the delight of car racing fans all around the world.

If you have a USA passport, no VISA is necessary to visit Macau. But, if you happen to have a VISA for China, you may want to take a stroll across the border into Zhuhai, China for a bit more shopping and dining.

Hong Kong is just a ferry ride away from Macau. Take advantage of the proximity and spend time before or after Macau visiting Hong Kong’s busy streets. Travelers tip: It can be very cost effective to fly in and out of Hong Kong and use the ferry to take you to and from Macau.

Macau is not like anywhere else in the world and is not to be missed. It’s not like Vegas, mainland China, or Portugal. Instead, it is a travel treasure that only 6,000 years and such a dramatic mix of cultures could create.

A former college English instructor, Jenny Block is a freelance writer for numerous print and online publications and the author of Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage. Read her blog on Red Room.

[Photo credits:
St. Paul’s Church, Macau; Flickr Les.Butcher
Macau-Hong Kong ferry; Flickr Michael McDonough]

Ask Gadling: You have to go home half-way through a prepaid tour or cruise

by McLean Robbins on

For this edition of Ask Gadling, we’ve turned to Lauren Volcheff, the vice president of marketing for Last Minute Travel. Should a guest need to depart half-way through a pre-paid tour or cruise, they should visit the Purser’s Desk or Guest Services desk and ask for help obtaining a “cruise interruption request.” Volcheff says:

A guest can request to debark the ship at a specific port of call at any time during the cruise. The ship will be able to provide insight and walk the guest through the process, provide the necessary paperwork, coordinate with local customs and immigration authorities, and even help with transportation to the airport or hotel, as needed. Passengers will be responsible for associated costs and securing flights back to home country.

Cruise ship passengers should understand that each country’s immigration laws and procedures – not the cruise line – determines how smoothly or complicated the process is for debarking the ship permanently. For instance, some countries will not allow cruise lines to authorize debarkation of passengers, due to visa restrictions.

If a guest needs to leave mid-way through a pre-paid tour, they should consult with the specific regulations of that tour. Certain exceptions – for illness, family emergency, or injury – may be built into the contract.

[Flickr via Bruce Tuten]

Bartering in Africa – bring socks, and other tips

by Annie Scott on


I’m pretty good at bargaining.

From a young age, my mother schooled me in the art of pretending I didn’t really want something, walking away, and knowing when to give in and pay up. I even developed my own trick:

1. Pick your item and lowball it, haggling it down. (Let’s say you get it down to 20 for example.)
2. Pretend you’re also interested in something of similar value.
3. Ask for a deal on purchasing both items. (Let’s say you get two for 30 instead of 40.)
4. Get rid of the second item.
5. Demand the lower price for your first item. (You already know they can let go of it for 15.)
6. Don’t budge, and walk away if they don’t give it to you.

It’s more than a badge of honor to get a great deal; haggling is a truly primitive survival skill — one that you’d be able to use in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s like being able to start a fire or make a compass out of scrap materials (all you need is a sewing needle, a piece of cork, a small magnet and a cup of water). Furthermore, we use it in the business world all the time, whether we’re bargaining for a raise or a house.

Bargaining with guys like the above gentleman outside of Victoria Falls in Zambia is a whole different ball game. The reason for this is that currency isn’t limited to cash. Currency can be the rubber band around your wrist.In this market, and in many others like it all over Africa, the men working in the shops come from villages with few sources of income. Their land is unsuitable for crops, so they can’t farm. What they can do is weave, carve and make all kinds of beautiful objects you’d never find at home (at least not without a thousand-percent markup — minimum).

For men like these, who work all day in the shop, access to basic essentials like pens, shoes, socks and even rubber hair ties is extremely limited. Even if they make enough cash to buy them at full price, going and buying them can be a long, inconvenient trip — and you, the tourist, are likely to have access to nicer stuff than they can get. That’s where the bartering super-skill comes in: a well prepared traveler like you should know that your best bargaining chip may be a bag of socks to trade.

If you’re going to Africa, you may already have considered bringing school supplies and other basics to donate, but also consider hitting up your dollar store for some essentials you can use in place of currency to buy gifts and souvenirs. To you, it may seem like an unfair trade, but everyone benefits: the goods you have access to are more valuable than currency to some markets, so the shopkeepers are happy to trade with you, and you get to save money. All you have to do is make a little room in your suitcase, and you can be an amateur importer-exporter.

Just don’t get too carried away, and play within the “commercial goods” laws.

Here are some ideas for things you can bring to barter with in Africa:

  • Socks
  • Pens
  • Pencils
  • Hair ties and clips
  • Underwear
  • Shoes
  • T-shirts
  • Toothbrushes
  • Razors
  • Hand mirrors
  • Bandages

The list goes on and on. Places where it’s appropriate to whip out bags of trading goods are pretty obvious; often, store owners will ask you for things of this nature outright. If you’re in a market or shop where all the goods from multiple stands are rung up at one register, it might not be kosher, but almost any situation where you’re dealing one-on-one with a merchant is fair game for trading.

Just remember: what you don’t end up trading, donate to a local school, or at least leave it with your hotel and ask them to give it to someone in need. You can buy another bag of socks when you get home.

[Photo by Annie Scott.]

My trip to Zambia was sponsored by Abercrombie & Kent and Sanctuary Retreats, but the ideas and opinions expressed in this article are 100 percent my own.

World’s first JW Marriott Marquis opens in Miami

by Melanie Nayer on

When entertainment and luxury combine with travel, the options are endless (and often glamorous). Setting a new premise for hotels around the world, the first ever JW Marriott Marquis Miami opened its doors in downtown Miami to a celebrity-infused, technology-studded event that merged sophistication, design, art, fashion and fun into one massive space.

The very first JW Marquis-branded hotel is set to transform way travelers view their hotel stay with an onsite golf school, virtual bowling alley, 10,000-square-foot NBA approved basketball arena and tennis court, billiard room and full-service spa. And, of course, there are guestrooms.

Part-theme park, part-resort, Marriott is setting the stage for a new kind of hotel experience. Are you game?

Rooms

The first in the company’s brand, The JW Marriott Marquis Miami has 41 floors, 313 rooms and 56 suites. There is more than 80,000 sq ft of total meeting space, and 20,000 sq ft Grand Ballroom and three concierge floors. Each guest room comes complete with an illy red Y1 espresso machine, complimentary bottles of water, imported Italian Marble Baths including a television embedded in bathroom mirror and a separate tub and shower.

Restaurants

Three restaurants give guests various options for dining. db Bistro Moderne is home to three time James Beard Foundation winner and French Chef, Daniel Boulud, who creates blends traditional French cuisine with the flavors of the American market. There’s a lounge and street level terrace for casual dining, including and cafe and bar, and Intermezzo, an illy Artisti del Gusto Café that features breakfast options including pastries Wide selection of pastries and other baked items, as well as coffee, cappuccino, espresso and teas.Spa/Fitness

The hotel’s Rik-Rak Salon & Spa, located on the 20th floor includes a full- service spa, beauty salon and fitness center.
The 4,000-square-foot spa includes five massage treatment rooms, including one couples room, co-ed relaxation room, separate men and women’s sauna, and a full-service hair and nail salon. The fitness center will be outfitted with eco-friendly Technogym equipment, top-of-the-line cardio vascular machinery, free weights and a yoga and exercise studio.

Entertainment

In addition to spa and fitness, guests can enjoy an outdoor swimming pool; a 10,000-square-foot NBA approved basketball court, Jim McLean Golf School with virtual golf and golf lessons, a bowling alley, media room, billiard room and a state of the art fitness center.

The Jim McLean Golf School will offer skilled personal instruction, virtual golf simulators, two putting greens, lounge seating, a Pro Shop, and sweeping city views. A 10,000-square-foot arena has a multi-use portable floor system that transforms into an NBA Approved Basketball court, a tennis court featuring the identical surface used at the Sony Ericsson Open or carpeted event space. For the less active sports-lover, take advantage of the hotel’s billiard room or virtual bowling alley.

Business/Corporate

Over 80,000 square feet of space is available for corporate and business events, that includes Virtual Meetings by JW Marriott, in partnership with AT&T and Cisco. The public telepresence facility enables people to hold virtual meetings with customers and colleagues around the world.

JW Marriott is widely known as Marriott International’s luxury brand of hotels, currently consisting of 45 properties around the world.
A second 1,612-room JW Marriott Marquis is scheduled to open in Dubai in 2011, and the company plans to host 73 properties in total in 28 countries by 2013.