Daily Pampering: Mandarin Oriental Prague takes the spa to a spiritual level

by Melanie Nayer on

Few places in the world combine pampering and prayer, but the Mandarin Oriental, Prague figured out a way to do it.

If you’re seeking complete harmony between mind, body and spirit, The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Prague might be the best starting point.

It’s the only spa in the world located in a former Renaissance chapel and preserves the remnants of its Gothic church under a glass floor.

The spa encompasses two floors and hosts six private treatment rooms. After the treatment, guests dress in robes and retreat to their hotel rooms through an underground passageway that links to the spa to the main building.

Spa treatments in the “church” start at CZK 800 (approximately USD $42) and can run as high as CZK 8,500 (approximately USD $450).

The cost of a religious revival in a spa? Priceless.

Daily Pampering: A classic ride at the Peninsula Beverly Hills

by Melanie Nayer on


If you’ve always wanted to ride in a 1961 Fort T-Bird or 1932 Studebaker Commander but never quite had the means, this Beverly Hills hotel has a deal for you. Starting March 28, guests enjoying Sunday Brunch at The Belvedere, the restaurant at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, can leave their meal in a chauffeured class car. Thanks to the hotel’s partnership with El Segundo’s Automobile Driving Museum, these classic cars are available for a ride during the “Dine and Drive” promotion.

The Belvedere restaurant’s three-course Sunday Brunch isn’t for amateurs. Aside from the “Duck & Eggs,” Prince Edward Island Mussels, Rock Shrimp Frittata and “Kobe Style” Flat Iron Steak is a mouth-watering pastry buffet for dessert.

The Dine & Drive Sunday Brunch is available April 11 through April 25, 2010, from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm. The price is $59 per person and $32 for children under 12, exclusive of tax and gratuity. An additional $20 donation to the non-profit Automobile Driving Musuem in El Segundo is appreciated for the ride in a classic car.

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

Versace mansion lives on as Miami hotel

by Melanie Nayer on

The Versace name is synonymous with luxury, privilege and decadence, so it’s no surprise that the mansion where Gianni Versace lived in Miami ranks as one of the most coveted homes in America. When Gianni Versace was gunned down in 1997, his South Beach home became a place to pay homage to one of the world’s elite designers and purveyor of fine fashion. Now, his home is open for the night.

The 19,000-square-foot Versace mansion has been renamed The Villa by Barton G – a 10-suite hotel filled with fountains, Italian marble, stained glass, and featuring a pool and terrace tiled to resemble a hidden oasis in Italy.

According to the hotel’s website, the Villa’s 10 custom suites feature king-sized beds or custom double king beds, over-sized bathrooms with two shower heads, closet space fit for a fashion designer, separate living rooms or sitting areas and balconies or patios. There’s a rooftop lounge and a private restaurant. Gianni Versace’s former bedroom has a nine-foot-wide bed, two balconies and seven closets.

The New York Times reports rooms start at $2,100. If you can’t afford a night’s stay, the restaurant in the mansion is open for dinner (reservations are required) and starting April 15, there’s an afternoon tea service on weekends for $35 a person.

White Collar Travel: Accelerate your trip to the hotel club-level lounge

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Access to a hotel‘s club-level lounge is a small perk. It doesn’t equate to an ostentatious suite, but does rank higher than bathrobes. The amenities are nice, usually consisting of a mix of free food and liquor, but they won’t change your life. For me, at least, the lure of the lounge involved having a place to go that wasn’t my room. I could hit the lounge with a book and relax while sipping a drink. It beat the lobby, which usually had too much traffic for my taste. If I needed to get some work done, the change of scenery was a plus, and the environment afforded a bit more privacy than the public areas of the hotel.

Unless you pay a few extra bucks for club-level access, though, you can only gain admittance through your status with the hotel’s rewards program. This takes time, unfortunately, as the hotel uses the lounge as a way to thank you for your loyalty (translation: spending). There’s a third way to get into the lounge that many business travelers don’t think to try – negotiation. It will only take a few minutes of your time, and it could buy you several months of comfort ahead of schedule.If you’re on a long-term engagement, you will be a frequent guest at the same hotel (unless, for some reason, you choose to bounce around). As early as possible in the project, contact the hotel’s management and let them know your plans. Explain that you’ll be staying with them for a while and that you’d like to be comfortable while you do. Tell the manager that you’d be willing to make your reservations far in advance and would appreciate early access to the club-level lounge. You may not be able to get a room on the club floor, but that isn’t as important as lounge access.

Before you make your case to the hotel’s management, put your case together. If you aren’t on a solo project, ask the other people traveling with you if they want to get in on the action (they probably will, even if they have no plans to use the lounge). Note how long you’ll be staying at the property and calculate how much you’re going to wind up spending there in room expenses alone. Don’t lead with this number, but have it in your back pocket. In all honestly, it probably won’t get that far: when you tell the manager how long you’ll be a guest, he’ll already be doing the math in his head. When you multiply that number by everyone who is on your project, the result is an incredible amount of spending power. It will be noticed, and it will have an impact.

The beauty of the hospitality business (unlike the airlines) is that it really does tend to be focused on the guest. If a hotel’s management sees a promising business opportunity, it has the flexibility to accept it. As a result, guest loyalty increases, and word spreads. And, it’s not just a matter of dollars and cents. Most hotel professionals are simply committed to ensuring their guests have positive experiences. If they can do something to help you, they will. Giving you early access to the club level in exchange for a commitment from you for a long-term stay doesn’t cost the hotel any real cash, but it sure brings plenty in.

Asking for early access to the club-level lounge could be the best 10 minutes you invest.

Inside the award winning SpringHill Suites by Marriott

by Scott Carmichael on

As part of our hotel review coverage, we recently paid a visit to the newest generation SpringHill Suites by Marriott. The property in question was not only one of the newest, it was also voted “opening hotel of the year” in 2008. Marriott is putting a lot of effort (and money) into refreshing its properties. Back in January, we showed you the updates at their Courtyard brand.

The upgrades are evident before you even walk in the front door – the outside of the hotel is modern and very pleasantly designed. Plenty of free parking and a covered entry allows for easy check-in.

The lobby area is nice and bright – one might even call it “hip”. In the lobby is of course the front desk, but it is also home to a nice business “center” with two PC’s and a pair of printers.

These printers are not just for guest using the lobby PC’s – thanks to a set of keypads, you can also print documents from your room, and “release” them using a code you assign. This way, you can print things like your boarding pass, then walk downstairs to pick up the print.

A full service bar offers liquid relief, as well as an assortment of light snacks. TV’s are located throughout the lobby, making it a surprisingly decent place to spend some time, which sure beats hanging out in your room all evening.

And speaking of the room – I really loved the layout. Inside the room, you’ll find a (sleeper) sofa, desk with glass divider, separate toilet / shower area and a coffee/fridge/microwave/ice corner

The desk has everything you need to get some work done – four outlets, a wired network port and a decent lamp. The hotel Wi-Fi was slightly disappointing, as it limited all speeds to 2mbit – but this should also mean mooches won’t be able to suck up all the bandwidth, depriving others of Internet access.

The glass doors slide open, allowing natural light into the desk/sofa corner, or can be closed for a little bit of privacy.

The room has a single 37″ flat panel LCD TV. The screen swivels, making it ideal for watching TV from bed, or from the sofa. Under the TV is a media access panel, with easy access to VGA, HDMI, video and audio. Thankfully, this property didn’t fall for the old trick of offering HDTV’s without any HD programming – the majority of all channels were crystal clear HD, and the lineup was surprisingly decent.

Another really simple, yet helpful touch was ordering iHome alarm clocks WITH the operating instructions printed on them. You’d be amazed how many hotels purchase the consumer version of this clock, assuming everyone in the world can program them without the need for instructions.

The separate toilet/bathroom design was really neat – both offer privacy with large sliding doors. The shower was a real treat with its showerhead and side spray nozzles – a perk normally reserved for more upscale luxury properties.

All in all, a very nice design and one that I hope will spread to all other SpringHill Suites properties.

Everything is where it should be, and while the rooms won’t “feel like home”, the bed is comfortable, the climate control worked, and you can even open the windows. It doesn’t take much to please me in a hotel, but it also doesn’t take much to spoil the experience. Thankfully, this new SpringHill Suites design sets a really good benchmark for how business/leisure hotels should be.

The hotel in this review is located in Waukegan, IL – about 40 minutes north of Chicago, and about 10 minutes from the city of Gurnee. Gurnee is also home to Six Flags Great America – making it the perfect location for a family getaway. Thanks to the sofa bed, the rooms are great for families with kid(s). The hotel has an on-site pool and fitness lounge, as well as free breakfast.

Rates start at $95, and you can find out more about this specific hotel, or other hotels in the SpringHill Suites chain here.