Hotel Missoni to add Mauritius location in 2014

by McLean Robbins on
Hotel Missoni, the luxury lifestyle brand of the Rezidor Hotel Group, is set to open in Mauritius, marking the 66th country in which Residor is present.
Rezidor Hotel Group, parent company to Hotel Missoni, has this week announced the addition of what is to be the brand’s sixth’s hotel, Hotel Missoni Mauritius, scheduled to open in 2014. The hotel will join already-open locations in Edinburgh, Kuwait and soon-to-open hotels in Jebel Sifah, Oman (2013), Antalya, Turkey (2014) and Ihla de Cajaiba, Brazil (2014). Ironically, the brand does not have any hotels in Italy.

The hotel, a “bold, contemporary” luxury boutique hotel that draws its name from the famed Italian designer, will boast 80 luxury suites with unobstructed views of the ocean, Hotel Missoni’s signature restaurant “Cucina” with an authentic seasonal Italian menu; “Choco Café”, a further all day dining restaurant, a lounge bar and a beach/pool bar. Leisure facilities will include a 650 meter sandy beach, outdoor pools, a fitness area including gym and tennis court, a kids club and a 900 square meter spa.

“Combining Missoni’s iconic design with the local culture influenced by Europe, Africa and Asia, the hotel will be truly unique in Mauritius”, said Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor.
“Having been passionate about Mauritius, an island of beauty and charm, its colourful culture and its wonderful population for over 30 years now, I am delighted to partner with Rezidor to bring a new kind of luxury hotel in Mauritius under the prestigious Missoni brand, which will surely be a great success and a new flagship premium quality hotel of the tourism industry in Mauritius”, added Gilles Bouigue, Executive Chairman of Bouigue Développement, owner of the property.
Each suite of the new hotel will feature Missoni’s signature patterns and fabrics, and will have a large covered outdoor living area, known in Mauritius as a “Varangue”.
The number of tourist arrivals to the island nation continues to grow, reaching nearly one million in 2010. The government plans to further increase arrivals (a new airport terminal is currently under construction, and new airlines and routes are under negotiation) and to focus on high quality tourism products such as 4- and 5-star hotels.

Cambodia’s Hôtel de la Paix tree made of 3,200 white feathers

by McLean Robbins on




Implementing a massive symbol of both peace and sustainability takes time. Ten days, in fact. Cambodia‘s Hôtel de la Paix (The Hotel of Peace), a luxury boutique hotel dedicated to community sustainability in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is currently displaying an eco-conscious Christmas tree composed of 3,200 white feathers hung on individual wires from the ceiling in the hotel’s lobby. More than 3 million people have seen this creation on Facebook and the hotel has recently launched a video explaining the engineering behind this technical feat.

Since 2008, the hotel has created unique holiday trees to bring joy to the community. At each year’s unveiling, the hotel makes a donation to its community partner of choice, this year, the
The Green Gecko Project.

Of course, if you could use a little luxe in your life, the hotel earned Gold List status as Conde Nast Traveller UK’s 2011 Best Hotel for Ambiance and Design.

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Uber – your new luxury car service app

by McLean Robbins on

We’d like to think that we roll in style. But pulling up to the party or that big business meeting in whatever jalopy of a cab we’ve hailed off the street doesn’t always make the impression we’d like, and our wallets, no matter how full, can’t stand the thought of paying quadruple the price of cab fare for a town car or sedan service. But bemoan our not-so-full wallets anymore, thanks to Uber, our new favorite phone app that lets us call a private driver with the simple touch of a button.

How It Works:
The concept is easy – much like popular cab app Taxi Magic, one simply enters their desired pickup destination to see a map of all available Uber cars in the area. You’ll note how far away the Uber is and can plot your pickup time accordingly. Click book and you’ll automatically get a text saying when your car has been dispatched. In our recent case testing the service in Chicago, our 4.9-rated driver “Benni,” was 13 minutes away. He promptly telephoned to let us know that 13 minutes actually meant that he was downtown, and that our ETA might be closer to 15 to 17 minutes. When the driver arrives, you’ll also receive a text.
The next part is simple – hop in the town car (the fleet also has Mercedes sedans, SUVs and several other vehicles) and give your direction. Long haul rates, like airports, are a flat fee, but most in-city driving is a standard flat fee plus a per mile or per-minute charge, depending on how fast the far is going. The fees vary slightly from city to city, but the average rate is 1.5 to twice that of a cab. When you arrive at your destination, simply thank the driver and exit – the payment process (including tip) is done completely inside the app with your pre-entered credit card information, so there’s no need to dig for cash or figure out how much to tip.

While this might seem high for the average individual, flat rates to airports are often comparable with taxi services, and the Uber cars charge on a per vehicle, not per-person basis, so if you’re traveling en masse, the cars offer a luxury benefit with little to no extra cost.

Why We Like It:
When we first broached this idea to Grant (Gadling’s EIC), he rolled his eyes and asked why we felt the need to take a town car when a cab would do. Because we like living the luxe life, that’s why. Duh.

Firms like lobbying and law firms in the city trying to keep their costs low but still maintain a certain profile are being targeted by the company to try the service – it’s an easy way to be cost effective and still look smart.

We can also see where the service will be particularly attractive in markets like Washington, DC, where cabs often cross state lines and have specific pick-up and drop-off laws about multiple stops and passengers, as well as higher fees than many of their other big city counterparts like New York and Chicago. We’ve been left in the cold trying to get back to our home one too many times by a DC cab refusing to cross the bridge that whole extra mile into Virginia that this service makes perfect sense. It doesn’t always work – the service was full when we tried to pick one up from the airport in Chicago – but you get an immediate text response back apologizing for the inconvenience.

The convenience factor for frequent travelers is also quite nice – one never has to know the number of a cab company, or worry if they take credit cards. And it goes without saying – a town car is much nicer than a cab. Ours had copies of Cigar Aficionado in the back. Fancy.

What a Driver Says:
We had an impromtu interview with Grant and Benni, our driver on a recent trial run in Chicago. Benni says that while Uber takes 20% of a driver’s earnings, the pay is slightly better than a cab. Unusually, he followed the company on Twitter before signing up as a driver – once he realized the service was taking off, he signed on. He now says he’s awaiting data that shows him where most people order Uber cars and at what time of day, so that he can plan his driving schedule and location in time to pick people up promptly. “Working with these guys is a great pleasure,” he said. “Everything is more civilized.” We agree.

Where Can You Get It?
Uber is currently running in New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Washington, DC and is running on a limited basis in Paris, with plans to expand soon to other major cities nationwide. You can download and read more about Uber here.

Greek island for rent

by Melanie Renzulli on

Island-hopping around Greece is one of the most glorious travel activities imaginable until you arrive in Corfu or Santorini or Crete and realize that thousands of other holiday makers had the same idea. If only you could have an island to yourself….

Well, now you can.

Having grown tired of asking cash-strapped Athens for money, Michalis Patros, mayor of the Halki (sometimes Chalki) Islands, has decided to put one of his islets up for rent. Should the Halki municipal council work out leasing details, the tiny island of Alimnia will be available for rent beginning in 2012.

Alimnia is a 4.6 square mile (7.4km) island in the Dodecanese archipelago. Although it has been uninhabited since 1966, Alimnia is a favorite day trip for visitors to Rhodes, which is about four miles away. If you’ve ever been on a boating excursion in the Greek isles, this is one of those land masses where your motorboat or catamaran drops anchor for an hour or so in order to allow you to sun, swim, snorkel, and soak in the scenery.

Rental fees for Alimnia have yet to be disclosed, but one would have to assume renting an island for private use could be pretty pricy. It is also unclear what a potential investor would get should he or she decide to rent Alimnia. An abandoned island doesn’t have towel service and a swim-up bar, for instance. Further, I wonder how or if the Halki council will prevent day trippers from stopping by the island once it has been rented out?

At any rate, a Greek island can be yours if you can afford it. Should this scheme work, I have a feeling Alimnia will be the first of many islands up for rent as Greece looks for new ways of raising funds during tough economic times.

Photo Flickr/Francesco Sgroi

Architectural firm called “Al Qaeda lovers” over new project’s resemblance to New York City’s Twin Towers under attack

by Jessica Festa on

MVRDV, an architectural firm located in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has recently become the target of an outraged public. The company’s new luxury highrise project in Seoul, South Korea, called “The Cloud”, is being said to resemble New York City’s Twin Towers during the tragic 9/11 attacks. Not only have many of the media outlets and public turned against the company, but they are receiving threatening letters and are being called “Al Qaeda lovers”, among other names.

On the MVRDV Facebook page, the company has issued an explanation and apology to the public:

“MVRDV regrets deeply any connotations The Cloud projects evokes regarding 9/11, it was not our intention. The Cloud was designed based on parameters such as sunlight, outside spaces, living quality for inhabitants and the city. It is one of many projects in which MVRDV experiments with a raised city level to reinvent the often solitary typology of the skyscraper. It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, the design was not meant to provoke this.”

On a their Facebook page under the photo shown here, the debate has gotten heated, with over 600 comments and over 100 shares. While some feel strongly that the design is beautiful and a common design framework there are others who are arguing that it is ugly, disgraceful, and that the architects weren’t thinking (along with an overwhelming amount of obcenities and name-calling). What are your thoughts?