Luxury digs are coming back to Mumbai. The Oberoi is set to reopen tomorrow, following a substantial renovation and restoration. The atrium lobby stretches 14 storeys high, features white Thassos marble and serves as the gateway to 287 guestrooms and suites. Ziya is the hotel’s new Indian specialty restaurant and offers the creations of Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia. Other dining options include Fenix (world cuisine) and Vetro, which has Italian dishes. If you’re looking for wine, this is the place to go, with more than 1,200 bottles from which to choose.
Mr. P.R.S. Oberoi, Chairman, The Oberoi Group said, “We are pleased to re-open The Oberoi, Mumbai. We look forward to welcoming guests to the hotel which has been completely renovated to offer the highest standards of facilities as expected at all hotels of The Oberoi Group; this will be complemented by personalized and gracious service extended by our well-trained and dedicated staff.”
Now, be ready to write a big check. Rates start at $700 a night for a luxury room, but you’re worth it … right?
What makes a seven-star hotel? Travelers to Turkey will soon find out.
Local media reports in Turkey claim a new seven-star Shangri-La hotel will open in Istanbul in 2012. The super-luxury 200-room hotel will feature seven storeys, both above and below sea level, and will cost an estimated $250 million to construct.
Turkish newspaper Zaman reports that the hotel will be located on the banks on the shore of Bosphorus Sea, at the site of an old tobacco factory.
Currently, the Shangri-La hotel group owns 66 hotels around the world, the majority of them with five-star rankings. However, seven-stars are unique in their own right. The hotel must be exceptional in design, decor, luxury and amenities.
Only three hotels in the world have managed to claim the seven-star status: the Town House Galleria in Milan, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
At one time, staying in a “four-star hotel” meant you were experiencing the peak of luxury. Luxurious rooms, top-notch accommodations and plenty of amenities. But increasingly a four-star hotel is no longer enough, with uber-high-end properties in Europe racing to claim six or, in the case of the Burj-al-Arab in Dubai, even seven-star ratings. At what point do the hotel stars become meaningless? The BBC took a look at the hotel-star “ratings game” in a recent article, noting the jumble of competing systems and confusion it causes for consumers.
According to the BBC, the ratings have become a subjective measure of amenities depending on the place. In much of Europe for instance, stars are assigned based on random factors such as whether the property has an elevator or includes breakfast, not by factors like building age or cleanliness. There’s similar confusion in the United States, where competing organizations like AAA and Forbes Travel offer customers conflicting systems. Those in the hotel ratings business acknowledge the confusion, though minimal steps have been taken to change the process.
The next time you check into that “Five-Star Hotel,” make sure you know what you’re paying for. In a world of increasing hotel rating inflation, there’s still plenty of room for debate.
L.A.’s outpost of the stylish Miyako Hybrid Hotel has a gift for you this tax season. Become a Facebook Fan by 8:00 p.m. (PST) on April 15, and you’re in the running (ha ha, get it?) to win the most superfluous of home appliances: a Japanese HomeTECH bidet and TOTO toilet system (the HI-3001 WT “Feel Fresh” Bidet n’ Wash Hygiene System, to be exact). For the uninitiated, this is the ultimate in ass luxury. Think push button control panel with memory, warm water wash, twin spray nozzles, and cozy heated seat; retail value just under $600.
The hotel features one of these thrones in each of their 208 rooms and 12 suites, but the extravagance is tempered by the LEED-certified chain’s commitment to high-tech sustainability. As the word “hybrid” suggests, the property boasts a solar-powered electrical system and environmentally-friendly and recycled construction materials, along with contemporized Japanese art and artifacts appointed throughout the hotel. So get your butt in gear, and sign up now.
The roaming Gnome has found a new way to book hotels: Travelocity announced it will offer unpublished – or ‘opaque’ – hotel deals as part of their hotel offerings.
The concept is familiar: Find deeply discounted hotel rates based on preferred location, star-rating and amenities, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book. Here’s the twist: there’s no bidding, and you can see both the available hotels by name and the opaque hotels in one window.
The Top Secret Hotels tab above the general hotel listings will show users unpublished rates at participating hotels, if available. As of now, these opaque hotels include major U.S. cities, and popular cities in Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Mississauga), Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Riveria Maya, San Jose Cabo), the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Jamaica) and South America (Buenos Aires, San Jose, Sao Paolo).
Unlike Priceline and Hotwire, where users bid on a specific hotel, Travelocity’s opaque hotels are a set price but in some cases up to 45% off the regularly published hotel room rate. Choose the opaque option and you’ll be able to filter based on the hotel’s star rating and general location, and hotel amenities and user ratings, but you won’t know the name of the hotel until you book.
Of the big four OTA’s – Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline – Travelocity is the first to offer one search that pulls up general hotel results and opaque results in the same window. Why the change? It’s a new way to put the power of purchase in the consumers hands. I took the new site for a spin and here’s what I found:
My search included 3- to 5-star hotels in Boston for this weekend, March 27-28, between $50 and $200 night.
Travelocity returned six hotels – three in the downtown Boston area; three in neighboring suburbs. I choose the 4-star hotel located in Boston’s downtown/waterfront district, with a pool and free Internet access, a user rating of 4/5 and a lowest price per night of $105. My total came to $121.39 (nightly room rate plus taxes).On the next pages I can confirm the room, location and rate, and after putting in a credit card and securing the transaction, you’ll find out the name of the hotel.
As a comparison, I used the same specifications on Priceline and was returned one hotel that matched my needs for $189/night. Travelocity wouldn’t divulge the hotels they’re working with, but Lesley Harris, Vice President of Hotels at Travelocity, told me:
“Travelocity is responding to the needs of our customers, as well as our hotel partners. In today’s economy customers are searching for deals and hotels are looking for a way to drive bookings – Top Secret Hotels is able to accomplish both. We also know that a number of people who currently shop on our site end up going elsewhere simply to buy an opaque product, we now can save customers the hassle of going between sites by providing every type of shopper with what they need all in one place.”
The Travelocity star ratings are based on research from the Travelocity team which may include on-site inspections, post-trip customer feedback, and quality of amenities and staff, in accordance with industry standards. Travelocity sent me a copy of their rating system descriptions and it’s pretty standard:
5-star: Luxury properties that exhibit an exceptionally high degree of service and hospitality. 4-star: Superior properties with a high level of service and hospitality, as well as a wide variety of amenities and upscale facilities. 3-star: A high level of service with additional amenities, features, and facilities. 2-star: These properties meet a traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience while offering moderate aesthetic enhancements in the property grounds, room decor, and quality of furnishings. 1-star:These properties meet a budget-traveler’s basic needs for comfort and convenience. They tend to be located near major attractions or thoroughfares and provide clean guest rooms.
Overall, an interesting concept from Travelocity. As someone who books hotels frequently, it’s nice to have the option to choose from the exact hotel property, or just press your luck with the hotel price without having to bid. Just remember: Top Secret Hotel reservations are non-changeable, non-refundable and non-transferable. Your credit card will be charged in full at the time of booking. If you’re headed to a new city or destination, I highly recommend you book with a hotel you know, or a brand you’re comfortable with. For those frequent visitors to a repeat destination, it’s worth pressing your luck for a discounted rate.