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Etihad Opens First Overseas Premium Lounge
Etihad Airways has opened its new premium lounge in Frankfurt, Germany, its first one outside the UAE. Customers are offered a variety of five-star dining facilities in the lounge which has been designed to offer a luxurious and relaxing environment. A modern timber paneled business centre provides individual workstations and privacy for those with laptops. Other features include a prayer room, a relaxing seating area with Italian leather chairs to enjoy, and there are luxurious bathroom and shower facilities for customers to freshen up in, prior to departure.
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Gulf Air Reduces Baggage Allowance on Transatlantic Flights
Gulf Air has recently announced the change in their Baggage Allowance policy for transatlantic flights. Effective September 14th 2009, Passengers will only be allowed 1 checked-in luggage piece. For a second piece of checked-in luggage, US$ 50 shall be charged. Please contact your Oasis agent, or Airline staff, for further details.
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Top Boutique Hotels in South East Asia
The Boutique Hotel concept has become quiet popular around the world. An increasing number of travelers were moving away from chain hotels, preferring to book smaller, more personalized alternatives. A boutique hotel is characterized by its size (usually less than 100 rooms) plush design and personalised service. Boutique hotels are also often independently-owned and have unique themes or design features.
The term 'boutique hotel' was coined in New York after the birth of the exclusive Morgan's hotel – opened by Ian Schrager and designed by Andr饠Putman – on Madison Avenue in 1984.
The following Boutique hotels are some of the most popular in the region:
1. Kemang Icon Jakarta
If Conde Nast's Traveler included this hotel it in their Hot List 2007, you expect it to be hot, and Kemang Icon lives up to its reputation. This boutique hotel artfully combines contemporary modern designs with art deco in cool tones and textures. Eight Courtyard and four Edge Suites are all individually designed with personalised bathroom scents, accessories and amenities.
2. The Scarlet Hotel, Singapore
Dramatic, passionate and decadent are qualities at the heart of the Scarlet Hotel. Housed in a 1924 Art Deco building and a row of 1868 early shop houses on the historic Erskine Road are five themed suites with names like Splendour and Lavish, 26 Executive and 24 Premium rooms and 15 Deluxe and 24 Standard rooms. The hotel has gone to great lengths, decorating each room with specific personalities in mind.
3. Dream Hotel, Bangkok
From the bed to the bar, the Dream Hotel is pure glitz. The interior is covered with a generous selection of colours accompanied by ethereal lighting techniques, producing an outspoken extravagance. With 100 stylishly themed and pet-friendly guestrooms, this ?rendy hotel offers personal shopper services and pre-loaded iPods and their Avatar Spa features a creative range of facials, massages, full body and Thalmer Thalasso SPA treatments.
4. AKA Hotel Resort & Spa - Hua Hin, Prachuabkirikhan
Fifty-one spacious villas amply secluded from one another, spread across 10 acres of tropical landscape, with natural lakes and a hillside backdrop. Drawing from the philosophy of the AKA, a hill tribe with origins in the Tibetan Highlands and Yunnan, China, the resort offers private infinity-edged pools, garden terraces, private courtyards and sala roof gardens.
5. Hotel de la Paix, Siem Reap
Designed by the renowned Bill Bensley, a combination of art deco and traditional Khmer styles distinguishes the Hotel de la Paix, which is built around a palatial inner courtyard with stone gardens and water features. This landmark in the heart of Siem Reap offers guestrooms and suites, categorised under five unique preferences and designs and accompanied by personalized assistance
6.S15 Sukhumvit Hotel, Bangkok
Smack in the heart of Bangkok's business and shopping districts, the new S15 Sukhumvit Hotel is 72 stylish rooms decked with Italian light fixtures, marble bathrooms and sleek, contemporary furniture. All public areas and guestrooms have Wi-Fi high-speed Internet access and the business center offer laptops and mobile phones.
3 Nagas – Luang Prabang
To enter the 3 Nagas is to enter three historical buildings protected by the UNESCO World Heritage Organisation. Restored to its original Laotian style, the hotel is of exotic, wooden floors, traditional torchis walls and clay tile roofing. A total of 12 rooms and 3 suites with their own unique designs make up this authentic hotel in the heart of Luang Prabang.
8. The Nam Hai, Hoi An
High ceilings, luxurious en-suite bathtubs, spacious bathrooms, raised platforms, split-levels coupled with unobstructed views of the South China Sea make up the 60 One-Bedroom Villas and 40 Pool Villas at The Nam Hai. Beachfront resort spa stretched across 35 hectares along Ha My beach. All villas are equipped with rain showers, iPods, 24-hour concierge and 24-hour in-room dining.
9. JapaMala Resort – Tioman Island, Malaysia
Eco-friendly, teak Sarang Villas, Sea Cliff and Tree Top chalets nestle in the lush jungles of Tioman Island. Guests can even make their own catch off the jetty and the hotel will cook the fresh seafood accordingly. A protected marine park, dive sites and furtive jungle surround this secluded, luxury resort.
10. Trisara, Phuket
Forty-two villas and suites have been given a clean, contemporary look with subtle traditional Thai touches where private infinity edged pools meet sweeping views of the Andaman Sea. Apart from massages, body treatments and facials, the Trisara Spa specializes in yoga and meditation and offers the Trisara Punti Purification and Revitalisation program in partnership with expert herbalists.
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Accor extends Pullman brand in Asia
SINGAPORE - Accor has taken over the management of the 250-room Hanoi Horison Hotel in Vietnam
The hotel will undergo extensive refurbishment, following which it will be re-launched as Pullman Hanoi in 2011.
The Horison hotel joins Accor’s two existing hotels in Hanoi – the Sofitel Metropole and Sofitel Plaza on West Lake. Next month, the Mercure Hanoi La Gare will open.
The announcement that the Horison would become a Pullman hotel after its major renovation is part of an announcement of five Pullman hotels to Accor’s rapidly growing network in Asia.
The new hotel developments are located in China, Thailand and Vietnam adding to the current operating network of 10 Pullman hotels and resorts in Asia and extending the development commitments to 17 hotels.
The other four Pullman hotels announced are the Pullman Shanghai Pudong Zhangjiang; Pullman Shanghai South;
Pullman Pattaya Aisawan (currently Aisawan Hotel Pattaya) and the Pullman Phuket Arcadia Naithorn Beach, a new beachfront hotel situated at one of Phuket’s newest and most promising bays.
These new developments are in addition to commitments for 12 Pullman hotels to open in China, Indonesia, India and Vietnam.
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BA marks 90th birthday
British Airways celebrates a major milestone this week.
On August 25, 1919 the world's first daily international air service was launched from London to Paris, operated by Air Transport & Travel Ltd - a precursor to British Airways.
Since then, the airline has carried more than 1.2 billion customers on its extensive network.
Next year, British Airways will celebrate 75 years of flying Down Under. On April 20, 1935 the first flight took off from London and touched down 12 days later in Brisbane.
Paying tribute to the airline, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "British Airways has never lost the pioneering spirit and vision that saw it take to the skies with the world's first daily international flight from London to Paris on this day in 1919.
“Ninety years on, the world's most iconic airline is still proudly flying the flag and remains a great British brand."
BA chairman Martin Broughton said: “Over the past nine decades, British Airways has played its part in many historic episodes.
"We provided the first air links to far-flung capitals in the days of empire, flew Winston Churchill across the Atlantic during wartime, brought Queen Elizabeth back to Britain after the passing of George VI, repeatedly led the way with aircraft innovation and have often proudly transported home our sports teams from success overseas."
The airline is marking the occasion in various ways. Swarovski, the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystal, has loaned a giant bejewelled Union Flag to the airline.
The 4ft by 2ft artwork is embossed with more than 126,000 crystallised Swarovski Elements and will be in the arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 until September.
An internal exhibition will showcase memorabilia from nine decades of travel, while customers in Terminal 5 have been treated to cabin crew modelling vintage uniforms in the terminal in the run up to its anniversary week.
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