Londen Boutique hotels are booming

20-9-2011

A new report has shown that in London the next few years the amount of Boutique hotels will grow rapidly. London will be the host of the Olympic Games in 2012, which is mainly the cause of the growth. The expectation is a doubling in the amount of rooms in 2013. The new boutique hotels will be operated by well-known brands and other local entrepreneurs.

Upgraded old fashion

20-9-2011

The “Hôtel Thoumieux” is a new creation of the designers Thierry Costes and India Mahdavi. The hotel is situated above the popular “Thoumieux Brasserie” in Paris. The interior might look old-fashioned, but this is all according to the style of the designers. The hotel features 15 rooms.

Foursquare + Monopoly = Foursquaropoly

9-9-2011

Foursquare, some use it active others don’t see the use of it. Students from Miami are creating ‘Foursquaropoly’, Monopoly in real life. The (fictive) prices of the buildings rise if more people check in. We are curious about promotion possibilities for restaurants and hotels.

Loyalty 2.0

8-9-2011

With this smartphone app you can collect points by scanning QR codes at the participating companies. A modern way of creating loyalty. The earned points can be exchanged for nice rewards. Watch the movie at the website.

Detoxing of our online lifes

6-9-2011

In our daily lives we cannot live without internet and other online tools. The Marriott’s Renaissance Pittsburg hotel offers her guests a ‘detox’ package, whereby all mobile devices needs to handed over to the reception upon arrival. The rooms feature no television or telephone, but instead, books are available at the rooms.

Bed bug detection dog

30-8-2011

Dutch hotels and hostels can use a special trained dog in their battle against bed bugs. Labrador retriever Sally has been trained for 1,5 years to detect these anoying crawling creatures.

All you need to know. Nothing you don’t!

15-8-2011

Last week we spotted a 20 minutes newspaper at the website of Ads of the World (created by the Miami Ad School in Madrid). During our holiday in America we noticed that newspapers are still served at the hotelroom door. At the Topnotch resorts we were served the New York Times Digest, a ten-page synopsis of The New York Times. TimesDigest is designed and edited to provide a balanced selection of the Times’ top stories and editorial comment, along with sports, weather, business news and the celebrated crossword puzzle.

 

Inspiration from 2008: Work-out rooms

15-8-2011

Spotted in august 2008, but until today still possible at some Westin Hotels, the work-out rooms. Westin offers the special option of booking a guest room equipped with a treadmill, a stationary bike, dumbbells, fitness DVDs, resistance bands, stability balls and bottles of water.

 

Find guests through a Twitter scan service

10-8-2011

Reach.ly is a new service focused specifically on finding potential new guests. Reach.ly monitors Twitter for mentions of planned trips and allows hotels to reach out to visitors who are heading their way. It’s a free service which begins when hotels register with the site via Twitter and indicate which cities they’re interested in. Reach.ly then begins to filter Twitter traffic for them, and presents it in a manageable number of tweets. Hotels can communicate with the potential guests at the Reach.ly interface. According to Reach.ly 9% did make a booking en about 20% indicated that they appriciated the contact. Interesting?

 

Luxury resort Amphibious 1000 in Qatar

10-8-2011

Another interesting hotel will appear in Qatar soon – hotel resort “Amphibious”. the hotel is designed by the Italian company Giancarlo Zema Design Group. The hotel complex will include residential buildings, offices and marina with modern bay. In the central tower will house a restaurant that offers exotic dishes in addition to stunning panoramic views. Guests can stay in the 80 semi-submersible suits, which were called “Jellyfish.” The rooms have wonderful open views to the underwater artificial reefs. On the territory of the hotel complex will be used only electric vehicles and small aluminum boats with hydrogen engines.

 

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