Cave hotel restaurant Grota Palazzese

4-12-2013

  • Grotta Palazzese 1
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The Grotta Palazzese in Polignano a Mare in the Italian region of Puglia is a unique cave hotel with a restaurant. The hotel has 25 rooms and is partly carved out of the limestone rocks. From some rooms you have a brilliant view of the Adriatic sea and the restaurant has a half open cave ceiling. The restaurant opens from May to October.

Nightswap exchange nights

3-12-2013

Through the Nightswap website people can lend out their house or room and get a night in someone else’s house in return without any financial transaction taken place. It’s possible to collect nights and spend them all in once, home swap at the same moment or to buy extra nights. The website offers insurances as well and is an alternative for peer-to-peer websites like Couchsurfing.org and Airbnb.com with a slightly different business model.

Hotel offers Bike Butler service

2-12-2013

  • Bike butler service

The Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver offers their members of the Fairmont Presindent’s Bluc an exclusive Bike Butler service. With this service, hotel guests can explore the environment in an ecofriendly way. The hotel rents out 20 bikes, for free, and the bike concierge Marc Henley prepares the bikes and fixes accessories such as helmets, locks, water bottles and maps. Marc Henley has 20 years experience of cycling in Canada and can provide the best cycling routes and tips.

Christmas tree illuminated by sprouts

2-12-2013

Sprouts aren’t exactly beloved vegetables amongst children. The London Southbank Center shows the hidden powers of sprouts, making the vegetables became a lot more attractive. The battery system of five power cells with each 200 sprouts creates a chemical reaction by using the natural electrolytes from the sprouts to power lights in a Christmas tree. The initiators expect that the 1000 sprouts will lighten the tree for a month, after which they are replaced to keep the tree illuminated throughout the holiday season. Other types of fruits and vegetables can also be used in the battery system. The vegetable-powered battery was created by scientists from The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair.

Pinterest connects businesses to an interactive map

29-11-2013

  • Pinterest

Pinterest has launched the new tool ‘Place Pins’ which makes the social media platform more interesting for small businesses. With Place Pins, users can add addresses and maps when they Pin an image. These are displayed on an interactive map. Make a Pinterest board with your favorite hotels and restaurants, for instance Paris and you can share this interactive map of Paris with other users. By clicking on ‘more information’ you will be directed to the Foursquare page or the hotel / restaurant website.

Nhow recruits staff in an accessible way

29-11-2013

Nhow Rotterdam hotel will open its doors on January 10, 2014. This is the third nhow hotel in the world after Milan and Berlin. The hotel has 278 rooms, conference- and meeting facilities, a skyline bar, food lounge and a rooftop terrace. To recruit staff for the hotel, nhow has organized a Pioneer Fest on November 18. The hotel sent three local scouts on the road to search for candidates and to invite them for the Pioneer Fest. While enjoying a drink and a snack, the hotel met the candidates. An accessible way to get to know the potential staff outside of a professional environment.

Google Streetview from airports

27-11-2013

  • google streetview

Traveling often brings along a fair amount of stress. Google relieves this a bit with the introduction of Google Streetview inside airports and other travel hubs. KLM already used Streetview technology to explore destinations and it is possible to feature 360 degrees photographs from restaurant interiors. In the near future it’s possible to ‘test-walk’ through your trip in Streetview.

See through desert house illusion

26-11-2013

American artist Philip K Smith III has added mirrors to a small house in the Californian desert. With his addition the construction, entitled Lucid Stead, appears to be a see through building. Combined with the desert landscape it provides a very photogenic environment.

The Manta Underwater Room

25-11-2013

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The Manta Resort, located near Pemba Island (East coast of Africa) is surrounded by white beaches and clear blue water. In the middle of the ocean, The Manta Resort opened their 17th hotel room ‘The Manta Underwater Room’ on November 1, 2013. Guests can both above and below water enjoy the beautiful nature. ‘The Manta Underwater Room’ has three floors. The middle deck has a lounge area with a bathroom and via a ladder guests can go to the upper deck where they can sunbathe. Downstairs guests can immerse themselves in the world of the sea. The room has a double bed and the walls of glass give a 360 degrees view of the sea. During the evening hours when the spotlights are on, the magical underwater world will be visible. All kinds of fish, coral, octopus and perhaps dolphins are visible, it really makes you feel like you’re part of the underwater world. Copyright: Genberg Art UW Ltd and photography credits: Jesper Anhede.

KLM shows current response time

25-11-2013

  • KLM

Nowadays you get quicker response to a question/problem by sending a message via Twitter or Facebook than using customers service by phone. KLM will show how long it will take before you get a response to your question. The airline introduced the current response time in the header of Twitter, on the customer support page of KLM.com and soon on Facebook. KLM receives approximately 30,000 messages per week and promises customers to respond within one hour. By showing the current response time, KLM will show if they really stick to the promise to respond within one hour.

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