Jetsettersblog

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts announced the opening of Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, the newest addition to its world class Grand Hyatt portfolio.

A part of the City Crossing complex, Grand Hyatt Shenzhen is the only luxury hotel in Shenzhen in a mixed-used commercial development.

It is located alongside MixC, the city’s largest shopping mall, which houses the greatest number of international luxury brand retailers in China, an Olympic-sized skating rink, and Park Lane Manor, the most exclusive residential property in Shenzhen. Located in Luohu District – Shenzhen’s financial and trading center – Grand Hyatt Shenzhen is only a five-minute drive from the Hong Kong border and Luohu Station, 10 minutes from the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, 20 minutes from Huanggang Port, and approximately 40 minutes from Shenzhen International Airport.

The hotel is housed in a distinctive 38-story crested building, where the top seven glass-encased floors create an illuminated “lantern” at nightfall, offering panoramic views of Shenzhen, the CRC Building, the iconic 384-meter-high Diwang Building, one of the tallest buildings in China, and the green mountains of northern Hong Kong. At the very top of Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, on the 38th floor,

The Penthouse is a 109-seat venue comprised of multiple residence-inspired areas offering myriad experiences in a single setting.

These experience-focused areas include a Living Area with a DJ booth, a Kitchen featuring a teppan hot plate, a Balcony, a Terrace, and an illuminated Bar serving premium spirits, wines, champagne and cocktails as well as imported cheese and charcuterie.

Also available is a glass-walled, temperature-controlled cellar, featuring a large wine and single malt selection, which can be booked as a private room.

Directly below on the 37th floor, Belle-Vue is a European restaurant where classic Western cuisine is prepared à la minute on 10 tableside cooking stations.

Guests can opt to dine in the Library, the Oval Room or in one of two private rooms. China Lodge, located on floors 35 and 36, is comprised of 14 premium private dining suites, which cater to parties between eight and 22 guests.

Menus are customized using the freshest seasonal ingredients, prepared in traditional Cantonese and Northern Chinese style, and complemented by an extensive wine and tea selection.

On the 33rd floor, adjacent to the Sky Lobby, The Lounge is Grand Hyatt Shenzhen’s main gathering space and will offer refreshments, light snacks and evening cocktails throughout the day. On the floor below, The Show Kitchen offers four distinctive open kitchens – Asian, Japanese, Western and Seafood – allowing guests to dine among the live culinary action creating an interactive restaurant experience.

The venue seats 226 and includes a 10-seat private room. 1881, located on the ground floor is a contemporary, but casual, 169-seat venue with four private dining rooms.

Equipped with wood-fired duck ovens, 1881 offers a unique ‘dining in the kitchen’ atmosphere with a specialty in Northern Chinese cuisine, serving dishes such as Peking duck, beggar’s chicken and dumplings.

Nearby, La Terrazza is a stylish 158-seat trattoria featuring an outdoor terrace and a rustic wood-fired pizza oven, serving made-to-order pizza as well as handmade pasta and traditional Italian antipasti.

Adjacent is Sugar Box, a patisserie with alfresco seating, offering homemade chocolates, cakes, pastries and light meals.

Grand Hyatt Shenzhen’s event space spans 29,805 square feet over three floors and offers a variety of venue options, and can cater from eight to 1,410 guests. The 10,764 square foot pillar-less Grand Ballroom on the 2nd floor features a colossal nine-meter high ceiling, and can be divided into three soundproof sections, each with its own sound and lighting control rooms.

Located on the third floor, the gym is equipped with the latest exercise machines from the United States, which feature individual touch-screen consoles where you can watch TV or connect an iPod for music and movies.

The consoles feature a Virtual Trainer or private trainers are available on request.

Nearby is a 25-meter heated outdoor pool, alongside a sun deck and poolside bar.

Also available are locker rooms featuring hydrotherapy areas with whirlpools and steam rooms.

Shui Xiang, a Hyatt Pure spa, also on the 3rd floor. Shui Xiang translates as ‘water village’ and the expansive 33,713-square-foot spa has been created in traditional open-air hutong (Chinese courtyard residences separated by narrow alleyways) style, with 13 individual spa ‘houses’ circling a central water feature. The majority of the houses feature private outdoor terraces.

Each spa suite contains a private lounge area, bathroom, shower room and therapist’s pantry.

Nine of the suites feature private steam rooms with a heated treatment bed and four have outdoor bathtubs. There is also a foot reflexology area with three private rooms.

The hotel’s 491 contemporary guestrooms include 53 suites and 48 long-stay serviced apartments, decorated in plush, rich-toned fabrics and carpeting. Ranging in size from 495 to 3,531 square feet, all rooms feature floor-to-ceiling picture windows to best capture the views of Hong Kong’s lush mountains or the hustle and bustle of downtown Shenzhen.

Rooms are equipped with automatic time-controlled curtains, a self-contained workstation with wireless, high-speed Internet access, a multi-channel 40-inch LED television and DVD player, an iPod docking station, and dual phone-lines with voicemail.

Those travelers who require more exclusive accommodation may opt for one of the hotel’s Grand Club rooms spanning floors 22 to 31, which allow access to the Grand Club Lounge on the 25th floor.

Grand Club guests are offered complimentary continental breakfast, all-day refreshments, evening canapés, and cocktails, as well as one-hour complimentary use of a private boardroom.

China Southern Airlines has purchased 40 additional self-service check-in kiosks from NCR Corporation, making NCR the carrier’s primary kiosk supplier.

Earlier this year, China Southern deployed 30 NCR TouchPort kiosks at the airline’s big-city hubs of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changchun and Zhengzhou.

The additional kiosks will be deployed in the airline’s other big-city hubs of Beijing, Shenzhen, Urumqi and Dalian. The self-service kiosks enable China Southern passengers the ability to check-in, search for flight information, request mileage credit, scan and print boarding passes and check mileage.

Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is expanding its vacation package product offerings in 2010 to deliver vacations throughout Africa.

Leveraging the fact that Ethiopian Airlines connects to more destinations in Africa than any other airline, the airline’s tour operator subsidiary is packaging and marketing a wider variety of African leisure travel experiences for the U.S. consumer.

The first new package offerings will include Uganda and Rwanda. As the 2010 rollout continues, additional destinations will include Djibouti, Egypt, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, among others.

In Uganda, gorilla tracking is an unforgettable experience; the Murchison Falls Park offers relaxing Nile cruises, Queen Elizabeth Park scenery and adventure in Lake Edward. Rwanda provides a serene adventure setting in which travelers can find themselves peering through mist-shrouded bamboo into the eyes of a magnificent silverback mountain gorilla.

Like all Ethiopian Airlines Journeys’ vacation packages, each of these new experiences will be fully customizable and feature complete itineraries, hotels, knowledgeable guides and meal options.

Over the past two years, Ethiopian Airlines Journeys has been successful at developing, marketing and delivering vacation travel packages to Ethiopia, along with safari add-ons to Kenya and Tanzania. Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is the link between the Ethiopian Airlines, ground operators and hotels in Africa, and the American consumer who seeks an unforgettable travel experience. For more than 60 years,

For information, call 866-599-3797 or visit www.seeyouinethiopia.com

Planeterra completed a five-year fundraising initiative to assist children of Cuzco, Peru, and purchased a large house to serve as a day-time drop-in center with staff. Planeterra’s Richard Edwards said his organization’s travelers were instrumental in the fundraising effort. Edwards called this “a major breakthrough for Planeterra’s community development and volunteer programs in Peru.

The new house will provide stability, security and a base for long-term efforts to help alleviate and break the cycle of poverty facing these kids.”

The sum of $150,000, half from travelers and industry partners and the remainder from Planeterra’s founding company, Gap Adventures, allowed the project to move forward, Edwards said. He noted that a local organization, Inti Runakunaq Wasin (IRW), Quechua for “House of the People of the Sun,” acts as a haven for over 70 children and adolescents living in extreme poverty.

The haven reflects a lifestyle distant from the poverty that the children are accustomed to.

Said Danielle Weiss, project manager for Planeterra: “Amidst the mountainous surroundings, stunning architecture and rich culture of Cuzco, you will see the bitter reality of children either working or begging on the streets.

Many of these children are unable to cope with the stress of both working and going to school, which results in giving up their studies in order to help provide for their families.

Other children leave home because they have been abused, neglected or abandoned, turning to alcohol and drugs or sniffing glue to help relieve their hunger pains.

In order to support themselves, some children also resort to begging or prostitution. By providing these children with a place where they receive guidance, a warm meal and support, it helps keep them off the streets and gives them the hope, confidence and skills needed to create a future for themselves.”

The home is open during the day and is run by a staff of teachers and social workers assisted by voluntour participants.

Children are given the opportunity to voluntarily drop by to receive help with homework, a warm meal and participate in classes and workshops that teach them valuable skills, including jewelry making, leather working, sewing, cooking, music and English.

In 2010 Planeterra will offer a new tour, Project Cuzco Kids, during which travelers can spend four days of a six-day trip volunteering at the newly purchased facility.

Planeterra is a global non-profit dedicated to sustainable community development through travel.

Founded in 2003 by Gap Adventures, Planeterra evolved out of a long history of travelers committed to finding ways to give back to the people and places they visit. Planeterra selects the projects and works with them to arrange voluntour travel programs worldwide.

For information, visit www.planeterra.org

Low-cost airline Allegiant Air, LLC, a subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Company, said that it will establish a new base at Orlando International Airport (MCO) beginning Feb. 1, 2010.

The low-fare carrier will initially serve 10 U.S. cities from the base. Allegiant currently offers nonstop, scheduled service to Orlando from 31 U.S. cities via Orlando-Sanford International Airport. The 10 selected cities reflect a portion of the company’s current operation at Sanford, Fla. which will move to Orlando International Airport, starting Feb. 1, 2010.

The move provides Allegiant customers with more convenient access to the popular theme parks in Orlando and allows the carrier to remain competitive in the markets it serves.

Allegiant will continue to offer flights to Orlando-Sanford International Airport from the other 21 cities currently served by the airline.

To kick off the new service, Allegiant is offering introductory fares as low as $45.99 each way to/from MCO.

By March 5, 2010, the leisure-focused carrier will base five, 150-seat, MD-80 series jet aircraft at MCO.

The new base is the carrier’s eighth scheduled service base, the airline also has scheduled service bases in Las Vegas; Sanford, Fla.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Bellingham, Wash.; Phoenix; Los Angeles and St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Fla. Allegiant currently provides nonstop scheduled service to/from 69 U.S. cities.

For more information, visit www.allegiantair.com

Continental Airlines has expanded its mobile boarding pass service to Frankfurt Airport, becoming the first U.S. carrier to offer paperless boarding passes outside of the United States.

The service allows customers to receive boarding passes electronically on their cell phones or PDAs and eliminate the need for paper boarding passes.

Mobile boarding passes display a two-dimensional bar code along with passenger and flight information, and scanners at the security check point validate the authenticity. The technology prevents manipulation or duplication of the boarding passes and heightens security.

Made to order for an individual, a couple or a group of no more than seven, personalized guided tours of New York’s iconic Central Park are now being offered, thanks to the Central Park Conservancy’s Customized Tour Program.

The tours are conducted by private hybrid vehicles and may range from one-to-three hours in length. Each tour is based on the individual’s or group’s special interests, including art, horticulture, history, nature, architecture or family activities, and may be modified and created in any combination.

The personal tours are guided by noted authority Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park’s official historian and photographer, and author of the critically acclaimed books, Central Park, An American Masterpiece and Seeing Central Park.

Miller assists with the development of the itinerary, and complimentary autographed copies of her books are given to the purchaser or honoree at the conclusion of the tour.

Among the Conservancy’s possible tour itineraries from which to draw ideas are the following, with additions, combinations or variations possible: an art tour; pre-Central Park tour; and garden tour.

For more information or booking tours, call 212-310-6679, or e-mail histphoto@centralparknyc.org . For more information about the park, visit www.centralparknyc.org

Florida’s Capital City, Tallahassee is an intimate neo-metropolitan city where the power of state government, the academic and the artistic are complemented by subtle, old-fashioned charm.

Starting off 2010 with four new meeting locations, Tallahassee has approximately 6,500 hotel rooms in more than 70 hotels and motels ranging from full-service hotels in the heart of downtown to quaint and affordable lodging just minutes from the Capitol.

Tallahassee features traditional and unique meeting and convention options totaling more than 398,000 square feet of space, with more than 57,000 square feet in 31 hotels.

New meeting space and hotels include: the FSU Conference Center www.learningforlife.fsu.edu/conference is a 47,000-square-foot facility features three video-walls, LCD screens, webcasting, wireless Internet, e-media services, professional event management, flexible catering options and a five-story parking garage. Meeting spaces include a 400-seat auditorium, 320-seat dining room, executive boardroom and eight additional breakout rooms that can host 10-100 guests.

Mission San Luis (www.missionsanluis.org ) is a new $7.6 million, 24,000-square-foot visitors center is ideal for conferences, meetings and receptions including a ballroom with stage accommodating 200 guests, indoor reception area with adjacent outdoor terrace, catering facilities, a theatre with acoustics suitable for live performances, and classrooms. It also includes a new exhibit hall and retail space.

Hotel Duval (www.hotelduval.com ) has more than 7,500 square feet of function space spread out in eight unique rooms, including a rooftop ballroom on the eighth floor with open-air pre-function space for up to 300, this 117-room completely transformed independent hotel offers a great downtown location.

Tallahassee’s first boutique hotel experience has color-infused rooms, a rooftop bar and Shula’s 347 Grill restaurant.

Aloft Tallahassee Downtown (www.alofttallahassee.com ) is a loft-inspired, 162-room hotel features 2,249 square feet of meeting space outfitted with the best A/V set up, including a drop-down projection screen with both laptop hook up and a DVD player.

Enjoy the wxyz bar, ultra comfortable signature beds and oversized spa showers.

For more information, call 800-628-2866 or visit www.VisitTallahassee.com

The Peacock at Rowsley has received national recognition by winning a prestigious award at a glittering ceremony in London for the UK’s hospitality industry.

The hotel was one of just three hotels across the British Isles to be awarded three AA Red Stars which reflects the high quality of the hotel and the service it provides.

The ceremony, hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky, was attended by 700 people including some of the world’s most renowned chefs, prominent hoteliers and hospitality gurus.

The AA Hospitality Awards recognise and reward the excellent services provided by the UK’s very best establishments, honouring the finest AA-inspected and rated hotels, restaurants and pubs throughout the UK. The Red Stars are prestigious accolades which are awarded to selected hotels that stand out as the very best in the British Isles, offering outstanding levels of quality, comfort, cleanliness and customer care.

Jenni MacKenzie, who attended the ceremony with her husband and joint general manager Ian, together with their assistant managers Laura Donachie and Krzysztof Grobelny said:

“It was a thrilling event from start to finish and it was a great moment when we were officially handed our three Red Stars.

To be singled out as one of just three hotels in the UK to reach this level is a great accolade to the whole team at The Peacock and the part they all play in that success.”

The Peacock at Rowsley already holds two Red Rosettes for the quality of its food on its fine dining menu.

Basilicata, one of the lesser known regions of Southern Italy, has opened its doors to visitors from outside Italy and is undertaking a focused tourism campaign to entice British visitors.

Basilicata is famed for its two coastlines and for the UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancient hill-top city of Matera, known for its cave dwellings and which was used as a backdrop for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

Basilicata is readily accessible to the UK traveller via flights to Bari or Naples from all major airports, this small region, nestled into the instep of Italy’s ‘boot’, is situated between two seas – the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian – and offers national parks, timeless villages clinging to limestone plateaus, and a wealth of culture, history and traditional food.

The investment and new interest in this region has seen many luxury boutique hotels and restaurants opening which include:

• The 5* Palazzo Gattini in Matera opened in June 2008. The Palazzo dates back to the 15th century and has undergone a stylish renovation into a superb luxury hotel. Spectacular views take in the Sassi cave districts (see www.palazzogattini.it)

• La Locanda delle Donne Monache is a restored eighteenth century convent set in the heart of Maratea’s ancient centre and framed by the roofs of the old medieval village (see www.locandamonache.com)

Activities on the coast and in the mountains

Little-known outside Italy, the white sand beaches and hilltop towns are waiting to be explored. The region boasts a UNESCO world heritage site in the ancient city of Matera.

Close to the border with Puglia and easily reached from Bari airport, Matera is a thriving city, home to the Sassi cave districts, which for millennia were used as dwellings. Matera comes to life at night when the caves, many beautifully restored and now home to chic bars and restaurants, cast their lights across the hills.

At Metaponto on the Ionian coast, the land shelves gently into the sea and it is a perfect resort for families with children.

The Tyrrhenian coast to the west is more dramatic, and Maratea, an understated, chic and elegant resort increasingly popular with Italians, is as spectacular, although far less well known and visited, then the tourist meccas of the Amalfi coast to the north.

Sailing, diving and exploring the sea caves are all popular activities here. Between the coasts lie the ‘Lucanean Dolomites’ – a mountain range offering opportunities for walking, climbing, and even flying – the ‘Volo dell’Angelo’ (The Flight of the Angels, www.volodellangelo.com  lets the more adventurous take an exhilarating flight across two mountain peaks, strapped to a zipwire!

Autumn treats offers comfortable Mediterranean temperatures and warm seas. Local festivals abound in this part of Italy, and many villages and towns will be celebrating the harvest as well as offering many cultural and leisure experiences.

Chestnut festivals are held in a number of places in Basilicata to honour the harvest.

Stalls are set up in the street and you can try many delicious dishes containing this essential winter food.

The region also offers many free events including jazz festivals, open air theatre and art exhibitions at this time of year. Autumn festivals include:

• Melfi Sagra della Varola (chestnut festival)

• Spinoso – Sagra della Castagna (chestnut festival)

• Brindisi di Montagna – (medieval festival)

• Montescaglioso – In Vino Veritas (wine festival)

Food is traditional and robust and almost always locally sourced with fish a speciality on the coasts and further inland, local specialities include the famous Basilicata bread, Mischiglio pasta, Salami and the excellent red wine Aglianico del Vulture.

Enjoy a genuine Italian experience, and come to Basilicata.

www.discoverbasilicata.com/uk