Jetsettersblog

Wholesaler Travel Bound has added nearly 500 Hilton Garden Inn Hotels throughout the U.S. to its portfolio of worldwide hotels and services.

With central locations in major American cities and affordable rates, Hilton Garden Inn Hotels feature complimentary Wi-Fi in all guestrooms, unique pressure-relieving Garden Sleep System beds, self service laundry and a wide selection of food and beverage options.

New York City, Anaheim/Garden Grove, Washington D.C., Chicago, Scottsdale and Orlando/Lake Buena Vista are just a few of the top leisure destinations where agents can book independent travel clients into Hilton Garden Inn Hotels.

“We are very pleased to be adding Hilton Garden Inn Hotels to our rapidly-growing selection of U.S.accommodations, which has expanded more than 25% this past year,” said Nico Zenner, president of Travel Bound.

“These hotels offer excellent value to our leisure travelers in cities all across the U.S. and offer more options for agents to create customized FIT packages for their clients.

“In addition to major locations across the U.S. there are many properties in secondary markets, such as Phoenix, Palm Beach, Sioux City, Williamsburg and Mystic.”

Travel Bound added 3,000 U.S. hotels in all price categories to its portfolio this past June.

To book hotels, transfers and sightseeing tours in the U.S. and 120 different countries, call 800-808-9541 or visit Travel Bound’s agent-only website at www.booktravelbound.com

The Beverly Hills Hotel, one of the Dorchester Collection, is promoting its private spa cabanas overlooking the pool for events such as baby showers, bridal showers, and bachelor parties.

The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie offers treatments. Spa Cabana parties can be customized with everything from massages to signature cocktails.

The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie on the hotel’s promenade level offers six treatment rooms including two couple’s suites, separate steam rooms and saunas for men and women, and entrée to the upper cabanas for treatments and celebrations overlooking the pool.

Cabanas can be decorated and arranged to accommodate 8 to 10 guests per event, and pricing varies according to featured components and food and beverage selections.

Rates start at $395, pending availability.
For more information, call 800-283-8885 or visit www.beverlyhillshotel.com

Wyndham Rewards, the world’s largest lodging loyalty program based on the number of participating hotels, is celebrating its expansion into Mexico and the addition of AeroMexico, Mexico’s leading air carrier, to its earning and redemption network with the launch of a double airline miles promotion.

The promotion, which runs through March 31, will allow Wyndham Rewards members to earn double airline miles with AeroMexico during their stays at participating Wyndham Hotel Group hotels around the world, which range from economy and midscale offerings to upscale resort destinations.

Full details are available at www.wyndhamrewards.com/aeromexico .

Wyndham Hotel Group currently has a diverse portfolio of more than 40 hotels throughout Mexico designed to meet the needs of all travelers, regardless of their travel occasion.

Recently opened properties include the 81-room Wyndham Garden Hotel Mexico City-Polanco and the 152-room Ramada Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua.

In just over a year, the Wyndham Rewards loyalty program has expanded into several other countries around the world including Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, giving the program a presence in more than 20 countries worldwide.

Recent additions to the program’s earning and redemption network include Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental.

Wyndham Rewards offers members the opportunity to earn points by staying at participating Wyndham Hotel Group hotels, shopping with select retailers and using their Wyndham Rewards MasterCard credit card.

Points are redeemable for free hotel stays with no black-out dates in the U.S. and Canada, airline tickets and dining and shopping gift cards, among other options. In lieu of points, members may elect to earn airline or rail miles with a variety of vendors.

For more information, visit www.wyndhamrewards.com or www.wyndhamworldwide.com

San Juan and the island of Puerto Rico are promoting three properties to meeting planners.

Hilton Worldwide’s Puerto Rico properties, El Conquistador Resort and El San Juan Hotel & Casino, both part of The Waldorf Astoria Collection, as well as the Conrad Condado Plaza are offering new amenities and recently renovated facilities.

Offering newly renovated rooms and the $42 million addition of the Grand Atlantic Conference Center, the El Conquistador Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection, is the largest non-convention center facility in Puerto Rico.
The Grand Atlantic Conference Center provides two adjacent conference areas with two ballrooms, complemented by 16 additional breakout rooms, offering meeting planners over 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space, which translates into more square feet of flexible meeting space per available guestroom than any other resort in the Caribbean.

In addition to indoor spaces, a number of scenic outdoor and poolside areas provide meeting planners additional venues for group functions, including terraces with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean and El Yunque Rainforest; the new sea-side Coqui Water Park; as well as the resort’s private Palomino Island, which can be reserved for the most exclusive themed events.

The resort also offers meeting planners and attendees a variety of on-site amenities and activities such as a Golden Door Spa;

Arthur Hills golf course; casino; and numerous dining options, including Strip House steakhouse. Las Casitas Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection, is an intimate resort that shares the grounds of El Conquistador and is an additional accommodation option or retreat for group executives seeking a higher level of attention and privacy.

The El San Juan Hotel & Casino, The Waldorf Astoria Collection, located in the Isla Verde District, recently completed a multi-million dollar renovation to the lobby, guestrooms and meetings facilities.

Featuring 35,000 square feet of versatile event space, El San Juan Hotel & Casino offers a ballroom and 14 meeting rooms, all designed by Robert Barry of Barry Design; a selection of executive boardrooms ideal for smaller receptions and business meetings; and unique outdoor spaces, such as the Banyan Tree, Panorama and Encanto Beach locations, which offer views of mountain slopes and the turquoise surf of the Atlantic.

The pool and beachside experience, called Encanto Beach Club, is the hotel’s newest setting for outdoor events.

All event and meeting spaces offer high-speed Internet access, a full-service business center, multilingual staff, state-of-the-art audio-visual support and professional catering.

Located on the Condado Strip, a mile from Puerto Rico’s new convention center and 10 minutes from the Hato Rey Business District, the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza, has also been redesigned with a refurbishment of all rooms, meeting and public spaces, and a new lobby.

For group functions, the hotel offers more than 41,000 square feet of meeting and event space with a myriad of flexible indoor and outdoor venues that provide views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Condado Lagoon.

Featuring 18 conference and meeting rooms with versatile floor plans and retro-modern design, the latest equipment in audiovisual technology, high-speed Internet access, and a business center that provides both PC and Mac computers, the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza also offers catering and event planning with customized menus, innovative local and contemporary cuisine, as well as the newly opened Pikayo Restaurant, by Chef Wilo Benet, which houses additional meeting and event spaces.

Located on the eastern tip of Puerto Rico near the fishing village of Las Croabas, and set along the length of a 300-foot bluff, the El Conquistador Resort spreads across 500 acres and overlooks the converging waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The resort destination offers 750 redesigned guestrooms and suites, has the recently opened Coquí Water Park; private Palomino Island, which offers water sports and other recreational activities; a Golden Door Spa; an Arthur Hills 18-hole golf course; Tour Desk offering excursions to San Juan and the bioluminescent bay; a casino equipped with table games and a new collection of slot machines; as well as numerous dining options including an outpost of New York’s famed steak restaurant, Strip House.

For more information on El Conquistador Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection call 888-543-1230, 800-WALDORF (800-925-3673), or visit www.ElConResort.com  or www.WaldorfAstoriaCollection.com

Iberostar opened the Bavaro Golf Club, located on the hotel’s complex in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

The 18-hole, par 72 course was designed by P.B. Dye.

The course features a full service pro shop with top of the line golf merchandise (opening in spring of 2010), as well as golf pros available for lessons.

In addition, Iberostar Bavaro Golf Club offers full tournament services that include set-up, announcing, scoring and awards banquets with group rates available.

Players also have use of locker rooms, club storage facilities and valet parking services.

Guests of the Iberostar Grand Hotel Bavaro will get one free round of golf per person when they book three nights or more.

Those staying at the Iberostar Punta Cana and Iberostar Bavaro will be charged $110 per person.

The public is also invited to play at a rate of $160 per person.

These rates include transfers to and from the course, greens fees, a golf cart and snacks and drinks on the course.

For more information,

email golfbavaro@iberostar.com.do

or visit www.iberostar.com

Vila Vita Parc Resort & Spa, a luxury resort in the Algarve, has received a Michelin Star for its gourmet restaurant. Under the direction of Executive Chef Hans Neuner, Ocean Restaurant has put its own twist on traditional Portuguese recipes, using natural ingredients from the region’s boutique farms and specialty food producers.

“Every aspect of Vila Vita is being improved in order to reposition it as an international, ultra-luxury resort, and a critical component has been enhancing the dining experience at Ocean,” said Luís Fernandes, CEO of Vila Vita.

“Our goal is to gain a second Michelin Star within a year or two and develop Ocean into the finest restaurant in Portugal.”

Nuener’s approach is to blend the traditional with the contemporary:

Begin with traditional recipes, reinvent them with today’s methods and technical knowledge, and make the ingredients the stars by emphasizing the freshest, highest quality and locally sourced products.

More then 70 percent of the food products he uses are organic and most are procured regionally, including many from the resort’s own organic farm, Herdade Dos Grous.
Vila Vita offers a wide choice rooms, suites, villas and residences, all featuring terraces, balconies, and ocean- and flower-filled garden views; a range of casual and gourmet cuisines at five different restaurants, complemented by Portugal’s best wine cellar with more than 11,000 bottles;

a setting of 54 acres perched above the Atlantic Ocean with Moorish-influenced architecture, sub-tropical gardens and a private beach; Vital Spa with a health and beauty center, holistic medical wellness program and Ice Grotto; a luxury yacht for excursions; golfing on many of Portugal’s best courses, which are within minutes of the resort; and a wine estate and working farm, Herdade dos Grous, that is a retreat for the resort’s guests offering wine tastings, walks, bicycling, swimming in the infinity pool, picnics by horse-drawn carriage, educational tours about organic farming and horse breeding, gourmet dining and overnight stays.

For more information, visit www.vilavitaparc.com

Discovery Cruise Line, which sails daily except Wednesdays to Grand Bahama Island, is changing the way it does business. Effective Jan. 28, Discovery will depart from Port Everglades at 10 a.m. with pre-boarding starting at 7 a.m.

The cruise now will feature all-inclusive alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages during the cruise and two all-you-can-eat buffet meals.

The first buffet will feature brunch items and the dinner buffet will include fish, chicken, a carving station and pasta bar.

“The idea is to make the cruise fun from the moment our guests arrive without them associating everything with a cost,” said Hanns J. Hanns, general manager of Discovery. “In looking at industry trends for some time we see there is a huge opportunity for Discovery to accomplish this with the popular all-inclusive cruise product that industry leaders in Jamaica, Mexico and other destinations have perfected.

People are choosing the all-inclusive product because they love it. And, we are doing more than just making the Discovery experience all-inclusive; we are adding high-energy music, games and activities to our cruise instead of the old-fashioned shows and entertainment much of the cruise industry has always featured.

Another major change is our departure time. Instead of boarding at 6 a.m. guests can arrive as late as 9 a.m. to board. Our previous early morning departure wasn’t as convenient and 10 a.m. is the perfect time to set sail.”

Grand Bahama Grill dining will still be available at a cost and premium drinks and wine, as well as snacks and fast food, will be available to purchase.

Discovery Plus VIP service will also be available for guests that stay on island with a Cruise N Stay program.

“We will still have popular items that have a cost associated with them such as our casino, slot machines, duty-free stores and photo concession,” Hahn said.

“But if you want to just have a lot of good food, good fun and good drinks, it’s now all included.

Like all-inclusive resorts, we want everyone to enjoy themselves and come back on Discovery again and again and we believe with our new product, pricing and all-inclusive concept we will deliver that.”

The new rate for a Fun Day Cruise will be from $49.99 per person and will include the two buffet meals and all-you-can-drink alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, including soft drinks, fruit juices and coffee.

One-night packages will start at $69.99 per person, based on double occupancy, with the same inclusions on the ship. Surcharges of $35 per person apply. Kids 2 and under sail free.

For more information, call 888-377-2784 or visit www.DiscoveryCruiseLine.com

The new Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, became fully operational Dec. 9.

The new terminal at Carrasco International Airport, which serves Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo, was created to expand capacity and spur commercial growth and tourism in the surrounding region.

The design of the building emphasizes its public zones and amenities, providing these areas with an abundance of open space and natural light. Arriving travelers, for example, pass through a fully glazed mezzanine level that helps orient them to the terminal space before they descend to immigration, baggage claim and customs.

A public, landscaped terrace and a restaurant occupy the second floor, providing sweeping views of the runway and the main concourse. Rafael Viñoly Architects’ design elevates the public zones, both on the fully accessible roadside departure hall and terrace and the secure runway-side concourses, and houses everything beneath a curved, 1,200-foot-long roof.

The gentle curve and low profile of this monolithic roof help integrate the building into its site.

The exterior’s flowing lines and undulating geometry resemble the natural landscape of Uruguay, making it not only an iconic architectural structure, but a symbolic one as well.

Inside the building, arrivals and departures are separated vertically — arrivals on the ground floor, and departures on the first floor, with vehicular access roads for passenger drop-off and pick-up servicing each level independently.

An open atrium adjacent to the street entrance opens the ground floor to the monumental space of the main hall, visually and spatially linking the beginning and ending stages of a traveler’s journey.

The roof provides a canopy over these access roads on the land-side of the building, and on the air-side it opens up to give wide views of the airfield and countryside beyond.

In keeping with a long tradition of grand transportation halls, the departures level is one large space. With glazing on all four sides and thin structural supports, the roof appears to float above the building.

The departures level features the public concourse and the secure passenger concourse; each is separated by the security checkpoint and immigration control at the center of the plan. After completing check-in and security procedures, departing travelers have access to duty-free shopping and restaurants in the waiting areas. Four fixed, elevated pedestrian bridges with articulating corridors, accommodating a total of eight passenger gates, connect the passenger concourse to narrow- and wide-body aircraft and provide access to the apron for smaller planes.

For more information, visit www.rvatr.com

The Hertz Corporation, in collaboration with Navigation Solutions, developer of the Hertz NeverLost navigation system, and Greenopia announce a new, eco-friendly guide to green businesses in five major metropolitan markets

– Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco Bay Area –

as part of NeverLost’s Online Trip Planning services.

The partnership is another first in the car rental industry for Hertz NeverLost, bringing to business and leisure travelers a credible one-stop resource for making informed green choices for healthier lives.

The service helps Hertz customers make eco-friendly decisions while traveling in unfamiliar places, according to Mark Frissora, chairman and chief executive officer of The Hertz Corporation.

The Greenopia feature on the Hertz NeverLost trip planning site offers eco-friendly listings in 11 categories.

Thousands of Greenopia-rated resources are available for downloading from the NeverLost Online Trip Planning (www.neverlost.com ) Greenopia feature for effortless routing to each location.

For more information, visit www.greenopia.com

 or www.hertz.com

Oceania Cruises’ new Marina will have luxury suites outfitted with furniture, fabrics, lighting and bedding from the Ralph Lauren Home collection when it debuts in winter 2011.

The cruise line tapped New York-based Tocar Interior Design to decorate the suites. Susan Bednar Long, co-founder and president, previously oversaw the decoration of flagship retail stores for Polo across North America. Christina Sullivan, co-founder and vice president, began her career at Polo in the store design department, where she launched Double RL Collection Shops across the U.S.

The three Owner’s Suites on Marina feature walls of inset Georgian wood paneling finished in an ivory gloss.

An ivory marble entryway with a black and camel mosaic tile inset is surrounded by black carpeting trimmed with a polished nickel metal edge.

The foyer also contains a mahogany gloss bar with three ivory leather and chrome stools, burnished silver armchairs covered in faux crocodile and brown and white faux zebra skins and an oversized ivory brocade and black satin chaise in front of floor-to-ceiling windows.

An ebony baby grand piano serves as the room’s focal point while an alabaster and polished nickel chandelier hangs overhead.

In the spacious living and dining room, Macassar ebony-veneered chests with silver hardware topped by faux zebra-framed mirrors flank the entrance.

Walnut herringbone wood flooring rings a field of camel carpeting with an inset chocolate border.

A full wall of windows affords aft views. A camel-colored suede L-shaped sectional is positioned in the corner.

To its side is a mahogany Anglesey end table and oversized Mayfair tufted armchair upholstered in coffee-brown velvet.

The Planar brushed stainless steel and acrylic coffee table centers the seating area.

A 42-inch flat-screen TV mounted atop a nickel and mahogany entertainment center is anchored by a black teak and nickel Aldgate étagère.

A mahogany Mayfair dining table with smooth caramel leather Clivedon dining chairs affords seating for six topped with a candelabra chandelier finished in nickel.

The Tocar designers used ivory wainscoting and silvery grey carpeting in the bedrooms.

The walls above the wainscoting are covered in Austyn cashmere, and all windows and balcony doors are dressed with ivory wool sheers and silver drapery panels in a silk/cotton blend.

The bedroom’s centerpiece is the Bel Air bed in a deep, library mahogany, its headboard, footboard and side rails upholstered in steel-blue mohair with polished nickel nail-head accents.

In the marble bathroom is a separate shower and soaking tub. The mahogany double vanity is topped with double portholes and accented with nickel ceiling-mounted round pivoting mirrors.

For more information, call 800-531-5658 or visit www.OceaniaCruises.com