Jetsettersblog

Real Resort’s two gourmet luxury all-inclusive, all-suite, adult-only resorts — The Royal in Cancun and The Royal Playa del Carmen — announced the addition of new amenities, services and additional gourmet food options designed to please the most discerning guests.

New for brides and grooms, an expanded Wedding Center at The Royal in Cancun.

This enhanced facility offers turnkey wedding planning services. The new Wedding Center at The Royal in Cancun is modeled after the Wedding Center opened last year at The Royal Playa del Carmen and is a reflection of Real Resorts commitment to be the leading wedding and honeymoon destination for Mexico.

The new wedding center opens in conjunction with the role out of Real Resorts new program for travel agents, The Royal Wedding Specialist, which will enable qualifying agents to earn commissions on all wedding planning services.

Also, beginning May 15 at The Chef’s Plate gourmet restaurant at The Royal in Cancun and The Royal Playa del Carmen will feature an expanded menu to include a selection of nouvelle cuisine dishes.

In addition, the resorts have added a new gluten-free menu for guests who have special dietary needs.

This complements the low sugar and lactose free menus that are already available. Guests are asked to request these special menus in advance.

Examples of gluten-free items available include gluten-free breads and desserts, as well as soups, salads and entrees. Special dietary menus are available at all restaurants throughout The Royal in Cancun and The Royal in Playa del Carmen, both gourmet luxury, all-inclusive, all suite resorts.

New suite amenities will include Wii video games in all Presidential and Master suites at both properties.

This new amenity complements the many extras that make the suites at TheRoyal in Cancun and The Royal Playa del Carmen so popular.

Other suite amenities include signature ultra-comfortable Royal Bed; a double Jacuzzi in each suite; a spacious and comfortable sitting area; a rotating 32-inch LCD/TV, CD/DVD player and iPod; in-room mini bar stocked daily with bottled water, beer, soft drinks and a selection of full bottles of international quality brand liquor; spa-style bathrooms with walk-in showers and body jets; as well as Bvlgari designer amenities, and complimentary room service delivered privately in the “Magic Box.”

For more information, call 800-760-0944 or visit www.RealResorts.com

Amelia Island Plantation in Florida is offering a Family Nature Adventure vacation, July 30 through Aug. 1, 2010.

Nature camp for families with a minimum age of 6 years old is priced from $250 for a family of four.

Additional families members pay $50 each or $65 per individual for up to three family members. Friday night activities include a welcome introduction at the Nature Center with a tour of Amelia at night. Saturday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., participants will go birding on bicycles and in the afternoon from 1 to 4:30 p.m. participants will take part in a beach scavenger hunt and Seining activity.

Sunday morning from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., families will enjoy crabbing, nature games and a kayak trip at Walkers Landing leaving the afternoon open to enjoy the other amenities at Amelia.

Special room rates are available for nature camp attendees. A resort view two bedroom villa starts at $229 and an ocean view two bedroom villa starts at $279. (Rates are good for July 30 through Aug. 1 based on a family of four.)

Space is limited and activities are subject to change based on weather conditions.

Camp can be booked by calling the Nature Center at 904-321-5082;

Reservations at the discounted rates can be made after the camp is booked.

For more information or reservations, call 866-213-8045 or visit www.aipfl.com

In 2010, the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), will open three new Portuguese properties offering some 600 rooms, and two more in 2011.

First up is the new Crowne Plaza Vilamoura (327 rooms and suites), followed by the Holiday Inn Figueira da Foz (158 rooms in July).

By the end of the year, the InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas will open with 109 rooms.

In 2011, a Holiday Inn Express in Porto, will open with 96 rooms, as well as one in Lisbon with 127 rooms.

The Crowne Plaza Vilamoura Algarve, Beach, Golf and Conference Hotel is situated next to the casino and walking distance from the marina.

The Holiday Inn Figueira da Foz will have 15 meeting rooms.

The InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas will be the first of this brand in Portugal.

Set in a 250-year-old palace in the main square of Porto, and will feature a renovated historic Café Astória as well as a Spa.

This summer, Rail Europe is unveiling a new mobile application, new train services and new passes. The new Paris-Moscow Overnight Train departs Paris’ Gare de l’Est for a night on the train that arrives the next day in Berlin, where passengers can choose from a list of offerings provided by Rail Europe, including sight-seeing tours, museum or monument passes. Guests then board the train for another night before arriving at Moscow’s Bielowruskaia Station.

On the return, passengers get another day exploring Berlin’s many attractions. First-class sleepers are available and feature two beds, fresh linens and towels, as well as one welcome kit per person, while second-class sleepers feature three beds and the same amenities as first class. Meals, snacks and beverages are also available in the buffet bars with a restaurant car accessible between Brest and Moscow. Outbound trains from Paris operate on Mondays and Saturdays but will run on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays starting June 3 through Oct. 4.

Return trains from Moscow currently operate Tuesdays and Saturdays but will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays beginning June 1 through Oct. 2. Single compartments begin at $778 per person each way, double compartments at $709 per person each way and triple compartments at $475 per person each way.

The new Top of Europe and Ticino pass is a Swiss rail and hotel package offering a five-day, four-night excursion.

Clients can explore Interlaken and Grindelwald, journey to the mountain peak of Jungfraujoch and end their voyage in Lugano. Prices begin at $711 per person for four nights at a three-star property and is based on double occupancy.

The new Paris Pass offers free reign on the city’s public transportation system using a smart chip card for two, four or six consecutive days.

Visitors are also given priority entry tomuseums and monuments, including the Louvre or Musee d’Orsay, and given the choice of commuting by Metro, tramway, bus or the Montmartre funicular railway.

Prices start at $137 for a two-day pass and $198 for a four-day pass.

The Triangle Pass offers one-way rail travel between Vienna, Budapest and Prague, or Vienna, Prague and Salzburg by letting passengers choose one of the two rail itineraries and start rom the city of their preference.

The Central Europe Triangle Pass costs $146 and is only available in second class for adults and children.

Smart Phones and iPhones alike can access the new Rail Europe application.

The software will allow customers to book train travel access rail itineraries, product information, destination details and more.

More updates will follow in upcoming weeks.

Go Airlink NYC, New York City’s share-ride airport transportation and services company, announced that its airport transportation service and reservations call center will operate on a 24-hour, seven-day basis, beginning May 2.

For more information call 212-812-9000. Discount tickets are available when purchased online at www.GOAirlinkNYC.com

One Ski Hill Place, a RockResort, is set to open in Breckenridge, Colo., in June.

The property, RockResorts’ first in Breckenridge, will be located at the base of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 8.

The ski-in/ski-out resort will have access to four lifts taking guests to Peaks 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the winter and to hiking and biking trails in the summer, plus the Peak 8 Fun Park.

In addition, the resort is located steps away from the new, seasonally operated BreckConnect Gondola that connects it with the historic mountain Town of Breckenridge.

Residences at One Ski Hill Place range from studios to four-bedroom condominiums. Resort amenities will include an aquatics center with two indoor pools, a hot tub and an outdoor fireplace, as well as two media rooms, a game room, a two-lane bowling alley, a fitness facility,

The Rejuvenation Center for spa treatments, The Living Room restaurant, the T-Bar for après-ski, and meeting space.

One Ski Hill Place has been built according to the Green Globes rating system, which includes using recycled materials, water-saving devices and other green practices.

Additionally, theproperty will uphold the RockResorts environmental standards with initiatives like green guest rooms, green meetings and Water on the Rocks.

To celebrate its opening, One Ski Hill Place is offering Be the First June rates. Guests who book by June 1 for a stay during the month of June will save up to 33 percent on regular room rates.

The offer includes complimentary breakfast.

Nightly rates start at $75 per person, double, for a one-bedroom unit. In addition, the resort is offering an Early Bird Winter package.

Guests who book by July 1 for stays between Nov. 12, 2010, and April 24, 2011, save up to 44 percent.

Nightly rates start from $81 per person, double.

For more information, call 888-906-6303 or visit www.oneskihill.com

Keswick Hall, the 48-room boutique hotel set in Virginia’s wine country at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, announced the planting of the hotel’s own on-site vineyard.

Grapes from the Keswick Hall vineyard will be used to produce the property’s own private-label wine, while allowing guests an interactive wine country experience. Under the direction of Keswick’s General Manager, Matthias Smith, and Sommelier, Richard Hewitt, extensive soil sampling and analysis have been conducted over the last year in order to confirm that the property grounds are amply suited for growing wine grapes.

For the first planting, Hewitt selected Petit Manseng, a rare grape originally from the Gironde region of Southwestern France.

This varietal has the potential to produce a white wine that is intensely flavored with apricot and quince fruit along with spicy and floral notes.

The first harvest will occur either in the fall of 2011 or 2012, depending on how well the vines develop in their first year.

The new half-acre vineyard is expected to yield between 100 and 125 cases of this wine and the hotel’s staff hopes to expand the vineyard, increasing its yield and number of varietals in the future.

Guests will be able to stroll freely throughout the vineyard grounds and may even be able to prune and assist in the tending of the vines.

For reservations or more information, call 888-778-2561 or visit www.keswick.com

The new Angelo Hotel in Katowice, Poland, offers a total of 203 rooms and eight conference rooms and is specially tailored to the needs of the many business travelers in the region.

“Poland has been a strong market in the past, even in challenging times. Katowice lies at an important crossroads in Europe and, as the center of the Upper Silesian industrial region, is a powerful driver of the economy,” said Rudolf Tucek, CEO of Vienna International Hotelmanagement AG.

“Upper Silesia is the most industrialized region in Poland and is also the most populated region in Poland, with 4.7 million residents.

The construction of this four-star hotel will allow us to offer our guests and business travelers a product that has already proven its worth in several countries.

With the economic boom in the Silesian city of Katowice in Poland and the resulting promise of continuously strong bed occupancy rates, we are confident that our newest venture will be very successful.”

The Angelo Hotel is located in the middle of the city’s commercial district.

The hotel features an executive floor as well as 17 apartments with a separate cooking area designed for longer stays.

A special feature is the conference area consisting of eight light-flooded meeting rooms and a conference room for up to 300 people, making this the largest conference center in all of Katowice.

It is the sixth Angelo Hotel and the first one in Poland.

The hotel is a partnership of the real estate developers Warimpex and UBM and hotel management firm Vienna International. Other Angelo Hotels are open in Prague, Bucharest, Munich, Plzen and Ekaterinburg.

For more information, email info@angelo-katowice.com  or visit www.angelo-katowice.com

Algodon Wine Estates in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina, is offering personalized wine barrels for newlyweds, packaged with two-day stays at the Algodon lodge, through a new program.

The wine/resort packages are designed as a unique wedding gift.

Users go online to select a barrel and bottle label design and provide the newlyweds’ names.

The wine is shipped to the newlyweds after bottling and labeling.

Each barrel provides 288 bottles of wine and can be refilled three times.

The barrels feature Argentinean wines including Bonarda and Malbec, along with Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.

The package features a two-night stay for the newlyweds at the lodge, located on the estates.

For more information, visit www.algodonwines.com/barrelprogram

Hervé Novelli, France’s secretary of state for commerce, artisanal industry, small and mid-sized business and tourism, unveiled France’s new redesigned hotel classification signage in a ceremony affixing the new plaque to the Hotel Caron in Paris’ first district.

The newly-minted three-star hotel is the first property in France to have received the new signage after completing the new vetting process of hotel classification in France, which was initiated last year by Novelli.

The new sign, which replaces the octagonal blue one, is rectangular with a red background for one- to four-star hotels and color gold for the new five-star category. All plaques have the official France brand (inaugurated Jan. 1, 2009) at the bottom.

This event is one of the most visible steps in the three-year hotel modernization plan set into motion after the July 22, 2009, concerning the development and modernization of France’s tourism services and infrastructure.

The new voluntary hotel classification system, which is overseen by Atout France, The France Tourism Development Agency, has introduced a more internationally recognized five-star category as well as stricter standards and more stringent vetting process for all categories from the one to five stars.

To encourage hotel owners and groups to apply for the category of their choice and bring their establishment up to standards, loans will be available at preferential rates for small hotel owners to facilitate renovations and upgrades.

There are over 17,000 rated hotels in France, most of which are family-owned and operated. In the new system, hotels will get their rating for a five-year period at the end of which an audit will occur to confirm or deny the rating.

The old classification of hotels (in place since 1986) will be completely fazed out in July 2012. For more information, visit www.franceguide.com/us