Jetsettersblog

San Domenico Hotels officially opened its newest luxury resort property, Borgo Egnazia in Puglia, Italy. Set between rolling hills and olive groves on the Adriatic Coast, the “Borgo,” or village as its name implies, includes a 63-room hotel, in addition to private villas and townhouses designed for romantic getaways or family retreats.

The village will offer travelers an ancient Roman-inspired spa, an 18-hole golf course, a private beach club nearby, cooking classes and more.

Starting rates at Borgo Egnazia begin at 210 euros ($260) for a Superior Room.

All resort amenities and services will be fully operational by mid-July, in time for the height of the season.

This is the fifth property in the San Domenico Hotels stable, four of which are also located on the Adriatic Coast while the fifth, San Domenico House, resides in London.

The “Borgo” is centered around the hotel, which counts 63 guest rooms and suites featuring soaking tubs, walk-in showers, outdoor patios or terraces, as well as high tech amenities.

There are also 93 one- and two-bedroom Village Suites, each similarly equipped as the hotel rooms but with full kitchens and access to walk-out gardens, courtyards and/or second floor terrace balconies.

The Villas are each 2,700 square feet and feature three bedrooms, rooftop terraces, gardens and private swimming pools.

The village area also has Apulian townhouses; both are ideal for family getaways.

For more information, call 011- 39-080-225-5000, email info@borgoegnazia.com  or visit www.borgoegnazia.com

Le Chardon Mountain Lodges, the newest addition to the Mantis portfolio, features a cluster of five chalets located on the slopes of the Val d’Isere ski resort with access to some of the world’s best skiing, hot tubs with unrivalled views of the Alps, private cinema and entertainment rooms, in-chalet ski fitting, and dedicated concierge service.

Groups and corporate parties may stay at one of the five exclusive chalets. Le Chardon houses up to 20 guests in 10 rooms, Le Mistral houses up to 14 guests in seven rooms, Lafitenia houses up to 12 in six rooms, La Bergerie houses up to 11 in six rooms, and Le Kilimanjaro houses up to eight in four rooms.

At certain times of the year, the main lodge, Le Chardon, operates as a boutique hotel and can be booked by individual guests as well as groups.

Every chalet includes tea or coffee in bed, breakfast made to order, afternoon tea, pre-dinner champagne and canapés, five-course gourmet evening meals, an open bar with spirits, beers, and soft drinks, hot tubs, massage and treatment rooms, satellite televisions, DVD players, wireless DSL and PC computer, concierge service, in-chalet chauffeur service, in-chalet ski fitting, and comprehensive travel insurance.

Le Chardon also has an 18-foot swim spa.

Rates for Le Kilimanjaro begin at $11,429 per person, per week, all-inclusive; rates at La Bergerie begin at $14,287 per person, per week, all-inclusive; rates at Lafitenia begin at $17,144 per person, per week, all-inclusive; rates at Le Mistral begin at $20,002 per person, per week, all-inclusive; and rates at Le Chardon begin at $28,574 per person, per week, all-inclusive.

These prices are based on the exchange rate of the dollar to the euro on May 21.

For more information, call 011-44 (0)845 092 0350, email info@lechardonvaldisere.com  or visit www.lechardonvaldisere.com

The International Conservation Center “Città di Roma,” Israel’s first center for conservation and antiquities training, opened in the Old City of Acre.

The International Conservation Center “Città di Roma” is housed in an ancient Ottoman-period structure and will offer professional courses and projects, as well as training classes in antiquities conservation.

The center will be managed by the Israel Antiquities Authority in coordination with the Old Acre Development Company and the Acre Municipality, and with the support of the Italian Government. Located on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Israel, the Old City of Acre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001 and has since served as an open school in the field of conservation.

For more information, visit www.goisrael.com

Hilton Worldwide announced the opening of its largest hotel in Asia Pacific, Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk.

Featuring 1,052 guest rooms and more than 6,000 square meters of event space, the hotel is the brand’s first property in Fukuoka, a major gateway to China and Korea.

Formerly known as the JAL Resort Sea Hawk Hotel Fukuoka, the property will undergo approximately $20 million of refurbishments initially focused on its executive floors, foyer and other public areas.

Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk is the eighth Hilton branded property and ninth Hilton Worldwide hotel in Japan.

Located on the waterfront of Fukuoka, the hotel offers ocean views and forms part of an extensive and dynamic entertainment complex, Hawks Town, the premier regional center for entertainment and shopping in Kyushu.

It also includes the famous Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome, the home stadium of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks baseball team. One of the largest hotels in Japan, Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk features an extensive array of food and beverage outlets, including an all-day dining restaurant, specialty restaurants and bars.

The meeting and conference facilities comprise over 6,000 square meters of function space, including a 4,114-square-meter ballroom, six function rooms and 13 meeting rooms.

Other facilities include indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a sauna. The property also features three wedding chapels that can accommodate more than 900 weddings per year. The hotel’s extensive catering and meeting facilities, its unique location, as well as Hilton’s renowned service and brand recognition, will position the hotel to capture a large share of the local wedding market and international and domestic MICE business. For more information, visit www.hiltonglobalmediacenter.com/FukuokaSeaHawk

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will open a new hotel in 2012 in Lhasa, a city set on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, the highest region on earth.

The 350-room luxury urban resort, owned and operated by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, will rest amongst the tallest peaks in the world, a mountain landscape of glaciers, valleys and lakes considered sacred by many. Located on Lingkor Road, Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa will be one mile from the Potala Palace, the 7th century complex at the centre of Lhasa with over 1,000 rooms and a collection of cultural relics including handwritten Buddhist manuscripts.

The hotel will be about one third of a mile from other notable Lhasa landmarks including Chokpori, known as “Iron Mountain” and one of the four holy mountains of central Tibet; Norbu Lingka, the summer palace originally built in 1755; and the Tibet Museum.

Guestrooms will begin at 388 square feet and many will offer views of the Potala Palace.

Service touches will include Tibetan welcome rituals and the local hand-churned butter tea.

The hotel will also have a full service clinic with medical staff to attend to guests.

The modern hotel will feature a variety of dining and entertainment options including an all-day dining restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a bar and a lobby lounge.

Recreational facilities such as an indoor swimming pool and health club will be available.

The meeting and banqueting facilities will include a 18,300-square-foot grand ballroom, complemented by several smaller function rooms.

For more information, visit www.shangri-la.com

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is about to unveil its newest hotel, the Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at China’s West Lake.

The brand’s fourth Chinese property and part of the overall expansion plan within the country, it’s poised to open late summer under the leadership of General Manager Rudolf van Dijk.

The resort-like hotel features pagoda-like buildings amid traditional water gardens with 81 rooms and villas.

Distinctive features include a spa offering Chinese and Asian therapies and a Cantonese and classical local cuisine restaurant, Jin Sha, with 11 private dining rooms terraced over a lagoon providing willow-veiled views of West Lake.

Four Seasons’ presence in China will continue to increase significantly in the coming years, with openings scheduled in Guangzhou, Shanghai Pudong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Suzhou and two planned properties in Sanya.

The owners of the New Zealand North Island luxury lodges Kauri Cliffs and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Julian and Josie Robertson and family, have purchased a third property, Matakauri Lodge near Queenstown, New Zealand, which will open on Aug. 27.

The latest acquisition gives the Robertsons a first lodge on the South Island.

Ten minutes from Queenstown and situated on Lake Wakatipu, Matakauri Lodge currently has four suites and six villas, each with private balcony looking out to a lakeside and mountain view, and a lodge room, plus lodge and dining facilities.

Since the change of ownership, the property is now closed and undergoing extensive refurbishments and interior design by New Zealand designer Virginia Fisher, with plans to re-open as a third luxury lodge on par with Kauri Cliffs and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers in August.

New Zealand luxury lodges Kauri Cliffs overlooking the Bay of Islands, and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay, are highly regarded internationally and have received numerous accolades since opening in 2001 and 2007 respectively.

Recently Travel + Leisure magazine readers voted Kauri Cliffs the No. 1 Lodge/Resort in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in the 2009 World’s Best Awards, and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers was voted No. 2.

In the same survey, Kauri Cliffs was ranked No. 17 and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers No. 21 on the World’s Best Awards list of Top 100 Hotels overall, the only two properties in Australasia to make it into the Top 100 list.

For more information, visit www.matakaurilodge.com  Read the Jetsetters Magazine feature about Matakauri Lodge.

Australian Pacific Touring (APT), in partnerships with the indigenous Aboriginal Djabulukgu Association in Kakadu, is now offering experiences in the Kakadu and Arnhem Land areas.

This new partnership follows in the footsteps of the 2005 partnership with the Wunan Foundation, a collective of the Kimberley’s Aboriginal people in the North West, to create the award winning Kimberley Wilderness Adventures program.

The Magela Cultural & Heritage Tour in Kakadu operates by specially designed four-wheel-drive vehicles and is limited to 10 guests to ensure an intimate and personalized culturing touring experience.

Clients see Aboriginal Rock Art sites, landscapes, wildlife and learn of traditional land management and bush and hunting skills.

The Guluyambi Cultural Cruise is a boat tour on Kakadu’s East Alligator River and is limited to 25 guests. An Aboriginal guide provides guests with an insight into his culture — local mythology, the river’s abundant food chain, traditional uses for many plants and animals as well as bush survival skills.

Disembark on the Arnhem Land side of the river and be treated to a display of traditional hunting and gathering implements before heading back down stream.

For more information, call 800-290-8687 or visit www.aptouring.com

In an effort to increase awareness, visitors and the length of a visitors stay in Fiji, Tourism Fiji and Marchese Communications Inc. in Los Angeles, Fiji’s advertising agency of record, launched Tourism Fiji’s new video-based website at www.fijime.tv  for North America.

The site features five channels of themed TV shows each running three and one half minutes in length, plus a 30-second “pre-roll commercial” promoting a wholesaler offer for the participating resort in each channel episode.

The channels include Romance & Honeymoon; Luxury, Golf & Spa; Adventure & Dive; Family –Ultimate Fiji; and Culture & Eco-tourism. Each show will run for 15 weeks, with new shows premiering July 25 and Nov 7.

According to Regional Director of the Americas Ili Matatolu, the site is one of only a few destination websites totally focused on and dedicated to using video “TV programming” to distribute brand, benefit and vacation-value messaging.

The new website will be marketed to an opt-in email database of 60,000, and via social media on Facebook and Twitter; cable TV, including CNN Headline News and The Weather Channel; rich-media banner ads on select travel, lifestyle and news websites; and on more than 20 popular video sites like YouTube and those that offer a travel section.

For more information, call 310-568-1616, email infodesk@bulafijiamericas.com  or visit www.fijime.com

Carlson Hotels signed its first hotel in China’s Wuxi’s new high technology zone area.

The 196-room upscale hotel will open in the first half of 2012.

The Radisson Hotel Wuxi Hi-Tech Zone signing is among four hotel signing announcements by Carlson Hotels in China this week Other coming properties will be located in Huizhou and Chengdu.

“Wuxi has become a major tourism hotspot in the lower Yangtze Delta and has great potential to suit the needs of the meetings, incentive tourism, conventions and exhibitions business,” said Guo Hui Wen, director, Wuxi Wu Culture Expo Park Construction and Development Company Limited. Radisson Hotel Wuxi Hi-Tech Zone will comprise five villas, 21 suites and 170 guest rooms.

Hotel facilities include an all-day dining restaurant, a Chinese and specialty restaurant, a ballroom, four function rooms and four meeting rooms, a health club, and an indoor and outdoor swimming pool.

The Radisson Hotel Wuxi Hi-Tech Zone is situated 2.5 miles from the new train station which easily connects Shanghai to Beijing on the high-speed railway, and is 3.5 miles from Wuxi airport.

The hotel is adjacent to some of Wuxi’s historical World Heritage Sites, such as the Meili Ancient Town and Temple of Wu, and natural scenic spots including the Lianghong National Wetland Park and China Stone Park.

The Huizhou property sits on a beach front with 300 rooms. It’s scheduled to open in the first half of 2012.

“Huizhou is a popular weekend destination for inbound travelers from Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. We are confident that this hotel will attract a combination of international as well as domestic travelers from northern China and beyond,” said Zhao Xiao Xiong, chairman, Huizhou Hai Chen Real Estate Co. Ltd., the hotel owner.

Located along the Da Ya Bay, one of the largest coastal cities in southeast Guangdong province, the Radisson Plaza Resort Huizhou is on a bay set against a scenic mountainous backdrop. The property will feature an all-day dining restaurant and a Chinese restaurant; a lobby bar and club lounge; a grand ballroom catering to all meeting and event requests. Guests seeking leisure and recreational facilities can indulge in the day spa, as well as a health club featuring an indoor swimming pool. The resort is also in close proximity to a 27-hole golf course.

The 254-room Park Plaza Chengdu South will open by the end of this year about five minutes from the Chengdu International Airport, central west China’s most important air hub. “This is Carlson Hotels’ 14th Park Plaza property in Asia Pacific.

It signals another step forward in continuing Carlson Hotels’ expansion, supporting our Ambition 2015 growth strategy to grow our portfolio by at least 50 percent by 2015 to more than 1,500 hotels in operation,” said Jean-Marc Busato, managing director, Carlson Hotels, Asia Pacific. Chengdu is a major commercial, manufacturing and IT hub. It was recently voted one of the top four cities to live in the country.