Taking the pulse of global luxury travel
The Shangri-La Paris was the Asian Shangri-La Hotel Chain’s first European outpost when it opened in late 2010. While anticipating next year’s opening of The Shangri-La London in our city’s tallest building , The Shard, we hot-footed it to the French capital to check the hotel out.
The Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living – an extension of the Dubai-based Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts brand – opens its doors to the public last week. The apartments are the group’s first serviced residences in the UK and the second worldwide after the Jumeirah Living World Trade Centre Residence in Dubai. Luxury Travel Beat was there late last month to see how it measures up. We were not disappointed.
It’s the first thing you notice when you set foot within Klaus K: It’s got serious design credentials. Which is perhaps not surprising, given it’s status as Finland’s first design hotel and its prime location in the heart of Helsinki’s Design District. Given I had extremely high expectations of this hotel before I even darkened its doors, the embers of my expectations are stoked just a little bit more.
On day 6 of my epic South African adventure, I found myself in heaven: Babylonstoren in Stellenbosch, which is not only a mere 50 km north-east of CapeTown but also prime wine country. Words cannot do this place justice. Suffice it to say that I am definitely going back, this time for more than just a day.
I have just arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa after an 11-hour overnight flight from London. I’m exhausted but expectant. Although I was born in Kenya, I have never visited any other country in the continent. South Africa has been on my hitlist ever since I got bit by the travel bug in my early twenties, and now that I’m here, I intend to enjoy the next 8 days – two in Jo’burg and 6 in Capetown – to the maximum.
