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Welcome to the March 2007 issue of WOWConfidential, Kiwi Collection's exclusive insider's newsletter by Mary Gostelow, editor-in-chief of WOW.travel, our online luxury magazine for discerning global travellers.
Please enjoy this issue of WOW.travel. Our Insider is hotel boss Lyn Middlehurst, Editor/Publisher of The Gallivanter's Guide, and our monthly concierge is Simon Thomas at Brown's Hotel, London. Away-night is Villa San Michele, Florence, and we have Seven Sensational two-floor suites. As always, there are hosts of exciting entries in both VIP and future events and happenings. Around The World includes Bangkok's pinnacle Epicurean Masters dinner; Byron Bay, Australia; Dallas; Four Seasons' latest resort, at Koh Samui; Heli-surfing in New Zealand; Suzy Menkes on luxury; Virgin Galactic space travel, a partnership with Virtuoso.
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Queenstown, New Zealand, is one of the most idyllic destinations on the earth
Queenstown, in New Zealand's South Island, is one of the idyllic spots on this earth. Think of a town with a population of around 9,000 nestled at the end of one finger of Lake Wakatipu. High all around are rugged mountain peaks, dominated by The Remarkables. This is the year-round center for all sports, from extreme to a leisurely stroll up Queenstown Hill, a mere 9,500 feet above sea level. And some merely walk along to the TSS Earnslaw, a 1912-vintage twin screw steamer that criss-crosses the lake. www.queenstownnz.co.nz
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Eichardt’s Private Hotel is a Queenstown icon that reflects contemporary elegance
My last night in the area was at Eichardt’s Private Hotel, run by larger-than-life GM and part-owner Victoria Shaw (whose parents own and run Wharekauhau, in Palliser Bay). The two-floor hotel, built in 1870 right on the water's edge and restored two years ago, only has five suites - it is worth booking far ahead! Thanks to one of my favorite designers, Virginia Fisher, suite 11 was a picture of soft mushroom and white, bare stone walls and working log-look fire flanked by windows giving breathtaking views across the lake. Breakfast is at the family-style dining table in the upstairs parlor. Yes, you feel really at home here. www.eichardtshotel.co.nz
Eichardt's Private Hotel, Queenstown, New Zealand
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Las Ventanas al Paraíso has redefined luxury and pampering
Las Ventanas al Paraiso, in Los Cabos, continues to give top global travelers what they want. Guests at this luxury resort can rent convertible Mini Coopers in British Racing Green, blue, red or yellow, or BMW Rockster motorbikes or a range of yachts, from the 54-ft Paradisus to the 110ft Crystal. The latest toy is the hotel's black Porsche Boxter - I was the lucky person to have the first ride, driven by the resort's MD, Andres Araya. www.lasventanas.com
Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Los Cabos, Mexico
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Park Hyatt's cars get makeovers with help from designer Tony Chi
Talking of cars, the Park Hyatt Washington DC worked with designer Tony Chi on its recent complete redo. Chi has also done the interiors of the hotel's two 2007 Audi A8L limos, which have silver Alcantara leather roofs: they have classic red leather seating with black piping, and there is red piping on the floor mats. Myrtle nutmeg has been used for the steering wheel, shift knob and trims, and passengers can enjoy Bang & Olufsen Advanced Sound, plus a personal refrigerator and rear vanity mirror. www.hyatt.com
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Dromoland Castle in Ireland has opened its one-bedroom Castle Suite
In Ireland, Dromoland Castle, County Clare, has opened a 1,300 sq ft Castle Suite, with garden, within the walls of the actual castle. It has one bedroom, and comes with a fire that burns dry timber off the 410-acre Dromoland estate, and a bathtub with 30 aeration programs. You get airport transfers, from and to Shannon, eight miles away, in a Range Rover Vogue or 1975 Rolls Royce that once belonged to Sir Laurence Olivier. The 100-room castle, built in 1543 for the O'Brien family, offers a par-72 Ron Kirby and JB Carr golf course, and such country pursuits as riding, shooting and fishing. www.dromoland.ie
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Ibo Island, known as one of Africa’s best-kept secrets, is now home to Ibo Island Lodge
Ibo Island, in the Quirimbas Archipelago off northern Mozambique is regarded as one of Africa's best-kept secrets (it is reached by light plane or helicopter from Pemba). About four square miles in total, and with a population of around 4,000, Ibo's trading history dates at least to the eighth century. It was rich in amber, jet, ivory and turtle shell, and exported meat, millet, rice and beans. Among the many fine buildings still to be seen is the S Joao Baptista Fortress, built 1791. Now Kevin and Fiona Record have opened the 14-room Ibo Island Lodge (photo), a conversion of three century-year old houses. Next on the Records' agenda is Mogundula Island Lodge, on a completely uninhabited tropical island, surrounded by pristine warm turquoise seas, pristine soft white beaches. www.iboisland.com
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Oceanic-Creations plans to create floating hotels made of plastic composite
There are some futuristic ideas being talked about that some could well say are pure fantasy but Oceanic-Creations, for instance, is a Stockholm-based company that plans to create floating hotels of a plastic composite with built-in insulation and virtually non-ageing and environmentally neutral properties that has hitherto been reserved for the defence industry. One of Oceanic-Creations' directors, Ronny Nordell was able to get 20 years' exclusivity on the material from his former company, Kockums. This means the property can be built in a low-labor cost site and towed wherever it is needed. The $209M prototype, at this stage called Maya, is being constructed in Bulgaria and will be towed to Cancun. www.oceanic-creations.com
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Visit one of Bali’s most beautiful luxury hotels, COMO Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri
Here is a really crazy idea if you are in Bali. Take an early morning hour-long drive to Mount Batur, in photo (do not worry, the volcano has not erupted since 1926). Apparently you can bury raw eggs in a steam outlet just inside the crater - and minutes later, as the sun peeps over the horizon, your breakfast eggs are cooked to perfection. To be honest, I suggest returning to Ubud, to COMO Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri, one of Bali's most beautiful luxury hotels: breakfast there can be taken in the airy Kudus House restaurant, or on the terrace of your villa (I loved Shantivana 1, on stilts high above the steeply-terraced gardens - it has its own 25-foot infinity pool). www.comoshambhala.bz
COMO Shambhala Estate, Ubud, Indonesia
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RailPartners sole aim is to create the most magnificent train in the world
I am really looking forward finally to visiting Tibet, but it will have to wait until May 2008, when RailPartners launches its luxury Tangula service in and out of Beijing. The concept, under GM Ivor Warburton, is being led by Shanghai-based TZG Partners, headed by former McKinsey consultant, Josh Brookhart. Investors include SG Hong Kong former Canadian Ambassador to China, Howard Balloch. The journey will take four to five days between Beijing, Lhasa and Lijiang across the Tibetan plateau. Each of the three trains, managed and catered by Kempinski, will carry 88 passengers: 100 sq ft suites will come with 24-hour butlers and guides, king-size beds and flat-screen televisions. www.tangula.com.cn
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Fashion designer Gaspard Yurkievich has created a signature dessert for Café de la Paix
Fashion designer Gaspard Yurkievich, seen here with chefs Guillaume Caron and Laurent Delarbre, has designed a signature chocolate-heaven dessert for the Café de la Paix, the Paris icon restaurant in Le Grand InterContinental, built in 1862 for the Empress Eugenie. Café de la Paix opens on to busy Boulevard des Capucines as well as looking across to Charles Garnier's glorious opera house. Three on-site oyster men shuck your Belons and Claires on command. www.intercontinental.com
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Eat organic at The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa
At The Boulders Resort and Golden Door Spa in Carefree - one of our favorite Arizona luxury hotels - you can dine in the organic Herb Garden restaurant, under the stars. Spa chef Scott Strubinger, a marathoner when he is not cooking, may suggest you start with Mini Portobello-Tofu Napoleons with Roasted Vegetables, and your four-course meal would finish with local Bosc pears (traditionally associated with Oregon), with light crème anglaise. Resort MD Michael Hoffmann, incidentally, tells us that the resort is to be renovated, by top designer Alexandra Champalimaud. www.luxuryresorts.com
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Business Traveller magazine rates the best airline wines, with American coming out on top
Having rubbished an American Airlines' no-service flight last month, I am delighted to say that Business Traveller magazine, which publishes the most comprehensive survey of airline wines, gives it top billing for its first class cellar, with runners up British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines. Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways jointly won the best red, for the Château Pichon Longueville Baron 1998 that both are now serving. Singapore Airlines has the best white wine currently poured in its first class cabins, a Urziger Wurzgaten Riesling Spatlese 2004, and the best champagne in first class was deemed to be the Taittinger Comte de Champagne 1996 on Asiana (with Lufthansa, pouring that wine's 1997 vintage, coming second, and British Airways and United, both pouring the 1995, a joint third). Best 'wild card' in first class went jointly to American Airlines' Lustau La Plaza Vieja Amontillado and British Airways' St Hallett Old Block Shiraz 2002. www.businesstraveller.com
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Founder & CEO of ESPA, Sue Harmsworth, plans evening events around UK and Ireland
This month, there will be ESPA evenings around UK and Ireland, personally conducted by ESPA's marvelously charismatic founder and CEO, Sue Harmsworth, and the Editor of Conde Nast Traveler Sarah Miller. Evening events are planned at great luxury hotels, namely Four Seasons Hampshire, March 26th; The Lowry, Manchester, March 27th, The Merrion, Dublin, March 29th. Sue Harmsworth recently was guest speaker at Condé Nast Traveler's spa awards, held at Mandarin Oriental London (top spa worldwide went to Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, Thailand). www.cntraveller.com www.espainternational.com
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The Alvear Palace opens its new luxuriously soothing spa in June
The Alvear Palace in Buenos Aires, a member of Leading Hotels of the World in the Recoleta area of Argentina's capital, opens its 8,000 sq ft spa in June, in a building adjacent to the 210-room hotel. It will have five rooms, offering La Prairie treatments. There will also be a Technogym with Kinesis equipment, and later an outdoor rooftop pool is planned to complement the existing indoor pool. Built in 1932, the hotel's lobby is a textbook blend of marble, gilding and antiques, and I love its staircases (see photo). There is great shopping around, by the way. www.alvearpalace.com
Alvear Palace Hotel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Balancing Senses – The Six Senses Spa Book will be available worldwide next month
Balancing Senses - The Six Senses Spa Book, published by Editions Didier Millet, is now available (apart from Canada and the USA, where it appears next month). I now have a copy and I must say Jörg Sundermann's photos are absolutely beautiful - see the photo of a back massage in the Maldives. They make you want to become a health addict immediately (the text is by Irish-born Kate O'Brien). There are chapters on body sense, beauty sense and mind sense, which shows that a spa body is not complete without such inner attention as, say, meditation or Tibetan singing bowls. www.sixsenses.com
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Wrap yourself in pure comfort - hotel bathrobes are now becoming more luxurious
For me, feeling good is a myriad of ingredients, which include the feel and texture of everything with which you come into contact. Hotel's bath robes for years have been utilitarian rather than sensual, though I do remember Frank Bowling, now Ambassador of the Peninsula Beverly Hills, designing one with blue piping. Latest fashion in the towelling concept was initiated by the Robe Works' terry-lined, smooth robes as found at Sandy Lane. My current favorites are robes that make you feel you are being cuddled by a teddy bear, as in the white Ploh robes at BLUE Sydney - a Taj Hotel, and the divine caramel-colored Kashwere robes in all Shangri-La CHI spas. Kashwere's trendy Los Angeles boutique, by the way, is a must-visit for many stars, and its cashmere-feel throws are on the beds at Peninsula Beverly Hills. www.kashwereathome.comSandy Lane, St. James, Barbados
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Mary Bono hosts her annual golf tournament at Porcupine Creek in California
On March 16-17, Congresswoman Mary Bono - widow of Sonny Bono - hosts her annual golf tournament at Porcupine Creek, Rancho Mirage in California's desert, under two hours' drive from Los Angeles, www.marybono.com. Porcupine Creek is one of the homes of lumber billionaire Tim Bixseth and his wife Edra (photo), whose many activities include creating and heading Yellowstone World private clubs around the world. At Porcupine Creek they turned to their favorite designer, Tom Weiskopf, to produce a course that Golf Digest says is No. 14 in the whole of California, www.yellowstoneclub.com
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NetJets Europe launches its gourmet dining concept
NetJets Europe launches its gourmet dining concept on March 14th, at Four Seasons Hotel London. Conceived by culinary consultant Stephen White, NetJets Europe clients can pre-order food from the hotel, or from Fortnum & Mason, Hakkasan/Yauatcha, Ubon by Nobu, Vama, Baker and Spice, or Absolute Taste. This is, says White, the 'ultimate' in-flight dining experience. (Photo shows a 14-passenger Gulfstream 550-V capable of flying between Frankfurt and San Francisco.) www.netjets.com
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Astronauts will lead the “First Walk” on the Grand Canyon Skywalk
Apollo 11 Astronaut Dr Buzz Aldrin, and Native American Astronaut John Herrington, will lead the “First Walk” on the Grand Canyon Skywalk on March 20. The cantilevered U-shaped glass walkway, suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River, extends 70 feet from the canyon's rim. Developers are the Hualapai Tribe, which owns nearly one million acres of land throughout the Grand Canyon’s western rim. www.grand.canyon.national-park.com
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Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, the city’s newest luxury hotel, opens at the end of this month
Tokyo's newest luxury hotel, the 250-room Ritz-Carlton Tokyo opens at 9 am on March 28th. It occupies the 45th floor up of a 54-floor block in Roppongi that claims the world's fastest elevators - the photo shows the 45th floor lobby, with Sam Francis paintings valued at $4 million. GM Ricco de Blank, whom many will remember from his days running the Ritz-Carlton Osaka, says his 3,000 sq ft Ritz-Carlton Suite, on the 53rd floor, has the most sensational views over the Imperial Palace and towards Mount Fuji. There are also two 1,200 sq ft Japanese suites run in partnership with a ryokan, whose attendants hand-carry onsen (spring) water for your bath. www.ritzcarlton.com
The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
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While at the International Boat Show in Venice stay at the Palazzo Vendramin
The 6th International Boat Show of Venice takes place March 17-25, with over 500 exhibitors. This year innovations include a Trends Area with the latest in sea wear and there are also sections for fishing, rafting and scuba diving. One of my most memorable stays in town was in suite 76 of the Palazzo Vendramin, part of the Cipriani complex. It came with sensational views across Canale della Giudecca, looking across to the Doges Palace and San Marco. It also had wall frescoes, and a kitchen with pasta-making equipment, but I would lunch off the mozzarella menu of the hotel's terrace, and dine downstairs in CIP's, home of the real Bellini. www.hotelcipriani.it
Hotel Cipriani & Palazzo Vendramin, Venice, Italy
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The Museum of Oceanography and Aquarium of Monaco features a new fascinating exhibit
Now through April, the Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Monte Carlo, has a fascinating exhibition '1906 - 2006, Albert Ier - Albert II: Monaco en Arctique'. SEH Prince Albert I, known as the father of oceanography, explored Svalbard Island in 1906; his great-grandson, SEH Albert II (photo, taken on Svalbard) traveled a similar route a century later. www.oceano.mc
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Trips for Cancer: A luxury travel auction to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Once again Stacy Small - 2006 National Woman of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Palm Beach - is organizing Trips for Cancer. WOW.travel is proud to support an online auction in which all proceeds will be donated to Evelyn Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Luxury hotels that have offers on stays include, on a corporate basis, Baglioni Hotels; Demeure Hotels (Italy); Maybourne Group. Additional properties offering rooms and suites include the Fairmont Orchid Hotel, Maui; Hôtel Plaza Athénée, New York; Hotel Guanahani & Spa, St Barths; Park Hyatt Sydney, Australia; Twin Farms, VT, USA; Mandarin Oriental Miami; Hotel Punta Islita, Guanacaste, Costa Rica; Heritage House, Mendocino, CA, USA; The Merrion Hotel, Dublin. For the whole list, and to bid online, see www.tripsforcancer.comPark Hyatt Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Coming up in April
Coming next month, we have Insider Stephen Brandman, leading the sexy Thompson Hotels brand in the USA; Raffaele Sorrentino, Concierge of the Adlon Kempinski, Berlin, shares ideas for that city, and Away-Night is the Peninsula Beverly Hills. See also Seven Sensational Hotels to which you might send your grandmother. Note: if you have not yet signed up for our complimentary emailed newsletter, I invite you to do so now. Have a great month!
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