JourneyEtc

The exciting hotel scene in London will be welcoming a new establisment in the heart of Westminster this November. Opening its doors will be the much awaited InterContinental London Westminster. It will be a few hops from the Parliament, the Westminster Abbey, and the Big Ben.

InterContinental gives the old Queen Anne’s Chambers a new life after serving as home for The Brewer’s Society and the Treasury Solicitor among others.

The century-old building has the looks of a townhouse on the outside while the elegant interiors utilize classy furnishing and British elegance to give guests a comfortable home away from home amid the busy urban center.

The hotel will feature 256 guestrooms with 44 suites and a luxurious penthouse. The hotel will also have its own bar to add some sophistication to the typical English pub offering drins ranging from British wines, cocktails, and local ales. The restaurant will be serving meals throughout the day.

During the upcoming London Olympic Games (27 July to 12 August), hotels in this wonderful city will have an average rate of £281 a night. This is according to current statistics with availability of about 36 percent.

The London hotel rates a week before the games is currently pegged at £180 while the week after the games, you can book a room for £159.

These findings come out after the local officials accused hotel owners of tarnishing the image of the city as an affordable travel destination. The deputy mayor even warned hotels of the overpricing having a long-term bad effect on the number of visitors heading to London. The city of Atlanta in Georgia suffered the same fate after the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

A London holiday surely is far from being described as cheap by any measure. The daily rates of hotels especially with the approaching London Olympics are skyrocketing. You will also be lucky if you can get a booking for the dates of the games. The travel money too is hard to stretch if you have to eat out every time. There are alternative London accommodations though if you really want to witness the 2012 Olympics:

Bed & Breakfast Club

You will find The Bed & Breakfast Club houses in the more pleasant neighborhoods of London offering rooms of private residences offered for rent. Since you will be occupying a private room, do not expect luxury hotel like conveniences and pampering. It will have the basics though like entertainment system, phone, and twenty four hour check-in. Add to the simple elements the personal touch of the service.

The much awaited Bulgari Hotel in London will not open until June 1 but there are other hotel openings in London that we have our spotlight on this summer, The Cafe Royal.

The plans to build The Royal Cafe first surfaced in 2008 when the landmark on Regent Street was eyed to be converted to a hotel. And from then on the construction has been going well and the website of the hotel shares that the new property will be part of the Set Hotels Collection that also includes the Amsterdam new hotel the Conservatorium and the Lutetia in Paris.

Set Hotels will be offering a 159 guestrooms for this luxury London hotel out of the old Cafe Royal and will also have the Akasha Holistic Wellbeing Center which will have its own yoga studios, meditation centers, spa, gym, and pool. The hotel will also have its restaurants, Domino Room, Grill Room, and bars.

If you are following the London hotel scene, a lot of people have doubted that the Bulgari London Hotel can be on schedule to open this April. Sources say though that everything is going well and the Bulgari Resorts and Hotel in London will be cutting the ribbons as scheduled. The opening rate will be $697 per night.

The hotel has a Bulgari Spa with eleven private rooms for treatment, a suite for double treatment with its private steam room, jacuzzi and pool crafted from Vicenza stone with a mosaic in gold and green following the colors of Bulgari.

Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners designed the guestrooms. The concept of refined deco and sleek architecture dominates the rooms with the curtains reflecting the patterns of Bulgary jewelry pieces and lamps which is similar to the signature candlesticks of the brand.

Your holiday doesn’t have to be spent on booze, staying up late at night, and losing sleep on overcrowded schedules. As a matter of fact, there are spots around the world you should visit if you want to spend the holidays improving your health. Here they are.  

Milestone Hotel in London 

This hotel offers a “Sleep Experience Package” which is especially designed to help busy individuals get their sleeping cycles back in order. The package includes a one-on-one session with the renowned sleep expert Tej Samani. After this one-hour session, you will be able to enjoy a 90-minute sleep-inducing massage.  

According to Samani, all sleep issues are caused by physical factors even if specialists peg the culprits as burnout and exhaustion. The package works to balance the parasympathetic and the sympathetic sides of your autonomic nervous system. Imbalance in your nervous system apparently causes insomnia.  

We have heard of several London hotels set to open this year that aims to meet the consumers needs in terms of affordability and service. The most high tech hotel in London, the Eccleston Square, is scheduled to open its doors on the 4th day of July.

The Eccleston Square Hotel will be a techy travellers heaven with Peakaboo Bathrooms with clear glass that can turn to an opaque with a press of a button. In case you will book a room in this London hotel, you will have iPad 2 jusst by your side table that you can use to order some food and drinks, schedule a session with a personal trainer, or book a soothing massage. The cold weather outside the hotel is out of the equation with the heated floors of the Eccleston Square.

The 2011 calendar will be marked with a lot of London hotel openings. Recently, another luxury brand of the Waldorf Astoria Hotels, the London Syon Park, opened its doors.

The opening is actually a bit delayed but everyone lets them off the hook because of the ice cream bar, butterfly world, an in house plastic surgeon, and a ton of rich and famous during their opening. The hotel also boasts of an orchard with berries, apples, and pears which are used as ingredients in their restaurants.

Basing on the pictures over the internet, the exterior of the hotel is not very appealing for a five star hotel. But some features like those of the Brownie Bar is heaven for those who love sweets.

The rates are pretty reasonable too for a London luxury hotel. A night at the King Syon Garden Room will cost you £289 a night while the King Presidential Suite which is the most expensive in their line up will cost you £3109 a night.