The top 10 wine destinations to visit in 2013

 Well, France – often regarded as one of the best wine producers in the world – was excluded from   that TripAdvisor list. And now they’ve been snubbed again, this time by Wine Enthusiast, who have declared the following as the top 10 wine destinations to visit in 2013:

1. Rioja, Spain
2. Danube, Austria
3. North & South Forks of Long Island, New York
4. Stellenbosch, South Africa
5. Monterey County, California
6. Vale dos Vinhedos, Brazil
7. Willamette Valley, Oregon
8. Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia
9. Douro Valley, Portugal
10. Puglia, Italy

London hotels ranked the worst in 100 cities

           

Visitors to London have marked its hotels as the worst in a list of 100 cities due to overpriced minibars, lousy breakfasts and slow service, according to a survey.

  A study by travel metasearch website Trivago of hotel reviews from more than 140 accommodation booking sites found London came last in a list of 100 cities that had at least 135 hotels and 60 reviews. It did not include TripAdvisor postings.

The German city of Dresden came top with its hotels receiving the highest ratings and most positive reviews from guests.

"Users praised Dresden hotels for their value for money, whilst London hotels were criticised for their prices," said a spokeswoman for Trivago.

"In particular, reviewers felt the minibars were overpriced and breakfast service was both overpriced and disappointing, whilst hotels in Dresden were praised for their delicious and well-valued breakfasts."

She said London hotels were also criticised for overcrowding at breakfast, long queues at check-in, inability to cope with large groups of people, small rooms and poor views.

On the other hand, hotels in Dresden were praised for their exceptional service, efficiency, helpful staff, as well as their spacious rooms with excellent views.

Close behind Dresden in the list of cities with good hotels were Hanoi in Vietnam, Tokyo, Chicago, and Krakow in Poland.

Joining London in the bottom five were Rio de Janiero, Copenhagen, Paris and Amsterdam.

The spokeswoman from Trivago, which is majority owned by Expedia, said the website released its reputation ranking classifying destinations according to the reputation of their hotels twice a year.

Metasearch engines allow users to send requests to other search engines and databases to get a single list of results and are popular with consumers facing an overload of information on various competing deals.

The 10 best cities for hotel rooms: 1. Dresden, Germany; 2. Hanoi, Vietnam; 3. Portland, US; 4. Tokyo, Japan; 5. Santiago de Compostela, Spain; 6. Gdansk, Poland; 7. Chicago, US; 8. Seattle, US; 9. Krakow, Poland; 10. Budapest, Hungary.

The 10 worst: 91. Los Angeles, US; 92. Kiev, Ukraine; 93. Frankfurt, Germany; 94. Panama City, Panama; 95. Brussels, Belgium; 96. Amsterdam, Netherlands; 97. Paris, France; 98. Copenhagen, Denmark; 99. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 100. London, UK. - Reuters

 

New Gulf Air Falcon Gold Lounge, a place of serenity



The new spacous Falcon Golf lounge at BIA
 
 

 

Bahrain’s national carrier, Gulf Air’s Falcon Gold Lounge at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) seamlessly integrates contemporary design and architecture with Arabic influences.

The fully renovated lounge sports an open design giving a sense of space and freedom with generous and clever use of space, creating an environment that combines peace and tranquillity with extensive modern-day business and catering facilities. For the first time, premium passengers have the added facilities of seven private sleeping rooms, a cigar lounge and shower rooms with hotel-style towels and luxury brand toiletries and amenities.

Passengers can stay connected with free wi-fi throughout the lounge, discreet power sockets at every seat and a business centre that includes PCs, fax machines and printers. For families the lounge offers a spacious family room with highly trained professional SkyNannies in attendance as well as a gaming room equipped with Xbox and PlayStation units.

The lounge upgrade is in-line with the airline’s service and product enhancement strategy both in the air and on the ground including the company’s aircraft which are either new or have been refurbished. The current fleet age is 5.2 years, one of the youngest in the region.

Gulf Air chief executive officer Samer Majali says that the upgraded-lounge was a further example of the airline’s commitment to investing in its hub. He says: “Bahrain is our most important market so developing and improving our home-product is key. The new lounge is the latest in a series of service enhancements across our entire passenger value chain including the re-launch of our Sky Nanny Service, Sky Chef, online check in and a robust network connectivity in the Middle East.

“We believe in investing in our customers and, as we keep improving ourselves in our customer service on the ground, we will continue to add more features and facilities in the air as well, so that our premium customers enjoy a consistently enhanced experience throughout their journey,” he says.

Gulf Air chief services officer Marcus Bernhardt says: “The revamp of the Bahrain Falcon Gold Lounge is part of an extensive lounge-renovation programme across our network, which saw the inauguration last year of our new premium lounge in Terminal 4 at Heathrow International Airport in London, and will be preceded next year by the upgrading of our premium lounge in Dubai International Airport.”

The architectural design of the new 1,720 sq ft lounge offers Arabian ambience with its huge walls adorned with Bahraini paintings and murals and featuring well laid-out business, dining, lounging facilities and TV areas in addition to offering panoramic views of the runway through a high glass wall. The design concept has been inspired by Bahrain’s heritage as the Pearl of the Gulf, and its pearl harvesting tradition.

There are also separate prayer rooms and secure lockers for those who want to use these facilities. The private sleeping rooms boast comfortable beds with dimming light and the ‘do not disturb’ option to rest in complete privacy. The rooms are also equipped with hi definition TVs with wireless headphones.

The modern, self-service buffet area offers a wide variety of snacks and meals, including an Italian coffee corner offering the world famous Lavazza brand coffee varieties.

The lounge can accommodate up to 200 people and all Platinum, Gold and Silver card holding FFP members of Gulf Air, and premium class ticket holders of Gulf Air’s code-share partner airlines.





  



Vietnam increases visa charges

Vietnam has sharply increased the cost of visas for those looking to visit the country.
Under the new programme, outlined by the ministry of tourism, travellers will now have to pay US$80 to obtain a one year visa, $100 if they wish to stay for one-to-two years, and $120 for a two-to-three year visa.

While the ministry of tourism admitted the decision would put a heavier burden on companies which hired foreign workers, it said the policy was designed to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to employ Vietnamese workers.

For tourists, the fee for a single-entry visa increased from US$25 to $45.

This is applicable to foreigners and Vietnamese holding foreign passports.

The fee must be paid in cash, in US dollars or in Vietnamese Dong.

In addition, UK tourists must now pay £12.29 for a service fee for a Visa approval letter from the Vietnam Immigration Department.

The new visa charges come as Vietnam raises its target to 7.2 million foreign visitors and 35 million domestic tourists in 2013.ses visa charges