From 2 stars to 5 stars, these boutique or design hotels provide their guests with the ultimate experience. The majority of these hotels also operate totally individually and can do things bigger ‘chain hotels’ sometimes cannot do. They experience with social media, start partnerships with luxury brands, start with their own application or twitter all over the place.

As we operate our own blog we thought it would be nice to show you some of our ‘competitors’, hotels that also run a blog.

The Drawing Room
The first hotel blog we want to share with you is that of The Greenwich Hotel in New York. This hotel, part of Leading Hotels of the World, offers its guest 88 rooms and suites of which no two are alike. Their blog is called ‘The Drawing Room’ and tells about cultural wanderings through The Greenwich Hotel, Tribeca and beyond.

Happy Hotelier
Another interesting and very popular hotel blog is called ‘Happy Hotelier’ run by a Dutch guy called Guido van den Elshout. We already met him a few years ago and he is what we call a ‘passionate social media hotelier’ of The Haagsche Suites in The Hague, Netherlands. His blog seems to be very popular if you look at the number of comments on his postings and the way his blog has been set-up.

RUMOR
The third hotel and accompanying blog we want to share with you is RUMOR, the Las Vegas Boutique Resort. It looks like a great hotel featuring great stylish suites (Premium Oasis Suite, what a name!) and they operate an event blog where you can read about numerous events they have done.

Florence Blog
The Kursonia boutique hotel in Florence, Italy literally will leave you speechless, especially when you read their blog … the goal of this blog is ‘to experience Florence from the inside’.

May Fair Hotel Blog
The traditional May Fair Hotel in London is not a typical boutique hotel although their overall ‘look and feel’ does tell you a different story, their blog is wonderful, great images and telling you all about what is ‘in’ in London.

Avenue Hotel
Last but not least, the blog of the Avenue Hotel in Copenhagen, they write about events in Copenhagen, events at the hotel, great!!

The number of hotels starting with their own blog is slowly growing and if you look at how these blogs are operated you can see that every hotel has defined their own strategy to ‘catch’ their guests … it is definitely not a must to have a blog but it might help you to create more awareness in the virtual world about your hotel, give it a try …

Originally fans (flat and folding fans) arrived from East Asia to Europe in the 17^th century. You can see them displayed in portraits of royalties and high-society women. A fan is used to create an air flow for the purpose of cooling or refreshing oneself.

They seem to become more popular, hence we decided to develop our own hand fan (folding fan) for The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury. You can buy them at the reception desk for EUR 10,00 per piece.

Cool yourself with the special designed fan and enjoy some freshness!

There are many reasons why Vienna fares so well in such objective and subjective evaluations. Therefore, the following list is not exhaustive.

• Vienna – city of culture
  numerous activities in the area of theatre, music, art exhibitions, public readings, museums and operas that cater to all tastes!
• Imperial Vienna
  Imperial buildings like Hofburg, Schönbrunn Palace, Belvedere, Parliament, the splendid buildings of the Ring Boulevard, the medieval narrow streets and the baroque squares that shape the image of the city
• Transport
  A safe city with an excellent public transport network of underground trains, trams and buses
• Services
  Well-organised public services, a clean environment and excellent transport options
• Education
  Educational facilities are efficient and available to all
• Value
  Good price level: excellent value for money
• Climate
  Moderate and mild climate. Average summer temperatures 20°C to 30°C, average winter temperatures around 0°C.
• Accomodation
  A very good choice on high quality hotels, restaurants and bars and a large variety with regards to ‘nightlife’
• Culture
  A large amount of national and international festivals, events and awards

Vienna – according to the international acclaimed ranking by Mercer’s 2010 and the corresponding survey of the world’s largest cities, Vienna is definitely the best place to live. Vienna did score the highest for overall quality of living. Vienna ranks first surpassing Zurich according to the annual list by Mercer, the human resources consulting firm. This ranking shows the capital of Austria on top, moving ahead of the TOP 2 cities of last year, Zurich and Geneva. The list is based on 39 criteria that serve as leading indicators of quality of life.

Social services, political stability and environmental policies are ranked high, as well as aspects like health and safety, transport, infrastructure and training. The ranking, which covers 215 cities, is meant to offer a guide for governments and companies to establish compensation guidelines for their employees.

This is the 1^st time that the capital of Austria has gained the number one spot – a distinction welcomed by its leaders and business community.

Where can you ride a luxury car? Well, we have looked at some magazines and of course searched through the web, here are our results:

The Emirates Palace in Dubai offers a chauffeur-driven Maybach, it is part of a very exclusive and also expensive package. The Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong has an incredible pool of 14 (!!) Rolls Royce Phantoms and 2 customized Mini Coopers. At the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg in Moscow you can choose between a BMW 7 or if you like it more sporty to drive to a ‘Dacha’ you can also take a BMW X1 or X5. The hotel chain Kempinski does offer at some hotels a luxury car, at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul you can hire a Maybach including driver. The Grand Hotel Wien offers next to BMW 5 and 7 also a Mercedes 500 S class.

We actually wanted to show you the car brand that is part of The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel as well as Lake’s – my lake hotel & spa, both in Austria. Both hotels do have a completely branded Fiat 500 and use them partly internally or for transfer purposes.

The Fiat 500 of The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel has been delivered in 2009 and is branded with the logo and the color scheme of the hotel. Believe it or not but this car makes people turn their head around when driving through the city of Vienna.

The Fiat 500 C (Cabriolet) was delivered to Lake’s – my lake hotel & spa during the opening beginning of July 2010, this is a very nice example on how to brand a car and also providing the guests with a typical ‘summer feeling’ when taking the roof off.

Fiat stands for technology, Italian design, dynamism and versatility. Guests sometimes ask us why we decided to take Fiat and the question is, it has a sign of recognition and both hotels aim for the same.

What is an essential oil? It sounds complicated but if you read the various definitions it is not … an essential oil is a concentrated liquid containing aroma elements from plants, they are also known as ethereal oils or ‘the oil of the plant from which it was extracted’. This oil is ‘essential’ due to the fact that it includes a specific scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils can be classified into 3 ‘notes’, top, middle and base notes. The top note oils act fast and have a lasting time of 3-24 hours, the middle top notes are moderately volatile and last 2-3 days whereas the base note oils are slower and more relaxing, they can last up to a maximum of 3 weeks.

Cooking with essential oils is simply another way of being creative with food preparations. There is no dish which flavor cannot be influenced or improved by the use of an essential oil, they do more than making the food taste delicious, the essences promote health and overall wellbeing and with a certain dosage of the right oil for the right dish one might create a culinary experience and a ‘wow-effect’ for the guest, and that is what we want to achieve.

Essential oils can also be classified in a few groups: fruity oils, which fit perfectly to desserts, sour drinks and sweet refreshments, spicy oils which one may use when preparing food a more ‘spicy’ or warming way. Cooling or mint-orientated oils do work for recipes for certain jams, jellies or sauces but also for desserts. Floral oils like lavender, rose and jasmine are full with scent and essence and can be used for several food items and dishes. The last group, herbal oils are strong and flavorful oils which are merely used in a very tiny dosage in order to create that ‘wow-effect’.

Fruity oils lime, lemon, apple, grapefruit, mandarin and orange oil
Spicy oils cardamom, cinnamon and ginger oil
Cooling oils mint and peppermint oils
Floral oils lavender, rose and jasmine oil
Herbal oils thyme, marjoram, oregano and dill oil

The possibilities of cooking with essential oils are not only endless, they require a bit of creativity and experimenting. Try to use these oils towards to end of every cooking process, as the heat will evaporate the oils pretty quickly and we need to benefit from the scent and flavor before serving.

At our restaurant ‘at eight’ at The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel the head chef actively practices cooking with essential oils. He is not only creative but also experiments with various compositions of different oils in different cooking processes. “It requires a large amount of sensibility and carefulness, a bit too much of a specific oil can destroy a dish completely”, he mentions when he is talking about the cooking concept. And yes, restaurant guests are thrilled about this culinary experience, especially when they are confronted with essential or ethereal oils like ‘Bergbohnenkrautöl’ or ‘’Muskatelsalbeiöl’ and when the ordered dishes are served and one can see, smell and taste the scent and flavor of the oils that are used … Is that a culinary experience? We definitely think it is.

We should ask ourselves, was the idea that Santa Claus had correct or not: to visit people once a year? What is Christmas all about? Is it a time when everybody wants his/her past forgotten and his/her present remembered? Is it a time to decide on your values, desires, affections and traditions? Or does Christmas wave a magic wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful, like Norman Vincent Peale once said? Should Christmas not also be a time for quietness, a time to think about what happened in the past and also to take a look into the future?

I would like to quote Helen Steiner Rice when she once said:

“Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day”.

This is a great one!
We would like to use this opportunity to thank all of you for your support, contributions and trust during 2010. We have seen great postings and new initiatives throughout the year on our blog as well as an ongoing strong feedback.

We wish you a Merry X-Mas and a happy New Year. Enjoy a wonderful holiday season with friends and family … cu in 2011!

Come, see, taste and enjoy our new Ring Doughnut!

For this photograph the following companies did participate:

ZAK –Schuhmoden
Bipone Couture
Christian Dior

Model : Carmen Balazs
Photographer : Tom Euscher

www.styles.co.at

The other day I was leafing through a magazine at the dentist’s office – a place I dread – and along side an article about Heidi Klum, glowing and composed as always, was an ad for a weekend in Bad Ischl, the legendary Spa town of the Habsburgs. It promised to provide “relaxation fit for an emperor.” I sighed, dreaming of those simpler times when “taking the cure” fit into anyone’s calendar. My name was called: I closed the magazine, setting my fantasy aside, knowing it was too late to escape.

In an ideal world, of course, city people would be more sensible and get some obliging doctor friend to treat their bad back with the respect it deserves; write them a prescription and send them off to the mountains for a cure. But one’s conscience doesn’t always cooperate. But what is possible is to take off just an afternoon, and head down to the Day Spa, where you can check ambitions at the reception and spend a few hours remembering what it means to be human.

This is a time honored tradition in Austria, as it is across the Continent. European spas have their roots in ancient towns like Bad Gastein, so high in the mountains that you are “beyond the clouds” or Bad Vöslau where ancient Romans are said to have come to “take the waters” and restore their health. The practice has persisted through the centuries, through wars, pestilence and economic upheaval, so the Roman must have been on to something. However, in today’s hectic work environment and city-centered living, this pastime has come to seem extravagant, unthinkable for most.

So we have to thank Catherine Atzen, inventor of the term “Day Spa,” This clever creature journeyed to the United States from France in the 1980s to found such a retreat in New York, taking pleasures of this time-consuming relaxation and compacting it into an easy-access, efficient way to reboot your operating system, at a health center right in the middle of town. Since then, the concept has spread like a virus.

And happily for me, I caught it.

After making my appointment, rescheduling a few meetings was easy when I thought of the treats to come. No shame in a little fib to get myself back running on all four cylinders. My destination: The Ring, Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel, which has created a day spa experience that must be hard to match. At the spa “Casual Luxury” gets a whole new meaning.

As I entered, swiping my key-card and pushing open the heavy door, the scent of essential oils permeated my senses. The mellow music and calm lighting immediately transported me into an oasis of serenity. My to-do list was forgotten as I changed into the robe waiting for me by the steam room. I was early, but that was just as well as gave me time for a quick shower and steam to get my pores ready for the yummy oils that awaited me. After 10 minutes of steam I sidled over to the treatment room where my masseur was already warming his hands.

The treatments are manifold. The hot stone massage, or Anti stress Dreamland will allow you to escape for an hour of utter recreation. The full body massage is not merely a rubdown, but the masseur responds to your body’s personal needs, working especially on the areas where attention is most needed. For me, someone who is always on her feet, this meant intense work on my lower legs, which felt divine. And of course in our wonderful world of a computer-based workday, the treatment of my neck and shoulders took quite a while as well. But the charming masseur was kind, explaining that my obvious hard work meant I deserved to be pampered. Little did he know I was “skipping school” – although now that I think of it, I was probably not alone.

In the aftermath of utter relaxation, I found I couldn’t bear to leave, or I felt rooted to the spot. What else could I do to postpone reality a little longer? I only wanted more!

From facials and manicures, to specific treatments for men and rejuvenating remedies, the spa offers enough to make my whole family happy, and then some. One unique treatment at the Ring Day Spa, is the Chocolate Massage that any of my chocoholic girlfriends would adore, especially in winter, when the skin needs that extra portion of moisture. And the aromas may even dissuade them from stuffing themselves with the real thing and complaining about extra kilos.

No matter what those classical spa people say, I felt just like the Empress “Sissi” after my Day Spa experience. And since it only took a few hours out of a weekday afternoon, no one even had to know I was gone. As I pushed open the front door of the Ring Hotel I saw a disgruntled businesswoman shivering at the cold, I grinned, warm, relaxed, light-footed and still glowing.

Maggie Childs is a freelance travel and feature writer for publications such as Condé Nast Traveller, The Vienna Review, Gig Magazine and various in-flight magazines. She is currently working in Vienna, Austria.

There was a time when we were more concerned with the experience of travel and just coming up with decent vacation ideas than we were with what we learned and brought back from it. We rejoiced in the sheer simplistic pleasure of going somewhere new, meeting new people and doing new things. The advent of modern-day technology has ultimately detracted from this enjoyment somewhat.

A few years ago, when we still used to relish travel and do so just for the sake of it, throwing carefully laid plans and caution to the wind; the only items we really needed to concern ourselves with was enough money to get by in our destination of choice, our passport and maybe also our wallet (once you’d taken care of legalities like a VISA or necessary vaccinations, of course). These days there are a whole host of addition things to worry about, turning a onetime joy into a veritable font of worry and last-minute additions to the inventory and itinerary alike.

These days it’s all about packing cameras, computers, laptops, batteries, phones and music players. It seems that to travel, one must also transport a whole host of technological “toys, such as the ones that already permeate every aspect of home life, something which travel was supposed to be a getaway from. Then comes the matter of space and having to carry it all, as with an ever-increasing number of things to remember and take, there’s an ever-decreasing amount of space in which to transport them, thus leading to additional problems. Technology was supposed to make our lives easier and at home and at business, it might well have. However, with regards to travel for leisure and luxury, this is far from the case.

This writer would call for a return to the days of yore and yesteryear, back to when travel was travel and – above all else – back when it was easy and a pure, unsophisticated joy. Next time you embark for distant lands unchartered, don’t concern yourselves with ineffectual add-ons and accoutrements, just go as yourselves and with yourselves. You’ll find that you’re better for it.

For more travel tips and vacation inspiration, check out the Tripbase Travel Blog / Tripbase site.

Tripbase eliminates the time-consuming and frustrating online search process by providing travelers with personalized travel recommendations for their next trip.

Tripbase was named Top Travel Website for Destination Ideas by Travel and Leisure magazine in November 2008.