Monthly Archives: August 2013

saint barth isle de france

LVMH Acquires St Barth Hotel

Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France

The acquisition of high-end establisment Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France on the French Caribbean island of St. Barts by LVMH, confirms the company’s ambitions to become a leading reference in five-star accommodations.Consisting of 39 rooms, suites and villas, the hotel also features two restaurants.

Hotel Saint Barth Isle de France

LVMH Hotel Management, founded in 2009, already owns several hotels under the Cheval Blanc brand (open now or to be opened soon), as well as the White 1921 boutique hotel in Saint-Tropez.

Luxury Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France

Cheval Blanc Courchevel

Located in France’s picturesque Savoie region, this hotel opened its 34 rooms and suites in 2006. The facilities include two restaurants, enigmatically named White and 1947. The second, featured in the Michelin Guide with two stars, is overseen by the chef Yannick Alléno.

Le Cheval Blanc Palace

Cheval Blanc Randheli in the Maldives

To the north of Malé, LVMH is currently putting the finishing touches on a new Cheval Blanc hotel, scheduled to open in November 2013. The high-end establishment will have no less than 45 private villas. It is worth noting that to get to the hotel, guests have to ride on a seaplane that was designed for Cheval Blanc.

Samaritaine Cheval Blanc

Cheval Blanc Samaritaine in Paris

In late 2014, LVMH is expected to cut the ribbon on the jewel in its Cheval Blanc crown, to be located in the 1933 Art Deco building of the historic Parisian department store La Samaritaine. The five-star hotel will include 80 suites and rooms as well as a well-being center, the Spa Givenchy. The building, which was in dire need of restoration, will be outfitted with a new façade and hanging gardens on the roof.

Samaritaine terrasse

Cheval Blanc in the Middle East

As far back as 2010, LVMH Hotel Management announced its plans to enter the Middle Eastern market with two sites: Al Sodah in Oman and Amoun at Aswan, in Egypt. The former hotel will take shape on an 11 square kilometer island, while the second will offer 40 rooms, most with a view of the Nile.

Champagne bar White 1921

White 1921 in Saint Tropez, France

LVMH managed the reopening of this boutique hotel in June 2012. Tucked away in the former Maison Blanche hotel on the coastal town’s animated Place des Lices, this hotel includes 8 rooms decorated in contemporary style. There is also a bar and lounge designed by the archtect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, a Mediterranean garden and a champagne cellar.

White 1921 Saint Tropez

cognac cellar

The World’s Best Cognac Bars

cognac bar

The best cognac bars in the world can be found in London, New York, Paris and Singapore.

That’s according to Bernard Hine in an interview with trade publication The Drinks Business, who rhymed off a list of his top favorite cognac bars around the world.

Cognac brand Hine is the brandy maker to the Queen, and this year celebrates its 250th anniversary.

1. The Coburg, The Connaught Hotel, London

Hine names The Coburg for its choice of XO Cognacs, an historic cocktail list that includes the Alexander, the Sidecar, the Sazerac, and for salads, sandwiches, and tapas created by Michelin-starred chef Hélène Darroze.

2. Annabel’s, Berkeley Square, London

Described as “one of the most elegant private members clubs in the world” Annabel’s offers a selection of XOs from Courvoisier, Hennessy, Hine, Martell and Remy. The private members club also offers a Hine Cigar Reserve.

3. Champany Inn, Linlithgow, Scotland

A 20-minute drive from Edinburgh, the inn boasts a bar and cellar which Hine describes as an “Aladdin’s cave of drinkable treasures.” The inn itself is described as a collection of historic 16th-century stone buildings.

4. Corse Lawn, Cheltenham, UK

Hine expresses a little favoritism here and cites a hotel acquired from within the family dynasty, as the Corse Lawn hotel is run by his cousin’s son. Set in the Cotswolds countryside, the lawn of the inn is the perfect place to enjoy a post-dinner cognac, he says.

5. Le Baudelaire, Hotel Burgundy, Paris

The five-star hotel hidden in the heart of Paris offers an extensive collection of cognac in a luxurious environment with Michelin-starred fare nearby.

6. Brandy Library, New York

Hine heaps praise on this bar in Tribeca describing its selection of cognacs, whiskies and rums as one of the most extensive in the world. Staff are also described as highly knowledgeable.

7.  Churchill Bar, Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou, China

Hine calls the capital city of Guangdong province “THE” cognac city in China, and the five-star Ritz-Carlton the place to get it, for their experienced staff, luxury surroundings and selection of brown spirits and cigars.

8. Raffles, Singapore

It’s a 19th century colonial-style hotel that is an icon in Singapore and boasts a bar program that includes a martini bar, writer’s bar that pays tribute to the writers who’ve stayed and drunk at the hotel, and the Bar and Billiard Room which houses two billiard tables from the 1870s.

9. L’Essille, Bassac, France

Described as a lovely retreat in the Charente countryside, the hotel and restaurant also hosts a grand tasting with cognac houses who present their cuvées to sommeliers around the world.

the connaught hotel london

florianopolis

The friendliest – and unfriendliest – cities in the world

A seaside city on an island in Brazil that’s been described as Latin America’s “hottest new party destination” has also been named the friendliest city in the world by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.

florianopolis

Florianopolis, or the “Island of Magic,” was voted the friendliest destination on the planet, beating out runners-up like Thimphu, Bhutan and Queenstown, New Zealand with the top rating of 95.8.

Exact details on what makes Florianopolis more hospitable than others are sparse, however, as a brief blurb of reader reviews describes its people as simply “nice” and the destination “stunningly beautiful.”

A NYTimes article described the city as a mix of St.Tropez and Ibiza, minus the attitude and the prices.

Queenstown New Zealand

Over the year, the 53-km (33 mile)-long coastline of white sandy beaches, surf-friendly waves, mega-clubs and beach bars have made it a preferred destination among affluent Brazilians and tourists who’ve done their research, the story says.

Meanwhile, a common thread among the top 10 friendliest cities is that most are small to mid-sized destinations from less affluent, modest countries such as Bhutan, Burma, Ireland and Indonesia.

At the other end of the spectrum, of all the cities in the world, Newark, New Jersey emerged the unfriendliest for being rude and unpleasant.

shenzhen

“I visited Newark on business and would not recommend this city for anything, except a cheaper, less busy airport to fly into while visiting other cities,” said one reader.

It could be construed as a surprising choice, as the city best known as a transport hub beat out either hostile or politically volatile destinations like Islamabad, Pakistan; Luanda, Angola; and Detroit, Michigan, which was described as “the armpit of the world.”

Charleston

And interestingly, while the top 10 friendliest list includes just one lone US representative (Charleston, South Carolina), half of the top 10 unfriendliest city destinations are American.

For the full list, visit http://cntrvlr.com/1cs22Pu.

dianekruger

Watch: Diane Kruger’s first film for Chanel beauty

As announced last April, Chanel chose the German actress as the face of its new skincare line. Chanel unveiled the yesterday first video of the campaign with Diane Kruger, entitled “Where Beauty Begins.”

This video appears to be an excerpt from a longer advertising campaign for Chanel’s new line, consisting of unique resynchronizing face care products: Le Jour (Day), La Nuit (Night) and Le Weekend.

Although none of the new products appear in the video, there is a link on YouTube leading to the website of the new skincare range.

Diane Kruger radiates natural, simple beauty in this video like never before. Repeated close-ups of her face highlight a bright and flawless complexion in a number of different settings, from a bustling city to a calm beach, or behind the wheel of a sleek retro convertible.

Chanel’s Le Jour, La Nuit and Le Weekend resynchronizing face care products, designed to restore and strengthen skin by adapting to the natural rhythms of modern life, have been rolling out since July.

Diane Kruger is no stranger to posing for the French luxury brand. In 1996, her face graced the advertising campaign for the brand’s Allure fragrance, and in 2007 she carried the brand’s Paris-Biarritz tote bag in a campaign filmed by Karl Lagerfeld.

Mercedes-Benz experimenting with Google Glass

Google Glass photo

Mercedes-Benz’s North American R&D chief claims the ultimate goal is to use Google’s head-worn computer to create a seamless GPS system.

Despite the fact that Gary C. Howell, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, is currently trying to pass a bill that would make them illegal while driving, Mercedes-Benz’s US research and development arm is hard at work developing in-car applications for Google Glass.

In an interview with Business Journal this week, Johann Jungwirth, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, says that the company’s ultimate goal is to create a “seamless” door-to-door transition between pedestrian directions and in-car GPS. The idea being that the information displayed via the headset automatically switches from in-car navigation to on-foot directions the moment the driver kills the engine and alights from his or her luxury German sedan.

The contextual awareness of Google Glass would mean that a destination would only have to be entered once to cover the journey, no matter how many different forms of transport were required to arrive at a destination.

As a device, Google Glass is still also very much in its own R&D phase. Only a handful of the headsets are ‘in the wild’ and they mostly belong to developers who are busy getting to grips with what the wearable computer can do and how they can best exploit its features via specially created apps.

Jaguar XKRSGT

Jaguar XKR-S GT IS coming to the UK – just 10 available

2014 Jaguar XKR-S GT

Jaguar has raised production from 30 to 40 examples of its extreme, track-focused sportscar, the XKR-S GT, and announced that it will be coming to the UK.

When the striped carbon fibre-infused coupe was unveiled at this year’s New York motor show, Jaguar stated that the car, capable of going from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 300km/h, would only be offered for sale in North America and that each of the strictly limited examples would come with a $174,895 pricetag.

However, four months later Jaguar has had a change of heart and will be building a further 10 models specifically for its home market, the UK.

The company claims that the decision is a direct result of the unprecedented demand it has received since the car was unveiled and has promised that the first examples of the British version, which will cost £135,000, will start rolling off the production line and onto their owners’ immaculately landscaped driveways in October.

The XKR-S GT is based on the company’s flagship XKR luxury four-seat sports coupe but has been shaped and refined into a snarling race car that’s sufficiently road legal so that it can be driven to and from a race track as well as around it at breakneck speed.

Jaguar claims that its handy work, which includes the addition of carbon fibre wail-tail rear spoiler, side skirts and front chin spoiler and air splitter plus upgraded suspension, engine mapping and brakes, has resulted in the car setting a very impressive Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit lap time of 7m40s.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren to restore Parisian art school

Ecole des Beaux Arts

American fashion designer Ralph Lauren is set to come to the rescue of the famous art school, the École des Beaux-Arts, with a multi-million dollar gift to help restore the site in Paris’s Latin Quarter.

Acccording to WWD, funds have been set aside for major updates to the school’s main auditorium, which features a 90-foot (27-meter) mural by French painter Paul Delaroche, as well as modernizing the website with updated e-learning and online content.

The designer, who usually presents his collections during the Mercedes-Benz fashion week in NYC, is also rumored to be preparing a runway show for October 8. The gala show and dinner, set to take place just after the Paris S/S 2014 presentations, would mark Lauren’s first ever European show.

Back in 1998 Lauren gave $13 million to the Smithsonian Institution to preserve the famous ‘star-spangled banner’, the now 200-year-old flag which inspired the US national anthem.

mulberry fall 2013

Mulberry Fall-Winter 2013 campaign

British luxury brand Mulberry must have had a hoot on set with Cara Delevingne as they created their owl-packed Autumn-Winter 2013 campaign. Shot by esteemed fashion and art photographer (and noted surrealist) Tim Walker, Mulberry has unveiled its latest print campaign.

Mulberry Fall Winter 2013 campaign

Featuring Cara Delevingne and a host of feathered friends, the campaign was shot inside a luxury home, with Delevingne sitting in and around an indoor tree, surrounded by a host of wide-eyed owls.

Mulberry Fall 2013 campaign

The images show off the brand’s Bayswater, Del Rey (designed for popstar Lana Del Rey), Primrose, and Willow bags as well as clothes and accessories from the Fall-Winter collection which was first unveiled at London fashion week back in February this year.

Mulberry Fall 2013 Ad campaign

Quito Ecuador

The hottest South American destination of 2013

Quito Ecuador

If you’re looking for a South American adventure, consider booking a trip to a 16th century Andean city known as the cradle of ancient pre-Incan history and recently named South America’s leading tourist destination by the world’s travel industry.

Quito, Ecuador captured the lofty title at the World Travel Awards for South and Central America in Peru this month, just in time to fete its 35th anniversary as a UNESCO Heritage site.

Basílica del Voto Nacional

Founded on the ruins of an Inca city and tucked between Andean volcanoes 2,850 m above sea level, the 16th century city of Quito boasts the best-preserved historic center in Latin America.

Major landmarks include historic monasteries, churches, convents, and colonial plazas. Quito snatched the title from other major cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lima, Easter Island, and Buenos Aires.

Maquipucuna Cloud Forest

Surrounding areas also boast some of the most biodiverse and geographically rich regions in the world, with snow-capped mountain peaks, tropical rainforests, lakes, lagoons, volcanoes and cloud forests all within striking distance of the city.

Activities include horseback riding, mountain climbing, trekking, canopy, rappelling, and rafting.

La Costa Verde Lima Peru

The other big winner of the night — known as the Oscars of the travel industry — was Lima, Peru, which took the title of South America’s Leading Culinary Destination and South America’s Leading Tourist Board. The JW Marriott Hotel Lima (below) also took the prize for South America’s Leading Hotel.

JW Marriott Hotel Lima

Best new restaurants for 2013

Best new restaurants for 2013: CNTraveler

Best new restaurants for 2013

In New York, the best new dining destinations of 2013 are imported restaurants from outside the city. In Paris, one of the best new eateries serves what’s described as the best sandwich in the city — with nary a baguette in sight. And in London, anything goes, with everything from a hot dog joint, Peruvian ceviche bar and a ‘rock ‘n roll’ ramen bar getting a nod from local food editors.

kitchen by mike

Those are just some of the restaurant picks from Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Best New Restaurants for 2013,  which trendspotted 70 new eateries spanning New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo and South America.

mission chinese restaurant new york

In New York, Grub Street editor Alan Sytsma picked Mission Chinese Food and Pok Pok NY as some of the best new restaurants in the city — both of which found fame and cult followings outside the city.

ultraviolet restaurant shanghai

In Paris, “Hungry For Paris” author Alexander Lobrano gives shoutouts to a small Franco-Japanese sandwich shop Abri, where they sell what he calls the best sandwich in the city made with tonkatsu pork, kimchi omelet, melted cheese, and a umami-heavy sauce on toast.

auberge flora restaurant paris

Bones, steered by Aussie chef James Henry, and Roseval, helmed by Simone Tondo and Michael Greenwold, are also given top nods, highlighting the emerging trend of young, dynamic expat chefs setting up shop in Paris and redefining the culinary landscape of a city where tradition holds a sacred place in gastronomy.

bones restaurant paris

In London, food writers singled out eateries like Bone Daddies, where an Aussie chef gives Japanese ramen Chinese flavors; Bubbledogs, where dressed-up hot dogs are paired with a glass of bubbly; and Ceviche, for its Peruvian ceviche.

The Clove Club London

And in Tokyo, where Northern Italian cuisine is all the rage, chef and food writer Yukari Sakamoto chose Da Olmo, where Italian dishes are reinvented with Japanese flavors, and La Sora Seed, which serves signature dishes like bamboo shoot risotto with boar pancetta.

Masterful udon and ramen shops like Udon Maruka and Menya Sumisu also made the list.

For the full list, visit http://cntrvlr.com/18PbY6Q.

soraseed tokyo

1-5 Grosvenor Place

Peninsula Hotels Is Coming To London

1-5 Grosvenor Place

The owner of the Peninsula hotel brand, Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels (HSH), has unveiled plans to launch its first property in London.

An agreement signed with UK-based Grosvenor will see HSH purchase a 50% interest in the central London address, 1-5 Grosvenor Place, and redevelop the site as a Peninsula Hotel.

While specific details about the new Peninsula London have not been released, the property will form part of a new mixed-use development covering more than 6,000m² according to Traveldailymedia.com

The site overlooks London’s Hyde Park and is located opposite the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Dubrovnik Harbor

Croatia’s Dubrovnik approves controversial golf project

Dubrovnik golf

Dubrovnik authorities have approved a controversial one-billion-euro project to build a golf complex on a hill above the famous medieval Croatian city, despite fierce opposition from some locals.

Critics have raised environmental concerns over the development on a site, and also said that the modern project is incompatible with the architecture of the city, a UNESCO world heritage site.

The project, backed by Australian former world number one golfer Greg Norman, aims to build two golf courses, two hotels, 240 villas and 400 apartments on 310 hectares (766 acres) of the land.

Construction on the project – the brainchild of Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel – could begin later this year. Those supporting the scheme say it will result in the creation of local jobs and provide a boost to the tourism industry. Norman, who won two Majors, is to open a golf academy at the project site.

Some 100 protestors had gathered outside Dubrovnik’s city hall to voice their opposition and carried banners which read “Srdj is ours” in reference to the name of the land where the complex will be built.

The newest member of the European Union, Croatia hosts more than 11 million tourists yearly, almost triple of its population of 4.2 million. Dubrovnik is visited by some 700,000 tourists every year.

Dubrovnik

Kyrgyz Lamborghini

Watch: Lamborghini constructed from spare parts

Not sure what to do with your old Volvo? New Format, a design studio in the Kyrgyz Republic, has an interesting solution.

With a 1982 Volvo as the base, wheels from a BMW X5, spare parts and scrap metal from the junkyard, plenty of imagination, and three months of perseverance, the agency has succeeded in creating a rather convincing knock-off of the Lamborghini Gallardo, a car usually priced at €300,000.

Meder Koilubaev, artistic director at New Format, has expressed his ambition to launch a new concept of custom one-of-a-kind cars made from spare parts in true Kyrgyz style.

Louis Vuitton Paris store

Louis Vuitton tops 2013 global luxury brand list

Louis Vuitton Paris store

Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Gucci were the top three global luxury brands of 2013, with Fendi and Coach entering the top 10 for the first time, a study said Wednesday.

The 2013 BrandZ Top 100, a ranking of the most valuable global brands compiled by research firm MillwardBrown, found luxury firms struggling with the need to balance exclusivity with attracting new customers through use of social media.

“On Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media platforms, brands across the luxury spectrum mediated the tension between the exclusivity that protects brand desirability and the inclusivity needed to attract new customers,” it said.

The survey said luxury brands had become more “accessible, collaborative and experimental”.

After a modest purchase, for example, a firm might send a thank you note on twitter while a couture fashion customer might receive an invitation to an exclusive show.

Handbag firm Coach owed its position at number 10 on the list to its presence in China where it added 30 stores by the end of 2012, taking its total there to 69.

The survey said it was among the firms making extensive use of social media and the Internet, “emailing over 1.2 billion messages to selected customers”.

And it found that the Chinese customer continued to be key to the fortunes of luxury firms in Europe.

Although, the sector felt the impact of government limits on official gift giving and slowing economic growth in China, purchases by Chinese and other Asian tourists to Europe “buoyed luxury sales in the economically troubled markets of western Europe”, it said.

Overall in the past year, the value of the luxury sector had risen six percent, compared with a 15 percent increase a year ago, it added.

The top ten brands were: Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci, Prada, Rolex, Chanel, Cartier, Burberry, Fendi and Coach.