This post is really meaningful to me. When I was a student, I used to live in Juan Les Pins, everyday, on my way to school, I was fascinated by this huge abandoned hotel and I really wanted to explore it. Le Provençal was the hotel that actually embodied a golden age on the Côte d’Azur.
“The 256-bedroom Art Deco palace and its “bright tan prayer rug of a beach” were, in the 1930s and 1940s, the symbol of the French Riviera. Coco Chanel and Marilyn Monroe ranked among the sun-worshippers; and on one balmy July evening, Ella Fitzgerald threw open an upstairs window and sang to the crowds at the world-famous Jazz à Juan festival in the park below. […] Built by an American millionaire Frank J Gould in 1925, with tennis club and jetty, restaurants, bars and luxury suites, the hotel marked a new way of life: la dolce vita.”
(copyright : Telegraph)
The famed Art Deco hotel on the Côte d’Azur has been derelict since 1973 and is now being turned into a luxury apartment building. I was sure they would never leave this hotel to squatters and pigeons forever and was dreaming of living in this dream hotel in the future… Too bad.. It is a little too early, I’m still not rich enough to buy any of the luxury apartment!
The London Telegraph reports that Developer Cyril Dennis is transforming the 45,000-sq.ft. beachside property, built in 1925, into 56 luxury units :
“Some have 360-degree views, and indoor pools, as well as outdoor pools and gardens; they will be fitted out with Porche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths, aquariums and separate staff lifts and entrances. Music, heating, lighting, flowers and shopping can be computer-controlled. Landscaped gardens, replanted each season, will feature fountains, ponds and an infinity pool with 360m terrace”
He describes the Provençal as “the last jewel in the Cap d’Antibes,” an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich (Russian) oligarchs. The luxury apartments will cost between €2million and €40million ($60 million)…
Opened in 1928, during an era when everything was grand and opulent, the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong has long been considered one of the world’s finest hotels.
It offers the ultimate in luxury accommodations with the most spacious hotel rooms and suites in Hong Kong.
The 26th-floor Peninsula Suite at the Hong Kong Peninsula has been regarded as the most luxurious suite in Asia. The 26th floor suite offers panoramic views of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island.
The Metropolitan Bangkok, sister to the chic Metropolitan outpost in London, has launched a new package specially designed for passengers passing through Bangkok on their way in and out of Asia, who find themselves at the city’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with a lengthy layover.
The new package allows for a stress-free stopover at the hotel, permitting guests to relax and recharge in style while waiting for the next leg of their flight.
A limo transports guests directly from the airport to the hotel, where one can immediately profit from the relaxing facilities at COMO Shambhala Urban Escape (including an extensive gym, hydro pool, steam rooms and outdoor lap pool) and an indulgent one-hour COMO Shambhala Massage.
Guests can enjoy A revitalising lunch or dinner (three courses, including fresh juice) at the Metropolitan’s healthy restaurant, Glow, where Executive Chef Daniel Moran serves light and nutritious COMO Shambhala Cuisine. Based on fresh, organic ingredients, menus provide an ideal energy boost for fatigued travellers (Bangkok is a common gateway for travel to Thai beach resorts, as well as The Maldives and Bali.)
“Touchdown at the Met” is available for US$200 per person (if travelling alone), US$150 per person (party of two), US$134 per person (party of three) or US$125 per person (party of four), excluding tax and service charge.
Note a minimum five-hour stopover is required to make time for this package.
The highly anticipated Joule hotel opened in Dallas in May and hotel guests will have the chance to check out the amazing opportunity to swim in the pool ! but this is no ordinary rooftop pool! With this new attraction, the hotel went above and beyond… literally.
The pool extends beyond the building, out over the sidewalk above the 1500 block of Main Street! This infinity-edge pool will not only provide guests with a refreshing place to cool off and relax, but it is also another eye treat adding to the cutting edge excitement downtown. Passers-by below can see swimmers, plus a nighttime light show from the 132 fiber optic lights in the pool.
Hotel owner Tim Headington, declined to say how much the project cost. Rooms at the Joule, which is part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide LLC’s Luxury Collection, start at $380 a night, with the 20th-floor penthouse rising to $5,000.
Already drawing the crowds in the South American resort of San Alfonso del Mar in Chile, this artificial lagoon and swimming pool has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the the biggest and longest swimming pool in the world.
The pool is 1013 metres (3,324 feet) long and covers an area of 8 hectares (19.77 acres), had a 115ft deep end and holds 66 million gallons (250,000 cubic meters ) of water. It is even navigable in small boats !
The idea to create this resort came as far back as 1997, when Chilean real estate developer and biochemist Fernando Fischmann, wanted to create a revolutionary resort. The motivating factor to create such an immense pool was the Pacific Ocean itself. The waters of the Pacific Ocean coast of Chile is cold, unclean and dangerous, so Mr Fischmann wanted to create a place for people to swim and enjoy water sports in a comfortable and safe environment. Rather than creating just another small swimming pool, he wanted something totally extraordinary.
The water is pumped in from the Pacific Ocean and treated before being pumped into the pool. The water temperature is kept at 26°C. It is 9°C warmer than the adjoining sea, allowing it to be used on cold days
It took five years to build, cost nearly £1billion and the annual maintenance bill will be £2million.
French industrial designer Jean-Marie Massaud believes that slow cruising in an airship could be the next step in air travel and he is partnering with Onera, France’s space agency, to create the world’s first luxury airship.
“Manned Cloud” will have a top speed of 170 kilometers per hour, but will generally travel at 130 kilometers per hour, a more comfortable speed for sight-seeing. The vessel, which will be 210 meters long, 82 meters wide and 52 meters high, will only require re-fuelling after 5,000 kilometers and will be able to remain airborne for roughly three days.
Massaud Studio is promoting the futuristic vessel as an ecologically friendly way to travel. Landscapes will be enjoyed from above rather than being disfigured or damaged by tourist infrastructure. A restaurant, bookstore, fitness studio and bar will provide entertainment, should watching the world go by through the enormous panorama windows, or tanning on the sun deck on the top of the vessel, become boring.
Intrigued by Massaud’s spaceship-like design and the possibility of a new aeronautics market, Onera has been testing the aerodynamics and flight-control capabilities of a scale model for the past year.
This spring, the agency recommended a slightly less grand version of the airship, capable of carrying 15 passengers and traveling at 80 mph. Massaud hopes the new design will attract the attention of private investors, from whom he aims to secure as much as $15 billion to begin building the Manned Cloud, with a sail date of 2020.
This post is really meaningful to me. When I was a student, I used to live in Juan Les Pins, everyday, on my way to school, I was fascinated by this huge abandoned hotel and I really wanted to explore it. Le Provençal was the hotel that actually embodied a golden age on the Côte d’Azur.
(copyright : Telegraph)
He describes the Provençal as “the last jewel in the Cap d’Antibes,” an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich (Russian) oligarchs. The luxury apartments will cost between €2million and €40million ($60 million)… 
Via telegraph.co.uk
