Arora International Hotel…Manchester’s Hidden Gem!

As a girl about town in Manchester one of my favourite places to go of an evening is Obsidian Bar & Restaurant.  Now any ladies fresh from the viewing of the latest Sex and the City will definitely appreciate Obsidian!  Entering through the discreet entrance on Princess Street in the heart of China Town and down the marble stairs you are met with the restaurant reception or deviate to the right and enter the longest bar in Manchester  (50ft of illuminated backlit bar to be precise) and the there is a reason it is this long.  Cosmo’s are sooooo last season here you can name your favourite ingredient and the lovely Tom, who still holds the crown for Manchester’s Best Barman until the next awards in October, will whirl you the concoction of your dreams!  Whilst you sip your cocktail you can chat and people watch to the funky house laid back sounds.  For the male of the species that feel too macho for the cocktails there is a great selection of beers and lagers from around the world!

If you’re not a liquid diet you can indulge in the restaurant of which the menu is a fusion of Chinese, English and Indian and boasts the best Monkfish Tandoori this side of Brick Lane and the best chunky chips I’ve ever had.  Enjoy the sophisticated surroundings or snuggle up in a secluded booth, the breakfast and brunch are also divine.  If you feel like leaving the rest of Manchester is on your door step in the heart of China Town close to the Gay Village, Bridgewater Hall, Exchange Square and Deansgate.

Now although I am usually three sheets to the wind after the cocktails as I leave Obsidian and gallivant off into the night so I could be forgiven for not noticing that above in the grade two listed building is the award winning Arora International Hotel!  Well I decided to make myself more familiar and treat myself to a weekend stay in one of the Premier King Deluxe rooms.  The hotel is 114 rooms of contemporary chic.   The service is second to none and staff are extremely helpful and friendly.  After check in and a little snooze on the big comfy bed I ordered some room service dinner drinks and relaxed watching the built in plasma screen TV.  Getting ready for dinner at Obsidian I had a little sing song to the built in bathroom speakers which I enjoyed even though the neigbours probably didn’t!  If you’re feeling energetic the fitness centre is open 24 hours a day although I skipped that in favour for the full breakfast!

Arora has everything – top class hotel, top location, top bar and restaurant and top staff and service.  Even better the hotel is offering 20% off 2 night stays and rates start from £69 per room per night.

‘To Stay or Not to Stay’ ….. ‘Global Gathering’ cometh of age in Stratford upon Avon!

I am sure we all know Stratford upon Avon because of it’s most famous son, William Shakespeare, who himself encouraged a ‘Globe-al gathering’ of his own at his famous London theatre! ….. but GlobalGathering is an annual dance music festival by Angel Music Group, the company behind Godskitchen, and is 10 Years Old this year.

The event takes place at Long Marston Airfield, Stratford upon Avon this year on Friday 30th & Saturday 31st July 2010 and is sure to be one heck of a party! 80,000 festival go-ers are expected to attend and I guess not all revellers will want to spend their rest & recovery time in a tent so I am going to offer one or two more salubrious options.

Whether the party-people will want to spend a night or two either side of the festival in Stratford upon Avon or Warwickshire depends on themselves but we at lastminute.com have plenty of choice which can save you money if you do choose to stretch your visit and stay for 2 or 3 nights in this area.

There are plenty of great quality hotels in the Warwickshire countryside, amongst which are the Stratford Manor.  A wonderful 4 star hotel on the outskirts of the town and with FREE parking, which has beautiful contemporary styled bedrooms with modern amenities including FREE WiFi for all guests for 2 hours; surely enough to update your facebook and twitter pages about what a great time you’re having at the festival!?  Stratford Manor also has a full leisure club with heated indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room and gym where you can relax before or after the festival.  There’s a great bar area where reasonably priced bar meals are served so you can refuel for the next day or the Shakespeare Restaurant which serves a seasonal menu, much of which is locally produced, for those wanting a more formal dinner arrangements.  If you stay for 3 nights the hotel offers 20% discount – great value for money and a great reason to stretch your weekend!

Another option would be Ettington Chase Hotel.  A superb hotel, a 10 minute drive outside of Stratford upon Avon andalso  set in the countryside, so no disturbed sleep here.  Parking is also FREE here and WiFi FREE for the duration of your stay.  Ettington Chase has a leisure club with heated pool, jacuzzi and sauna and a fabulous Dinner Inclusive offer starting from £79 for TWO including bed, breakfast and a 2 course meal from a Table d’Hote menu for TWO! Wonderful value and well worth the stay.  Aswell as this the hotel will give you 20% off if you stay for 2 nights and a FREE night when you choose to extend this to 3.

If your preference is to stay in the centre of Stratford upon Avon then Legacy Falcon and the Best Western Grosvenor Hotel could suit your needs.  Legacy Falcon dates back to the 16th Century so Shakespeare himself may well have strolled past this building as he penned his next masterpiece.  The building is a traditional Tudor residence and has FREE WiFi and FREE parking for all guests.  There is also a saving of 10% to be made with each 2 night stay.   Best Western Grosvenor is minutes from the High Street and the River Avon and is a Grade II Georgian building with a friendly welcome and service.  Again FREE parking and FREE WiFi for guests is offered aswell as a 25% saving when you stay for 3 nights! Is there no end to the value offered in Stratford upon Avon??

A little further afield , but still under 20 minutes drive from Stratford upon Avon, you’ll find the beautiful Chesford Grange Hotel.   A luxurious Country House with leisure & Spa set in 17 acres and with the River Avon running through the grounds.  There are contemporary bedrooms and a great Dinner, Bed & Breakfast deal when you stay for 2 nights which carries a 25% discount, a £20 allowance per person per night for Dinner on each night and an exclusive FREE bottle of wine for a limited period only!

The area is great for a long weekend or a long midweek stay as there is loads to see not only in Stratford on the City Sightseeing Tour that will take you around the Shakespearean Houses and famous sights, but also nearby Warwick, with the 900+ year old Warwick Castle, built by William the Conqueror in 1068  and a little further afield Cadbury World, where you can satisfy your indulgence for the famous chocolate and take the factory tour in the style of Willy Wonka!  So use your time wisely in Warwickshire ….. as the great playwright himself once said ‘ We are time’s subjects, and time bids be gone.’

Grand Hotels of our time, are we preserving our English heritage?

If you take a trip to the bustling city of Leeds, in the heart of Yorkshire, you will find one very fine example of where heritage is most definitely being preserved. The Iconic Queens Hotel in Leeds is one of the last great English Railway Hotels to be built, in their heyday these were the grand hotels of their time, a place where people would want to be seen, a fashion in itself. They also reflected the importance of the railways as ways to travel and the onset of social change heading in to a new era.

When the hotel replaced a building in 1861, the importance was reflected by the architects chosen to undertake the transformation, William Curtiss Green RA and William Hamlyn FRIBA, who were the designers of the Dorchester in Park Lane. The hotel opened in 1937 and was famed for its ‘filtered air’ in the bedrooms. Today, you or I would take an en-suite bathroom to be the norm, the thought of using a shared bathroom fills most of us with a sense of dread. However, at this time, en-suites were in the minority so the fact that The Queens Hotel was the first hotel in Britain built with en-suite bathrooms brought about something of an exciting change which was rather special, a talking point you may say. An interesting fact for you, on opening, the cost of a room was 10 shillings and sixpence for single occupancy – for you and I born into the decimal world, about 52p or $1!

Today, under the ownership of QHotels, this monumental hotel proudly stands in the heart of the City Square and quite rightly, sings ‘grandeur’ from its rooftops. But the grandeur is no façade, as you’ll discover when you step inside. With £10.5m invested in careful refurbishment, The Queens is a hotel proud of both its 1930’s Art Deco heritage and 4* modern luxury. With 215 sophisticated bedrooms and suites, you’ll not fail to be impressed by the seamless mix of grandeur and comfort that awaits you in your room.

For the ultimate in exclusivity, The Queens has recently opened the QClub, the city’s only executive floor, allowing you to live life at the top.  Following a £500k investment, 18 bedrooms have been fully refurbished together with the introduction of a new executive lounge and an executive terrace to wow (just keep that under wraps!).

If you haven’t visited Leeds before, what is keeping you? It is a fashionable, thriving city with outdoor eateries lining the pavements where ladies who lunch enjoy the chance to eat al fresco and soak up the Summer Sun, all mixed with a heady cornucopia of people enjoying life. There are all types of shops vying for your business and of course, for any shopaholic amongst you, Leeds has its very own Harvey Nichols, a department store to rival any others and it was its first venture outside of London. Heard of Harvey Nichols 5^th floor in London, well 4^th floor Leeds is where it is at!

Whether it is history, art, culture, gastronomy (Jamie has just opened a new restaurant here complete with the obligatory queue) or just the warm Yorkshire welcome you crave, Leeds will not disappoint.

Just go with the flow in Jersey

On my most recent visit to Jersey I was privileged to stay at the very unique Merton Hotel, just a few minutes drive from Saint Helier. The hotel offers a fantastic Aquadrome centre which features an indoor and outdoor pool, including the famous flowrider surfwave.

The flowrider surfwave is one a select few in the world and little young me got a chance to have a go! How hard can it be, seriously? The professionals make it look so easy. So ok, first time lying on the board in my surfers pose, the wave starts and off I go – right to the back wall and fly off the board! Action repeated a few more times but after an hour or so I was sitting up on the board surfing the waves! It’s a lot of fun and I recommend you have a go!

The Merton Hotel also has a sister hotel Pomme d’Or Hotel in an excellent location right in the centre of Saint Helier. Guests staying at the Pomme d’Or are also invited to use the Aquadrome at the Merton Hotel.

Both hotels have fantastic offers on, not to be missed for the Summer! Stay at the Merton for 4 nights or more and get 10% discount or stay at the Pomme d’Or for 2 nights and get 15% disount, 3 nights and get 20% discount or 4 nights and get 25%!