Hotel Girl

Maltese luxury brand Corinthia Hotels has released further details about its £270m five-star luxury hotel in central London, which is expected to open early next year.

The 294-room hotel will be in the site of the former Metropole Hotel from the 1880s, near Trafalgar Square. It will have all you'd expect from a luxury hotel:  two restaurants, a concept cocktail bar, boardroom meeting facilities and a refurbished grand ballroom.

But i'm getting most excited about the spa. The 10 Whitehall Place property next door will be redeveloped to include a luxury spa operated by ESPA.

The press release promises it will be the "first of its kind" - laid on four levels with "pioneering" design and treatments.

The hotel is set to be one of the highest profile openings in London for 2011 ahead of the Olympics. Other newbies include the W in Leicester Square and Shangri-La in the city.

The Hotel Adlon Kempinksi in Berlin is probably best known for being the infamous spot where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window.

But after spending a couple of nights in this grand and glamourous hotel , I realised there's far more to it than a few cheap headlines.

The Adlon has an incredibly rich history.

It was built by Lorenz Adlon in 1907 and became a magnet for the celebrities of the day. 

It survived two world wars before being destroyed in a fire in the 1940s.

Adlon signed over the name to the Kempinski and the hotel eventually reopened in 1997. Although little of the original hotel remains, the place still oozes the glamour of its early years.

No other hotel has such a prestigious location, right in front of the Brandenburg Gate and a minute's walk from the Holocaust Memorial and the Reichstag.

Rooms are spacious, traditional in style but with all the high-tech touches. 

The furniture in mine was due for a little updating but the fantastic view over the Gate (pictured) made up for that.

The swimming pool and new Day Spa are also worth a look.

 But my favourite part of the hotel was the lobby - a perfect place to relax after a busy day soaking up the history and culture of the city. 

Ask most Glaswegians what they associate Blythswood Square with, and they won't think 'luxury'.

Before it was cleaned up, this area of the city centre was famous for being the city's red light district.

Now it's home to a new luxury hotel, the Blythswood Square, the latest addition to the mostly Edinburgh-based Townhouse Collection.

In a building dating back to 1823, the hotel has lots of beautiful period features combined with strikingly modern decor.

The owner hasn't shied away from the area's past, but given a cheeky nod to it by putting a red light in the windows of all 100 rooms. 

The other striking feature of the design is tweed. You'll find tweed, Harris Tweed in particular, in the rooms, the staff's uniforms, and even on the chairs in the screening room. American tourists will love it.

Tweed aside, rooms are spacious, luxurious and full of cute reminders of the building's former use as the Royal Scottish Automobile Club.

And judging from the Trip Advisor reviews so far, it looks like the Blysthwood is proving stiff competition for Glasgow's best-known luxury hotel One Devonshire Gardens.

I popped out of Travel Weekly towers today to check out the new Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. 

Builders were rushing around frantically to get the hotel ready in time for its soft launch on February 4. All the structural work is done and they're now ready to add the furniture in the public areas.

With 1,021 bedrooms, the hotel is truly vast. Lots of work is being to make sure guests can check in, move around the hotel and check out quickly and easily.

The huge reception desk has nine check in points and there are separate check in-desks for groups and suites/apartments.

Decorated in burnt orange and browns, rooms are more stylish and spacious than your average London business hotel.  Lots of important little details have been attended to, such as a little fridge space next to the mini bar, a power block suitable for overseas plugs and cute rubber ducks by all the baths.

Built on a site previously dubbed the "ugliest building in Britian", the hotel has a great location overlooking Westminster. And there will be plenty of reasons to stay in to eat, with the UK's first Illy Espressamente coffee bar, a sushi bar and a restaurant by Joel Antunes. 

Clients who want a taste of iconic London will love this new landmark property, so it's worth getting on to one of the fam trips being planned for March so you can give them the inside track.

Started planning your city breaks for 2010 yet? No? Well, here's some inspiration..

The new Four Seasons in Beirut opened  this week and the first guests are being welcomed in today.

These lucky people will be staying in one of the 230 rooms or suites with "oversized" terraces, taking a dip in the rooftop glass-enclosed swimming pool and chowing down in the steak and seafood restaurant.

In a few months, the hotel will open Club 26, a sky-high rooftop pool lounge that will offer 360-degree views of the city.

The Lebanon capital is turning into quite a hot destination, with great nightlife and thriving arts culture. With this swanky new hotel, now you have an excuse to visit it.

Fancy a manicure or facial while you're waiting for your next flight? Well this is your place. Virgin Atlantic has revamped its Clublounge at Gatwick.

The lounge, which I checked it out on my way to Barbados last week, has just reopened after a total facelift. It now has a Cowshed Spa and rock garden where upper class passengers can have 15 minute facials, manicures or massages for no extra charge.

If your flight's delayed as mine was, you can kill time playing on the Nintendo Wii, freeing your inner rock star on Guitar Hero, checking your email on the laptops or having brunch in the brasserie.

The new design is sleek and modern with Arne Jacobsen chairs and lots of black, grey and trademark Virgin red. The place has a relaxing 'sunday morning' atmosphere that really helps take the hassle factor out of flying - but watch out, it won't be easy going back to cattle class.

The people behind the lovely Babington House - the home of Cowshed spa - opened a city pad in Soho today.

The Dean Street Townhouse has luxurious four-poster beds, stand-alone bathtubs and all the Cowshed goodies you can smuggle into your suitcase.

Built in a 39-room Georgian townhouse, rooms come in all sizes from 'tiny' to 'bigger'. Tinies start at £95 per night - perfect for a recession-chic mini break.

For us Londoners, it also has an all-day dining room serving British favourites - I've got my eye on the Bramley apple pie.

So now you have an excuse to be lazy cow in central London - as if you needed one.

The United States has agreed to sell its embassy building in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair to Qatari Diar, a real estate investment company.

It hasn't been confirmed, but the group is expected to turn the building into a luxury hotel and apartments.

The building is Grade 2 listed so they will have to keep the facade, which includes the famous 35ft gilded aluminium eagle above the main entrance.

The Times predicts that this quirky look might fit Starwood's W brand or Rezidor's Missoni. The area's already packed with luxury hotels, from Claridges to the Dorchester, so whoever takes this project on will have a lot to live up to..

(pic: The Times)

So what has really changed the hotel sector in the last ten years? If this is a question that keeps you up at night, check out Uberoom.com's 14 most influential game changes of the decade.

Rightly, top of the list is in-room Wifi. Just a few years ago Wifi were just two funny-sounding syllables - now it's one of the first things many of us check when choosing where to rest our weary legs for the night. Since some of the top hotel chains are still charging ridiculous rates for Wifi,  (I'm looking at you Four Seasons) here are some alternative uses for your laptop.

Red Carnation Hotels, one of my favourite luxury hotel groups, is offering exclusive deals on its London properties for its Twitter followers and Facebook fans.

Last weekend's offer was £235 a night, including breakfast, a £25 dining credit and free tickets to Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy.

This is a great saving on the usual rates. Although the deal is for an unnamed property, all the hotels are super luxurious so you can't go wrong.

And with a stroke of luck, you could end up in this glass-roofed conservatory master suite at 41 Hotel..