Hotel Girl

The Four Seasons in Boston has announced it's to close its fine dining restaurant Aujourd'hui and another hotel restaurant, Great Bay at the Commonwealth Hotel in the same city is also due to shut soon. OK that's in America, but the question of what to do with hotel restaurant spaces has proved an eternal dilema for operators.

Will the same happen over here? Are fine dining hotel restaurants doomed to go the way of Dieter Muller's disastrous Andaman offering at the St James' hotel and whither away with barely a whimper?

But perhaps this trend of out-sourcing these spaces to celebitry chef names - think Ramsay, Locatelli and Wareing may acutally help them survive.  

I guess the key question is how long will people pay top dollar for posh hotel grub and will it have to have a s'leb name above the door to succeed?

IHG corporate head office just sent me an email with their friends and family rate discounts - so I thought I'd pass it on, just between us, you understand.

Well she did say, please feel free to pass on to friends, family and colleagues... so here you are....

The traditional student gap year is being hijacked by redundant city workers with loads of cash to splash.

The wake of the mass redundancies in the city has led to many workers deciding to take a break and do a bit of travelling according to the Independent today.

It's so comforting to know that while we 'normal folk' grapple with the fallout from their recklessness, desperately trying to cling on to our jobs, they are able, thanks to their payouts - which were no doubt just as obscene as their bonuses, to swan around the world in luxury.

Bitter though I may be, perhaps the silver lining is that, rather than backpacking around Thailand and sleeping on the beach, these chaps are used to the finer things in life and are doing the world trip in style, staying at nice hotels and eating at good restaurants.

A golden opportunity to take some of our cash back methinks...

Sandals has come to the rescue of the Four Seasons Great Exuma in the Bahamas, which closed in May. The hotel was forced to shut up shop after it went into receivership. 

Now the 500-acre property will begin a new life as Sandals Emerald Bay.

No prizes for guessing what changes the holiday giant will make. Sandals' guests will find a new swim-up bar and a choice of six restaurants.

Founder Butch Stewart is predicting a January 2010 opening for the resort.

It's good to hear this lovely property won't be going to waste for too long.