Europe and Middle East

Exclusive guide to the best holiday destinations in Europe and Middle East. independent reviews from award-winning travel writers

The Milestone Hotel

17/12/2014 by .
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A cold December day, but the welcome sign in the lobby of the Milestone Hotel warms our hearts, “please help yourself to our complimentary hot chocolate, marshmallows and chocolates.”  Now that’s what I call the perfect hello.

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Macdonald Randolph Hotel

21/11/2014 by .
Randolph MacDonald

For some reason, visiting Oxford always intimidates me a little. Perhaps it’s the smell of world class academia that does it; history, knowledge and discovery purveying every pore of the city. Maybe I just sense that everyone here is a lot brighter than me. Thankfully, as I arrived at Macdonald Randolph Hotel I was greeted like a long lost friend; not hint of superiority anywhere. Now my imagination was running riot. Perhaps with my shabby chic look they thought I was a visiting college lecturer, perhaps a world expert in paleontology, with the Ashmolean Museum just opposite?

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Riad Star Marrakech

25/10/2014This entry was posted in Africa, Europe and Middle East, Hotel Reviews, Marrakech, Morocco, Newsletter and tagged , , on by .
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There was a moment during my stay at Riad Star Marrakech when I thought I had literally died and gone to heaven. It had been a day of tough haggling deep in the souk; even the shopkeepers were emotionally spent such was the drama that had unfolded.

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Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa

08/09/2014 by .
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It wasn’t the pristine limo that was waiting for me at the airport, or the already opened door beckoning me in.  Nor was it the effortless way my bags disappeared from my grasp, or the cool water and towels that were instantly offered.  It wasn’t the sound of my name in greeting when I arrived,  the welcoming smile, the magnificent le Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa lobby, or the speed in which I suddenly found myself in my beautifully appointed Tower room seventeen storeys further up. It wasn’t any one of those things. It was all of them.

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Grosvenor House Dubai

08/09/2014 by .
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The view from the 44th floor of the Grosvenor House Dubai was pretty special. To the right was the famous Palm, to the left was the marina, and straight ahead was the Arabian Gulf, miles of it. On the other hand, the cocktail and the piece of sushi that was in front of me didn’t look to shabby either. It’s early evening and happy hour in the hotel’s club lounge, and I’m therefore a very happy person indeed.

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HOTEL DE LA CITE

21/08/2014 by .
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It may only be 108 years old, but the Hotel de la Cite, part of the MGallery Collection,  is the last and most decorative piece in the 1200-year-old jigsaw puzzle which makes Carcassonne such a fascinating place to visit. It was at the beginning of the 9th century that this ancient citadel got its name when it survived a siege by Charlemagne with the help of its moat, drawbridge and thick Roman walls.

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Skeppsholmen Hotel. Peace, quiet and design in Stockholm

21/08/2014 by .

Glorious Gstaad Palace Hotel

13/08/2014 by .
Gstaad Palace Hotel

The Gstaad Palace Hotel has been looking down at the residents of Gstaad from her lofty hilltop perch for over a century, like a well to do matriarch protecting her flock.

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Moorland Garden Hotel. Dartmoor

08/08/2014 by .
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The white, sprawled out, Moorland Garden Hotel is situated 20 minutes out of Plymouth in the beautiful Dartmoor National Park.  As I drove up the long drive the surrounds were really impressive.  After all it had been the byword in glamour when it first opened in the 1930’s, with visitors’ ranging from President Truman to David Niven.

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New Executive Lounge At Grosvenor House Hotel

07/08/2014 by .
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In a £1.4 million refurbishment the new Executive Lounge at Grosvenor House Hotel in London has been moved from the seventh floor to the ground floor of the hotel and is three times larger in size at over 340 square metres.

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