Thursday 21 January 2010

InterContinental listed on Ebay

InterContinental have been listed on Ebay by octopus-travel-shop, (0) feed back so far but its early days. From the listings it looks like you are bidding on a stay at the specific hotel as quoted below but your bid is to charity. Very nice. The offer:
1 x two night stay in the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Presidential Suite for two guests only.
By bidding on this auction you adhere to the below terms and conditions.
Terms and Conditions
BIDDING:
1.Pre-approval bidding. Due to the exclusive and unique nature of this auction, pre-approval to bid is required. Any expressions of interest to bid will be processed as promptly as possible. In most circumstances this will be within the hour of Octopus Travel receiving a pre-approval bidding request.
2.Eligibility.All InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Charity auctions are only open to registered eBay Users over the age of 18 years. Employees and their family members of GTA by Travelport, Octopus Travel and InterContinental Hotel Group are not eligible for bidding on this auction. Such bids will be deemed to be invalid if placed throughout the bidding process.
3.Verification. All winning bids are final, so please verify your bid amount before placing it, as the winning bidder will be held liable for nonpayment as per eBay Terms of Service.
4.Booking conditions. Successful bids for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts are subject to usual booking conditions (see www.ichotelsgroup.com for details).
Could this be a point of sale that Strattons luxury boutique hotel www.strattionshotel.co.uk could sell rooms to the highest bidder?

Friday 15 January 2010

Online networks and blogs

This is getting beyond a joke, I have luxury boutique web sits www.strattonshotel.co.uk, www.norfolkboutiques.co.uk , online networks and groups www.thesmenetwork.com , http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=13416140074&ref=ts , http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=84540988964&ref=ts , http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dom-hughes/12/760/74 , and there is the blogs including this one and http://doah2k.wordpress.com/ , and then 2 twitter pages http://twitter.com/djsh, and http://twitter.com/Strattonshotel . and I bet there are more. Get me off the thread mill

Monday 11 January 2010

Is boutique dead?

Is boutique dead?, After the country house craze came the Boutique accommodation market propelled by the Mr and Mrs Smith guide books, giving the Boutique Hotel Directory and more recently adding Luxury Hotels to the tag line. I guess its like most fashions or buzz words, its passed. So whats next? In fact I see it a bit like fashion. Lets think about it, the toff/ country fashion has hardly changed over the decades, checked stripe shirt, cords, shoes, tweed blazer and or a barber, hey why not throw in a rugby shirt for that casual look. Done! its like a gok make over. I see the hotel equivalent as the luxury hotel market, its always been there, always will be and says what it is on the can. Its safe but we know it wont offend like the boutique. I remember an article a few years ago giving the same commentary of the gastropub market now I think its just a standard that all pubs serve or try to good modern food, almost restaurant standard.

The word boutique refers to being small and individual, like those classy wine bars that we hope no one else will find out about. This definition has been stretch with big chains spanning hundreds of rooms having jumped aboard with the tag line boutique. I don't think the recession has help either, we don't want the risk. When I book a room I'm now looking for luxury for my Penny's not risky boutique, which could be any ones interpretation of applying damask to the walls, curtains, carpet, lamp shades and even bed linen.

This blog has made no steps to decide or evaluate whether the boutique market has finished only explored the questions in a 5 minute break. Enjoy. What I propose is a new buzz word "Lux"

Monday 4 January 2010

Happy New Year

Every blog needs a 2010 posting so here is my start. Happy new year to all that land on this page. 2010 will be the year for me to actually realise the dream and make my first Million, yes £1,000,000 or more! Now comes the hard bit, where and how am I going to make all of this money.