Stay in Tune for a London city break costing 2p per night

TUNE HOTELS will mark the arrival of their second London hotel tomorrow by giving away rooms for twopence.

So even if you only have those two pennies to rub together, you can spend them on a break in the big smoke, sampling the latest offering from the 'limited service hotel' chain that is branching out from Malaysia and Indonesia.

City breakers can snap up the 1,000 cheap nights at the new Tune Hotel Liverpool Street, located in Folgate Street, from 8am tomorrow until Friday October 14.

Availability of the 2p rooms will be staggered across the special booking period to allow as many different people to benefit as possible.

Bargain hunters will, however, have to live up to their names on this occasion and ferret around a bit, because these cheap dates will be hidden across a long booking period, ranging January 4 to May 27 2012.

As annoying as this might be, hints and tips will be circulated on Tune Hotels’ Facebook and Twitter pages, offering clues as to which dates still have 2p rooms available.

Set to open on January 4 2012, this new 183 en-suite roomed hotel is handy for the City of London, Spitalfields and Shoreditch and aims to offer "great value, great savings". Which in reality means clean, low-cost rooms furnished with high-quality beds, power showers, air conditioning and 24 hour security. Guests pay extra for any facilities and services they use.

Tune Hotels said: "Sometimes, all you really need from a hotel is a hot shower and a good night's rest. That's why, our limited service hotels offer beds at very affordable prices by getting rid of costly full service extras (pools, spas, saunas, room service or the like) that you just don't need and shouldn't have to pay for."

To be in with a chance visit their website at 8am tomorrow and get searching.

If you miss the 2p rooms, a launch offer of 25% discount is available between January 4 and March 31 2012. Enter the following discount code HBPR11JLS on the Tune Hotels’ website, before October 31.

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Warning posters issued to stamp out fish feeding and shark attacks in Sharm el Sheikh

Beach hotels and scuba schools, popular with thousands of British holidaymakers, in Sharm El Sheikh are being urged to support a new campaign to help lower the risk of more shark attacks in the Red Sea.

Egypt’s Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) has printed posters in English, as well Arabic, Russian and Italian, to explain why the practice of fish feeding should be stamped out.

Some tour guides are known to throw food from their boats as bait, to attract greater numbers of tropical fish towards their guests, during scuba and snorkeling trips.

CDWS want this to stop and believes fish feeding causes behavioural changes in not only tropical fish, but also in the local shark population.

A spokesman for CDWS said the campaign aims to raise visitors’ awareness towards marine conservation issues and will discourage fish feeding in Ras Mohammed National Park and Sharm El Sheikh.

“Feeding the fish harms their biological functions and their ability to hunt for food.

“It leads to changes in the behaviour of fish and the related coral reef community,” say the bright yellow posters.

The CDWS has distributed the warnings to every beach hotel, excursion boat, live-aboard company and jetty in Sharm El Sheikh.

Last summer the resort’s beaches were closed to tourists and water sports were banned after several divers were attacked by sharks.

Oceanic white-tip reef sharks were blamed, but this was never confirmed.

Ryan Mowett, a dive master at Stoney Cove in Leicestershire, who dives regularly in the Red Sea, told me earlier this year that he thought feeding practices in Egyptian resorts were worrying.

He said: "If it had turned out that oceanic white tips carried out those attacks, it may mean their feeding practices are undergoing radical changes, and that is a concern."

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First Choice go All-Inclusive only, but is paying upfront the "devil's work"?

Booking your holiday will get slightly easier next summer when First Choice starts selling nothing but all-inclusive packages.

That’s flights, transfers, accommodation, three meals per day and your fill of local drinks for a one-off fee.

First Choice will be the only mainstream travel company dedicated to the all-inclusive, which they claim knocks about £500 off a family’s total holiday spend.

Whether the saving rings true or not, the move simplifies things for holidaymakers and travel agents – First Choice will be first choice for value for money all-in holidays.

Their Summer 2012 brochure will sell all-inclusive packages to 33 destinations, in three bands of affordability: silver for premium properties; orange for great value village-style resorts and jade for standard.

Well over half of First Choice holidays are already all-inclusive and demand for them has been on the rise for the last five years.

First Choice said: “All-inclusive holidays enable people to enjoy the best of both worlds – a unique feeling of indulgence combined with practical control over their holiday spending.”

When asked how hoteliers who don’t already offer all-inclusive felt about the move they said: “Those that don’t are particularly excited at the prospect.
“We will be working closely with them and offering them all the support they need to convert.

“A small number of properties will not be able to convert and where possible these will continue to be offered under other TUI brands such as Thomson and Skytours.”

Simon Calder, travel editor for The Independent, told the BBC that: "All-inclusives are the devil's work.

“They dampen the appetite to explore – because as soon as you step beyond the walls the meter starts running and you're incurring extra costs. Therefore you're not getting the range of experiences you would find if you simply used the hotel for sleeping in, and explored the options in the area."

Obviously all-inclusive holidays aren’t for everyone. Discovering the fantastic shops, bars and restaurants that line local piazzas, high streets and harbours is a major reason many of us go away at all.

However, all-inclusives can offer the most relaxing weeks of your life.

There's no need to penny pinch, and cool drinks, snacks and meals are, at most, a flip-flopped wander away from the poolside. That’s why frazzled families, honeymooners and workaholics snap them up in droves.

The change at First Choice might be a sign that the all-inclusive is gobbling up customers who used to while away their evenings in local tavernas. Time will tell.

It is, however, a sensible consolidation and re-branding exercise that puts the all-inclusive eggs of parent company Thomson in one well-established basket.

Are all-inclusive deals the devil’s work or the most sensible way to stay on budget as you relax?

Photo by rachelcoyne
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Spot the landmark, win KLM flights to 20 Secret Cities

SERIAL CITY BREAKERS and armchair urban explorers can win KLM flights, just by identifying the location of a mystery landmark.

But it's not as easy as it sounds, and that's what makes this travel contest particularly addictive.

Every day at 4 pm (GMT) until April 24 the Dutch airline will tweet (from @KLM) a link to photos of mystery landmarks. Then you have to recognise the landmark and plot its Secret City location on an integrated Google map.

The day's winner is the person whose little red flag is plotted closest to the landmark.

What can you win?
A pair of return flight tickets to one of 5 secret cities featured each week. You choose from the 5 cities.

Last week's winner chose Santa Monica from Cape Town, Santa Monica, Prague, Singapore and Goteborg.

He tweeted: "Guess I'm a bit overexcited now, but c'mon…I WON! And look how happy he looks about it.

Here's more
Don't expect to see the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa just yet. So far these photos have been tricky to identify, even for self-proclaimed city experts. Ahem...like me. I've edited city guidebooks and travelled around to see, climb and photograph urban architecture, everywhere from Cairo to the bell towers (or as historians tell us, penis extensions) built by the wealthy during the Italian Renaissance.

But, I sucked at yesterday's mystery landmark. My guess (and I'm too ashamed to tell you what it was) turned out to be 2710 km from the correct location!

Now I'm determined to guess today's Secret City correctly. Roll on 4 pm.

How to win
Most importantly follow KLM on Twitter @KLM.

When @KLM Tweet at 4 pm the race begins. Hit the link to the Secret City page. Identify the landmark. Plant your red flag on the Google map where you think the building is.

The beauty of Google maps being that you can zoom in until your flag sits directly on top on the landmark (assuming you've guessed the correct location).

To move the flag click elsewhere on the map - no dragging necessary.

Make sure you guess all 5 cities every week, from Monday to Friday. The person closest to the landmarks everyday of the week will win.

What if more than one person guesses correctly all week?
Then the winner will be the person who planted their flags the fastest.

Phone a friend
Or in this case Tweet a friend to help you guess the secret city, by clicking the Tweet button below the photo.

How to be disqualified
By entering from multiple Twitter accounts.

Happy guessing city breakers. I'll be trying again at 4pm today!

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Win British Airways flight tickets to world's 'Highest Stand-Up Comedy Gig'

On March 12 British Airways will team up with Comic Relief to change their dinner menu from “chicken or fish” to chuckles and fits of laughter ... and tickets for the in-flight fun fest are still up for grabs.

BA will kick off a year long partnership with Comic Relief by setting a record for the 'Highest Stand-Up Comedy Gig in the World' on a flight over the UK.On the bill are stand up comics Dara O'Briain, Jack Whitehall and Jon Richardson, who will have passengers rolling in the aisles as they help raise money in the run up to Red Nose Day.

To be in with a chance of winning a ticket for the comedy flight, text 'Fly1' to 70300 or visit www.facebook.com/britishairways.

Watch them talk about the event here:

Texts cost 50p and you can make a donation to Comic Relief at the same time (in multiples of £3). To enter the competition for tickets without donating, visit the BA website.

The record breaking event is part of a wider campaign by British Airways called 'Flying Start', which aims to transform the lives of disadvantaged children at home and abroad.

British Airways said:“All donations received from the public through Flying Start will go directly to help transform children's lives. In fact, we aim to raise up to £6 million by 2013 to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children living in the UK and in some of the poorest countries across the world.”

For example, BA’s ‘Fying Start’ project supports The Busoga Association in Uganda. The Association's work helps people living in the urban slum of Jinja to find work and better housing, to have access to basic health care and to enable children to get a good education.

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High-value, low-impact tourism to contribute to Gross National Happiness of Bhutan

The World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO) has expressed its support for Bhutan's long-term tourism policy, which focuses on sustainablity and quality.

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, met with Bhutan's acting Prime Minister, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba at a seminar earlier this month. Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba told those gathered that the Royal Government of Bhutan considers tourism “a window of opportunity for the future of Bhutan" and that tourism will contribute to the economic security and Gross National Happiness (Bhutan’s measure of wellbeing) of the Bhutanese people.

The two met during a seminar on ‘Mainstreaming Tourism’, co-organised by UNWTO and the Bhutan Tourism Council and attended by government officials, private sector representatives and members of development agencies.

Taleb Rifai told the seminar that the tiny landlocked country of Bhutan - dubbed 'The Last Shangrila' - is facing “significant challenges and strong pressure for change.”


In regards Bhutan's tourism plans, he said: "At UNWTO we acknowledge the tremendous pressure Bhutan is under to stimulate rapid growth in tourism and praise the government for its continued focus on sustainability and quality.

"The principle of high-value, low-impact tourism development, guiding tourism’s growth in Bhutan, is highly commendable and has undoubtedly contributed to the unique tourism brand of this country”.

The landlocked Kingdom of Bhutan remains one of the most intriguing, little visited and charismatic countries on the international tourism stage. It's been on my wish-list for years due to its combination of Himalayan mountain scenery, happiness and giant multicoloured phalluses painted on every building for good luck - the type of lucky charm that this girl is always drawn to.


Bhutan Basics

Geography Landlocked at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by India, and to the north by China.

Population 691,000

Paperwork Visas only granted to travellers pre-booked on authorised tours.

Why visit? To trek through pristine Himalayan mountain scenery where steep peaks soar higher than 23,000 feet and pure river water rushes by. A landscape that provides habitat for big cats including snow leopards, Bengal tigers, clouded and Indian leopards, as well as Himalayan black bear, red panda, Tibetan wolves and Himalayan musk deer. To experience traditional festivals with masked dances and traditional music.

For organised tours you could try
Blue Poppy bluepoppybhutan.com/travel.htm from the US
Transindus transindus.co.uk from the UK

Images:
Monastery by thomaswanhoff
Ceremony of the masks by miles_lane
Phallus by rafaelgomez

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How geography swots can win a weekend in Europe

I've more prizes (and some Chrismassy muzak) from Radisson to share.

Their latest competition, which focuses on the Radisson Blu brand, has been giving geography swots an opportunity to win money-off voucher or a weekend for two in some of my favourite European cities - Milan, Madrid, Berlin, Helsinki and Hamburg.

All you need to do is visit their snowy competition website, which has the obligatory snowman, igloo and snow shaker. There's even a choice of three muzak tracks, albeit three versions of Rudolph the Reindeer.

Once you're feeling all festive, put your quiz hat on and take a stab at the three triviatastic questions. Don't worry, you can click for extra hints if you're struggling with the answers. Your reward for getting all three correct is the chance to spin the wheel of fortune and win instant prizes including €100 Radisson Blu gift cards.

Swot or not, everyone can enter their weekly prize draw for the weekend hotel stay. The prize, worth €400, comprises two nights accommodation for two people in a standard room including breakfast at a Radisson Blu Hotel.

Remaining draw dates and destinations are:

21 Dec - Helsinki, which really does have one of the freshest art and design scenes in Europe, as well as fantastic shops.

28 Dec – Madrid, where I walked and walked for days, fuelled by tapas and glasses of red wine mixed with cola.

3 Jan – Hamburg, where the Beatles got creative and it's difficult to resist saying 'Ich bin ein Hamburger'.

If you are aged 18 or over and live in the EU (but not Sweden) give it a whirl at radissonbluquiz.com/en/

Radisson Blue Quiz



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Regular Red Sea divers not worried by shark attacks

I've just spoken to a UK-based Dive Master who is travelling to Hurghada, on Egypt's Red Sea coast, tomorrow. He'll spend the run up to Christmas with a group of divers and local guides on a 'live-aboard' trip from Marsa Alam. They'll dive some incredible offshore sites including Sha'ab Aiman and Sha'ab Mahrus, in the hope of seeing grey, silver tip and white tip reef sharks.

Divers on live-aboard trips average three dives per day, each lasting around an hour, so he'll be spending around 20 hours in the Red Sea. In light of the four recent shark attacks in Sharm el Sheikh, that could sound like a long time to be underwater.

But he told me: "Regular Red Sea divers won’t be worried by the attacks or the idea of continuing to dive with sharks. They are used to them, as are other warm water divers from elsewhere. But if it turns out that several oceanic white tips carried out these attacks it may mean their feeding practices are undergoing radical changes, and that is a concern."

Shark attacks are very unusual in the Red Sea, particularly attacks by the species in question this time - the oceanic white tip. Still, the FCO travel advice for Egypt, which was updated today, continues to read that 'most diving and water sport activities in the Sharm El Sheikh area remained suspended'.

See the latest statement from Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports here cdws.travel/chamber-news.aspx?id=52
(Image by Diving Mullah)

Read more like this:
Scuba dive to escape - Top 5 Emotional Escapes
Golden Blocks Shore Dive - For The Independent

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Face the muzak and defeat the Park Inn hotel manager to win iPads and free accommodation

I wish that Santa existed, that hotel rooms were always free and that iPads grew on Christmas trees, so that I could just pluck off the perfect present for my loved ones. Because unless I win an iPad in Park Inn’s addictive ‘4 in a row' competition, my boyfriend is going to be the proud owner of a pair of crazy pants and a year’s supply of bbq sauce rather than the gadget he really wants to find in his stocking.

Because I'm greedy, I also want to win the grand prize: a week's worth of free accommodation. I'd pick the Park Inn Alexanderplatz in Berlin, where we’re heading to in January. Close to the Brandenburg Gate and the TV tower, it would be perfect base for the sightseeing itinerary I’ve devised – one packed with art, history and nightclubs, daily Currywursts and ein oder zwei biere.

So if you’re anything like me (a competitive lover of freebies with an addictive personality) you’ll relish the opportunity to get one over the Park Inn hotel manager in a battle of the key cards. Pick a colour and keep going and going until you win. Two competitors each week will win an iPad or a £250 voucher to use in any of the 200 Park Inn hotels worldwide (also includes Radisson Blu). Visit play4.parkinn.co.uk to start playing.

And brilliantly, every player – winner or loser – can enter the final grand prize draw. So even if you have to get back to work or reality before you’ve beaten the smarmy manager to 4 in a row, you could still win a week’s holiday at the Park Inn Manchester, Park Inn Berlin, or Park Inn Ulysse Resort (in Djerba, Tunisia) plus a £300 gift card.

The competition runs until 18 December and the winner of the seven nights’ accommodation will be announced by the end of December. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age and the week’s holiday must be taken by 31 December 2011. For full terms and conditions visit the competition page at http://play4.parkinn.co.uk/

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Please forget Christmas and plan me a Valentine's Week in Bora Bora

Boyfriend, today's post is written especially for you.

As talented as the snow is at making the cars and wheelie bins in my British suburban street sparkle, and as much as I love Christmas for giving me an excuse to devour huge quantities of Port, turkey and stuffing, I've already had it with winter.

If I see one more 'Guide to Europe's Best Christmas Markets' or another 'Spotlight On The Best (read 'Most Snobby') Ski Resorts of the World', I'll scream into my woolly indoor snood. Arghg! What I really want to be reading about and planning for is next year's sunshine holiday. Scuba diving, drinking a beer with my feet dangling into the sea, open air yoga, a tanned face...

Perhaps you're thinking about these things too, lovely boyfriend of mine. Perhaps you really want to surprise me with a special Valentine's Day holiday to the sun, but you've been waiting for me to point you in the right direction via my travel industry tit bits.

So if that is the case (and I know it will be), here's some info I hope you'll find interesting. While you read it, I'll get on with sourcing my beachwear for 14th Feb 2011.....

The Four Seasons Resort in Bora Bora will be celebrating Valentines for the whole of February. (fourseasons.com/borabora)

Their new Valentine's Package includes a complimentary fifth night, champagne and chocolate-dipped tropical fruits on arrival, daily breakfast buffet, a 50-minute Couple’s Polynesian Massage and a sunset cruise. fourseasons.com/borabora/rates_and_reservations

General Manager Rajiv Malhotra said:
“Romance is always in the air here. However, we could not resist allowing our guests to experience even more romance and value through the most romantic of holidays.”

The Four Seasons Bora Bora have 100 overwater bungalows and seven beachfront villas, all with traditional thatched roofs. There's a full service spa and their restaurant serves a range of dishes from Polynesian to French to South Pacific fusion.

Prices start at £575 per room per night for a Beach View Over Water Bungalow.

Go on boyfriend, forget Christmas and make my Valentine's Day instead!

Read more like this:
Top 5 Emotional Escapes
Trips that will kick start your spirit
Magic Real Travels in Fiji
Not the most romantic proposal idea in the world (Barcelona Bans Gut Wrenching Bullfights)

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