Hotel and restaurant news

Training is what determines whether traveling with your pet will be easy and enjoyable or no fun at all. A calm, well-mannered pet who likes to be around people is a joy to be with. Dogs and cats are social animals, and training helps your pet to communicate with you by putting human words to dog and cat behaviors. If you think your pet needs some travel training, start a few weeks before your trip to give both of you ample time.

Both cats and dogs should know how to be friendly with people and how to relax and … Read the rest

There's only one thing lonelier than sleeping alone, and that's...eating alone." So philosophizes a regular patron at the restaurant featured in Mostly Martha, a wry movie about a love-starved chef.

Yes, indeed, some people will endure anything -- even a life-time of bad sex -- just to avoid eating solo.

On the other hand, M. F. K. Fischer, the late, great food and travel writer, gloried in the solo dining experience. In Long Ago in France, she writes about a return trip to a city," ...went off, feeling infantile to keep a date I had made with myself. There … Read the rest

Female general managers are still a comparative rarity in the hotel industry, but Shamini Pather, GM of The Royal Palm Hotel in Umhlanga, is convinced they have the ability to do the job and warns with a smile that they could even take over the grip on the big jobs held by men.
Recently appointed GM of the hotel on Palm Boulevard, Pather, who began her career as a receptionist, is excited about both her new position and the hotel’s potential. “It’s a beautiful hotel – I want to get the name out there!”
With 94 apartments, The Royal … Read the rest

Naples and Amalfi Coast 
Top budget pick
This stretch from Sorrento to Salerno is heavily discounted in winter and early spring. Temperatures can be cool then, but the reason to go remains beauty---whether from off-road belvederes, or amid gardens in Ravello. Good deal: SITA blue line buses from Sorrento to Salerno.

Canada
Top budget pick 
If you like Maine and bargains, you'll love the Canadian province of New Brunswick, just to the north. I enjoyed sweet scallops and even sweeter strawberries, and experienced the highest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy. I find Canadians extremely kind … Read the rest

Hurricane Season in the Caribbean lasts from June 1 through November 30. Although it's rare to see a large storm in either June or November, you can never be sure what Mother Nature is going to do. Here's some helpful information on how to weather any storms you might encounter while traveling in this region.

Airlines
If you are scheduled to fly into an area where a hurricane is expected, get travel updates from your airline. If flights are disrupted, airlines will usually allow you to rebook at a later date, but you will not get a refund if … Read the rest

Protea Hotel Southern Belle is one of the largest houseboats on Lake Kariba, Africa’s largest artificial lake. The luxury vessel offers its guests the chance to take in the wildlife and sunshine in a leisurely manner. The trip to the boat requires a flight into Lusaka International Airport followed by a three-hour trip to Manchinchi Bay, on the north-eastern end of the lake, where the Southern Belle is moored.

Lake Kariba is more than 220kms long and 40kms wide and straddles Zambia’s border with Zimbabwe. It is home to various islands. The lake was created with the completion of … Read the rest

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts will highlight work that its hotels around the world are doing to sustain and enhance their local destinations throughout the week.

In partnership with National Geographic’s Centre for Sustainable Destinations,  Responsible Business Week will see InterContinental hotels from around the world take part in activities that ensure their location remains an appealing place to visit for future generations.

Building on the success of last year’s Responsible Business Day, the initiative has been extended to a week. Also new this year is Pip the Emperor penguin, the mascot for the week represents the range of geotourism … Read the rest

By request from a number of businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry, the closing date for entries in the 2011 Imvelo Responsible Tourism Awards programme has now been extended to Wednesday, 7 September.

The awards are organised by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) in conjunction with Absa, the National Department of Tourism, Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation, the Department of Water Affairs and Don’t Waste Services, Imvelo. They are open to any type of tourism and hospitality business.

Fedhasa CEO Brett Dungan says Imvelo – now running for the tenth year – is the leading … Read the rest

Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington

Laid out in 1840, Stoke Newington's Abney Park is one of the "Magnificent Seven" private cemeteries (of which Highgate and Bromptonwent on to greater fame) created when parish graveyards could not cope with Londoners' propensity to pop their clogs. Now kept as a woodland memorial park and nature reserve, it's one of the city's most peaceful spots. Don't miss the chapel, built in a "dissenting Gothic" style, and the Egyptian Revival entrance.
• Stoke Newington High Street, N16, abney-park.org.uk, open daily 8am-7pm in summer

Walbrook Gardens, City

Formerly St Swithin's Church Garden, this tiny … Read the rest

In this third part of a five-part series, Susan Reynard chats to management and staff at Hilton Sandton to find answers to the burning question: What brings guests back?

Human resources and training departments take care of the mechanics of a hotel – staff. And as every hotelier knows, your reputation as a business and a brand is in the hands of your staff. Ensuring that the right staff are selected, trained and retained throughout their careers is an ongoing challenge.

Staff are at the core of a hotel’s business. The rest is just bricks and mortar, fixtures and … Read the rest

To help you make the most of your time in London while you're at the Olympics, we have launched a new version of our interactive guide to the city compiled by Guardian writers, bloggers and local experts. As well as all the good stuff we've been adding in the build-up to the Games – such as Tony Naylor's guide to the best budget eats around the main Olympic venues – we'll also be adding 100 new tips featured in this Saturday's Guardian, and have mapped an extra 50 things to do for free in the city.

But the biggest … Read the rest

In recent decades, Catalan cuisine has undergone a transformation as Catalonia continues to rediscover its roots and identity. Experimental cuisine d'auteur in Barcelona has transformed this Mediterranean port city into one of the hottest culinary destinations in Europe. Below are ten classic restaurants that currently reign as a few of the city's best:

Botafumeiro
On Gracia's main thoroughfare, Barcelona's finest Galician restaurant mobilizes fleets of waiters in spotless white outfits moving at the speed of light. The bank-breaking Mariscada Botafumeiro is a seafood medley from shellfish to fin-fish to cuttlefish to caviar. An assortment of media racion (half-ration) selections … Read the rest

The authenticity of reviews on the TripAdvisor website is to be probed by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
A firm called KwikChex has suggested that as many as 10 million reviews on TripAdvisor could be fake.
TripAdvisor allows consumers to post reviews of hotels, holidays and restaurants and has 45 million visitors each month.
South African hoteliers have been concerned about the veracity of some of the reviews for some time and have told Hotel & Restaurant that they believe that malice lies behind some of them.
The editor of Hotel & Restaurant, Andrew Moth, says he is … Read the rest

Venton Vean, Penzance

Owners David and Philippa Hoyes admit to being guesthouse novices (they were London lawyers in a former life) but there's nothing amateur about their classy little B&B. In a quiet street, a hop and skip from the seafront, it has three immaculate bedrooms – think cornices, cast-iron fireplaces, white-painted floors, cool colours (greys, blues, aquamarines), contemporary furniture and a dash of vintage. You get cotton robes, homemade biscuits, natural Cornish toiletries and interesting breakfasts (try Mexican tortillas with hot salsa and fried eggs). A walk through sub-tropical Penlee Park (just opposite) brings you to the bars … Read the rest

by Lisa Oppenheimer

Anyone who has ever flown with a small child can attest to the challenges. Take one toddler, put him in an enclosed space, make him sit still for three or more hours, and voila: unhappy camper. 

Still, it is possible to navigate the friendly skies with child and your sanity. It's mostly a matter of thinking ahead.

For starters, reserve early. Not only will you get a better seat---preferably together (unless you were secretly hoping to seat the kids elsewhere)---but you'll also reduce your odds of getting bumped since unassigned passengers are usually the first to … Read the rest

First things first: I need a decent brunch so head to The Riding House Cafe on Great Titchfield Street (ridinghousecafe.co.uk) for a pitcher of Bloody Mary and a smoked haddock kedgeree. After getting lost in Topshop and looking at trainers I can't afford in Niketown, I leave the hordes on Oxford Street behind and head down Argyll Street to find the entrance to Aqua Kyoto (aqua-london.com) the bar and restaurant on the top of the iconic former Dickins and Jones building on Regent Street. The rooftop terrace is perfect on a sunny day, so I kick back with a … Read the rest

ECC

Behind an unmarked door, up some stairs and set over two storeys of a townhouse, you'll find a super-sexy Parisian cocktail bar, with good dance music, gorgeous decor and a vibe that is super French and super cool. The French owners also run three of Paris's best bars. The cocktails (most around ?10 each) are exquisite and unusual, and include vintage cocktails mixed from spirits dating back to the 50s and 70s – these cost an eye-watering ?120-?250. Turn up early, or book ahead (via email only, marie-antoinette@experimentalcocktailclub.com) to be sure of a table.
• 13a Gerard Street, … Read the rest

Alan Winde, the Western Cape’s Economic Development and Tourism Minister, is in Luanda with a delegation of 78 South African companies, including 21 from the Western Cape, on a trade and investment mission to Angola.
At a pre-trip briefing session, Winde explained that the mission forms part of the Western Cape Government's plan to increase exports from the region and grow the local oil and gas sector by forging trade links with the West African corridor.
Winde said: "There is a serious story developing in West Africa fuelled by the discovery of oil reserves off that coastline. This has … Read the rest

Wave dodging and walking at Sennen cove, Land's End

Some of Cornwall's wildest beaches can be a hassle to access with kids and their paraphernalia. But Sennen cove provides eye-popping scenery, sandy-bottomed surf and facilities galore: bang-on-the-beach cafe, beach-side parking, surf hire, loos and seafront shops for supplies and souvenirs. While you can spend all day making footprints in the sand and dodging the shore-break, it's only a mile's stroll along the South West Coast Path to Land's End (if you've got buggy-bound children, follow the National Cycle Trail). For most, the appeal of Britain's most south-westerly point is … Read the rest

The email announcing that 50 rooms at Dartington Hall have been refurbished in a bid to attract leisure guests, tells a fraction of the story.

The hall is on an estate on the banks of the river Dart, bought, in the 1920s, by the American heiress Dorothy Elmhirst and her husband Leonard, son of a Yorkshire curate. He had graduated in agriculture from Cornell in New York and worked in India with reformer and writer Rabindranath Tagore.

They breathed life into the medieval estate, and endowed the arts. They commissioned painter John Piper, and were advised by potter Bernard … Read the rest

Crab House Cafe, Wyke Regis

I've known the Crab House since it first opened, serving fresh shucked oysters picked from its own oyster beds just outside the restaurant's front door. Oysters – in fact seafood of all sorts – is a passion of Nigel Bloxham the owner and chef, and the cafe is perfectly situated to buy fish fresh from the Portland and Weymouth day boats. On a sunny day there is almost Caribbean/Floridian feel to The Crab House. Portland harbour is home of some stunning wild shell fish too, and the special, of razor clams with chorizo and … Read the rest

Where: Channel Islands National Park lies a few miles off the California coast between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Why: Although the islands are within a day's drive of 12 million people, they receive far fewer visitors than the faraway Galapagos Islands. Yet, like the Galapagos, the Channel Islands are a nature-lover's paradise. There are thousands of plant and animal species here that are not found anywhere else on earth. The islands are also a great escape from the world, a place where you can truly feel at one with nature.

When to Go: Yellow-flowering giant coreopsis blanket the … Read the rest

In this issue: Aruba, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and Shikoku Island...

Indulge: Deep-sea water therapy in Japan
For spa junkies who think they've seen it all, Japanese cosmetics guru Shu Uemura's Utoco Spa, on Japan's remote Shikoku Island, is the place for you. Uemura began using mineral-enriched deep-sea water in the 1990s to create his famous skin treatments. At his deep-sea therapy center, Uemura uses this same water, drawn from a depth of over 1000 feet, for water treatments. Too tired to leave? Stay overnight in one of the 17 beautifully appointed guest rooms. Rates start at 34,000 … Read the rest

For years, Marseille has been unfairly disparaged as the armpit of France. All the carping began back in the 1970s when this sprawling seaport of 800,000 became a magnet for international drug cartels. A fondness for corruption among the city's politicians didn't help matters, and agitation between the landed gentry and a large immigrant population has fueled decades of racial tension.

In recent years, however, Marseille has turned a corner on the past. Thanks to the TGV (fast train), the city is now within three hours of Paris, and the quick trip is bringing thousands of tourists to a … Read the rest