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| Vol. 5 | Issue 18 | May 1, 2007 |    |
London Transport is launching a highly detailed interactive service for travelers with a disability or mobility limitation. Visitors to the site, which will eventually be incorporated into London Transport’s overall trip planner, can personalize their search for route information by choosing the accessibility information that’s important to them.
For example, if walking gives you problems, you can specify not only “no stairs” but how far and how fast you are willing to walk. A hearing-impaired passenger can find out which stations provide hearing assistance and post information visually. Requested information is then compiled to map out the most appropriate route, including platform-to-platform interchanges, street-level access, restroom locations and accessibility. When necessary, it even suggests alternate forms of transportation. For example, a person who can’t walk more than five minutes is advised to take the bus rather than the Underground between Victoria and Paddington — and given all necessary routes and access information for that option.
Air France is also making accessibility more carefree by extending its Saphir program beyond France to include 17 other countries. Saphir — an information service and membership program — lets passengers request check-in assistance, wheelchairs, guide dog accommodation, special diet, respiratory assistance, or devices to assist with vision or hearing. Other services include priority boarding, personal welcome and inflight assistance. Saphir stores members’ preferences, so they are always accessible by membership number. In other words, members don’t have to make the same requests for each and every flight.
A new survey conducted by Priceline.com has found that not only do three out
of four travelers want environmentally friendly rental vehicles, but one in
two are even willing to pay a premium for them — within reason. Almost
40 percent of respondents said they would be willing to pay $1 to $3 a day
more to rent a hybrid. Only 8 percent would be willing to pay $4 to $6 more
a day, and just 1 percent would pay up to $10 more. No one surveyed was willing
to pay more than $10 a day extra to rent a “green” car.
American Airlines posts its weekly NetSaver fares online and via email, and now it is beginning to roll out a text-message version. Register online to have text messages sent to your cellular phone. Alltel, Nextel, Sprint, Verizon and Virgin mobile customers can enroll by texting “AA” to 22898. The program is initially available in the Dallas/Fort Worth market.
Omni Hotels has spent a year developing a new menu it calls The Art of Breakfast,
now available in 75 percent of Omni properties in the United States and due
to be systemwide by the end of May. For the “best-in-class breakfast
experience,” Omni kitchens will be using cage-free eggs, artisanal pork
products, Starbucks organic coffee from Mexico served with steamed milk, silken
tea infusers, organic cereals, premium breads and pastries (customized to each
property). The menu includes “European breakfast station” items
such as meats and cheeses. A seasonal variety of hibiscus frappes and smoothies
will be served to guests at the end of breakfast as a digestif.
Skytrax, the U.K.-based research consultancy, has just awarded Asiana Airlines
its coveted five-star rating. It becomes only the fifth airline to receive
that rating — interestingly, all Asia-based. Criteria for the five-star
rating is “the highest standard of product across assessment categories, and
consistently high standards of staff service delivery in onboard and airport
environments...airlines at the forefront of product innovation, that generally
set trends to be followed by other carriers.”
Continental Airlines is teaming up with Zagat Surveys — which recently
named it the top premium U.S. airline — to offer its own mini-Restaurant
Week in New York through May 6. Register
online to qualify for special deals at high-end city restaurants.
Examples: Private access for yourself and three guests to Daniel
Boulud’s
private Sky Box at Daniel; an invitation into the kitchens at Urena
and Porcao Churrascuria, with a chance to cook; a special menu plus a signed
cookbook at Aquavit. Not all offers are available every day.
Hotel Fauchère
401 Broad Street
Milford, PA 18337
tel 570 409 1212; fax 570 409 1251
www.hotelfauchere.com
Before checking into my room at the Hotel Fauchère, a beautifully restored 19th-century Italianate-style hotel in Milford, Penn., I walked down a few steps to the hotel’s Bar Louis. The first thing that struck me (as it does everyone) was the huge black-and-white photograph above the bar, showing Andy Warhol kissing John Lennon on the cheek.
The photo, I later learned, was taken by avant-garde photographer and former Warhol protégé Christopher Makos. Other prints, by Makos and Paul Solberg, lined the Anigre wood walls, and Norah Jones emanated from the speakers. Menu items included Angus beef hamburgers and sushi pizza. It felt, surprisingly, more like trendy Soho than rustic Americana. The juxtaposition of trendy and traditional, I was to find, occurs throughout the property, giving added depth to the hotel’s substantial charm.
A National Register landmark building, the hotel was constructed in 1880 and purchased soon thereafter by Louis Fauchère, who left his position as chef at New York City’s famous Delmonico’s restaurant to open his own eatery within his own hotel. In the early 1900s celebrity visitors like Zane Grey and Mary Pickford frequented the hotel; Theodore Roosevelt sketched out his plan for the National Park Service on one of Fauchère’s dinner napkins.
The hotel sat vacant for many years, and reopened in July 2006 after an extensive five-year restoration. There are now 16 luxury guestrooms, all with flat-screen TVs, high-speed WiFi, feather beds and Frette linens, and marble bathrooms with Kiehl’s toiletries. My room overlooked the back garden, with a large, private terrace that offered a nice place to sit in the spring sunshine.
While the guestrooms are all high-tech and modern, the public areas have been restored in classic 19th-century style, with original chestnut floors and moldings, bead board ceilings, and Hudson River School paintings lining the walls. The hotel’s main restaurant, Delmonico Room, was created out of Fauchère’s original dining room and an adjacent sun porch, and during daytime meals natural light pours in through the porch windows.
Continental breakfast, which includes homemade granola, yogurt, berries, and fresh-squeezed orange juice, is served in the dining room and included in the room rate. Dinner is fixed-price, $50 per person for three courses. Neither my dinner companion nor I felt up to the hotel’s signature dishes, frogs’ legs and a 16-oz. Delmonico steak, but my pan-seared veal chop with polenta fries, and my guest’s fresh turbot with bok choy and roasted oyster mushrooms, were excellent.
The Emerson House, a 1902 Queen Anne-style home next to the hotel building, has also been restored and is now being used for business meetings and social events. A new underground service corridor leads from the Fauchère’s kitchen to the Emerson House conference rooms. In combination with the luxury sleeping quarters, the new meeting space annex is attracting a good deal of corporate business.
Score: ••••• Ron Bernthal
Here’s a chance to be a “pro for a day” and play at Fort Worth’s prestigious Colonial Country Club. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, the new
sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Colonial invitational tournament May 24-27,
is giving 72 golf enthusiasts a chance to play under tournament conditions
on the famous course. As of May 1, you can enter
the sweepstakes online, and then stay at any participating Crowne
Plaza property during the promotional period (through Aug. 17) and earn an
additional
entry for each night you stay. Winners will participate in the Crowne Plaza
Amateur Invitational at Colonial on Oct. 1, with an all-expense paid trip for
two to Fort Worth, and all the pro perks while playing — names announced
on the first tee, live coverage on XM Radio, personal caddies, walking scorer,
and access to the Colonial clubhouse and locker room. The tournament will be
a stroke-play championship with handicaps, with a three-hole shootout for flight
winners.
With Mother’s Day coming, why not give Mom the gift of a Girlfriends
Getaway to The Inverness Hotel in Denver? The pampering package,
good Thursday-Sunday through Sept. 9, costs $349 a night double and includes
overnight accommodations, your choice of breakfast in bed or in the Garden
Terrace restaurant, “chocolate decadence” turndown service, choice
of a 50-minute massage or a round of golf each day, $25 credit toward retail
purchases at the hotel’s new spa, and complimentary shuttle transportation
to and from the nearest shopping mall.
Celebrating the recent completion of its $50 million renovation, the Waikoloa
Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on
the island of Hawaii is offering a $199 Discover Waikoloa introductory rate.
New features include an open-air lobby with water features, transparent railing
panels on lanais to provide unobstructed views, an infinity pool, and a new
bi-level spa and fitness room.
Reserve a Dollar or Thrifty
rental car for at least three consecutive days in the United States by June
30, use
your American Express card, and you’ll be rewarded. Not only will you
get a free upgrade, but if you reserve at least a compact car, you’ll
get a $25 American Express gift card. Use promotion code AX25.
Air Tahiti Nui is having a Spring
in Tahiti fare sale from both Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK)
to Papeete (PPT), but you must book tickets by May 4 to qualify. From New York,
fares start at $858 round-trip and are offered for all flights through May
22; fares start at $758 round-trip for travel on selected dates (primarily
midweek) through June 20.
