Americans like to watch TV. Chinese folks have a bath or shower. UK residents read a book. And Russians are the most likely to have sex. I saw a great study from the Four Seasons hotel group the other day about what folks do in their hotel rooms before heading to bed. And the cultural differences are quite something. The study was done by the hotel group as part of their new Four Seasons Bed program, which will allow guests to personalize their sleeping experience. The Four Seasons Bed, a collaboration between the Toronto-based hotel group and bed manufacturer Simmons, Read more
Europe
It’s not too late to book that last-minute Valentine’s Day trip. If you’ve got the cash, here’s a list of ten of the most romantic hotels I’ve stayed at outside of North America. Bon chance! Le Tahaa Private Island Resort, Tahiti: Possibly the most beautiful place I’ve stayed on the planet, with stunning over-water bungalows and a true South Pacific feel. A great Tahitian dance/fire show, too. See photo above. Park Hyatt, Sydney: Hard to beat the view of the Sydney Opera House from this luxury property. Great food and service in a sleek and sexy hotel. 137 Pillars House, Read more
Pretty cool report the other day from hotels.com showed that Toronto is now the third most booked international city for U.S. travellers. The report, which analyzed bookings on hotels.com, found that U.S. travel types booked the most rooms in London, followed by Paris. Toronto was number three, moving ahead of Rome. Which is pretty cool. After Rome, in position five, was Vancouver, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Montreal, Barcelona and Niagara Falls. It’s a not a definitive study in that it only takes into account bookings on one website. But it’s encouraging for Toronto and Canadian tourism types, I’d think… Read more
Earlier this week I was talking about the latest Canadian/American Automobile Association ratings and noted that Canada now has 11 combined hotels and restaurants with five-diamond ratings, the top award they give out. Now comes another series of ratings, this time from the travel folks at Forbes. They’ve got a pretty different list. Radically different, actually. Most notable, I think, is that both Forbes and the Automobile Association folks put the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto on their five-diamond (five-star for Forbes) list. That means the Four Seasons flagship property (in Yorkville) is the only property in Canada to have Read more
Sex on the Beach is apparently more than just a cocktail for Canadians. A great new study by the folks at Expedia.ca finds that 22 per cent of Canadians surveyed admit to “getting frisky” on the sand while on holidays. Which should put the lie to that stereotype of button-down, buttoned-up Canucks, right? Actually, the provincial breakdown is pretty interesting. A full 28 per cent of Quebeckers say they’ll get down on the beach, while a pretty sizeable 25 per cent of Ontario folks said they do the same. Folks in British Columbia may think they’re all trendy and cutting-edge Read more
