10 of UK's Hotel Breaks (INP)

Make no mistake, this list isn’t necessarily a top 10 of the best in the country but more of a list that complies with our image as a company. Listed here are just really desirable hotel and spa breaks we think you would enjoy. Some of these we already have on site and some that we would absolutely die for.

10 - The Savoy - London

Standing since 1889, The Savoy is a true London icon. Synonymous with the capitals heritage and style and situated on the banks of the Thames with The London Eye for a view, this place just screams London. It has recently been the recipient of a £100 Million revamp, the hotel seamlessly blends its original decor with the upgrade of fabulous art deco where all 268 of its rooms just state elegance.

9 - The Langdale – Windermere, Cumbria

The Langdale in the ‘Lakes’ is a resort comprising luxury hotel accommodation, self-catering lodges and cottages, all of which are marked at least 4*with almost every review it gets. An absoloutely brilliant venue that has some fabulous spa days available. Set in the heart of Cumbrian woodland with exclusive streams and rivers, this idyllic location also has top notch spa and 2 AA rosette restaurant, you really will NOT want to leave.

8 - St. Brides – Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire

St. Brides Spa and Hotel comes in at number 8 on our least purely because its destination. With its contemporary design and magical views overlooking the harbour with elevated views over the beautiful Carmarthen Bay, this place is a real treasure. Look out for the outdoor hydrotherapy pool on the cliff top.

7 - The Feversham Arms & Verbena Spa hotel – Helmsley, North Yorkshire

Situated on the very edge of North Yorkshire Moors in the picturesque market village of Helmsley, this lovely quaint hotel is perfect base to explore the local towns shops or galleries or even the moors and further along is the coast. You can also make use of their spa that was recently given a 5 bubble award by the good spa guide.

6 - Ragdale Hall – Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

Spa breaks at Ragdale Hall offer the perfect antidote to the stresses of working and family life. One of the finest locations we have on site, it has one a Health Spa of the Year award year by year for the last 10 years. A Luscious place with an excellent range of spa breaks. Definitely worth a go.

5 - Cliveden House – Taplow, Berkshire

Cliveden House is unique in many ways. One of the more regal on our list, it has an absolutely brethtaking spa and is surrounding by 376 acres of wondrous gardens and parkland. Notable guest of the hotel have included the likes of Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin.

4 - Sheraton Grand – Edinburgh

The Sheraton Grand, the only location on the list from Scotland but what it makes up for the lack of numbers make up in quality and then some! It is one of Scotlands most famous spas. Situated just beneath Edinburgh Castle, this 5* star hotel boasts 269 rooms, each more beautifully designed than the last, an a world class spa on the roof.

3 - W London – London

Situated on Leicester Square, this little delight is the envy of all local Hotels. It boasts 192 rooms, 21 suites including 3 spa suites, on site speciality spa and world class restaurant. This place has got everyone talking.

2 - The Club – Jersey

Described as Jersey's most exciting luxury boutique hotel, this stunning hotel partnered with its Michelin star restaurant ‘Bohemia’ and magnificent spa is a real treat. Just a stones throw away from the beautiful Jersey beaches too. Stylish yet comfortable.

1 - The Scarlet – Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

Gazing upon the Atlantic Ocean, is The Scarlet Hotel famed for its beauty and ethic of being an Eco-Hotel . Boasting local produce for its fabulous food, the restaurant is an absolute joy. Having just the 37 rooms here only serves to emphasise that feeling of intimacy, which is a good thing. The spa is also outrageously beautiful with its own signature of interior design and just adds to the feeling that this place is just lovely.

• Reference/Source: ineedpampering.com by Angelika Adviento

About I Need Pampering Established in early 2005, I Need Pampering was created to cater for those that demand the very best in gift experience shopping. All our gift experiences have all been carefully selected from some of the top UK suppliers in the industry, most of them being award winning and innovative, known for their professionalism and expertise. We are continually growing year on year and have thousands of you coming back for more great gifts, so we must be doing something right. Our mission statement is a simple one, to deliver the best customer service to accompany the best packages and products the industry has to offer. We know that if you are impressed with your certificate, first of all you are going to remain a regular customer, and secondly, there is no greater tool than word of mouth advertising. Everything about our website has been carefully researched, thought-out and crafted to the tiniest detail to provide you with a pleasant, easy and exciting shopping experience. Spa days and spa breaks are our speciality with a host of the finest Spa Hotels and resorts in the UK. We also specialise in luxurious boutique hotel breaks and glamorous photoshoot makeovers. We are pleased to say that we are not just bound by the pampering experiences (exquisite as they may be) I Need Pampering has something for everyone. All of us here at I Need Pampering are constantly scouting the country for new and exciting locations for fabulous spa days and hotel breaks for not only you to enjoy but for us too, as we love a bit of pampering as well. Its tiring work providing you guys with the best experiences around. Customer feedback is also paramount to us. Whether you are buying this gift for yourself or a corporate gift you are guaranteed a fabulous time just remember to tell us about your day. Writing a customer review will earn you I Need Pampering reward points in the same that way that you would when making a purchase. I need pampering are now also featured with Ideal World Shopping and Ideal World Vitality channels, so look out for even more great gift experiences on the TV. Luxury online shopping has never been easier!

10 of World's Most Expensive Hotel Rooms

Most of us have simple demands when it comes to travel lodging– a bed, a bathroom, a TV and wi-fi. There are others, however, whose demands far eclipse the simple convenience of your basic hotel room. When the world’s most wealthy travelers take a vacation for their own, they are treated to suites that cover entire floors of a hotel building, rooms that include a personal butler, hell– some even come with their own private helicopter. Take a peek into the experience of the world’s most wealthy travelers.

Thanks to Nachocelebrity for writing this Top10 article.

1 – Royal Villa at Grand Resort Lagonissi
Athens, Greece ($50,000 a night)

The Grand Resort’s Royal Villa gives the world’s most exclusive guests a private version of everything imaginable. The only other people lucky guests have to see while secluded in their heated pool, steam room or private beach is the suite’s dedicated butler, chef and pianist.

2 – Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, Palms Casino Resort
Las Vegas ($40,000 a night)

Hugh Hefner’s Playboy-themed suite at the Palms Casino resort has a $700,000 jacuzzi that cantilevers out above the Las Vegas strip. The 10,000 square-foot, two-story suite comes with around-the-clock butler service and a rotating bed set beneath a mirrored ceiling.

3 – Ty Warner Penthouse, Four Seasons
New York ($34,000 a night)

The Ty Warner Penthouse practically floats in Manhattan. Floor-to-ceiling windows surround all sides of the massive suite, surrounding guests in 360-degree views of the city skyline from atop Manhattan’s tallest hotel. The nine-room suite has walls inlayed with mother of pearl, gold and platinum-woven fabrics, and the room itself includes a private butler, unlimited global calling and TVs programmed to receive every channel in the entire world.

4 – Royal Penthouse Suite, President Wilson Hotel
Geneva, Switzerland ($33,000 a night)

President Woodrow Wilson reportedly suffered from high blood pressure, so it’s safe to assume he would have appreciated a stress-free stay at President Wilson Hotel’s Royal Penthouse Suite. Consuming the entire top floor of the hotel, the four-bedroom suite can hold up to 40 guests in its cocktail lounge and is said to be the best digs for heads of state wanting to make an impression when they’re in town on United Nations business.

5 – Bridge Suite at The Atlantis
Paradise Island, Bahamas ($25,000 a night)

The 10-room Bridge Suite at Bahamian resort The Atlantis fills the entire space linking the hotel complex’s two flagship towers. Forbes reports the suite has hosted guests including Oprah and Michael Jackson.

6 – Ritz-Carlton Suite, The Ritz-Carlton
Moscow, Russia ($18,200)

Floor-to-ceiling windows outline the Ritz-Carlton Suite at the hotel chain’s Moscow location. Imperial furniture fills the 2,500 square-foot suite, which comes with a heated floor, a grand piano and a library. The suite has views of the Kremlin, Red Square and St. Basil’s Cathedral and visitors get to enjoy five meals a day and their very own KGB-approved autonomous energy supply system and secure telecommunications array.

7 – Royal Suite, Burj Al Arab
Dubai, United Arab Emirates ($18,000 a night)

A two-story suite that centers around an epic staircase, Burj Al Arab’s Royal Suite has Carrara marble floors, mahogany furniture and a master bedroom with a rotating four-post canopy bed. Guests enjoy Hermes bathroom products, Faubourg fragrances, their own private elevator and cinema and for a bit extra– a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce or helicopter.

8 – Royal Armleder Suite, Le Richemond
Geneva, Switzerland ($17,500 a night)

Le Richemond’s Royal Armleder Suite reopened in 2007 after an extensive restoration of the hotel’s seventh floor, which the luxury suite occupies the entirety of. The suite is bedecked in gold, mosaics and parquet floors and has a 300 square-foot terrace with stunning views of Geneva and the nearby Alps.

9 – Royal Suite, Four Seasons George V
Paris, France ($16,000 a night)

The George V in Paris boasts a pair of “sumptuous” Royal Suites that each come with private terraces and rooms filled with antique furniture. Each suite has a marble entrance, a full kitchen, a sauna and a separate bathroom for guests. The expensive 2,600 square-foot suites are split into separate spaces for sleeping and entertaining, both of which also have a private office.

10 – Imperial Suite, Park Hyatt-Vendôme
Paris, France ($15,500 a night)

Situated on the second floor of the Park Hyatt-Vendôme’s Haussmanian building is the hotel’s 750 square-foot Imperial Suite. Thise pricey suite has high ceilings, a dining room, kitchenette and bar. When visitors tire of toiling, they relax with an “In Suite Spa” that comes outfitted with a steam room, Whirlpool and built-in massage table.

• Reference/Source: Nachocelebrity [Tuesday, January 18, 2011]

New Top 10 for 2011: Hotel Openings

Every year we get a brand new list of hotel openings, but it can be hard to sort the trash from the flash. Poring over hundreds of press releases and mulling over dozens of bits of insider information, we've done the hard work so you don’t have to. The result? We've compiled a list of the top 10 most hotly anticipated hotel openings of 2011. All you have to do is check in and check them out.

No.10 St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London, London, UK
The golden era of glamorous rail travel is long gone (at least for those who can't quite afford the Orient Express), which is why London will welcome the return of Britain's showiest railway hotel with open arms when it reopens in March. Formerly called the Midland Grand Hotel, no less than £150 million has been invested to return the original Victorian-Gothic structure to its former glory. A 10-year renovation has ensured that all the best bits have been kept and painstakingly retouched (such as Sir George Gilbert Scott’s cantilevered staircase), while shiny new additions, such as the 189 bedrooms in the extension at the back, are in keeping with the building's original style. A 120-seat fine-dining restaurant will wrap things up nicely, no doubt flanked by the capital's most chic commuters.

No.9 W London, London, UK
As the most anticipated hotel opening in the UK this year, W London certainly has a lot to live up to -- and if early media whisperings are to be believed, it will. Scheduled to open on February 14th in an attempt to capitalize on an already bled-dry holiday, this hotel is the W brand’s first opening in the UK and is well located on London's tourist-filled Leicester Square where the Swiss Centre once stood. No less than £300 million has been pumped into the project by parent company Starwood, which has seemingly forgotten about the recession, allowing for 194 blingtastic rooms, a destination restaurant, a bar-club combo, a fully equipped spa, and an on-site store selling party frocks and whatnot. There's even a 48-seat cinema should leaving the premises prove a little too strenuous for would-be guests. Expect the launch party to raise the roof (and more than a few eyebrows, with celebs getting up to no good inside).

No.8 Waldorf Astoria Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Bringing a big slab of New York-style hospitality to Germany this year is Waldorf Astoria Berlin, housed inside a 31-floor glass-fronted tower in the business district of Kurfürstendamm. Catering predominantly to the corporate crowd, Waldorf Astoria Berlin will boast 242 extremely well-appointed rooms as well as an on-site restaurant, bar and spa. The crowning glory of this new build, however, will be 1,000-square-meters of conference and meeting facilities, sure to lure hundreds of white-collar office workers through its doors once the ribbon has been cut on opening day. Waldorf Astoria's signature no-nonsense approach to service will also ensure that the city's notoriously discerning (read: picky) residents will be kept in the manner to which they've undoubtedly become accustomed.

No.7 The Queen Victoria, Cape Town, South Africa
Having enjoyed good press and endured bad press last year, it's good to see that Cape Town's public perception is once again tipping to the more positive side of things with the opening of a new boutique hotel in March. Called the Queen Victoria, this sumptuous new stay (housed in an existing building in the Victoria and Albert Waterfront) is small but perfectly formed, with just 35 rooms for weary guests to hunker down in. Murals of Queen Vic (who else?) abound inside, while plush furnishings, rich fabrics and a muted color palette of oyster, taupe, gray, silver, and burgundy link public spaces. The hotel's most impressive feature, however, will be its grand entrance, characterized by a spectacular triple-volume atrium with a spiral staircase and glass elevator. Indeed, if this doesn’t get five stars, we don’t know what will.

No.6 W Paris-Opéra, Paris, France
While W Paris-Opéra isn't due to open until the end of 2011, the buildup begins now. Found in the trendy Parisian district of Opéra, just minutes from the Garnier Opera House, the plush property will add 90 sumptuous rooms and suites to the capital's already chic hotel scene. Housed inside an elegant 1870s Haussmann-era building, the hotel (the brand’s eighth in Europe) will be an all-encompassing destination station, with a restaurant, bar, fitness facility, spa, and lounge. As with all W properties, the W Paris Opéra will boast the brand's signature Whatever/Whenever concierge service, providing guests with anything from a gourmet picnic in Jardin du Luxembourg to shopping excursions in the emporiums of Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

No.5 Ritz-Carlton Montreal, Montreal, Canada
In renovation since 2008, the Ritz-Carlton Montreal will finally reopen this autumn after a $150-million face-lift. The iconic stay, located at 1228 Sherbrooke Street West, will celebrate with a paparazzi-worthy opening to show off its revived facade, lobby, Palm Court, Grand Ballroom, and Ritz Garden -- all of which have been restored to their former dazzling glory. The best bit, however, will be the 46 private residences that have been added to the property, all furnished to shades-on superstar standards. Having this as your home address would certainly be a talking point with the ladies.

No.4 Palazzo Versace Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Versace isn't known for its understated aesthetic, but when the Italian brand comes into contact with Dubai -- land of flash and trash -- you can only imagine what would happen. In fact, you don’t need to imagine, as the Palazzo Versace showcases what would become of such a meeting. Following in the flamboyant footsteps of Versace's sister outpost on Australia's glossy Gold Coast, this £400-million wonder will be one of the United Arab Emirates' most ridiculously over-the-top stays when it opens mid-2011. Inside will be 213 suites and 169 private residences, as well as a host of slick restaurants and bars, an on-site superspa, a ballroom, and a boutique for the not-so-subtle flogging of Versace wares. But the hotel will also feature its own “refrigerated” beach, plugged into a system of heat-absorbing pipes and wind blowers to keep beachgoers in barely there swimwear calm, cool and collected. The green scene clearly hasn’t caught on here.

No.3 The Breakwater, Miami, USA
Although it rang in the New Year by opening on January 1st, the Breakwater's launch will be remembered long after the streamers have been swept away and the champagne has been mopped up. Fulfilling its promise of “chic and sexy and unfiltered individuality,” the hotel boasts supersleek interiors by renowned designer Stephen B Jacobs, with decor that sets a more serene scene than the rock ‘n’ roll-inspired Clevelander next door (where TVs are chained to walls to avoid them being thrown out of windows). Think minimal furnishings and muted tones across 100 spacious rooms, with bright pops of color adding extra pizzazz. The rooftop lounge, obligatory at any Miami hotel worthy of its Art Deco facade, is the perfect place to kick back, with the deck flanked by daybeds during the afternoon and lit with candles by night. Date night, anyone?

No.2 Mondrian New York, New York, USA
Thank God there's something else to focus on in February other than Valentine’s Day; opening in the most depressing month of the year is the Mondrian New York, the brand’s downtown debut. While details are being kept hush-hush, pics forwarded to us by in-the-know PRs (now unemployed, we imagine) reveal wonderfully trippy Alice in Wonderland-style interiors (courtesy of superstar designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz), particularly throughout the enchanted manicured gardens drenched with moody-blue lighting. Indeed, if you haven’t smoked anything suspicious prior to entering, you may want to in order to appreciate the head-spinning aesthetics. The theme carries through to 270 jaw-droppingly beautiful rooms as well as the destination restaurant to be headed up by none other than culinary genius Sam Talbot.

No.1 Shangri-La Paris, Paris, France
While current Paris gossip is largely centered on French Vogue’s new editor, we’re more concerned with the much-anticipated Mandarin Oriental Paris opening on Rue Saint-Honoré. When is another story, with the launch date having been pushed back countless times, but we do know that it will throw open its doors toward the latter part of 2011. With 138 rooms, a slew of restaurants, a spa, and an inner courtyard in which to smooch with your loved one, this hotel will have the city's other hotels shaking in their designer-heeled boots -- particularly Shangri-La Paris, which opened in December and has every intention of holding on to its press attention.

• Reference/Source: askmen.com by Nick Clarke