Month: November 2012

The slogan of the Crowne Plaza is “The place to meet”. Event organisers in Berlin will soon have a chance to see for themselves the quality of the hotel chain. 256 rooms including a club floor with its own separate lounge are under construction in the former Postpalais on Potsdamer Platz. It will encompass some 500 square metres of meeting and event space and is due for completion by January 2013. 

The luxury Waldorf Astoria Group will open its first new-build hotel in Europe in autumn 2012. This will be located in the immediate vicinity of Kurfürstendamm and the Zoological Garden. The 31-storey Waldorf Astoria Berlin will feature 232 luxurious rooms and suites and a conference area with a 330 square metre ballroom. 

A five-star residence in the diplomatic quarter in Berlin – the Spanish hotel group “Whim” plans to open its first hotel in November 2012 close to the “Tiergarten” park. “Das Stue” (Danish for “living room”) will have 81 individual rooms and suites, a daylight Spa and two conference rooms. For the hotel, the former building of the Danish embassy, dating back to 1939, was redesigned. The starred Spanish chef, Paco Pérez, is to take over the management of the hotel’s in-house restaurant. 

After an 11-year absence, the MTV European Music Awards will be returning to Frankfurt on 11th November 2012. The Festhalle, part of the Frankfurt Fair & Exhibition Centre, will once again be serving as the glamorous backdrop for this massive international music event. International stars like Taylor Swift and Muse are scheduled to perform live on stage. This year’s award ceremony will be hosted by the German top-model, Heidi Klum. 

The Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the oldest, largest and most beautiful yuletide celebrations in all of Germany. Idyllically set on the Römerberg and featuring a lush 28-metre-tall Christmas tree, the market exudes a nostalgic holiday atmosphere popular with visitors of all ages. Each year, some three million visitors from near and far flock to the Frankfurt Christmas Market during the Advent season to stroll and cajole amongst the colourfully decorated stalls and booths, which offer everything from handcraft to traditional culinary favourites like “Bethmännchen” marzipan candies and “Brenten” biscuits. 

France has announced today plans to increase its standard VAT rate from 19.6% to 20%.  In addition, the 7% reduced rate, relating to restaurants, construction, and ebooks, will rise to 10%. The 5.5% VAT rate, which applies to food, hotels and entertaining will fall to 5%.  The measures will help fund a limited range of industry investment credits.

The implementation date will be 1 January 2014.

The measures have been announced in response to the publication of the Louis Gallois report on French competitiveness.  This was set-up by the new President, M. Hollande, at the start of this summer.  The primary recommendation of this report, published on 5 November, was a large cut in payroll taxes, funded by a rise in VAT.  This measure was proposed to give a “competitiveness shock” to the French economy which has been stalled over the past few years – although it did not go into recession.  France’s share of the EU export market has fallen from 17% to 13% in under ten years, and it continues to fall behind Germany’s strong performance.  The country suffered a credit downgrade to its much-prized AAA rating by Standard & Poor’s.

The last French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, had put forward a French VAT rise to 21.2%, but this was scrapped following his defeat in this summer’s elections.

There has never been a better time to book Mandarin Oriental, Prague for your next group event.

 

From 1 November 2012 until 31 March 2013, Bed and Breakfast rates start at

EUR 165* for a Superior single room per night while the Daily Delegate rates start at EUR 89* per person, per full day.

 

This intimate hotel, a lovingly restored monastery, was voted the best in Northern Europe in the most recent Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. The city of Prague is delightful in any season, and with our location in picturesque Malá Strana, visitors will experience its charm from the very moment they arrive. 

Behind its neoclassical façade, The Majestic Hotel and Spa Barcelona has delivered five-star service on the illustrious Paseo de Gracia for nearly a century. Following a complete refurbishment, the hotel now offers brand new meeting rooms with the largest capacity in the centre of Barcelona holding up to 500 delegates. And some fantastic promotional rates to go with it!

The hotel chain, Sana has a special offer at all their hotels until the end of March 2013: 

Free internet access is included in the daily delegate rate as well as a welcome drink on the day of arrival.

The 5* Epic Sana Algarve www.algarve.epic.sanahotels.com is now open for sales and will be operating in full from the 14th of March 2013.  This is a resort hotel is located on Fálesia Beach in Albufeira, with 162 rooms, 24 villas and 43 apartments.  There is free wifi in the bedrooms and public areas, and the hotel has a spa, 5 outdoor swimming pools and an indoor pool, a multi-sport centre, three restaurants, two bars and a pool-side snack bar.

The conference centre has more than 17,000 square feet of meeting rooms and nearly 11,000 square feet of outside area. 

The Epic Sana Algarve has an opening offer of 10% discount on the standard group rates (subject to following conditions)

Due to its long history and first-class quality, the “Czech beer” has become a protected geographical indication of the European Union. The Czech beer tradition dates back to early Middle Ages. There are hundreds of Czech breweries producing thousand kinds and labels of beer nowadays.