Hotel room bargains on offer to the quick and the canny

You don't get much nowadays when you pay $99 for a hotel room. Even at double that price there can be plenty of disappointments.

Mantra Group, one of Australia's leading accommodation providers, has just launched a sale, however, with quality rooms starting from $99 for bookings made between now and February 21. 

The sale covers more than 130 Mantra, Peppers, BreakFree and Art Series Hotels across Australia, New Zealand, Bali and Hawaii.

Here is a sneak peek at some of the deals on offer during the sale, featuring a selection of beach getaways, city breaks and country escapes. 

To book visit www.mantrahotels.com or call 1300 987 603. 

Port Douglas: The Mantra PortSea (above) offers accommodation, a swim-up pool bar and a range of leisure facilities. Stay from $99 per night including 2-for-1 continental breakfast (minimum two-night stay). Valid for travel until June 22, 2018.

Gold Coast: Mantra Legends Hotel in the heart of Surfers Paradise starts from $109 per night (Sunday to Thursday with a minimum two-night stay). Valid for travel until September 27, 2018, including food and beverage discounts.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Sydney: The new Mantra Hotel at Sydney Airport (above) offers travellers contemporary and stylish accommodation within a short stroll of their Sydney Airport domestic departure gate. Studio king rooms for $149 per night (Friday to Sunday) including 1GB of Wi-Fi daily and a noon late check-out. Valid for travel from April 1 until  September 27, 2018.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Canberra: Mantra MacArthur Hotel was the only hotel to have opened in Canberra in 2017 and is a modern, contemporary hotel centrally located in the heart of the city. Stay in a studio room from $119 per night (Thursday to Monday). Valid for travel until September 14, 2018.

VICTORIA

Melbourne: Enjoy a city escape at Mantra on Jolimont located in the heart of Melbourne's sport and entertainment precinct. Stay in a one-bedroom apartment from $109 per night (Sunday to Thursday). Valid for travel until September 30, 2018.

TASMANIA

Tamar Valley: Enjoy the seaside views and the Tamar Valley at Peppers York Cove. Deluxe hotel rooms start from $149 per night including a welcome bottle of house wine and a midday checkout. Valid for travel from until September 30, 2018.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Adelaide: Centrally-located BreakFree Adelaide has studio rooms from $99 per night including wifi and a noon check-out between March 23 and May 31, 2018. 

NEW ZEALAND

Christchurch: BreakFree on Cashel, in the city centre, offers an urban double room for NZ$99 per night, including wifi, between May 1 and August 31, 2018. 

HAWAII

Honolulu: Ala Moana Hotel offers mountain view room for US$149 per night (minimum two-night stay) until September 30, 2018. 

Get down and party to celebrate the Year of the Dog

The Year of the Dog will be celebrated at Accor Hotels across Australia this month, with special menus and Chinese New Year decorations planned.

AccorHotels Chinese New Year celebrations are an extension of the Optimum Service Standards program which help hotels better cater for the growing Chinese inbound travel market. 

The Optimum Service Standards program includes training for AccorHotels staff in cultural differences, Mandarin-speaking staff, translated welcome kits, Chinese dishes included on menus and mini-bar products, Chinese location maps, newspapers and television channels. 

UnionPay is also accepted at a number of AccorHotels to enable guests to conveniently settle their room account with their domestic debit banking card.

Among the highlights: 

New South Wales

Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour

Executive chef Joshua Davidson has created a menu inspired by the flavours of China. It will be available from February 16 at Q Dining and Hacienda. Dishes on offer include prawn har gow, pork and prawn siu mai and roast duck spring rolls. Guests who dine on February 16 will also have unbeatable views of fireworks and light displays on Sydney Harbour to mark the celebrations.
www.pullmanquaygrandsydneyharbour.com. 

Mercure Sydney

Mercure Sydney is inviting guests to celebrate the New Year with an Asian-influenced buffet at the hotel's Four Elements Restaurant. The buffet will include appetizers, seafood, Chinese specialties, salads, a noodle station and a dessert station. Available on February 15 from 6pm until 11pm, the buffet is priced from $69 per person, or $59 for Accor Plus Members. 
www.mercuresydney.com.au.

Novotel Sydney Parramatta

Parramatta's New Year festival is set to include a range of interactive activities including a Lantern Garden, delicious food stalls, calligraphy workshops, lantern building and cooking classes. There will also be traditional and contemporary performances, firecracker displays, lion dances and a fireworks finale. 
www.novotelparramatta.com.au. 

Pullman Sydney Hyde Park

To celebrate Chinese New Year the hotel is offering a Taste of Asia at Bar Rendezvous from February 16-28. The special tasting plate includes classics like duck spring rolls, pork bao, chicken dim sum, and a prawn and sesame roll served with red wine vinegar, shallot and ginger puree. It wouldn't be a celebration without a cocktail, and the tasting plate is served with a Singaporean favourite, the Singapore Sling, which combines gin, cherry brandy and pineapple juice. The Taste of Asia tasting plate and cocktail is priced at $25 and is available from Bar Rendezvous. 
www.pullmansydneyhydepark.com.au.

Tasmania 

ibis Styles Hobart

ibis Styles Hobart will be hosting a number of events at Mr Good Guy in celebration of the Year of the Dog. The program kicks off on February 16,with a banquet priced from just $75 per person which will showcase both traditional and contemporary Chinese cuisine, combined with the best Tasmanian produce. 
www.mrgoodguyhobart.com.au.

Queensland

Novotel Surfers Paradise

In conjunction with the Chinese Culture Association, Novotel Surfers Paradise will have two performers, the Face Mask and Wealth God, direct from China, performing at the hotel daily from February 15-18. Plus, all guests arriving on the 15th and 16th will be receive red envelopes with gold chocolate coins inside. Hanlan's restaurant will have Chinese food items available. 
www.novotelsurfersparadise.com.au. 

For more information about AccorHotels Chinese Optimum Service Standards and special offers visit www.accorhotels.com 

When hotel penny pinching ruins the the hospitality vibe

It's late at night at Melbourne Airport. All flights for Hobart have departed. I need somewhere to stay. The cheaper airport hotels are sold out; the others want $350 a night. 

So off to wotif.com I go and find the Four Points by Sheraton at the Docklands for $199 a night when most of the other big name hotels are wanting $400 and upwards. 

That should have rung alarm bells. In the hotel industry you usually get what you pay for. But this was a Sheraton, albeit a four-star Four Points version; surely excellence was assured. 

And all I needed was a comfortable bed and a few glasses of wine after two long flights. 

First bad sign. No doorman and no one to help with baggage. Not unusual in these days of cost cutting. 

Check-in was good and I was told the bar was open until midnight. All fine. It's a nice-looking modern hotel with a pool (which of course is useless, as its raining the next morning).

I came down to the bar to find empty glasses and detritus on most of the tables - and it wasn't moved for a good 45 minutes. The one barman on duty was engaged in conversation with a guest and clearly wasn't a designated cleaner-upper.  

I ordered a glass of wine (from an underwhelming list designed by someone with an overwhelming "big is best" mentality). 

I was then surprised, at 11.20pm, to be told when ordering my second drink that the bar was now closing. 

This despite a dozen or so guests drinking and it being a Saturday night in the big city. 

I asked for an explanation from a scruffy duty manager, who said the decision to close the bar had been made by the restaurant manager, a cocky fellow whose attempted explanation made no sense. 

Thoroughly annoyed by this stage (all I wanted was a couple of quiet glasses of wine) I was gifted another glass by the "manager on duty". The bar, meanwhile, miraculously stayed open until midnight after all following much arm waving and discussion between the three managers. 

The sensible manager among the three said both the check-in advice and early bar closures had been a result of "miscommunications".   

I went to my room for a tea and biscuit - no biscuits, unfortunately, as the cost cutters had struck again. And no mini bar either (you can call down for snacks and drinks, I was told). 

None of these issues are major; but they are symptomatic of a general malaise in hospitality standards. 

# I was rung at 10am, just prior to my departure, by another "duty manager" who, presumably having been alerted to my social media angst, offered me a "free breakfast". 

It was a nice gesture but I'd already placed the hotel on my "avoid" list. A bargain is not always a bargain. And this being The Docklands you have to wait several minutes for a taxi - not great if you are in a hurry. 

Cruising at 3,000-feet above rural Rajasthan

One of the highlights of my trip to Jaipur has been a dawn hot-air balloon trip above rural Rajasthan with Sky Waltz. 

I'll let these images and faces tell their own story. 

# The writer/photographer was a guest of Air Asia, Tourism Rajasthan and Sky Waltz. www.skywaltz.com/destinations.html 

Air Asia flies four times a week from Kuala Lumpur to Jaipur. See www.airasia.com. 

Plans for New Zealand's largest hotel unveiled

New Zealand is set to gain a 650-room mega hotel following the multi-million dollar refurbishment of Cordis, Auckland.

Hong Kong-based Langham Hospitality Group announced new expansion plans that will make the upscale hotel the largest in New Zealand.

Set to be completed by late 2020 with a total of 650 rooms and suites, the recently re-branded hotel - formerly the 411-room The Langham - will reinforce its position as the city’s leading meetings and conference property with its new and extended event space, complemented with exciting food and beverage enhancements.

The new tower adjacent and connected to the existing hotel will house an additional 250 premium rooms and Cordis signature suites. The size of the new rooms will start from 32 square metres and the brand new Club Lounge will feature panoramic views of the harbour and Auckland Tower.

The hotel currently has event space in excess of 2,000 square metres, including the elegant Great Room which is one of New Zealand’s largest pillar-less ballrooms. There are plans to add a new event space of approximately 400 square metres that will offer natural light and multiple configurations, allowing for more flexibility in hosting special occasions and key events.

The award-winning Eight restaurant will feature an additional 60 seats. The hotel will also offer a new destination bar with courtyard and outdoor seating. 

“The successful repositioning of Cordis, Auckland combined with the economic growth and positive tourism outlook in New Zealand makes us confident that this is the right time for the owner of the hotel to commit its financial resources for the expansion of the hotel,” said Simon Manning, chief sales and marketing officer of Langham Hospitality Group. 

“We believe that the core essences of this new hotel brand, which are individual in style and design, reflective of its location and culture, and a provider of heartfelt service to our guests, will resonate well with corporate and leisure travellers to Auckland.” 

Making life easier for the solo traveller

The international St Giles hotel group, which includes the Tank Stream Hotel in Sydney, has launched a dedicated solo-travel program to help lone travellers – particularly women – experience the best of a destination when travelling on business or leisure.

St Giles operates hotels in several of the world’s most popular cities including Sydney (below), London, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Manila.

 A dedicated website, www.StGilesHotels.com/solo-travel, has been designed to offer assistance to solo travellers, along with special packages of up to 20% off room prices. 

Once a solo traveller books the GOSOLO package, a dedicated concierge will contact the guest prior to arrival, inviting them to enjoy St Giles’ Pre-Arrival Solo Concierge Service. 

This includes learning about the traveller’s plans for their trip, which will help the creation of a tailored welcome pack. 

The concierge will be the guest’s main point of contact and will be at their service to enhance the solo travel experience.

Abigail Tan-Giroud of St Giles Hotels said: "Research indicates that solo travel is growing at double-digit pace in many of the cities where St Giles’ hotels are located. Our primary target market is the ‘wanderluster’ who is dreaming of visiting and exploring a city like London, New York, Kuala Lumpur or Sydney, but is a little apprehensive about whether they will feel comfortable and secure.

“The St Giles’ GOSOLO program aims to create a distinctive experience for the solo traveller who wants the independence to do what they want, whenever they want, yet seeks personalised service and the comfort of a welcoming and safe accommodation experience.”

General Manager of St Giles Sydney, Klaus Kinateder, said that the Tank Stream Hotel had already established itself as a popular base for solo travellers.

“Our location next to Wynyard, in the heart of the CBD, means that a solo traveller has all the transport options at their front door, along with a vast range of solo-friendly restaurants, cafes, bars and tourism attractions,” he said.