Super service: Grand Stanford InterContinental Hong Kong offers various services around the clock, 24 hours/seven days a week. The Around the Clock service initiative is part of the Six Continents Hotels reshaping programme, which was announced last month in six major cities including Beirut, Chicago, London, New York, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong. The concept is that the hotel can make services from laundry valet to the fitness and business centre available to guests at their convenience, around the clock.
www.hongkong.inter continental.com
Saddle up: The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa opened this month in Phoenix, Arizona. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide manages the resort which is Sheraton's 400th property to open and located 17km from Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport on the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. For hundreds of years, the Pima and Maricopa tribes have lived on this land. The resort features 500 culturally themed rooms, 100,000 sq ft of indoor and outdoor meeting and event venues, the 17,500 sq ft Aji Spa, the wild horses which have roamed the Sonoran Desert for more than 100 years, two 18-hole golf courses and a 405 hectare Koli Equestrian Centre.
www.sheraton.com
First in Luanda: British Airways is offering tickets for the first-ever scheduled airline service between Britain and Angola, AFP reports. The troubled flag carrier, which has been slashing routes in an effort to cut costs following a steep downturn in passenger numbers after the September 11 attacks in the United States last year, said it would launch a new weekly route between London and the Angolan capital Luanda from November 1. Flights will depart from London's Heathrow airport on Friday and return on Saturday.
Top order: Marco Polo Hotel Group has officially opened the Continental Club (executive floor) at the Marco Polo Beijing, China. To celebrate, guests can book a Continental Club room for US$120 per night until March 31 next year. The offer includes use of lounge; express check-in and check-out; butler service; daily breakfast; evening cocktails and hors d'oeuvres; late check-out until 4pm. Situated in the heart of Beijing in Xidan District, the Marco Polo Beijing is three blocks from Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People.
www.marcopolohotels.com
Speedy LaGuardia: Delta Air Lines is introducing a series of service options at New York's LaGuardia airport to get customers out of lines and through the airport more quickly. The number of self-service kiosks will be doubled to 24, a network of phone banks staffed by dedicated reservations agents will be established and customer service representatives will be stationed in the airport lobby to assist passengers. An online interactive tool delta.com/nyc will be launched, through which New York passengers can print boarding cards from home or office, check security wait times for New York's major airports, select seats and view special fares and promotions.
Club complement: The Oriental Singapore has unveiled a new club lounge to complement its extensive 124-room club floor facility. The 481 square metre lounge has been re-designed by renowned architect HL Lim using contemporary and oriental design accents. The lounge will offer guests extensive business facilities and services, including complimentary daily executive champagne breakfast, unlimited garment pressing, free Internet access and exclusive use of the lounge's private meeting room with teleconferencing facilities for two hours per day.
www.mandarin-oriental.com
