A swinging time: BSR Golf is offering a five-day/four-night golfing package to the royal seaside town of Hua Hin in Thailand, leaving on May 7, and staying at either the City Beach Hotel ($4,880; www.citybeach.co.th ) or the Springfield Beach Resort ($5,080; www.springfieldresort.com ). The deals are available to a minimum of three golfers (based on twin-share), and include return economy flights on Cathay Pacific, all transfers, accommodation, daily breakfast, four rounds of golf and all green and caddy fees. Visitors will have the opportunity of playing a round of golf each at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Springfield Royal Country Club; the 18-hole championship course at the Imperial Lake View Golf Club; the Dragon Hills Golf & Country Club; and the Palm Hills Resort & Country Club. Call Amlis Chan on 2730 3288 or 2730 1022 for details. House rules: From the same team who brought us London's hip private member's club, Soho House; the country outpost, Babington House in Somerset; and the cinema and private club, Electric House in Notting Hill Gate; comes Soho House New York. Spread over five floors of a warehouse in the trendy Meatpacking District, the members club and hotel opens on May 7 and will house the Black Room (a cinema with 44 armchairs screening free art-house films); The Cowshed spa; a library available to hire for functions; a restaurant run by the former manager of The Ivy in London; a games room; plus a heated pool complete with bar, hammocks and views across the Hudson River. Available to members and non-members are 24 evocatively titled rooms in four sizes ranging from 325 sq ft to 950 sq ft: the Playpen, Playroom, Playhouse and Playground. Rooms will feature 2.1 metre-long beds, egg-shaped concrete bathtubs, plasma TVs, wireless Internet connection as well as snacks from trendy deli Dean & Deluca and 'naughty toys'. Room rates start at $1,365 for members and $1,560 for non-members, while annual membership costs $4,680 (plus a $1,560 registration fee) to those living outside the United States and Britain. This entitles you to the use of all facilities at Soho House New York as well as automatic membership at Soho House London, Electric House and Babington House, and use of Soho House Cannes - a yacht for members during the Cannes Film Festival (Soho House New York, 29-35 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10014. Tel: [1 212] 627 9800; www.sohohouseny.com ). Surf the skies: Cathay Pacific has joined forces with PCCW Netvigator and Tenzing Communications to introduce inflight e-mail service on more than half of its 68 aircraft. After registering at inflight.netvigator.com (Netvigator account holders can use their existing user name and password), first and business class passengers, as well as the first 10 rows of economy class passengers, will be able to send and receive e-mails from their own laptops. The service will be free until June, after which passengers will be charged $78 per flight to view all incoming e-mail headers, and then $5 per kilobyte (roughly one page of text) to send or retrieve e-mails. Cheaper rates will be available for Netvigator customers and Cathay intends to extend the service to its entire fleet by the end of the year. City slickers: Favourite city hotels according to readers of Departures magazine. 1. Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris 2. The Ritz, Paris 3. Hotel Danieli, Venice 4. Four Seasons, Milan 4. Hotel Cipriani, Venice 4. Hotel Ritz, Madrid 7. Four Seasons Hotel The Ritz, Lisbon 8. Hotel de Crillon, Paris 8. Hotel Arts Barcelona (Ritz-Carlton), Barcelona 10. St Regis Grand, Rome
