New Asia Routes on Eastern & Oriental Express, Starwood's Keyless Tech, and Flight Centre's New Store
All Aboard
The legendary Eastern & Oriental Express has just announced a couple of new routes for 2015. There’s the five-night “Fables of the Peninsula” ride, which starts in Singapore and chugs its way up to Bangkok (departing March 29, 2015) with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and the Cameron Highlands tea plantations. There’s also a two-day “Ancient Kingdom of Lanna” route, which makes its way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (departing October 15, 2015), pausing in the ancient kingdoms of Lanna and Lampang along the way. On the ground in Chiang Mai, guests will explore the city’s famous sois, aka side streets, as well as take a cooking class. The all-suite train takes just 60 passengers—plus there are three dining carriages, a bar car, and a resident pianist.
Ancient Kingdom journey, from $19,559 per double cabin; Fables journey, from $59,456 per person, www.belmond.com/eastern-and-oriental-express.
Eastern & Oriental Express: chugging through Asia
Take Flight
If you’re anything like me, your holiday planning process probably includes 28 open browser tabs and an endless stream of TripAdvisor reviews. But who has time for all that? For some quick-hit advice or in-depth help with your travels, check out Flight Centre’s new Wan Chai concept store. The bespoke booking agent can sort out niche experiences, or simply pick a beach for you to plop down on. New features include open-plan desks, so you can share a computer screen with your adviser, as well as an interactive map to visualize more complicated getaways.
66 Queen’s Rd. East, Wan Chai, 2830-2869, www.flightcentre.com.hk.
Flight Centre's new pad
Key to the Future
The days of trawling your pockets for that elusive hotel room key may be over: Starwood Hotels just launched a mobile app that unlocks rooms with smartphones. The brand has rolled out its SPG Keyless technology at 10 hotels worldwide—including Hong Kong’s very own W hotel—and plans to incorporate it into 150 Starwood properties by the end of 2015. So what does it mean for guests? If you’re part of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, you can pre-register via the app, then skip the front-desk queue at check-in and enter your room using Bluetooth. It’s a pretty simple point-and-go process, but the technology-averse still have the option of carrying a traditional keycard.
W Hong Kong, 1 Austin Rd. West, West Kowloon, 3717-2222, spg.com/keyless.