Travellers' Checks | London hotel where Litvinenko was fatally poisoned will reopen under a different name
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Closed for an extensive refurb since last July, the grand-looking Millennium Hotel Mayfair, in London, should be reopening in the next few weeks with a rather cumbersome new name: The Biltmore, Mayfair – LXR Hotels & Resorts.
This will be the fourth name change for the property, which opened as the Britannia Hotel in 1969, and marks a new collaboration between owner Millennium & Copthorne Hotels and operator Hilton, which launched its upmarket LXR Hotels & Resorts brand in Dubai last year. Promising to be “fit for royalty, well-travelled guests from around the world and senior corporate executives”, this is also the hotel where former Russian secret service officer Alexander Litvinenko was fatally poisoned while having tea in 2006.
The Eurail Global Pass extends to Britain for the first time
Launched in 1959, the Eurail Pass (aka Eurail Global Pass since 2007) turns 60 this year. Though offered worldwide, it was initially aimed mainly at American tourists, who comprised about 90 per cent of pass holders in the 1960s, and allowed unlimited first-class train travel in 13 Western European countries for specified periods.
In the early 60s, Arthur Frommer’s groundbreaking Europe on 5 Dollars a Day noted that the “valuable, simple-to-use railroad pass is one of the most ingenious travel ideas in years”. By 1970, the pass had become increasingly popular with backpackers, and, in 1971, a student version was introduced with a 60 per cent discount, and moving all the budget travellers into second-class carriages.
One country whose trains have never accepted the Eurail Pass, which is still only officially sold to “non-European citizens or residents”, is Britain. That omission, however, is finally remedied this month, as the nation’s rail network opens up to Eurail – just in time for its exit from the European Union. Various pass prices have also been significantly reduced for 2019, and there’s an extra 10 per cent discount for the over-60s.