Cool New Addition: Palazzo Righini

Palazzo Righini, in the heart of Piedmont, is an antique aristocratic home that delight the visitor with a
unique and memorable experience.

Guests are offered an experience that stimulates the five senses and takes them back in time through
the specialties of the chef, to be enjoyed in prized rooms, the treasures contained in the wine vaults, the
fragrant seductions of the Wellness Center, the soft silks, the comforts of the rooms created out of the
first floor of the antique palazzo.

Cool New Addition: SLS Hotel South Beach

SLS Hotel South Beach might be Miami's hippest new hotel, featuring 8,000+ square feet of pool,
beach and indoor/outdoor space.

Design icon Philippe Starck and visionary photographer and music video director Matthew Rolston
have made sure your stay is as hip as it is luxurious.

Cool New Addition: Hotel Castello di Casole

Hotel Castello di Casole is 4,200-acre five-star resort and private residence club in Tuscany, Italy, 45 minutes from Florence.

Situated among rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves and a game preserve, this all-suite boutique hotel opens July 1, 2012.

Great Rates at Tower Club at lebua

The Tower Club at lebua epitomizes luxury accommodation in Bangkok. Take in breathtaking sights of the city from the
balcony of the plush suites, located on the top floors (51st to 59th). Tower Club privileges include daily full breakfast,
complimentary in-suite 12 MB wireless, complimentary soft drinks (non alcoholic), luxurious amenities by Acca Kappa, and
a Nespresso Coffee machine. 

And if you book the Fsa 1 Night Save 10pct, Fsa 2 Nights Save 15pct,  and Fsa 3 Nights Save 18pct rates,
you'll save on the already great rates to Tower Club at lebua.  Availability is limited, and these rates won't last forever,
so book now to avoid disappointment.

Cool New Addition: Gran Melia Rome Villa Agrippina

Gran Melia Rome Villa Agrippina is one of the latest addition to Five Star Alliance.

The villa once belonged to the Roman Empress, mother of the Emperor Nero.

A 5-minute walk from the Vatican, the hotel has impressive pools and gardens, a complete YHI Wellness area, a
select range of fine dining options and a Business and Convention Center with 3 meeting rooms.

Cool New Addition: Las Alamandas

Quiet. Secluded. Peaceful.  All these words describe one of the latest hotels to join our collection, Las Alamandas.

This Mexican hideaway is cheerfully quiet. We're guessing the loudest thing here is the sound of the surf.

Now Open: Palacio Nazarenas

On June 15, Orient-Express threw open the doors of Palacio Nazarenas.

Palacio Nazarenas is an all-suite boutique hotel located in a former monastery. It boasts Cuzco's first outdoor
infinity pool, Hypnoze spa, and the gourmet restaurant Senzo.

Located in Cuzco, Peru, Palacio Nazarenas' 55 rooms use state-of-the art oxygenation and have private butlers.

Upgrade for Free at Charleston Place

Charleston Place is one of our favorite and most popular hotels. The elegant South Carolina property is known for its Southern hospitality and bespoke customer service. To show their appreciation for  Five Star Alliance guests, they are sweetening their already great 5 Star Alliance rate deal!  Currently, if you book a stay at Charleston Place with Five Star Alliance using the 5 Star Alliance rate code, you will receive complimentary wine and breakfast. Now, for stays through August 23, 2012 (excluding 8/8-8/12/12), the Southern stars are also adding in a one category upgrade at the time of booking.  If you’ve always wanted to stay in Charleston (or have been wanting to visit again), Charleston Place is located in the heart of downtown in the historic district, and is within walking distance of all the major attractions. While there, enjoy a treatment at The Spa at Charleston Place, dine at the AAA-Four Diamond Charleston Grill.  Additional restrictions may apply, so read and book carefully.  And enjoy your stay!

Special Five Star Alliance Rates at the Viceroy Bali

Aside from providing luxury travelers with an easy way to compare and make hotel reservations, we at Five Star Alliance love offering our clients a little something extra to show our appreciation and commitment to excellence. Check in with our blog series to check out our featured hotels that are offering special packages, rates, or extra amenities for Five Star Alliance clients!

Today’s feature is the Viceroy Bali, located 5 minutes from Ubud, the heart of Bali, famous for its artistic community, traditional dance ceremonies, and rural vistas. This luxury hotel is currently offering special Five Star Alliance rates that are $25 off the Best Available Rates through the end of 2012! All of the villas at Viceroy Bali feature a private pool with spectacular views over the Petanu River gorge and the tropical forest, and all of the villas have a European flair with Balinese furnishings. The incredible French Restaurant, Cascades has an extensive wine cellar and cocktail bar along with breathtaking and unrivaled views of the surrounding area. Don’t pass up these incredible rates and make your reservations today!

Hotel Review Guide: Reviewing the Reviews

Hello friends/acquaintances/internet (wo)men,

Today I want to take some time out of my busy schedule to address an important issue in the hotel world.  Randall Munroe of XKCD has been kind enough to bring to our attention one of the problems plaguing hotels and travelers alike: The bogus hotel review. Who are these evil people who are out to ruin the reputation of perfectly good hotels and steer you wrong in your vacation plans? Are they fun-hating scrooges who kick puppies and steal candy from babies? Maybe. But that doesn’t have much to do with writing reviews. Maybe instead they’re hired guns engaging in intricate plots of corporate espionage, compromising their rivals with claims of bed bugs and sticky-fingered staff. Or maybe they’re just entitled people full of rage at some perceived slight: “Agh, my muffin wasn’t cut in half for me! Worst hotel ever!!!”

We may never know for sure. But what we do know is this: Telling the real reviews from the fake is just as important as any step in the booking process. And it can be really difficult to do so. Here’s a couple of tips I’ve picked up in my time working with online reviews.

1. Don’t base your decision off a single negative review. Look at the aggregate of a hotel’s reputation online and across more than one site.  Some of the biggest review sites are so worried about trustworthiness, they're changing their slogans.  Any mistake can be made once, but the mark of a problem is when more than one person on more than one site points out the same bad service.

2. Go to the experts. If industry staples are reviewing a hotel well, it’s unlikely that poor reviews are anything but an anomaly. And conversely if it’s getting bad reviews, you might want to think twice about booking. This isn’t to say you should ignore customer reviews, however. Professional reviews are great at getting drilling deep into the nitty-gritty of a hotel stay and evaluating across multiple hotels, but customers are more likely to spot the most recent changes in a hotel’s practices. If a hotel has taken a turn for the worse, customers will be the first to know.

3. Pay attention to the language.  According to a study by Cornell researchers, if a reviewer itemizes every experience they had, mentions the name of the hotel, and uses a lot of exclamation points, there’s a chance that it’s been generated by the hotel itself. Plenty of people enjoy their stays and want to gush about them, but very few will take the time to give you an itemized list of everything you can see and do there.

4. Above all, trust your instincts. Ultimately, reading online reviews is about reading the people who wrote them, and even after only a couple of sentences you’ll have a good sense of who is trustworthy. If you think someone sounds like a fake or is completely irrational, don’t let them color your judgment.

Reading reviews is certainly anything but a science, but hopefully with these tips, you can be a little more confident in your next choice to book some of the world’s top hotels.

Comic via XKCD