THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE I 39 The Review THE ALTERNATIVE NEWS ➔ Purple daze at the Cumberland
Jimi Hendrix, pizza and Red Bull, Coldplay and Danielle Lineker – welcome to The Business Travel Magazine's Alternative News page
THIS is one hotel room to avoid waking up in with a hangover – it’s the Jimi Hendrix Suite at London’s The Cumberland Hotel. Walls are daubed with psychedelic motifs, there are lurid rugs, sparkly bed linen, and animal print cushions and stools, while an electric guitar hangs on the wall next to a series of framed NME covers all featuring stories relating to James Marshall Hendrix. Why? Because apart from looking pretty damn good, the Guoman property decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the rock star’s death, a regular guest at the hotel during his trips to London, and the location of the legendary guitarist’s final interview. The room was opened to the public in September, comes with a DVD of Hendrix’ famous Woodstock appearance, and can be booked for £399, including a complimentary bottle of Jack Daniels whisky and breakfast. Very rock ‘n’ roll.
PIZZA TOPPING THE BILL AT PARK PLAZA
HOTEL group Park Plaza has found its guests have tastes more akin to the local motel than a five-star establish- ment, with pizza and Red Bull emerging as its most popular room service orders. While the average Park
Plaza guest apparently turns their nose up at champagne and oysters, they like nothing better than settling down to watch 1994 prison- break classic film The Shawshank Redemption, which is still the hotel group’s most popular pay- per-view movie over 15 years since its release. Apparently guests’ good
taste only stretches to the Gilchrist and Soames shower gel, the item most likely to disappear at check-out time.
THE TRAVELODGE ‘ZZZ’ FILES
WE’RE not ones to flout tradition here at TBTM, so here’s another superfluous survey from Travelodge, this month looking at the top music to snooze to. Research by the budget hotel group placed Coldplay at number one, with the dismal tones of Chris Martin lulling even the most coffee-crazed corporate into a baby’s sleep. At number two is housewives’ favourite Michael Buble, with Snow Patrol – once dubbed the most boring band in Britain – at number three. It came as no surprise to see
acoustic American Jack Johnson, classical Mozart or indie crooners Radiohead appear on the list, but more unexpected entries included pop princess Taylor Swift, love walrus Barry White, and feisty R&B songstress Alicia Keys. The survey, which was conducted among 6,000 British adults, found that 84 per cent think listening to music aids a good night’s sleep, 13 per cent have “nice dreams when they fall asleep listening to music”, and a quarter have a preferred sleep-inducing track.
CAMPERVANS AND TICK-LISTS
A COUPLE of interesting packages have landed on the desks of the TBTM editorial team in recent weeks, none more so than The Little Book of the Camper Van – which might come in handy for travel managers should we plummet into the second half of a double-dip recession – and, another book destined for Christmas stockings across the country this year, Been There Done That, a truly epic book of travel lists. The latter is a 350-page
tome of checklists for frequent travellers to tick-off as and when they visit the world’s seven wonders, the highest buildings, famous markets and museums, run in the biggest marathons, or stay at the world's finest hotels – or simply fly with some 820 airlines to around 6,200 airports worldwide. Best get started soon.
PREMIER INN GETS GUESTS ALL OF A TWITTER
PREMIER Inn’s concierge service has gone virtual and tweeting is the only way to get advice. The budget chain trialled the service on Friday evenings throughout October, employing ex-air hostess and lingerie model Danielle Lineker to kick off the concept. Guests need only Tweet '@PremierInn #concierge' and ask for advice on anything from local karaoke bars to curry houses. We’re fairly certain Danielle was inundated with requests during the trial, a sizeable number of which likely asked simply for a date with the footballer's wife.
50 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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