The Informed Traveler

The informed Traveler is a blog written by employees of Five Start Alliance.

The Blog gives interesting information. Read with me and see for your good self whether they prove to be a little unbiased, i.e. also write about something else than Fife Star Alliance accomodations.

Back to school: La Classe near Namur, Belgium

La Classe Front

In april 2005, Anne and Jean-Luc discovered the old school and city hall of Denée.
They are seduced by the exceptional caracter of this house of 1863 : black stones on the ground, high ceilings, old oak stairs leading to a magnificent attic. From this autumn, they invite you to discover »La Classe.

La Classe is a new project of the owners of Les Duves, Anne and Jean-Luc Laloux.

Brussels: La Casa BXL

La Casa BXL

The people behind Downtown BXL started something new in Brussels next door: La Casa BXL: a trendy Riad in Brussels?

Autumn 2006: Haarlem Grand Hotel Frans Hals

In October 2006 the opening of Grand Hotel Frans Hals is foreseen. Situated in the very citycentrum of Haarlem.
There will be 83 rooms in total, of which some luxury suites, a meeting room, a bar and a restaurant.

Frans Hals is named after a famous Dutch painter and will be operated under the Best Western label.

The Dutch Amrâth Hotels and Restaurants Group of companies who commissioned the hotel shows a remarkable piece of public relations on its website already:There are opening specials and a webcam showing the progress of the building and Google adwords are already working.

Ipod guided city tours

Audio City Tours logo

I hate pottering like cattle in a mass behind a guide.

Two young entrepreneurial guys have a solution. Recently they set up a website, Audio City Tours, where, against a small fee, you can download an MP3 file, that guides your walk through Amsterdam. Two tours are available for the moment: An Old Amsterdam Tour and a Rembrandt Tour.

A Salzburg Mozart Tour is in preparation. They have to be fast with their Mozart tours, as the Austrian site Calling Mozart [url deleted as the site dissappeared since, ed.], set up by the Austrian State Radio ORF, provides a series of free tours in Vienna along various points of interest connected with Mozart.

In the UK it exists already under the name Tourist Tracks with tours in Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, London en Oxford. I also found one for Gloucestershire [url deleted as the site dissappeared since, ed.].

Update: They closed in the meantime.

Last Update January 2017