Weekendhotel.nl and hoteliers.nl working together

The site Weekendhotel.nl was set up by Willem and Esme Vos: Willem has a background in travel and tourism and Esme in intellectual property law and Internet related matters.

We started Weekendhotel in April 2002 to help you find the best addresses for a weekend away. Like you, we became frustrated with typical booking sites that serve chain hotels desperate to dump their unsold inventory.

We were looking for something more personal and atmospheric, a site that would bring together the most charming hotels and B&B’s with character. Because we did not find such a site, we decided to create our own and weekendhotel.nl was born.

How they work is explained more in detail here.

In order to enhance the usability of the site Willem has built a simple inventory database for available rooms that each hotelier can keep up to date. Thus the user of the site can easily make a choice for a hotel to stay. The only problem is the maintenance of the data. The Hoteliers have to keep the inventory up to date almost daily or at least each time the inventory changes. This in itself is a nightmare for hoteliers of a small size hotel/B&B, especially when he has to allocate inventory over several sites where rooms can be booked on line…. Consequently the inventory of Weekendhotel is not always 100% up to date.

In 2005 a couple of graduates of a Dutch Hotel School have set up Hoteliers.nl (which is the same as Hoteliers.com) in cooperation with the Dutch Horeca Association to which association many Dutch Hotels belong, in order to create a possibility for hotels and B&B’s to be bookable on line. Both via the sites of Hotelier, but also via a link with Hotelier through their own site. The hotels pay a moderate monthly fee for the use of the site rather than the commissions they have to pay to the bigger portals. The site grows and works satisfactorily.

Weekendhotel.nl is more the content site and has details about approximately 1200 small Dutch and Belgian hotels and B&b’s and approximately 6000 unique visitors per day. Hotelier.nl is more the technically driven site that since inception has now approximately 600 participants including hotels belonging to chains or conglomerates.

Recently, the two have officially announced their cooperation whereby the site Weekendhotel.nl is linked with the inventory system of Hotelier.nl. If the hotelier wishes to have his property on both sites, he only has to maintain his inventory on the Hotelier.nl site.

I am glad with this new development to which, in the background, I could contribute a bit.

Mouton Rothschild 2004 label designed by Prince Charles

Mouton Rothschild 2004

When clicking on the official and worthwhile site of Baron Philippe de Rothschild S.A. you are elegantly welcomed by Baroness Philippine herself.

The story:

HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES ILLUSTRATES THE LABEL OF CHATEAU MOUTON ROTHSCHILD 2004
Each year since 1945 the Mouton label has been illustrated with an original artwork by a contemporary artist. Generally on the theme of wine and the vine, it sometimes celebrates an historic event. Indeed 2004 occupies a special place in our memories since it marks the Centenary of the Entente Cordiale, concluded by Britain and France on 8 April 1904.
King Edward VII is known to have played a prominent part in the agreement, which would herald a genuine alliance during the First World War and forever transform two rival powers into sisters by choice.
The commemoration of such an important milestone in Franco-British relations was the occasion for many celebrations in 2004, culminating in official visits by both Heads of State. That is the spirit in which Baroness Philippine de Rothschild approached HRH The Prince of Wales, a talented artist and a direct descendant of Edward VII. The Prince agreed that the label for Mouton Rothschild 2004 could be illustrated with one of his watercolors, inspired by a French landscape, in celebration of the Entente Cordiale. He has added in his own hand: «To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Entente Cordiale – Charles, 2004».
Standing out against an azure sky, rooted in the depths of the soil, the pines depicted by the artist are in the image of the vine, fruit of the ever bountiful union of the sun and the earth.

(via Luxist)

Bed with a lost view

When two guests of Parador de Toledo in the central Spanish city of Toledo crashed with their bed through the floor and landed on a builder working on the floor below, they not only lost their view, but got various serious injuries and injured the builder as well.

Schloss Fuschl: an old love story

On a recent trip to Vienna I was able to take this photo of Schloss Fuschl as I remembered it.

My DW and I stayed once in the mid eighties in suite 101 (the Sissi Suite) which has a magnificent view over Lake Fuschl that is located 20 km east of Salzburg in Austria.
Actually that stay was due to a misunderstanding with my travel agent (no, not the lady from LA) who I had asked to make a reservation for a room in the much more moderately priced Jagdhof which then was (as it is nowadays) located at the entrance to the actual Schloss. Both the (Jagd) Schloss Fuschl and the Jagdhof Fuschl (Jagd stands for Hunting) were still operated more privately (or by a small company) in those days. However, I don’t regret the decision to stay in the Schloss rather than in the Hof that my wife knew from a previous visit.

The Schloss is said being built in the 15th century as a hunting lodge for the Bishop of Salzburg. In 1833 ownership passed from the cleric to the Austrian imperial dynasty. Eventually it became a ruin and had many owners until 1950/51 when the building was turned into a hotel. In 1954 Harriet, Countess of Walderberg, who, in 1939, had bought another hotel, the Golderner Hirsch (Golden Deer) in Salzburg, that she had turned into fame, bought the property. From 1957 to 1958, Schloss Fuschl became famous as the set of the legendary Sissi-films with Romy Schneider and Karl-Heinz Boehm. Even nowadays, hotel guests can stay in the suite where Romy Schneider was in those days (yes suite 101).

In 1958, salt baron Carl Adolf Vogel, who later also would buy Goldener Hirsch, bought the estate from Henriette and, together with his wife Winnie Markus, turned it further into a luxury hotel. Around 1967, he built rooms in the actual Jagdhof which housed the hunt and pipe museum well worth seeing, which burnt down in 1993.

In 1976, an auction took place, which ended with the new proprietor being the Max Grundig Foundation with seat in Nuerenberg-Fuerh, Germany. On 20th of May 1981, Schloss Fuschl was classified as a historical monument. In 1998,  Rafael Hotels & Resorts took over Schloss Fuschl.

On the 1st of January 2001, the Hotel Schloss Fuschl Betriebe were passed on from the ownership of the Max Grundig Foundation to the Hotel Schloss Fuschl Ges.m.b.H. The Hotel Schloss Fuschl is led as a “The Luxury Collection” hotel in conjunction with the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide by way of franchise by the Arabella Sheraton Hotel Management GmbH.

Schloss Fuschl Airview

When I turned into the drive way I noticed that it had expanded dramatically since our last visit 20 years ago. Then from this photo only the tower and a minor addition and a spa building were in existence.

I am not sure I will stay there again, as it does not seem have the same style it had back in the eighties, as it is now operated by the Starwood conglomerate…but mainly because I wouldn’t want to spoil a good memory of that erroneous glorious stay in a bit run down hotel, full of antique, beautiful paintings and a magnificent view….and memories are what hotels are for…n’est pas?

Sources fro the historic part are: J.P. Moser Hotelguide and the book “Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg” of Andreas Augustin of Famous Hotels.

Food Blogs: Chocolate and Zucchini

Chocolate and Zucchini

I believe hoteliers without interest in food and beverage do not exist. However my problem this month is there is happening so much in Dutch (language) food and restaurant world, that I will never be able to translate any or all fast and efficient enough:

  • Dutch Gault Millau “guide” released, now in glossy format,
  • Dutch Annual “Lekker” released,
  • Dutch annual Special Bite paper issue released,

and

  • Dutch “Guide Michelin” to be released very soon,
  • New Dutch sites and lists sprouting up and still to be analysed…

Only the site of Special Bite giving some interesting information in the English Language, but no summaries of their paper guide…

Therefore I share with you a totally different piece of information I stumbled upon: Chocolate and Zucchini, a Blog by a 27 year young Parisian born lady, Clotilde Dusoulier, who started this blog already in 2003, long before the Big rush of Blogs in 2005 and 2006. She lives in Paris after having worked for two years in the San Francisco area.

Look for yourself here at Chocolate and Zucchini.