Life is sparkling.

Niko Viramo  //  Hotel Expert, Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Passionate Surfer & Cool Daddy of three

Filed under

Travel

See all posts on posterous with this tag ยป
 
Mar 6 / 6:35am

Free WiFi in international hotel chains

Free WiFi access in the guest rooms should be a standard feature by now with international hotel chains, wouldn't you agree? But it's not! Most international hotels still charge for the internet access, sometimes ridiculously.

Just stayed at Hilton Beijing, and although they do offer free WiFi in the lobby, you pay 30 cents per minute for the access in the convenience of your room (so for example 2 hours equals EUR 36,-).

Img_6013

McDonalds, on the other hand, gets it. If there is no other reason to visit McDonalds; it is the free WiFi access in all of their restaurants worldwide - it does not matter whether you check-in to McD in New York, Beijing or Dubai - the WiFi is free of charge!

So, it is about a time that the international hotel companies (in all categories from budget to luxurious) also offer free WiFi in their guest rooms as a standard feature.

Filed under  //  Hotel   Hotels   Lifestyle   Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Mar 6 / 3:22am

Beijing & Around {Pics}

Sometimes, traveling outside your "home circles" can be a real eye-opener. Thank you Beijing!

(download)
To see the whole Flickr set, just click in here!

Filed under  //  China   Great Wall   Lifestyle   Travel  

Comments (1)

 
Mar 3 / 5:05am

Honey, there are no short cuts...!

(download)

Filed under  //  China   Great Wall   Lifestyle   Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Jan 10 / 2:55am

New York, New York!

This is a view from the Empire State Building on 1.1.2011:

Img_4578

For best burgers (and delicious Maine Lobster as a matter of fact too) in town, head down to PJ Clarkes close to the Central Park: 

Img_4849

Sex Museum, what else?

Img_4653

We went to see Memphis (musical) this time, something to recommend to everyone visiting NYC. The birth of Rock 'n' roll:

Img_4859

To see more photos from my New Years NYC trip, please check out my flickr set in here.

Filed under  //  Lifestyle   New York   Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Nov 22 / 7:27am

Barcelona - hip and chic

I really enjoyed Barcelona last weekend at the Toastmasters Europe Conference, as well as the numerous tapas & cava bars in and around the impressive Gothic old town. Here are some design inspirations as well as a short folklore snapshot from the trip; you can find a few more under my flickr in here.

Spanish (Catalanian) Folklore:

(download)

The Spanish version of Burj al Arab:

Img_6128
The lobby of Mandarin Oriental:

Img_2208

Casa Batllo by Gaudi:

Img_2206


Filed under  //  Architecture   Hotel   Hotels   Lifestyle   Toastmasters   Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Mar 12 / 8:54am

Attention to detail

The Ritz Carlton gets it. 

RC knows how to make their guests happy. They pay attention to the details. 
The staff is empowered to go out of their ways to do extraordinary things to make their guests happy. 

I was glad to spend the last couple of days at the Ritz Carlton Berlin and got a bit fascinated by my RC experience that I almost didn't want to leave :). 

Here are few things I liked: 
  • bottled water from the friendly doorman after my morning jogging tour
  • the breakfast had a variety of exotic fruits in addition to the basics
  • the rooms were extra nice - spacious, spotless and quiet, equipped with high-tech
  • the bathroom was XL with extra shower and great amenities
  • the turndown service came with complimentary spring water and good night chocolates ;)
  • anywhere you met RC staff, they had a big smile on their faces
  • I liked the free DVDs at the concierge desk - I watched "Little Miss Sunshine"
  • the spa area had relaxing chairs with good reading light (this was much appreciated)
  • the check-in/out process was quick and easy - they seemed to have enough staff at all times
  • the lobby was like a living room with fireplaces and comfy chairs 
  • the elevators functioned only with keycards (security)
  • personalized sealed message from GM after arrival
  • the keycards had artistic photos of the hotel staff (the housekeeping lady on my keycard looked like a top model :)

All in all, very nice hotel, very much attention to detail. Most of all the staff was amazingly friendly!
Dear RC, thank you for this nice stay. 

To see more images of my short Berlin trip please click in here. 


(download)

Filed under  //  Lifestyle   Travel  

Comments (1)

 
Feb 14 / 4:51am

Belgrade & around

Here some feelings from Belgrade. 

Nice city and huge potential for international hotels - there are currently only Hyatt and Hoiday Inn, both in Novi (new) Belgrade. That's it. 

To see more images of the trip, check my Flickr in here.


(download)

Filed under  //  Hotel   Hotels   Lifestyle   Travel  

Comments (1)

 
Jan 10 / 9:37am

Did you plug-in your car?

Img_2836

My brother-in-law plugging in his car at icy temperatures (-15F) in Finland....

Filed under  //  Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Dec 13 / 2:37am

Landing at Innsbruck

 

Filed under  //  Travel  

Comments (0)

 
Nov 23 / 5:37am

Abercrombie & Fitch London - too cool to be true?

Img_1234

 

Even before arriving to the Abercrombie store in London, there was a huge queue of young people outside the store (see the photo). 

Remarkably, the store is not even branded with A&F logos, so you cannot find the store unless you know where it is (or by accidentally walking by). Let me ask you this: How many clothing brands in Europe are able to have hundreds of customers outside queuing up just to get in? If you ask me: I have never seen that happening before....

Anyway - finally we reached the store and were greeted by a young man with his muscular shirtless body. He was gladly accepting customers’ requests for a photo. Anyone could pose next to him and have a Polaroid photo taken, which was carefully put in an Abercrombie envelope. My wife got one of those too...and she said she would place it on the refrigerator at home, to remain me to do workout every morning. I said, fine but then I will replace the guy's head with mine :-). 

In fact the whole shop looks like a night club. It’s dark inside, the music is loud and young shop assistants are dancing around. This adds to the whole A&F experience of simply just being in the shop with beautiful people, hard bodies, perfect skin, white teeth, branded smell, loud music, dark store, etc... oh, and clothes of course. However, the clothes were nothing to write home about. Finally I left the only thing I found, a blue polo-shirt with a price tag of EUR 100,- back on the shelves as I did not feel like queuing up for another hour just to get through to cashier.

I think Abercrombie should take more care about the world than about the teeth & bodies of their staff. Yes okay, I am over 30.. but maybe it’s time to open up, warm up, and stop being so cool and aloof. 


Here is a short video I shot with my Flip Mino HD inside the store:

Filed under  //  Lifestyle   Travel   branding  

Comments (0)