Hoteles City Express Opens the City Express Junior Aguascalientes Centro

Hoteles City Express, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Hoteles City Express” or “the Company”) (BMV: HCITY), announced today the opening of City Express Junior Aguascalientes Centro, reaching 107 properties and more than 12,000 rooms in operation.

The City Express Junior Aguascalientes Centro hotel is the second hotel of the chain in the state of Aguascalientes and was developed under a management contract. This new property will serve travelers with business activities related to automotive, manufacturing, mining, and tourism services.

With this new property Hotels City Express extends its coverage within the Bajio region, a key location for diverse industrial activities and one of the main economic growth engines of the country.

Source: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/global/154000320/4075491.html

Caliente launches line of juice drinks with chilli extract

A Swedish drinks company has launched a new line of organic, non-alcoholic juice drinks featuring a hot chilli kick.

Caliente is made from natural ingredients, juice concentrates and extracts, and is available in two different flavours: lime, ginger and chilli; plus cranberry, pomegranate and chilli. The drink contains the chilli extract capsaicin, which triggers the release of endorphins to offer consumers “a natural kick”; not only does it taste good, the brand said, but it makes you feel good too.

Bringing consumers “a totally new drinking experience”, the organic line is free from artificial additives, preservatives and E-numbers.

The Caliente brand is confident, authentic and uncompromising. It seeks to reach out to “life-fulfilling young at hearts” in urban centres around the world, who, like the brand, are passionate about their health and the world in which they live. Based in Malmö, it is the brainchild of Thomas Adner.

And Adner, who has previous industry experience with Tetra Pak and Procter & Gamble, told FoodBev that the drink can be the perfect premium drink to offer adults an alternative to alcohol.

He said: “Whether you’re having dinner or partying, this juice drink will keep you in a good mood. While the demand for non-alcoholic drinks is a strong trend in many parts of the world, most of the current alternatives fail in delivering products that fulfil the consumers’ needs, being either unhealthy, boring or bad copies of originals.

“That’s where Caliente comes in. We’re meeting this need, delivering an all-natural juice drink with a punch – perfect to sip on instead of alcohol. The punch is created by a chilli extract called capsaicin, which triggers the release of endorphins. It gives you a natural kick and rewards your brain. Plus, you won’t get a headache by drinking it. And you can drive home afterwards.”

The innovative drinks concept has entered three separate categories at the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2015, which are to be presented at BrauBeviale in Germany on 11 November.

It’s not the only drinks brand in recent months to launch with a hot claim: in September, Claire Phoenix reported back from Drinkpreneur Live, where she met the co-founders of drinks brand Nix&Kix. Fruity drinks with cayenne pepper, they contain less than 80 calories per bottle and are named to reflect the fact that they have nothing artificial added, and pack a spicy kick.

Source: http://www.foodbev.com/news/caliente-launches-line-of-juice-drinks-with-chilli-extract/

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Irongate Announce Plans for Luxury Resort in Los Cabos

New Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences to open along the crystal-clear waters of Baja’s undiscovered East Cape

Palm Springs City Council praised at tourism awards

Would someone please give the Palm Springs City Council some loving. Well, the city’s tourism community did just that Tuesday night when the council was showered with praise and the 2015 Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement award at the 15th annual Best of the Best Golden Palm Awards.

The evening honors the folks who keep the area’s tourism engine humming along. It’s people like waiters, front desk operators, dishwashers and the many others who keep the wheels from coming off of Palm Springs’ most intense economy. Nearly 60 nominees were honored, judged by a panel made up from the hospitality community.

“The heart of our industry is our employees,” Tony Bruggemans, general manager for Le Vallauris Restaurant and the founder of the Best of the Best awards, told the ballroom of more than 300 workers and civic and business leaders who attended the event at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

However, amid an FBI investigation looking into public corruption at city hall that has called to question business relationships among Mayor Steve Pougnet — who was not at the Best of the Best Awards — and local developers; along with questionable land sales approved by the mayor and City Council, council-members have not always found themselves cast in the most appealing light in the last few months.

Though you wouldn’t have known it when a somewhat bewildered and bemused City Council — minus Rick Hutcheson and Pougnet, both of whom will be stepping down at the end of the year because they are not running for re-election — and city manager David Ready came up on stage Tuesday to accept the award.

“We know that we want to be there for you,” Ready offered in his share of the acceptance speech.

“Because in the end, what we all know, and what we do know is that this is a tapestry, and we want to be there for you because you are here for us. This wonderful city of Palm Springs could not be the place it is without you,” he continued, in remarks clearly unrehearsed. “So we thank you all.”

“On behalf of the Palm Springs City Council, I can’t believe you guys would give us an award, when we’re so grateful to you,” said Mayor Pro Tem Paul Lewin.

Past Hall of Fame awards have gone to Milton Jones, publisher of Palm Springs Life and Bruggemans.

The Saguaro Palm Springs received the Tourism Partner of the Year award.

Will Harris, with the Renaissance Palm Springs, received the Front of House award in the 51 rooms or more category.

Juliana Interiano, with Caliente Tropics hotel, received the Heart of House award in the 51 rooms or more category.

Elsie Cota, with the Alcazar Palm Springs, received the Front of House award in the 50 rooms or less category.

Maria Aguilera, with The Willows Historic Inn, received the Heart of House award in the 50 rooms or less category.

Iveth Serrato, with Acme House Co., received the Va cation Home & Condo Rentals Front of House award.

Stacy Botroff, also with Acme House Co., received the Vacation Home & Condo Rentals Heart of House award.

Jonathan Ruiz, with Las Casuelas Terraza, received the Restaurant Front of House award.

Pablo Aguiar, with the Hilton Palm Springs, received the Restaurant Heart of House award.

Julian Chaix, with the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs, received the Retail Person of the Year award.

Nicholle Diaz, with Desert Adventures Eco Tours, received the Attractions Employee of the Year award.

Source: http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/09/23/palm-springs-city-council-praised-tourism-awards/72709960/

The world’s most extraordinary hotel named by Lonely Planet

There are dozens of converted historic forts and palaces offering luxury accommodation in India but a fort, built from scratch in the Rajasthan desert just five years ago, has been named the most extraordinary hotel in the world by Lonely Planet.

Perched on a sand dune, overlooking the parched earth and shrubs of the Thar desert, Mihir Garh – or the fort of the sun – was a labour of love for owner Sidharth Singh, who says he was driven by intuition rather than reason; hiring more than 100 local craftsmen and carpenters who worked for two years to create nine 1,700sq ft suites, each with its own plunge pool, fireplace (made in the local style, from cow dung) and decorated in furnishings from Jodhpur.

“Few hotels are created without compromise, Mihir Garh is a rare example. This is not just a unique place to stay, it’s a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular,” says Lonely Planet writer James Kay.

The top 10 most extraordinary hotels, is one of three inaugural lists naming the guidebook publisher’s favourite places to stay in the world. The other two are best-value hotels in the world, and the 10 most outstanding eco-hotels.

In second place on the most extraordinary list was Planet Baobab, a collection of grass and mud huts with an onsite “shebeen” (bar) in the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana, where the lunar-like landscape is dotted with 4,000 year old baobab trees.

No UK hotels, and only a few hotels in Europe, made it on to the three lists. One exception was Prendiparte B&B in Bologna, a single suite in a 900-year old tower, one of the few left in the city, with a rooftop terrace “offering breathtaking views over Bologna’s historic skyline”.

Other extraordinary places to stay include a collection of spherical treehouses suspended in the forest on Vancouver Island, a 1869 lighthouse on the Hudson river in New York State and a cave hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey, famed for its troglodyte architecture.

Two of the top three best-value hotels in the world are in South Africa, where tourists are currently getting even more bang for their buck with the exchange rate at 18 rand to the British pound (10 to the US dollar). The number one best-value place to stay is The Backpack in Cape Town, a hostel with a pool, which supports local community projects, is accredited by Fair Trade Tourism and was recently voted Best Hostel in Africa 2014 by hostelworld.com. Inkosana Lodge, which offers dorms, camping and private rooms in the Drakensberg mountains, is in third place, while Sydney harbour YHA, famed for its harbour views, came in second.

South Africa also made an appearance on the eco-list, with Bulungula Backpackers coming second. A collection of huts overlooking a remote beach on the wild coast, jointly owned by the local Xhosa community, it warns potential guests it is “not an old-style, white South African beach resort”. It also promises night skies so clear, it guarantees “your money back if you don’t see a shooting star for half an hour at night”.

In first place was Lapa Rios in the Costa Rica rainforest, where guests staying at its 16 bungalows fall asleep to the sound of the Pacific Ocean and are woken by the calls of howler monkeys.

The full list of winners …

Most extraordinary

1 Mihir Gahr, Rajasthan, India

2 Planet Baobab, Gweta, Botswana

3 Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy

4 Qasr Al Sarab, UAE

5 Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, TAS, Australia

6 Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada

7 Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey

8 Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa

9 Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA

10 The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos

Best value

1 The Backpack, Cape Town, South Africa

2 Sydney Harbour YHA, Australia

3 Inkosana Lodge, Champagne Valley, Drakensberg, South Africa

4 Old Plovdiv Guesthouse, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

5 Hotel Gruner Baum, Glorenza, Sudtirol, Italy

6 Oztel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

7 Fauzi Azar Inn, Nazareth, Israel

8 We Hostel Design, Sao Paulo, Brazil

9 Hotel Hotel Hostel, Seattle, USA

10 On the corner, Kolomyya, Ukraine

Outstanding eco-hotels

1 Lapa Rios, Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica

2 Bulungula Backpackers, South Africa

3 Chole Mjini, Chole Island, Mafia Archipelago, Tanzania

4 Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Aguas Calientes, Peru

5 EcoLodge Chepu Adventures, Chiloe, Chile

6 Maison Anglaise, Taroudant, Morocco

7 Earthship Rentals, Taos, New Mexico, USA

8 Dana Guest House, Jordan

9 Nuli Sapi, Papua New Guinea

10 Baikaler Eco-Hostel, Listvyanka, Russia

Source: www.theguardian.com

Researcher: Felix sun

Hoards of tourists threaten Machu Picchu’s very survival

As Hiram Bingham hacked his way through remote Andean cloudforests in search of a lost Inca citadel in 1911, little could the American adventurer have known of the tourism juggernaut that his archaeological expedition would unleash – or how it might threaten his breathtaking find.

Now, Peru is gearing up to mark the centenary of Bingham’s rediscovery of Machu Picchu with a series of glitzy events on 6 and 7 July. Sponsored by Coca Cola, the festivities will include international broadcasts of a son-et-lumière show and a concert expected to feature the Spanish tenor José Carreras.

But many in the archaeological community are deeply worried about the pressures on Machu Picchu from the 2,000 visitors it receives every day and the rapid growth of over-priced hotels, tacky souvenir shops, fast-food restaurants and other unregulated infrastructure around the citadel and along the Sacred Valley that links it to Cusco, the former Inca capital.

“In 10 years’ time, the valley will be like a giant amusement park, like Disneyland,” warns Jose Canziani, an expert in the strategic development of archaeological sites and professor at Lima’s Catholic University.

The World Heritage Committee of Unesco, the United Nations cultural organisation, agrees. In 2008, it voiced its “grave concern” regarding the mismanagement of Machu Picchu, and in 2009 expressed its frustration at Peru’s refusal to allow the ruins to be placed on a list of endangered sites. The panel highlighted problems from the wearing away of the original stone paving to the increased risks of landslides caused by deforestation as a result of the chaotic construction boom.

The committee is due to report next month on Peru’s progress. Anything less than a ringing endorsement could prove highly embarrassing for President Alan Garcia’s administration.

The Peruvian authorities have made some headway. The government banned the helicopter overflights enjoyed by some of Machu Picchu’s more affluent visitors. Yet problems persist. In January last year, landslides in Aguascalientes, the tourist trap at the base of the mountain on which Machu Picchu sits, killed five people and left several thousand sightseers stranded for days. Machu Picchu remained closed for three months. And there has been no response to the erosion of the original stone paving. Wooden walkways or a requirement for visitors to wear rubber-soled shoes are two obvious solutions, says Jeff Morgan, executive director of the Global Heritage Fund, a San Francisco-based group working to protect archaeological remains in the developing world, but there has been no word from the Machu Picchu research team run by Cusco’s regional government.

Further down the Sacred Valley, tourist traffic over-runs Ollantaytambo, an Inca fortress that was the scene of one of the Andean empire’s few military victories over the invading Spaniards. Buses clog the narrow, cobbled streets of the village.

“Peru has been selling this idea that we are this amazing tourist destination but the reality is that we are not attending adequately to our visitors,” complains Joaquin Randall, the manager of El Albergue, the town’s oldest hotel, founded in 1925.

Suggestions by Ricardo Vega Llona, the businessman presiding over the centenary celebrations, that more people should visit Machu Picchu have been met with alarm by conservationists, who argue tourist traffic needs to be directed to other sites. Peru has 100,000 identified sites of archaeological interest. But only 2,800 have been officially signposted and marketed as attractions, while as few as 200 are protected with barriers or personnel.

“Everyone wants to go to Machu Picchu but there are 25 other sites in Peru that are just as amazing,” Mr Morgan told The Independent. Channelling visitors to these other sites would also better distribute the economic benefits of tourism in a country where nearly half of rural residents still do not get enough to eat.

Yet some of Peru’s greatest ruins, such as the imposing mountain fortress of Kuelap in northern Peru, have no road access and require strenuous treks of several days.

Meanwhile, the directorate of archaeology in Peru’s recently-founded Culture Ministry struggles with an annual budget of less than £1m and just 100 employees. According to Elias Mujica, a consultant on the development of archaeological sites, the directorate is “crippled” despite Peru’s immense archaeological resources and the economic opportunity they provide.

“Just imagine it,” sighs Hector Walde, head of the directorate, when it is pointed out that the equivalent agency in Mexico has around 2,500 staff working to protect Aztec, Maya and other ruins. The backlog of issues piled up in his inbox includes looting, uncontrolled urban development and inappropriate reconstruction by foreign archaeological teams.

Last month, authorities removed 4,500 tons of rubbish dumped by local communities inside the perimeter of the World Heritage Site Chan Chan, a spectacular pre-Inca adobe city on the Pacific coast. And farmers have been attempting to seize land at Caral, just north of Lima, a complex from 2,600BC and one of the Americas’ oldest known inhabited sites.

One exception to the troubling picture is the Moche Route, a successful new tourist circuit on Peru’s northern coast, linking ruins from the Moche people, famous for their lewd ceramics. The sites, including the giant Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, are well conserved and local communities were involved in its strategic planning.

Yet even here there are serious problems, with unprotected Moche ruins providing one of two archaeological looting hotspots in Latin America. The other, in Guatemala, sees the smuggling of an estimated 1,000 Maya ceramics a month, with a market value of more than £6m. No one seems to have an equivalent figure for Peru although Mr Walde estimates there are around 25,000 people involved in the trafficking nationally, most of them impoverished locals who earn a pittance, while a handful of middlemen make millions. The margins are comparable to the drugs trade, with retail prices around 1,000 times greater than the amount paid to the looter.

“Looting has gone on for centuries. It is a tradition in Peru,” Mr Walde says. “There is no awareness that looting tombs is prohibited. It is not socially censured.”

The courts, meanwhile, lack teeth. Peruvian law provides for sentences of up to eight years for illegally trading artefacts but prosecutors are usually unable to prove a suspect was knowingly involved in ransacking a marked archaeological site.

For Bingham, his rediscovery of Machu Picchu heralded a triumphant return to America, where he eventually became a senator and, after his death, the model for the Indiana Jones movies. Yet the legacy of his momentous find is less clearcut for Peru. As the centenary celebrations get under way, a questionmark continues to hang over the government’s ability to protect the archaeological riches many regard as a global as well as a national patrimony.

Cradle of civilisations

* The Inca empire, which started off as a tribe in what is now Peru and established a dominion that stretched from modern-day Chile to Colombia, actually only lasted 200 years yet was the culmination of millennia of civilisation in the Andean region. The diversity of cultures rivalled that of the Mediterranean basin.

* Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire from which kings ruled. The empire was tied together by an extensive road system. Inca architecture is distinguished by the use of stones sculpted to fit without the use of mortar.

* Known as fearsome warriors, the Incas built their empire through both force and diplomacy. But it was destroyed when Spanish invaders, led by Francisco Pizarro, arrived in Peru in 1532. The Incas were unable to match the firepower of the Europeans, and the explorers also brought with them diseases such as smallpox that devastated the indigenous people.

* Peru is today littered with the stunning ruins of cultures that scholars know little about. Among the most notable are the Paracas people from the deserts of Peru’s southern coast in about 500BC, who made dazzling textiles; the warlike Wari empire from the southern Peruvian Andes, from 500AD to 1000AD; the Moche, from 100AD to 800AD; and the Chachapoyas people of Peru’s northern cloudforests, who left a mausoleum full of mummies chiselled into a cliffside.

* The Incas worshiped a number of gods. The most important of these was Inti, the sun god. According to Inca belief, the Inca emperors descended from him.

Other tourist sites at risk

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Illegal pumps withdrawing millions of litres of groundwater every day from beneath the city of Siem Reap may threaten the stability of the nearby ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Unesco says. Growing numbers of tourist hotels are blamed for such high water demand. More than 800,000 people visited Angkor Wat in the first nine months of 2010 – 24 per cent more than in the same period the year before.

Pompeii, Italy

The 2,000-year-old House of the Gladiators in this ancient Roman city collapsed last November, pictured right, prompting an outcry from historians who fear the government is neglecting Italy’s priceless national treasures. Three chunks of mortar also fell off Rome’s Coliseum in May last year.

Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Refuse, medical waste and an ever growing number of tourist cafés are blamed for creating the “highest junkyard in the world” at the popular trekking destination. Conservationists continue to call for a temporary closure of the site in an attempt to reduce visitor numbers and their negative environmental impact.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, US

Noisy air tours and pollution are putting the Grand Canyon National Park at “grave risk”, according to a report released last year. Every year, more than 400,000 tourists fly above the canyon in helicopters and light aircraft, which are blamed for ruining the park’s natural soundscape.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The world’s largest reef system, housing over 400 species of coral and 2,000 species of fish, is threatened by a combination of climate change, rising sea levels and shipping. Last year the Chinese trawler Shen Neng 1 destroyed over 3km of coral when it ran aground.

Hotel Rio Sagrado acquired by Orient-Express Hotels

Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. owners or part-owners and managers of 49 luxury hotel, restaurant, tourist train, and river cruise properties operating in 25 countries, announced today the acquisition of a fifth property in Peru, an existing hotel in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

The 21-suite property, which opened in April 2009, has been acquired from Industrias Turistica Vagamundos SAC by Orient-Express Hotels’ joint venture company, Peru OEH SA (POEH) for US$7 million, funded from the POEH cash reserves plus long-term debt of $2.5 million.

Hotel Rio Sagrado, a rustic two-story property set in beautiful gardens overlooking the Urubamba river with an imposing mountain backdrop, is three kilometers from the town of Urubamba and fifteen minutes from Ollantaytambo, home to an important Inca village and fortress, as well as the main PeruRail station stop en route to Machu Picchu. The hotel has eleven deluxe and ten junior suites plus two 250 sq m villas, constructed from natural stone and woods such as eucalyptus and cedar, with marble and onyx bathrooms and flagstone terraces. Its 230 sq m spa has a large treatment room with views of the mighty Urubamba, indoor and outdoor Jacuzzis, and a sauna.

The Sacred Valley, located between Cuzco and Machu Picchu, is a popular part of holiday itineraries in Peru. Green and fertile, the valley is an important agricultural area, seen from its high towns as a patchwork of fields and Inca terraces. Attractions include the famous Sunday Pisac craft and produce market, Chinchero, according to legend the birthplace of the rainbow, as well as important Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo. PeruRail, the rail operator run by Orient-Express, stops regularly at Ollantaytambo station, as well as Cuzco and Aguas Calientes (the station for Machu Picchu), allowing guests to travel between the company’s hotels in style, while offering fantastic views of the valley and the Andes.

Paul White, president and chief executive of Orient-Express Hotels said, “Expanding the Orient-Express Peruvian experience to the Sacred Valley is a natural, as well as a strategic, move and enables the company to provide its guests with a luxury itinerary from arrival through to departure. The key sights in this part of Peru are the city of Cuzco, the Inca sanctuary at Machu Picchu and towns, antiquities, and markets of the Sacred Valley – arguably one of the most beautiful and scenic places in this wonderful country.”

Source: Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.