Summer is coming

How was your last summer? Mine was wonderful and unforgettable.

As you can see in my previous blog entries from the last summer, I have made a Road-Trip through the Southest of Italy: Naples, Amalfi, Calabria, Sicily, Basilicata, Apulia and back via the Marches - simply breath-taking. This was a trip of a lifetime for me!

The upcoming summer I will go to Southern France, more precisely to the Provence and to Côte d'Azur of course. A to-do-list is already planned but we will see afterwards if my schedule keeps what it promises.

Today I wanted to let you know that I updated the list of the Hotels & Resorts where I stayed and you can now see more hotel reviews on this blog by clicking here. I have added some interesting and luxurious hotels and places, which might be of interest to you.

In addition I have also published a new website of my company with lots of luxury hotels and destinations. I would be delighted to receive your enquiry soon!

blog.travelexecutive.de

Best regards and a wonderful week!

Where Romeo meets Julia in a hip way!

Welcome to the Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista!

My travel advice for an extended summer holiday: Spend some hip days in Verona and find some bargains in North Italy's factory outlets. 

The Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista is an old Villa with hip and modern furnitures and a lot of art and design, everywhere you look. To be sure in advance - this is not a place for children! The paintings of naked woman and men will not be everyone's taste, but if you do not mind for an extra portion of art, then the Villa Amista is the perfect place to keep your mind in peace with you.

The rooms are not that small, although we got uprgaded to a Deluxe Room. The Deluxe room was located in the Garden wing, and therefore we had a really nice ceiling with lots of paintings. The room itself was really tastefully designed, while the bathroom reminded me of a normal 5-star property in Italy - no design or anything modern! 

The bathroom toiletries were terrible, not only the fact that they were no-name ones, also the smell was more like chemical as relaxing. When you take a look, it says they were made in Spain, so not even an Italian Product. 

The Lobby is one of the most beautiful places in the house and is also the meeting point for everyone. From here you can go to the rooms, to the reception, to the outdoor pool, or you can have a drink at the bar.

The spa on the Basement was used to be managed by Henri Chenot a few years ago, and today it is a kind of city spa - nothing special and really small. They use Byblos Products and the jacuzzi looks very crowded if there are more than 4 people in it. The sauna and steam bath en-suite are also nice and the fitness center is situated in a private pavillon, which looks really cool, although it is not large, too.

The Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista is a nice place to stay during a city trip in Verona or Touring the Outlets of Northern Italy! Rooms are available from 200 Euros per night and room including a lavish buffet breakfast!

http://www.byblosarthotel.com/

Hotel-Check: Aqua Dome Spa Resort Part 3

The night was very peaceful and we had a great sleep! Before breakfast I went to the public spa pool and it was amazing. At 8.30 am, I was the only one swimming in the large pool, which is open for public every day from 9 am till 10 pm. 

I then took a shower with the shower gel from the dispenser and went to the breakfast room or "hall"! The buffet war larger than my expectations were, so I was impressed. The service at breakfast was very nice although the cook was not able to prepare me some scrambled eggs, instead she advised me to take some cold scrambled eggs of the buffet. If I want freshly cooked scrambled eggs with ham I only want to get them and not to discuss with a not native speaking employee! Nevertheless  the buffet with the orange machine was excellent by 4-star standards!

The check-out was at 11 am, but we wanted to leave at 10 am so we did not have to wait in the typical queue. As a present, we got a nice cake, which is home-made. 

All in all this hotel/resort is not that perfect retreat for us! We think there is a large group of guests which love to stay at such spa resorts and to move around without any textiles as well as to lie to each other without any privacy! 

If you look for a luxurious wellness hotel in Western Austria, then check-in at the Grand Tirolia or the Kempinski Das Tirol in the area of Kitzbühel, where everyone seeks for privacy!

In my opinion, 380,00 Euros per night for the old Classic Room is more than impolite for the offered facilities!

Hotel-Check: Aqua Dome Spa Resort Part 2

Sorry for being offline the whole day, but it was more stressful than it should have been. 

 1 hour after my last blog, I wanted to pick up the keys for the reserved Alpine Room. Of course they tried to give me the standard room in the old wing! So I went the whole way to the room and then back to the reception to claim about the room. They did not apology and immediately called the housekeeping to prepare a new room. After 15 minutes waiting on the reception without offering a drink or a seat, they gave me the keys without any comment. 

The new room is nice, the smell is fresh, the balconies and bathrooms are modern and new, too! Although the bed sheets are dirty and used! YES - All-over Shampoo comes out of a dispenser - very exclusive :-(( ! They are not even branded ones!

Back to the Spa, some tyrolean citizens tried to get our loungers as they were not able to got some by theirselfs! We shouted at them and they left us alone - horrible if you're paying 380.00 Euros for that one night in the low season!

We went to a local restaurant as we are disappointed of the overall service at this property! This was probably the best decision we did the whole day - the Pizza was absolutely great!

To be honest, everything I wanted is to sleep, but this was impossible as the materess felt extremely cheap and unconfortable, a bit like in a youth hostel or in a boarding house!

After replacing the mattress protector, the beds felt more comfortable and sleeping was no longer a problem. :-)

We will see what tommorrow brings, we will for sure no longer stay the afternoon at this chaotic place! Sorry but this is a true hotel-fail for this price!

Hotel-Check: Aqua Dome Spa Resort Part 1

I am just sitting in the newly reopened "Spa 3000" in the Austrian town of Längenfeld, which looks more beautiful on the website than it is in real. The check in was okay but nothing more! The room was not ready at 11.00 and so we went to the Spa 3000. All in all there is no real pool, just one indoor Jacuzzi and 4 small whirlpools for up to 2 persons each! As the hotel is fully booked, the spa gets more crowded and the best loungers are occupied. We were lucky and got some at the window facing the town. Unfortunately, our loungers are more than uncomfortable. 

Personal opinion: The service is kind and does fit perfectly to their guests. 

                                                         
To be honest, this is not the type of guests which is found in the top-notch properties, so I feel a bit uncomfortable in here. Nearly all of them love to be naked and to lie next to each other. Privacy does not exist! 

First impression is not very impressive!

Time to escape the winter blues!

The weather in Austria could not be worse. Heavy rain, cold wind and temperatures of at least +8.00 celsius!

As I do not want to stay at home and enjoy the bedside, I decided to stay the bank holiday tommorrow at the Hotel of the Aqua Dome thermal bath in the Austrian valley of Ötztal. 

I also checked everything in advance, but they were not yet very flexible with early check-in and upgrade as I got a deal for up to 70% off the nightly room rate! 

To be said in advance, I do not expect a perfect service and a exceptional hotel. Nevertheless I am very looking fowrard to some relaxing days within one hour driving distance!

Have a great day!