Last week in my Road Warrior Column I wrote about the St. Ermins Hotel in London and the hives of bees on their rooftops. 
"The St. Ermin’s Hotel in London is a hotel with a secret life of bees, 200,000 of them.  On the rooftop of the hotel, three hives of busy Buckfast bees work the many parks and open spaces of London SW1, including Buckingham Palace to produce the hotel’s own honey.  The honey is used in a variety of dishes and is also for sale. Is this the only hotel with an apiarist?"

It seems that the St. Ermins is not the only city hotel to have bees.  A reader contacted me to tell me about three other London hotels, the Chesterfield Mayfair, the Atheneum and the Lancaster hotel, that all have bee hives.

From further afield in Jersey City another reader, now GM for the Hyatt Regency, and who formerly worked in the St. Ermins, emailed to say his hotel has hives too.  He also sent me this link to a TED talk by Maria Spivak on the importance of keeping bees, http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing.html?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2013-09-17

A quick flick around the internet and I came across other examples of hotels with bee hives including the Intercontinental Times Square, New York.  Though how the bees make their way through the neon jungle will be a mystery. The W Hotel in Austin, Texas and the Seaport in Boston are a-buzzing.

Fairmont Hotels, have made a big commitment to bee-keeping and have hives on more than a dozen properties in the United States with more spreading around their global network, see the list here, 
http://www.fairmont.com/promotions/fairmontbees/

CAPTCHA REMOVED FOR INDIVIDUAL BOOKINGS FROM 30 OCT,

MOBILE APP (WAS €3) FREE FROM 1 OCT

Ryanair, Europe’s only ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC) today (20 Sept) at its AGM in Dublin briefed shareholders on the new milestones recently achieved by the airline including:

·         First EU airline to carry 9m passengers in a calendar month (August).

·         First EU airline to carry 80m passengers p.a.

·         Traffic set to grow from 80m 110m p.a. by FY’19.

·         175 new B-737 aircraft ordered.

·         10 year low cost deal at Warsaw Modlin concluded.

·         10 year low cost deal at London Stansted agreed.

To celebrate these milestones, Ryanair briefed shareholders on its plans to roll out a new website and digital marketing strategy which will include:

·         Launching the @Ryanair Twitter page.

·         Removing the Recaptcha security feature for individual passengers from 30 Oct next (Recaptcha will remain in place for high volume bookers, screenscrapers, travel agents etc.).

·         Ryanair’s mobile app will from Tues 1 Oct be downloadable free of charge (previously €3).

·         Booking flow redesign to go live in December.

·         Passenger registration/retention service live for summer 2014, substantially reducing the time it takes to complete bookings.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Our recent agreements with Boeing, Warsaw Modlin and London Stansted show that Ryanair continues to widen our substantial unit cost advantage over all other EU airlines.  We will use these lower costs to offer even more lower fares to Ryanair passengers across all EU markets in which we operate, and already these fares (starting from €15 one way) are delivering increased bookings and higher advance loads, albeit at lower yields this autumn.

After a summer during which Ryanair’s operations set new record highs, with 94% of flights on-time in August, less than 1 bag per 3,000 passengers misplaced and less than 1 cancellation for every 10,000 flights operated, Ryanair’s unbeatable low fares continue to attract new passengers from competitors, while our unbeatable customer service keeps them coming back for more. 

Our primary focus this winter will be to significantly invest in, and improve, the Ryanair.com website, our mobile platform and our interaction with passengers using social media.  We are pleased to remove Recaptcha from November for individual passengers, although the security feature will remain in place for high volume or multiple IP addresses in order to deter larger travel agents, screenscrapers and others who flood our website seeking fare quotes, and diminish our website’s accessibility for individual passengers. 

 

This winter will also see a rolling programme of development to improve the Ryanair.com website, make it easier for passengers to navigate, quicker for them to locate our all-inclusive price quotes, identify availability of our lower fare promotions and book Ryanair’s great fares for themselves and their families.  These improvements will be accompanied by a new digital marketing strategy which will see Ryanair switch a significant proportion of its marketing budget from old to new media, with a particular focus on mobile and social media platforms.”

Sales Fares  - Dreaming of 900,000 trips.

Joan on The Last Work with Matt Cooper Thursday Sept. 5

The battle for forward bookings has begun with Aer Lingus Dream Fares and Ryanair 900,000 seat sale

The good summer has been hard on business with more people staying at home and fewer people rushing to make bookings for autumn and winter breaks.  I also think the fares went far too high this summer and put people off.

So just to encourage you, there is still sun in Europe and you can fly to Spain, Portugal, France and Italy with Aer Lingus from €100-€140 and with Ryanair from €90 – 120. Best value I have seen is Biarritz, gateway to the Basque country, for €59. Most of these flights are only until the end of October. Malaga and Barcelona will operate all year.

After October, its Canaries time and we are lucky to have flights with both Aer Lingus and Ryanair to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife and not just from Dublin but from regional airports too. Aer Lingus flights are around €185 and Ryanair €150.

Best value through the autumn and winter will be city breaks, where flights will be in the range of €80 - €120 with both airlines.  UK regional airports are even cheaper with most flights under €80.

There’s no reason why you can’t have a weekend in Europe for under €250 and with the Christmas markets beginning at the end November, a lovely time to go.  My top tips for the winter are Budapest for the Christmas markets and Venice for romance without the hordes.

Skiing options will include Geneva, Munich and Milan for access to the Alps and Dolomites.

Transatlantic fares drop nicely for good value trips over the winter with fares from €219 each way and there are plenty in the system.  October is about €80 return dearer.

Find hotels in Europe with accorhotels.com who own the brands Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, Pullman among the names we might know, with rates from €44 per night.  There is a big promotion on at present.  In the UK Travelodge.com are having a sale and prices are from £25 per night.

Aer Lingus sale fares are until March and Ryanair for October and November with some spilling over into December

September is the beginning of Oyster Season and the Cliff Town House on St. Stephens Green is going to give Galway and Clarinbridge a run for their money.  Chef Sean Smith has come up with some very tasty treatments of the the finest freshest oysters around.  Special menus during the month inlcudes a half dozen oysters with a glass of Moet & Chandon for €19.50 and set menus from €28. A selection of craft beers from Dungarvan Brewing Company will be available for pairings.  The oyster stout was highly recommended at the launch. 
http://www.theclifftownhouse.com/weddings-and-events/oyster-festival