EasyJet passengers arriving at the security check with less than half an hour before their flight leaves will not be allowed to board.

The new policy, which is similar to that of BA at Heathrow Terminals three and five, will please all those who always allow plenty of time for the irritating but essential security checks but annoy those types who like to cut it fine with just hand luggage to carry on and who are often to be seen jumping the queues to make their flights. These passengers can pay EasyJet an extra £7.50 “missed flight cover” and then be entitled to a full refund, or a booking on the next available flight, without paying the normal £80 for switching flights.

The famous Glastonbury Festival could be moving 15 miles west, from Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset to Longleat, Wiltshire in 2019.

The organisers, who only own part of the site say that this makes the future of the show less certain, and that there are concerns that a mains gas pipe that runs through the site could be fractured under the strain of 250,000 revellers. Continue reading →

To the Hilton London Metropole hotel, Edgware Road, one of Europe’s largest with 1,059 bedrooms, dining space for up to 2,000 and conference space for up to 3,000.

Bedrooms are modern, comfortable and stylish, and all at Guest Room grade (274) have air-conditioning, mini-bars, tea and coffee making facilities, laptop safes, telephones and LCD satellite TVs, hairdryers, irons and ironing boards, 24hour in-room dining, work stations and wireless internet for which charges may apply. Deluxe Rooms (239) are on the higher floors with city views and Superior Rooms (307) are larger, with Family Superior Rooms (45) offering two queen-size beds, sofa and two TVs. Executive Rooms (170) and Suites (20) offer free access to the Executive Lounge for a complimentary continental breakfast and alcohols and snacks. The Executive Rooms have a large work station with an ergonomic chair and a bathroom with a separate shower stall. Suites offer a lounge, bedroom and bathroom, with Studio Suites (4) also incorporating a fully fitted kitchen for self-catering and longer stays. Continue reading →

o Twelve guests were rescued by fire crews at the 22-bedroom three-star Rushmore Hotel in Trebovir Road Earls Court, when a blaze broke out on the second floor there on Sunday June 5. Ten fire engines and 72 firefighters were at the scene and 150 people were evacuated from nearby buildings. The cause of the fire is unknown and being investigated.

o BLOC Hotels, which currently has a unit in Birmingham and one in Gatwick, is planning its second hotel in Birmingham. (Business Desk) This will be a 25 storey tower building housing 238 bedrooms and will be located close to New Street Station and the Grand Central shopping area.

o The St Regis Hotel, Dubai has opened the Sir Winston Churchill Suite. This is 9,828 square feet in area (913 square metres) and features a huge living area, a study, a dining room seating twelve around the table, three bedrooms, a large majlis or Arabic meeting room, a spiral staircase leading up to a rooftop plunge pool with views over the city and another dining area, reproductions of fifteen of Winnies 500 paintings and one of his Cuban cigars. Oh and a rate of £13,950 a night, which may or may not include breakfast…

It could be argued that when Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci made “Twentieth Century” forty years ago in 1976, his memorable five-hour art-house epic about the rise of facism in Italy in the first half of the last century, he benefitted from a dream team of acting talents at the peak of their powers.

The film chronicles the lives of two men from different sides of the tracks who grow up together. Alfredo Berlingheri, who inherits his father’s farm is played by American actor Robert de Niro when he was 33 and in the same year he was Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, two years after playing Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II in 1974 and before being Michael Vronsky in The Deerhunter (1978) and Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980). His friend is Olno Dalco, an illiterate peasant who works on the farm and is played by the 28 year old French character actor Gerard Depardieu, near the beginning of a career spanning 170 films. Continue reading →

It would be good to think that when our nation votes on the EU next month there might be some who are not just selfishly thinking about themselves and their pockets but what kind of country, and its rulers we will be leaving to our children and grandchildren.

Sadly a lot seems to be about short term economic vested interests, with some deep thinkers in our own industry scaremongering that cutting the increasing number of strings that bind us to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels who now make most of the important decisions for us would be “economic suicide”. Given the predictions from the financial experts that our pound could plummet against the euro with a Brexit some will find this a good thing, in that it will make hotel accommodation in the UK cheaper for overseas visitors, encourage more Brits to take a “staycation” here rather than drop their money in the Eurozone and make all exports more competitive. Is that “economic suicide”? Continue reading →

Travel by UK business travellers to high-risk destinations is on the increase, according to new research carried out by the Collinson Group and published in the Business Travel magazine.

There was a 52% increase in the number of visits to destinations experiencing level three security incidents – including terrorist attacks and attempted coups – in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Tunisia had an increase of 361.5%, Mexico 257%, Lithuania 95.1%, Thailand 62.3%, and Egypt 59.5%. Continue reading →

A 38 year-old man with a severe peanut allergy died after he ate a take-away curry from the Indian Garden restaurant, Easingwold, North Yorkshire in January 2014.

The curry contained cheap ground peanuts in place of more expensive ground almonds, despite staff at the restaurant assuring Paul Wilson, 38, that there were no nuts in the dish. For those with a severe peanut allergy just 50 micrograms of peanut, or 1x 10,000th of a whole peanut can kill, something all hotels and restaurants have to be aware of. Continue reading →

Fraudsters are getting consumers to listen to a sales pitch by telling them that if they do they will be given a free stay at a Marriott hotel.

Marriott have advised, for the second time in the last six months that the promise of free hospitality at Marriott is a lie and that those targeted by the fraudsters on the phone with this one should simply hang up.