Go team Sofitel London St James!

The Royal Parks Half Marathon is coming soon – October 10th, and so we are delighted to report that one of hotel faves – le magnifique Sofitel London St James has committed to raise £15,000 for Plan UK, Accor’s nominated charity.

Six colleagues from various departments and of different fitness levels have risen to the challenge. You might just recognize a few of them:

Stephanie Segoura – Director of Sales
Andre Rocha – HR
Viktoras Luko – Sales
Lukas Vaverka – Reservations
Robert Asare – Accounts
Joao Da Costa – Marketing

Donate if you can as much or as little as you wish. AND Should you decide to donate £21 you will be given the opportunity to win a one hour treatment of your choice at So SPA by Sofitel.

The more £21s you donate the more chances you will have to not only support a great cause but to win this moment of great relaxation.

For more details on this great cause please click here.

To see how much money they’ve have raised so far, please click here.

We sincerely wish the Sofitel London St James runners the best of luck, have a great time guys.

London Spas in London Hotels!

There are many reasons why we all love visiting Spas, top of the list being because we all love being pampered of course, having some ME time or even a good bonding session with your mother/daughter/sister. However the 1 number reason to spa is to release all that stress and pursuit that path of good wellness (I’m sure you all agree!). Well London hotels are boasting with luxurious Spa’s for all you who require that ME time or a romantic Rendezvous with your significant other!

The first being the luxurious Ajala Spa at the 5 star Grange St Pauls Hotel in the heart of the city, located below the ground of the Grange St Pauls Hotel. The Ajala Spa is a holistic treatment centre combining the therapies of Ayurveda as well as traditional oriental treatments, it but it also features a state of the art health and beauty facilities offering a broad range of treatments to indulge yourself in. The therapists at the Ajala will ensure you capture an experience never to be forgotten with their proficient skills and high tiered experience will most definitely ensure to take you into pure relaxation. Following your treatment or treatment’s you can then chill out in the relaxation room till you are ready for your next venture in London!

Another must visit Spa is the Agua at the 5 star Sanderson Hotel and Urban retreat also in the heart of the west end just off Oxford street. The hotel being the new trend  to ‘ new luxury hospitality’ also captures the new trend to the ‘ new luxurious Spa experience’ The stunning Agua Spa offers all who enter spiritual relief and tranquility offering the client a forever lasting pampering experience. With a glitzy array of treatments including modern and ancient techniques surrounded with its acres of white curtains and 14 all white treatment rooms, chill out room and mediation beds this urban sanctuary will for sure have you in that dreamy cloud 9 like ambience! Why not experience the Agua signature facial or an Agua de-stress massage whichever you go for your sure to receive the personal attention and total indulgence of the body mind and soul!

The final quiet serenity to visit is the May Fair Spa at the 5 star May Fair Hotel, at this stylish day Spa your needs will be carefully addressed to ensure you receive highly personalized beauty and health treatments. Before your treatment you can take full advantage of the wet spa facilities, unwind in the relaxation room before you sample the Herbal Sauna and Aromatic Steam rooms. Weather you decide to enjoy it by yourself or with your loved one the Steam Chamber is a must try! the  ‘Moroccan Steam cleaning ritual’ is what the treatment is called, here a therapist will guide you through the experience but then you are left on your own to carry out the steps in your very own steam chamber! After these experiences you are then guided to the Rassul Chamber were you continue on your pampering experience leaving you totally balanced and refreshed. Pure tranquility or what!

All in all my fellow Londonhotelexperts followers, next time you decide to check-in to one of the above Uber, Super, Duper luxurious properties do also check-in to the amazing Spa’s. I’m sure you will release all that stress and finally pursuit that path of wellness!

P.S Don’t forget to also visit our Spa section at lastminute.com for some amazing Spa experience packages a lovely gift for yourself or your loved one I say!

A Legend Lives!

Just over 40 years ago, the legend that is Jimi Hendrix checked into The Cumberland Hotel on Oxford Street, a week later he was dead. Now I must point out that this categorically had nothing to do with his stay at the hotel, although back then it was slightly less luxurious than it is now (in fact Hendrix paid £17 a night for his suite!)

Hendrix did die in London in Notting Hill a couple of days after he played he last ever gig in Britain on the Isle of Wight. From that gig he went onto tour Scandinavia and Europe however the band had to come back early after the bass player had his drink spiked! Making the great city of London his last point of call.

Hendrix was very fond of the Cumberland Hotel throughout his time in the limelight, it was a place he would often go to to find privacy and to conduct his hectic and very complicated love life!  Keith Altham, a music journalist, very succinctly  put it that Hendrix would go there “for the purpose of meeting various young ladies when he wanted to keep away from the various other young ladies that he was seeing!”

40 years on from his death, the hotel which was named on his death certificate as his last place of residence, havecreated a magnificent suite on the same floor and possibly the same room that Jimi Hendrix stayed in last. You have to see it to believe it, however  the designers have created a psychedelic room that captures both the ethos of the swinging sixties and of Hendrix himself.  It leaves little doubt that this is a room that would be somewhere where Hendrix himself would have enjoyed spending his time!

I think a picture paints more than a thousand words in this case, so I have added a couple of great images that will allow you dear reader a sneaky look at what you could expect to enjoy for the £399 a night it costs to stay in it!

I leave you with one of the great man’s quotes – I think it sums up his life and London life quite well!

“I was trying to do too many things at the same time, which is my nature. But I was enjoying it, and I still do enjoy it”.

Pop down, Pop up!

Are you like me? Do you like having a cold beer after work in an unusual place? Well, if you are, ‘pop down’ to this ‘pop up’ bar that is right outside the Andaz Hotel in Liverpool Street! You have to be quick though… it will only open for 5 days (absolutely positively not any longer) from21st September to the 25th September from 5 – 8pm daily. So, if like us at lastminute.com you like to chill out after a heavy days work, get yourself down there and we might by you a drink*

This great idea is all part of the London Design Festival 2010 and will be presented by Gallery Libby Sellers, it will certainly be worth a look! You can get a sneak preview from the artists impression although I reckon it will be a lot busier when it opens that it looks below!

*we probably wont buy you a drink! But we will still love each and every one of you!