Travelore News: Marriott Sells St. Regis New York To Qatar Investment Authority

Marriott International Inc. has sold the St. Regis New York for $310 million to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, offloading a historic property that served as the launching point for an indispensable cocktail and a preeminent luxury hotel brand.

The purchase gives Qatar Investment Authority another trophy asset to add to an expanding portfolio across the globe. The fund has been boosting its investments in the U.S., including purchasing stakes in properties in New York.

The St. Regis New York Hotel.

Photographer: Ben Hider/Getty Images

The St. Regis hotel, located on East 55th Street near Fifth Avenue, was opened by John Jacob Astor IV in 1904. The 18-story Beaux-Arts building contains more than 200 guest rooms and the King Cole Bar, a watering hole where the Bloody Mary is said to have been invented.

Room rates on Thursday night (10/31/19) ranged from $779 to more than $4,000 for a suite, according to Marriott’s website.

Marriott, the world’s largest lodging company, doesn’t own many hotels, preferring to earn fees for licensing brands and managing properties for real estate partners.

Marriott acquired the Manhattan property when it bought Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 2016, a $13.6 billion transaction that reshaped the global hospitality industry. By then, the St. Regis name had been repurposed as a globe-spanning luxury brand with outposts in places like Shenzhen, China and Bora Bora, in French Polynesia.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based company recently disclosed its $206 million acquisition of the W New York Union Square, a move intended to jump-start the update of a beloved but faded brand.

10 Most Romantic Places To Live Overseas

By Kathleen Peddicord

We here at Live and Invest Overseas are wild romantics. Here, therefore, are the 10 most romantic places to live or retire overseas. Visit one of these beautiful, historic, charming, colorful spots, and your heart will sing, your imagination soar…

Paris, France

It's no contest. Be you a holiday-goer or a retiree, if you’re looking for a romantic destination and you enjoy the distractions of city life, Paris should be at the top of your list.

Trying to make a case for why Paris is romantic seems silly—like trying to explain why an ocean view from your bedroom window might be a nice thing to have. Picnics in the Luxembourg Gardens, long walks along the banks of the Seine, and afternoons lost among the cobblestones of the Latin Quarter… these are among the most romantic pastimes this world of ours has to offer.

In addition, the retiree in Paris has access to the world’s best museums, galleries, cafes, restaurants, shopping, food, wine, parks, and gardens. Life doesn't get better than life in Paris.

Mendoza, Argentina

Mendoza is wine country, and where vines grow, the living generally qualifies as romantic. Argentines enjoy great food, good vino, and interesting conversation, and here, in the interior of this country, these things are the priorities of life. 

A friend, Michael, who retired to the Mendoza region of Argentina recently, gushes in his reports of his new life. “My garden is bursting at the seams,” he writes, “though I don’t look after it. My gardener does. Honestly, it’s a feast for the eyes, and the luscious grapes that hang from the vines around me are going to produce wine with my name on it.”

This region is a great choice for the active retiree who isn’t ready to sit back rocking on his front porch. There’s skiing, hiking, climbing, bird-watching, white-water rafting, kayaking, kite-surfing, and great golfing. Come evening, you could tango the night away (talk about romantic) at one of Mendoza’s many entertainment venues or relax at the spas of Pismanta. 

Medellin, Colombia

The European undertones in Medellin are strong, from the way the women dress to the way people greet you in passing on the street. This is South America, not Central America, and the differences between the two regions can be striking. 

Medellin is a green city, with trees, plants, and small gardens everywhere. It’s architecturally consistent and pleasing. Most every building is constructed of red brick and topped with red clay roof tiles. The overall effect is delightful.

Medellin is a literary and an artistic center with an annual poetry festival, an international jazz festival, an international tango festival, an annual book fair, and, back in 1971, Colombia’s answer to Woodstock, the Festival de Ancon.

Medellin has been named “world’s most innovative city” and is finally beginning to shed its bad-boy image from Escobar days and to become appreciated for the romantic locale that it is. With its good wines, great coffee, outdoor cafes, and open-air music venues, Medellin is an easy place to get swept away.

Istria, Croatia

The cobalt blue of the Adriatic Sea off Istria’s coast is almost otherworldly. This is a sailor’s paradise, and all up and down this coast you see flotillas of white yachts offshore from ancient towns hidden behind thick walls. This is a fairy-tale land of fortresses and bell towers that so attracted and impressed the Romans that they invested in some of their best building here, including a large and largely intact coliseum at Pula where lions and Christians once entertained.

Later, this region was ruled by the Venetians, who also left an architectural legacy. In Istria, both nature and man have worked together over many centuries to create something very special, almost magical. In fact, the ancient Romans named it Tierra Magica.

The hinterland is a beguiling patchwork of meadows, vineyards, and olive groves, plus carefully tended gardens where trees hang heavy with ripening cherries, figs, and walnuts. This fertile land also grows wild asparagus and truffles, for which it is becoming famous. High in the hills, behind more medieval walls, are yet more toy-town settlements of fountains, chestnut trees, and frescoed churches. 

Frankly, I defy you not to fall in love with Istria.

Abruzzo, Italy 

It’s hard to think of a lovelier corner of Italy. The beaches are golden, and the sea rolls out like a giant bolt of turquoise silk. Eagles swoop down from craggy eyries, wild peonies and gentians color the alpine meadows. 

Stitching together seascapes with lush mountain valleys, this region is one of Italy's secret treasures, and you'll love it. No over-crowding, no heavy industry. Hiding away down its curvy roads are castles, vineyards, and villages made of stone and memory. Life in the Abruzzo hasn't changed that much over the years, and it's like wandering into a gentler, kinder yesterday. 

Old ladies in pinafores bring their chairs outside and sit in gossipy groups, stringing onions into plaits. Instead of playing computer games, young boys are outside playing soccer. Families shop at open-air markets, not hypermarkets—and, if they don't produce their own wine, they buy it from local vineyards.

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

The caldera created by a massive volcanic explosion, one of the strongest explosions in earth's history, formed the basin for what is today arguably the most picturesque lake in the world: Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. Aldous Huxley famously described this lake as, “really, too much of a good thing.” It’s beautiful by day, stunning at sunrise and sunset, and offers a near-perfect, refreshing climate.

A community has developed on the shores of this lovely lake, providing an irresistible opportunity for the retiree looking for peace, quiet, and abundant outdoors adventures on his doorstep. 

Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the world’s premier outdoor playgrounds, being clean and green, with top-notch skiing, hiking, surfing, and fishing. The country is sometimes called the Ireland of the South; the landscapes are similar, as are the people. New Zealand’s climate, though, is better.

Thanks to its showcase botanic gardens, public parks, and nature reserves to community vegetable plots, school planting projects, and well-kept private grounds, Christchurch deserves its moniker “City Within A Garden.” 

All the green space provides a lovely backdrop for the city’s many festivals and public entertainment offerings and tempts residents to get out and about, enjoying all that this one-of-a-kind minor metropolis has to offer.

Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuenca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a former Inca capital that retains its Andean-indigenous influence. With its wealth of colonial homes with interior courtyards, thick adobe walls, and iron-railed terraces looking down on to the street, punctuated regularly by plazas and squares, this is a city made for walking. Folks come from all over the world to enjoy these 250 square blocks of history, to study in Cuenca’s world-class language schools, and to experience a rare glimpse of unadulterated life in an Andean colonial city.

Cuenca’s Spanish colonial environment is one of the most genuine in Latin America. Locals wear traditional dress, and colorful indigenous markets dot the city. Afterhours in Cuenca, you’ve got music, theater, dance clubs, shows, and a professional symphony orchestra that is free to all. Perhaps best is the never-ending stream of local festivals, each with its fireworks, parades, food, and drink, every one a chance to join thousands of people on the streets having a great time. 

Antigua, Guatemala

Horse-drawn carriages wait by the plaza, and shoeshine vendors circulate with their little black wooden boxes. Mayan ladies bearing jade necklaces and fabric shawls of vivid colors wander through the park. The benches around the central fountain are fully occupied by young couples in love. The fountain continually splashes water from the breasts of the four young women carved in stone, with four smaller outlying fountains adding to the delightful picture.

This is downtown Antigua. Originally, the square was barren and treeless, the official site of hangings, floggings, and other punishments meted out by the Spanish conquerors and their church brethren for whatever transgression was deemed worthy of the lash. Today the park is tree-filled and alive with the singing of birds and the clip-clop of the horses making their way around the cobblestoned streets.

There are moments in this city of pastel stucco exteriors, clay-tiled roofs, and cobblestones, when the light is just right, that are reminiscent of Santorini. Purple and red bougainvillea branches overhang walls on every street. Markets overflow with bright Mayan weavings.

Antigua has a small-town feel, where everyone knows everyone else and exchanges a “buenos dias” in passing. The pace of life is slow. Take a deep breath and savor the day.

Cayo, Belize

Fields and pastures, trees and jungle, rivers and livestock. Here and there a small house of concrete block or timber, in the distance the outline of the Maya Mountains. This is the region of Belize known as Cayo. You reach Cayo via one of this country’s three highways, the one headed west.

The land in Cayo is fertile. Farmers grow corn and sugarcane, watermelons and citrus. You see Mennonites driving horse-drawn carts and children walking home from school. Everyone going about his or her business, not much bothered by government shutdowns or the mounting deficit. 

Here, in this land of escape, where life is simple, those things don’t seem to matter or even to register. Life here revolves around the land and values independence above all else.

To be truly independent in today’s world, you need to be energy-independent. That’s a big part of what Cayo offers—a chance to take yourself off the grid. This doesn’t have to mean living a backward or burdened existence. 

Thanks to 21st-century technology, the self-sufficient life, including in Cayo, can also be comfortable, even fully appointed. This is a place for like-minded folks to be “independent together,” with some of Mother Nature’s finest work as the backdrop.

Author Kathleen Peddicord is Editor and Publisher of Live and Invest Overseas. She has covered the international beat for more than 30 years and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on overseas living and retirement. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and raised her children in 4. More info at liveandinvestoverseas.com.

Travelore's Recommended Holiday Gifts For 2019

Drinkmate™ Countertop 

• Drinkmate Countertop is the ONLY at-home beverage carbonator that allows the user to carbonate ANYTHING in the fridge
• Patented detachable Fizz Infuser and dual-stage valve system allows better control on release of CO2
• Easy to operate, easy to clean - No Electricity or batteries required
• Quick connect bottle is BPA-free with volume mark line
• Smaller footprint saves counter space
• Comes with 3oz starter CO2 carbonator so you can start carbonating right away.
• The Drinkmate works with the most common brand of 14.5 oz (or 60L) CO2 carbonators out there. To find a replacement 60L CO2 source near you, google "carbonator exchange" and choose a site that shows a location most convenient for you. 
• Available in three modern colors: matte black, metallic red and pewter
• MSRP: $86.99
• Available at www.idrinkproducts.com

The Razor Xtreme portable charger by MyCharge has all the power you will need for your travel adventures to charge both laptops and smartphones with 26800mAh with fast charging capability. For more details and how to order please visit: https://mycharge.com/products/razorextreme-pd

The Slipcover Company provides high quality slipcovers to update your interior design and protect your seating at a very reasonable cost. Please visit https://www.theslipcovercompany.com/

Delta’s New $59 Subscription Gets You Booze And Early Access To Overhead Bins. But Is It Worth It?

(Washington Post illustration; iStock)

By Hannah Sampson

Air travelers who stress over finding a place to stow their carry-on bag have a new option: pay an annual fee to board flights early — and hope it will be enough to avoid the critical mass of fellow travelers and their luggage.

Delta introduced a “new travel benefits bundle” called SkyMiles Select on Wednesday that costs $59 for a year. Its benefits — the subject of hot debate on frequent-flier forums — include priority boarding, eight drink vouchers and “a limited-edition bag tag.”

“Board sooner and find the perfect overhead bin space with Main Cabin 1 boarding,” the airline says on its website. Despite that hook, the airline is not explicitly guaranteeing travelers will always find bin space.

“Customers have told us they want more ways to access benefits when traveling with Delta, and we know priority boarding is a valuable benefit as it gives customers more time to get settled before their flight,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said in an email. “We’ll look to expand the types of benefits they can access based on feedback from this test.”

The boarding position is hardly elite: According to Delta’s website, Main Cabin 1 boards fourth from last, after four other groups (not including military, travelers who need extra help, or people with car seats and strollers). One segment who could benefit: those who book the cheapest tickets, known as “Basic Economy,” which boards last. If they buy the bundle, they get to board earlier.

[Checking a bag vs. carrying on is the great debate of airline travel]

“There is some value here,” says Kyle Potter, editor in chief of the travel website Thrifty Traveler, who wrote about the new benefits. “Not a ton.”

Most beer, wine and spirits cost $9, so eight drink vouchers are worth more than the $59 fee. But, Potter points out, Delta credit card holders already board in the same group, and those with certain levels of frequent-flier status board earlier. Those travelers aren’t the target market for this offer, he said.

“They’re going after kind of the Average Joes and Average Janes out there who fly twice, maybe three times a year,” Potter says. “And this could give them a reason to keep going back to Delta for those two or three flights a year because they want to use those benefits.”

Delta isn’t the only airline to offer subscriptions; United sells them for its Economy Plus category and baggage, among other things. And other airlines sell early access to the plane: JetBlue’s “Even More Space” seats come with early boarding, and on Southwest, travelers can pay $15 to $25 each way to nab a boarding position before most of the rest of the plane. Both airlines highlight access to overhead bins as a perk. Delta itself sells a priority boarding add-on for $15 each way.

In messages on FlyerTalk, an online travel site, some fliers sounded intrigued by the offer. Others were not so impressed.

“I guess it’s best of the rest,” one user said about the boarding group. “But calling it priority is a stretch, even on a good day.”

Another commenter worried about what the new subscription could mean for the future of bin struggles: “If this proves popular, we might start seeing some flights that run out of overhead space in the middle of Main Cabin 1 boarding!”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/18/deltas-new-subscription-gets-you-booze-early-access-overhead-bins-is-it-worth-it/

MoMA Reopens With More Space, Fresh Juxtapositions

This undated image released by the The Museum of Modern Art shows the installation "Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman—The Shape of Shape," part of the renovation and expansion effort at MoMA in New York. As the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan prepares to reopen following a $450 million, 47,000 square foot expansion, visitors can prepare for much more than much-needed elbow room there - and new juxtapositions of works meant to encourage broader perspectives and new narratives. (Heidi Bohnenkamp/MoMA via AP)

Contributed by KATHERINE ROTH

NEW YORK (AP) — The Museum of Modern Art’s new $450 million, 47,000-square-foot expansion offers visitors more than much-needed elbow room. It emphasizes new juxtapositions of works to encourage broader perspectives and new narratives.

The revamped MoMA, a third bigger than the old one, opens to the public on Oct. 21.

While iconic works by the likes of Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Pollock remain dependably on view, visitors are invited to see them in a new light, now displayed side by side with less familiar works by women and minorities, and artists from places like Africa, South America and Asia.

The goal is to rethink the familiar and make Modernism feel fresh and challenging again.

“Sometimes even small juxtapositions can have a big impact,” says Jodi Hauptmann, senior curator of drawings and prints at MoMA. “On the fifth floor, for example, Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ is now shown in the same gallery as a collection of ceramics made at the same time by George Ohr, of Biloxi, Mississippi. It’s interesting to see those things together.”

Picasso’s 1907 “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” now shares gallery space with a 1967 painting by African-American artist Faith Ringgold featuring an interracial gunfight. Seeing the two works together provides fresh perspective on both, and seems to emphasize the violence of Picasso’s fractured bodies.

“Inspired by Alfred Barr’s original vision to be an experimental museum in New York, the real value of this expansion is not just more space, but space that allows us to rethink the experience of art in the museum,” says Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA.

To keep creating fresh juxtapositions, offer up more of the museum’s permanent collection, and place greater focus on multiculturalism, the revamped MoMA promises to rotate many of the works in its galleries every six months.

“It’s an opportunity to show visitors what the museum has been doing in terms of collecting these past years,” says Michelle Elligott, chief of archives, library and research collections.

In some of the galleries, sculpture, painting, design, architecture, photography and film are all featured together.

“We have now brought various departments into conversation, which allows visitors to explore what different artists were doing during the same time period,” says Martino Stierli, chief curator of architecture and design at the museum.

Other galleries continue to focus on a single medium. Explains Juliet Kinchin, curator in the department of architecture and design: “Each floor has a broad chronological frame, but within each frame there’s more flexibility, with occasional breakouts to create a dialogue.”

“We’re trying to have some areas that are fully integrated in terms of departments, and other areas where you can really focus solely on a particular medium,” she says.

To help alleviate crowds, MoMA now has more ways to reach the galleries, including through a new wing on the west side.

The expansion, developed by MoMA with architects Diller Scofidio and Benfro in collaboration with Gensler, also includes a larger ground floor — including two new galleries — that is free and open to the public.

There is aIso a new studio space for live and experimental programming, including music, sound, spoken word and expanded approaches to the moving image.

“The idea is that the museum will now be a more engaging destination for both repeat visitors, as well those visiting the museum for the first time,” says Elligott.

When Flying With Kids, They Are Also Entitled To Flight Compensation In The Event Of A Flight Disruption

When traveling with kids they are also entitled to compensation in the event of flight disruptions.  AirHelp, the world’s leading air passenger rights company, has provided the below tips so you can make sure your trip goes smoothly, and that you get the money you deserve if that isn’t’ the case.

• Your family is entitled to receive food and drinks. When you are stuck at the airport waiting for your flight, the airline must provide you – and your children! - with food and refreshments. Make sure to keep all receipts, as some airlines reimburse you for any meals purchased during the disruption.
• Your family is entitled to free accommodation and airport transport. During lengthy delays or cancellations where overnight accommodation is necessary, the airline must provide you and your family free accommodation as well as free transport to and from the airport.
• Your child is entitled to the same amount of compensation as an adult. Even if your child’s plane ticket is only a fraction of the cost of that of an adult, he or she is still entitled to the full compensation amount. The amount of compensation that you receive is dependent on the distance of your flight, and the length of the delay — NOT the amount you paid for the ticket. This means if you are flying to the EU on an EU airline and experience a disruption eligible under EC 261, everyone in your family may be able to claim up to $700 in compensation.
• When flying with kids, they are entitled to flight compensation too. One of the most important things to remember when you are flying with a small child is that your child is entitled to flight compensation in the event of a flight disruption. 
• • But what about flying with a lap infant? Babies often travel on their parents' laps at a reduced infant fee. When flying with an infant aged 2 years and below, most airlines will charge a fee between 10% to 15% of the adult airfare, plus taxes and an extra fee for an infant seat belt.
• • For years, airlines have been refusing to compensate infants, arguing that because they don't occupy a seat, there is no compensation to pay. This changed in 2017, however, when AirHelp won a lawsuit against Thomas Cook Airlines, creating a legal breakthrough in the EU. 

TRAVELORE DESTINATION REPORT: The Regent Seven Seas Navigator From New York To Montreal, An Experience That Harkens Back To The Days Of Old World Cruising Without The Formality

As a child growing up in the 1960s and 70s I was privileged to experience grand ocean liners in a day when cruising was considered a very special experience. A recent 10 night sailing from New York to Montreal on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator with several stops in New England and Canada demonstrated how in a time when many cruise ships have become more like small cities with five to over seven thousand passengers with 'carnival-type' atmospheres there is a successful niche market  for smaller luxury ships catering to travelers appreciating more personalized service that harkens back to the days of the grand ocean liners of the past.

Regent Seven Seas is the most inclusive luxury cruise line including unlimited premium alcoholic  beverages, round-trip air on domestic flights and business class on intercontinental flights,  gratuities, gourmet dining, shore excursions, ground transfers, WiFi, spa access, health club, fitness classes, entertainment, enrichment lectures, and 24 hour room service.

The Regent Seven Seas Navigator with a capacity of 490 guests in spacious all suite accommodations was recently extensively refurbished in Brest, France.  One of the most impressive facts about the ship is they sail with  a 1 to 1.42 passenger to staff ratio including 52 chefs.

Evening entertainment on the ship was better than expected with full scale musical reviews by the talented entertainment crew, a five piece orchestra, a ventriloquist and Broadway star Jeri Sager.

Our spacious suite included a welcome bottle of champagne, large walk in closet, stocked refrigerator, large screen television with current on-demand movies, bathroom with separate shower and tub and premium L'Occitane amenities.  

Pictured from Prime 7 are one of their beautiful cuts of prime beef, tuna tartar, their signature caramel popcorn ice cream sundae, Maine lobster, 14 layer cake, and crab cake.

Prime 7 Steakhouse.

We were thrilled to have 2 seatings at the Prime 7 Steakhouse on our voyage, the included but only reservation required restaurant on the ship. Depending on the category you book you are guaranteed at least one seating. We recommend going online a few weeks prior to your sailing when you are given notice to get the most preferable seating times.


The other exceptional dining venues on the ship include the Compass Rose, the ship's main dining room and La Veranda for buffet style breakfast and lunch. In the evening La Veranda becomes Sette Mari at La Veranda, a very good Italian restaurant. If you don't feel like dressing for dinner after a long day of touring your dinner will be beautifully presented in your suite, along with your preferred beverages.  The pool grill for lunch and more casual evening dining is also a nice alternative. The barista at the Coffee Connection is also always available for specialty coffee drinks. One day she prepared an excellent dairy-free vanilla frappuccino.

For those on special diets be assured that the chefs will alter your meals as if you had a personal private chef. After making the kitchen staff aware of your specific needs you will have menus delivered to your suite the evening before for pre-ordering. I am pescatarian and my travel partner has a dairy allergy. We were most impressed with specially prepared alternative desserts and how all the restaurant servers made sure even breads served to my travel partner were dairy-free.

Compass Rose Restaurant

Pictured from the Compass Rose are the Thai chicken curry,  seared tuna,vegan fruit dessert prepared specially for my dairy-free travel partner, Alaskan crab salad, tuna tartar, and spa selection of grilled Dorade fillet with Cajun spices and salsa and black beans.

We were honored to dine with the captain, Master Atanas Kostadinov and one of his senior officers at the Compass Rose.

For more details about Regent Seven Seas we strongly encourage you to visit: https://www.rssc.com/ and @RegentCruises on Instagram.
You can also view more of our  photos on Instagram @allenbarkus