Archive for September, 2008
After the failure of positive votes from the US congress on the big rescue plan suggested by G.W Bush, the tech companies listed on the NASDAQ have taken a big hit yesterday. In the online travel market, we saw listed companies like Priceline or Expedia seeing their share price down by 11% and 14% just before the closing of Wall Street. The impact of their market cap is huge.
Priceline (PCLN) ==> $2.6 billion with $66.84 share price (vs. $144 in May 08)
Expedia (EXPE) ==> $3.58 billion with $13.71 share price (vs. $35.28 in Oct 07)
Orbitz (OWW) ==> $494.4 million with $5.94 share price (vs. $12 in Oct 07)
TRX (TRXI) ==> $17.44 million with $0.94 share price (vs. $2.62 in Oct 07)
See how these stocks have been traded in the last 6 months…
I will have a look at the hospitality sector on another post. Will be interested to see how shareholders see the future with hotel groups like Starwood.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
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15/20
Bel Canto
1 Minster Court, Mark Lane, London, EC3R 7AA
3 weeks ago, I received a call on my cell phone telling me the good news about Bel Canto. The Parisian chain restaurant is coming to London. First of all, I have to say I was impressed by this call. I have tried Bel Canto in Paris near Hotel de Ville about 2 years ago. After all this time, the management have kept my cell phone number and also remembered that I live in London. Very impressive.
We went to try Bel Canto last Friday evening after a hard working week. I was really looking forward to it, I needed to be entertained. We arrived at 8pm after wandering around the Monument tube station area to find the place. From the entrance door, you need to take an elevator which takes you down to the restaurant on a lower ground floor. Then you have a room where people take your coats and lead you to the huge restaurant room separated by a red curtain. We wait a bit before entering the restaurant as we hear Operia Arias sung live in the restaurant. Because this restaurant works because of the singers. Waiters and opera singers are on the same team. They serve courses on the table and they stop now and then to sing known or unknowns arias during your dinner. The acoustic of the room for live opera singing is very good. You really get the music to your ears. In the middle of the dinner, you have a surprise which I won’t disclose for your benefits. Now Bel Canto is not just about live Opera singing. You also come for the food. Bel Canto has a set menu with a fixed price of £65 per person (+ 12.5% service charge). The menu gives you plenty of choice for starters and main courses. Food takes its inspiration from France and Italy. I decided to bring the Gallic dishes to our table. After a glass of champagne (charged at £11 per glass), we tried the casserole of snails and wild mushrooms. It was forgettable because of lack of flavors (the chef forgot the salt and could have added some herbs and a bit of garlic). For the main course, I gave a try to the Fillet of beef with pan fried foie gras. The beef was excellent, tender and cooked to perfection (which is "rare" for me). The foie gras however was way overcooked (it reminded me of chicken livers actually). My wife really enjoyed the "Pot au Feu" with quality meat on the plate. Finally for dessert, I took the Apple Souffle served with Calvados sorbet and nougatine. This was really one of the top dessert I have eaten in London restaurants. My wife and I enjoyed every minute of it. Singers came to talk to us and let us know about what they were singing (which opera, the story…), what they were doing in London. Staff is very nice and pays attention to you from the beginning to the end. I was surprised that in a big city like London, we didn’t have this restaurant concept knowing the passion that Londoners have for Opera (see how difficult it is to secure seats at Covent Garden). Today, we have Bel Canto. And I am sure after some corrections in their recipes, this place will become famous among couples and also business dinners to impress clients or prospects. It is however quite expensive. We had a special offer because the restaurant has only opened 2 weeks ago. If we had to pay full price, the bill would have reached a whopping £120 per person…For this price, you can enjoy a Michelin star restaurant. This is where I have doubts whether people would pay this price for this restaurant. The future will tell us very soon. This is just the beginning for Bel Canto London.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
15/20
Le Pain Quotidien
see website to all locations in London
I have known Le Pain Quotidien for about 5 years when I have tried one of their branches in Luxembourg on a Sunday afternoon. I can’t remember when exactly Le Pain Quotidien arrived in London but one thing for sure, you can’t miss the development of this restaurant chain across London. We have tried High Street Kensington on Young Street (we go there maybe once a month) and last Wednesday the outlet in South Kensington on Exhibition Road. The concept is very simple. The menu is based on home made bread, "pain quotidien" means daily bread. I like the Belgian chain restaurant (yes, it is not French !) because you can get a decent brunch with smoked salmon, a platter of cold meats (saucisson, copa, ham…), a choice of different salads like the one with a full ball of Mozzarella Buffala. You can also try Tartines made with wholewheat organic bread. The treat is when you order a basket of breads and you have several organic jams coming to your table like raspberry, chocolate, marmalade, vanilla, white chocolate and so on. Last Wednesday, I felt like having a large cheese board for my meal. I was however disappointed by the portion of the platter. Way too small and also some cuts in certain cheeses were to close to the "crust". I think they should improve this platter. You pay £9 for it (+service), so you must ensure quality is on the platter. Other than this, Le Pain Quotidien is fantastic and it had become our best local canteen where we want to share a brunch with friends on a Saturday morning. Usually the bill comes at £20 per head. so it also good value for money for London.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
Been there #24 - Bam-Bou
Author:
16/20
Bam-Bou
1 Percy Street, London, W1T 1DB
This is now a regular rendez-vous that we have with Bam-Bou every 2 years or so. I know this place since we arrived to live in London back in 2000. 2008, the place still lives to our expectations. Fantastic food with a fantastic décor a la Vietnamese-French style. We had a a table of four in a small room that can cater only 2 tables. The place is a Georgian town-house, and the restaurant has really used the space in order to place guests in different rooms on 3 different floors. You also have the possibility to book private rooms for business functions or birthdays. Menu has changed quite a bit since our last dinner at Bam-Bou in 2005. But innovation and multi-flavor dishes are still intact on your plates. However, we were disappointed by the size of some of the starters (eg. Prawn rolls). My main course was the Pan Fried Sea Bass with Fennel. This was absolutely delicious and well combined with some egg fried rice. My wife was looking forward for one of their signature dessert, pancakes rolls with chocolate filling and orange marmalade. Unfortunately, this dessert is not anymore on the menu. This is really shame, as this dessert was really unique. Service was quick and efficient. It lacks maybe of personality and more attention to tables. The bill came to £50 per person with beers and a bottle of wine. We will definitely come back in 2 years…
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
As every week, I receive the top20 newsletter from Travelzoo with their best offers they found on the web. If you look at the first offer, RyanAir advertises seats from £0.02 but forget to list hidden additional costs like Airport checkin and baggage handling charges. I believe this (again) misleads the consumer and the purpose of showing these super low fares is to attract the candid traveller to look further.
When looking deeper into Travelzoo site, you can find this page where they say "Unless otherwise indicated, companies listing deals on Travelzoo may
not include all applicable taxes, charges and government-imposed fees
in the price you see"…
I think there is no excuse today for not displaying these taxes. This is deliberate and some lessons haven’t been learnt here. Any thoughts?
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
The Hotel Show S2E03
Author:
MedLifeHotel
Squeezeholidays.com
Nobu Hotels
Zoover
WTM London
If you want to join us at the travel blog camp, register here.
Hotel Show S2E03
Uploaded by HotelBlogs
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
GoPlanit at TechCrunch50
Author:
One travel related company has presented its venture to the TechCrunch50, this is the video of their presentation with Q&A at the end. I think they have done a good job so far. It looks easy to handle and bring something new to the travel planning exercise. Problem remains for the quality of content available though.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
If you are interested to read what the latest stats about blogs, there is a thorough report published on Technorati here.
| Demographics | U.S. Bloggers (N=550) |
European Bloggers (N=350) |
Asian Bloggers (N=173) |
| Male | 57% | 73% | 73% |
| Age | |||
| 18-34 years old | 42% | 48% | 73% |
| 35+ | 58% | 52% | 27% |
| Single | 26% | 31% | 57% |
| Employed full-time | 56% | 53% | 45% |
| Household income >$75,000 | 51% | 34% | 9% |
| College graduate | 74% | 67% | 69% |
| Average blogging tenure (months) | 35 | 33 | 30 |
| Median Annual Investment | $80 | $15 | $30 |
| Median Annual Revenue | $200 | $200 | $120 |
| % Blogs with advertising | 52% | 50% | 60% |
| Average Monthly Unique Visitors | 18,000 | 24,000 | 26,00 |
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
Venere.com - the leading Italian online hotel booking agent acquired by Expedia last quarter - has launched a competition and creates some buzz about this travel contest with the help of YouTube.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot
Vestibule Solutions is looking for a senior software developer to join the Elina team. Elina is cutting edge hospitality management suite that enables hospitality professionals to easily manage and distribute their accomodation and related services over the web.
Salary is very attractive and the position is based in London with travel expected mostly in the UK and Europe for 25% of the working time. More information about the job here.
If you are interested, send your application to opportunities@vestibule-solutions.com.
Source: Guillaume Thevenot