As getting to Bulgaria is extremely easy for those of use fortunate enough to be living in Bucharest, a lot of the short gettaways I have been on included a place in Bulgaria. Their lovely beaches when I was in mood for a few relaxing days spent sunbathing and diving into the Black Sea, and Veliko Turnovo when I was in the mood for a mountain top sceneray.

Every time I go to Veliko Tarnovo, I stay at Hotel Concorde. I felt so great the first time I stayed there, I just did not feel the need to try another one! Only a few minutes away from the colorful center with the town hall, purring bikes, great looking cars and delicious ice-cream that I never seem to have enough of, Hotel Concorde is a chic and small venue, with only 18 rooms, all extremely big and all looking chic, a restaurant, a bar on the top floor where you can enjoy an amazing view, conference rooms and a small and intimate breakfast room.

If you’re like me and just can’t breathe without an Internet connection, don’t worry, they have both wireless and wired Internet, all free, but the wireless might play a few tricks from you if you stray from the lobby.

The rooms, especially the three VIP ones, are perfect for romantic gettaway. Bold colors, sparkling wine, great decorations and a jacuzzi, let’s just say it’s enough to keep you inside for a long time! If you get hungry, you can go downstairs to the hotel restaurant or take a 5 to 10 minutes walk and try out one of the many restaurants in Veliko. Main street tarraces, hidden treasures on narrow streets with artisans seeling souvenirs, wherever you choose to eat the portions are huge! Make sure to ignore anyone else eating around you, allowing yourself to get distracted by what they are having usually leads to ordering way too much!

Hotel Concorde has great personnel! They are friendly, they all speak English and they are always doing their best to help. So are the hotel partners – we’ve enjoyed a great chat with the guy who takes hotel guests on helicopter tours of the city!

VIP Room - Hotel Concorde

Try to avoid dropping in without a reservation, especially during summer! You might get lucky, but it’s safer to book at least a week in advance!

Luxury room - Hotel Concorde

P.S. The room photos I chose are of the ones I actually stayed in and I can wholeheartedly say that, in real life, they look better than the pictures.

Rosemont was my next stop in the US ever. I had come to the States for an industry event held near Chicago, in the Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center, which is practically across the street from the hotel I stayed in: DoubleTree.

It was a heart warming welcome, as the young woman at the reception desk was born, yes, you guessed it, in Romania! Although she only spent a few years there, she still remembered a few words and we had a nice conversation. And they also gave us some nice, chocolate filled warm cookies that simply made us forget about the 16 or so hours that had passed since we left our homes in Bucharest.

DoubleTree is extremely close to the O’Hare airport and that’s both an advantage and disadvantage. We all know there’s nothing better than a cookie and a nice shower after a flight, especially a long one. But hearing airplanes taking off and landing all the time might have some impact on your sleep, especially if it’s helped by the jet lag.

Having breakfast there was a bliss. Although I am used to more types of cheese and vegetables for breakfast, it was my first time experiencing American bacon and waffles! And the restaurant staff was hilarious! Everything you needed for a good morning start.

As the whole Rosemont seems to be dedicated to business travelers, displaying convention centers and lots of hotels, most of them above 3 stars by European standards, DoubleTree is a wonderful choice for business events, conferences or business meetings. The only problem is if you come with European electronics, you won’t be able to plug them in and have them charged and the hotel won’t be able to help you. Your solution is going to the nearby mall and buy what you need. You’ll get a full package, allowing you to travel around the world and have no problem charging your laptop.

If you’re there as a tourist, beware: it takes quite a while to get to downtown Chicago and back. So if you’re hoping to mix some fun with the work assignments, don’t waste any free time on resting! Otherwise you won’t get to see anything!

Photos from the DoubleTree site.

There are several Quality Hotels in the New York area and I stayed at the one placed in the very heart of Manhattan, 3 minutes away from Times Square. It’s clever location is the best thing this hotel has to offer. Other than that, especially in this period, when they are renovating, a lot of things might really suck when you stay there.

There are two elevators, which basically have a will and life of their own. When leaving the hotel, it took us half an hour to get from the third floor to the reception desk downstairs. Why? Simply because it went up and down several times before actually reaching the ground floor. It was nice! The doors were opening and we were seeing now familiar faces and hearing the same old tune: “Look, it’s those two girls again! Didn’t you manage to get off?”.

Their site has photos of a nice looking restaurant. That was closed. They’ve sent us to a nearby diner and that is one of the things I still thank them for every time I remember it. The room looks nice in the photo. But that’s actually it. As a tiny extra space and you get the room size. The bathroom is also tiny and there’s no where to put your toiletries, especially if there are two people in a room.

The staff was however nice, really nice. Their Concierge clerk was especially nice when figuring out she messed up our shuttle reservation and left us waiting for it for 30 minutes, saying it might be late. We got a refund and paid extra to get a city car to the airport. Nice ride indeed!

Quality is pricey because of it’s location. It was actually more expensive than Omni Shoreham. That’s to be expected for a Manhattan hotel, true, but I am pretty sure you can stay at Westin or DoubleTree for roughly the same amount, especially if you sing for their frequent customer programs. So my advice, look around more before choosing Quality Hotel. If you don’t care much, aren’t staying long and just want the closest and cheapest deal in the Times Square area, then book a room there.

Photo credit

I’ve spent three great days at Omni Shoreham in May, while attending an IT&C summit organized by a virtualization company. As the conference kept us for quite a while close to the hotel, I got well acquainted with what it had to offer. I thought I’d share my views with all of you traveling to Washington for business or pleasure and for those looking for a place to throw a party.

The hotel looks amazing and the rooms are placed in such a way that their overwhelming majority has a nice view to offer. The architect coming up with this hotel was really client oriented! The hotel might look like a little labyrinth at times, but there are enough signs to help you find your way.

The rooms are huge, the beds are extraordinary and their bathrooms are impeccable. Yet in the room I stayed there was no mini bar. There’s no vending machine on each floor either, so if you get really thirsty in the middle of the night, you have to get dressed and go downstairs. I think this is an aspect they should really work on, given their clear position of a luxury hotel.

The hotel restaurant looks extremely fancy. And if it’s warm outside, I strongly recommend eating on the terrace. There’s a lovely, relaxing view of the garden and its fountain to enjoy. The food was quite good, yet a very limited selection of dishes. Breakfast offered the most choices if you asked me.

I think if you pay attention to the menu selection, throwing a spring or autumn wedding reception at this hotel might be wonderful. If you’re traveling here on business, feel free to ask your business partners here to have lunch or dinner, they’ll appreciate the atmosphere. If they’re picky about what they eat, take them somewhere else though.

If there’s one area where Omni Shoreham is really outstanding, it must be the facilities it has to offer for seminars, conferences and other events. During my stay there, there were quite a few events taking place at the same time and there was enough room for everyone. Do keep the map offered to you by the organizers close by, otherwise that labyrinth feeling will kick in again.

To conclude, I’d like to say Omni Shoreham was one of the finest hotels I stayed in. But their staff should really learn how to give better advice. Their doormen know more than Concierge staff about transportation to airports, which is cheaper and which is faster. Being helpful is nice, actually helping someone make a smart move is even better.

Photos credit.

If travels are you passion, then you might like to think you’d recognize places from the photos you see of them. Even if you haven’t visited all major cities around the world yet, you definitely have plans to, so you’ve done your research and list of places to see.

If you think you’ve got that travel mojo and would like to put it’s sharpness and quickness to a test, what better way than Stay.com’s “Guess the City” contest? You have to guess 10 cities in a limited amount of time after seeing a collage of distinctive tourist attractions.

Besides being extremely addictive, the game comes with prizes aimed to please the travel addicts. Free one week hotel stays in major cities around the world. Stay.com states the contest is open to players from all over the world, but they haven’t yet disclosed the list of cities they came up with. Nor did they mention if you get to choose or they pick the city for you. It will all be a big surprise for everybody.

One more thing, don’t fear the competition. Yes, you give your friends a chance to win by telling them all about the game, but you get points for doing it, so the threat and the karma boost are leveraged.

The contest ends on July 15. So come out and play until then and let me know what you think of the game. I for one have played it dozens of times and I can barely make myself stop playing Hope you have as much fun as I’ve had.

There are dozens of hotel booking sites available online. Some are general, and you can find a hotel in every country of the world, some are region specific, built around a continent or a larger region and some are country specific. As you see, your options are unlimited, you can search and find the best deal ever. But how to choose wisely every time? Well, there are a few tricks to that.

I for one have started booking my vacations online about three years ago. It started with a sort of an accident: some friends were planning a vacation and used such a site to book our stay. I loved the simple process, the hotel, the fact that we had no major issues with the reservation. I have to admit I was a bit worried, but it all turned out perfectly.

What online booking sites are best at is putting you in charge of your holiday. You’ve already drawn up a budget, you know how much you’ll spent on transportation, sightseeing and food and now you have an amount of money to spend on a hotel. Where to book your stay? And what to keep your eyes open for?

First Ingredient: Research

You should start by selecting a few online booking sites to choose from. You can find online reviews and you can ask friends to recommend some. Do a quick search and work on trial and error.

Remember one thing though! Reviews of booking sites are not always about the best ones. They are sometimes about the newest challengers, so combine them with other resources in your research.

Second Ingredient: Setting up the right criteria

As you might have guessed, the cheapest deal is not the only thing you should look for. You should also keep an eye on what’s included in the room price, how far it is from your visiting objectives, how hard will it be to find it. Also, the price of not included services is important! If what you save on the room is spent on parking, air conditioning or other such services, it’s not the best deal!

Third Ingredient: Selecting a Couple of Great Sites

When you plan your own vacation, research and planning tend to get a little time consuming. So you need a list of top 2 or 3 sites to compare every time you need to find your hotel accommodation. For example, pick one with the most possible destinations, one that also has hostels or apartment rentals and one specific to an area you most frequently choose for your trips.

Third Ingredient: Keep an Eye on New Sites

New hotel booking sites are launched quite often. You should stay updated and make sure to check out the launch contests, special offers and new destinations. I for one have one favorite booking site, but always compare it with new kids on the block. In some areas, they are better, in others, my long lasting love still rules

Your spell is now ready! Stir all ingredients and say the magic words: I’m going on an amazing trip and I’m the one who organized it! All you have to do now is show up and enjoy every second

Your master in travel spells,

The Travel Wizard