Ginger up

TRIP

True to word, here's a chain that gives you more than your budget.

What is it?
A smart hotel. Also called a budget hotel. Named Ginger. The operative word is ginger and this is a place where you handle your money gingerly.

Whose budget are we talking about?
Both yours and the hotel's. If budget means cheap, it is because a budget rate basically stems from a careful estimate or allotment of funds by the hotel. But a true budget hotel should simply provide more than is expected for the fee charged. And that is what Ginger hotels are all about.

Why are we writing about it?
Ginger is brought to you by Roots Corporation, which is a fully owned subsidiary of The Indian Hotels Company. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), part of the Tata Group, is India's largest hotel chain with more than 70 properties in India. Roots launched Ginger, a new brand under a category called Smart Basic hotels. The first hotel was in Whitefield, Bangalore, commissioned in June 2004.

What is in it for you?
Priced at Rs 999 for a single room and Rs 1,199 for a double room, Ginger hotels have created a new category in the domestic hospitality landscape.

The Ginger hotels are modular and scaleable and these hotels have 100-200 well-appointed rooms, with a choice of single, twin and queen-sized rooms.

The rooms are individually air-conditioned and equipped with electronic locks, an ergonomic work area, a 17-inch flat screen colour television with satellite channels, direct-dial telephone including STD facility, mini-fridge, tea/coffee maker, 24 hours hot/cold water and toiletries.

Other guest facilities at these hotels would include a restaurant, meeting room, gymnasium facilities, a cyber café, 24-hour reception, automatic check-in kiosk, digital safe deposit boxes, 100 per cent power back-up, as well as wi-fi connectivity in the public areas and individual rooms. Did we hear budget somewhere?

What are the damages?
Do you mind self-checking in, when you are getting the best possible rates in the city for a nice and clean room? At the lobby you check in at automated check-in kiosks, introduced for the first time in a hotel in India.

Ginger hotels are now open at Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Durgapur, Haridwar, Mysore, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. You have to feel "at home" to give your laundry before 9.30 in the morning, so that you can collect it after 7.30 the same day.

Take it or leave it? It's more than worth the money. Take it.

SNIPPETS

Class conscious
Silverjet, the first UK-based all-business class carrier, has launched services between Luton in London to Newark in New York. The carrier flies a Boeing 767-200 that has the capacity to carry 300 passengers.

The aircraft has been retrofitted to carry 100 business class passengers on the route. All the business class pampering like individually served gourmet meals, a digital in-flight entertainment system are very much in place.

Passengers with hand baggage can check-in at a dedicated Silver Lounge, just 30 minutes before the flights though passengers with luggage have to check-in 45 minutes before. At Newark, too, Silverjet has exclusive check-in and lounge facilities that are separate from the main terminal areas.

Also, you can check-in from your mobile phones as well as the Internet. As an add-on you get to sleep on a 6 feet 3 in long flat bed. On night flights, there's a quiet zone where you'll not be disturbed by in-flight announcements or overhead lights or trolleys serving meals.

Above everything, a return ticket is priced at Rs 34,273 roughly as compared to nearly $3,000 that airlines charge for their business class fares. For tickets and flight timings log on to www.flysilverjet.com.

Beach bums, Ahoy!
Goa is heaven for all the lazy beach bums of the world. And news is that The Club at The Leela Palace is now open for us. A marble palace based on a 13th century Vijayanagara palace, The Leela Palace features a spa offering Ayurvedic and traditional treatments, a variety of water sports and five restaurants.

It is situated along a white sandy beach on the Arabian Sea. The Club at The Leela Palace brings a new style and exclusivity to the five-star resort on the southwest coast of India, a walled palatial haven on 75 landscaped tropical gardens.

The Club features 15 one-bedroom suites, six with a private plunge pool. A 25-metre swimming pool and separate beach area, as well as personal butler service for each suite, make The Club truly deluxe. What are you waiting for, go sprawl yourself at the beach!

Oleo spread
Dubai's non-oil trade with Africa exceeds $27 million, and is expected to reach new heights as more and more African nations adopt free trade policies. It's no surprise then that the Dubai-based carrier, Emirates, is strengthening its presence in the region.

The airline has announced an additional flight to Khartoum every Sunday, bringing its six-times-a-week service to a daily operation. The airline flies a wide-body and twin-aisle A330-200 aircraft, the extra flight will provide 12 first, 42 business and 183 economy class seats alongside 17 tonnes of cargo-carrying capacity.

With an enhanced cargo carrying capacity, Emirates is looking to tap goods being exported from Sudan to China. Emirates already has 10 freighter services to Hong Kong and six dedicated freighters operations to Shanghai.