|
TIME EUROPE Friday, December 8, 2000 Oh, The Places You'll Go Travel site GrandTrunk.com aims for the traveler with a fat pocketbook and a discriminating eye By CHRISTOPHER REDMAN London "There's no place like home," said Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as she clicked her red shoes together and wished herself back in Kansas. Maybe she was right, although the American Midwest may not be everybody's favorite destination. But she could be wrong and here's why. Back home, do you get 24-hour room service? Is there a fully-equipped gym, or a pool with fresh towels galore? Do your shirts come back from the laundry starched and folded? Do you have a booze-stocked fridge in your bedroom and a mint on your pillow? Do you get to hang a sign on your door saying "Do not disturb" and if you do, does anybody pay attention? Of course not. Home can be hell. And you have to walk the dog and do the dishes. Great hotels are the nearest we get these days to living like the Sun King — and unlike Louis XIV, who was stuck in Versailles, we can find these pleasure palaces around the globe. But even the most discerning traveler needs help from time to time. Is the Hotel Splendide on the Costa Packet maintaining its standards under new ownership? Is the Auberge Tranquille living up to its name now that the local volcano is acting up? Welcome to GrandTrunk (www.grandtrunk.com) the just-launched independent luxury hotel website and online travel agency whose ultimate aim, says founder and managing director Bruce Palling, is to showcase the world's 250 "ultimate hideaways and retreats." In the meantime the website brings some refreshingly honest criticism to bear on hotels that probably imagine they are beyond reproach. Unlike existing luxury hotel directories, which are paid for by the hotels they feature, GrandTrunk (named after India's 2,500 km Grand Trunk Road which was celebrated by Rudyard Kipling as "such a river of life as exists nowhere else in the world") is not economical with the truth. "The Legion is not a beautiful hotel," writes editorial director Lucinda Bredin, of one of Bali's top establishments. "In fact, the first sight of it reminds you of the back of an ancient radio." Ultimately, the Legion gets GrandTrunk's seal of approval but redemption is not a result of "tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner." GrandTrunk's team of independent travel writers and journalists don't pull their punches and the result is a refreshingly honest — and free — guide. Whatever money the site makes will come from its services as a travel agent. "When visiting a hotel," says Bredin, "we try to capture its personality. We also consider whether the experience is value for money and what a guest should be told about the hotel before arriving. Our writers are chosen because they are hotel literate. They know how to identify the ingredients that make a great property." For discerning travellers, GrandTrunk itself might become an oft-visited piece of Web real estate.
More stories and related links E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com |
 |
|
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
E-mail us: Letter to the Editor | Customer Service
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Press Releases