Destinations

 I had the good fortune to find myself in Vancouver this past weekend and got to be one of the 1st guests at The Loden, a brand new hotel built from the ground up with a focus on being “Green”.  It is a boutique hotel with 77 rooms on 14 floors.  The entire top floor houses their penthouse and it is amazing.  It would be the perfect venue for an elegant cocktail reception!
 
The furnishings and the decor of the rooms are beautiful and the bathrooms are simply amazing - the bathroom appears to be 50% of the rooms square footage.  The rooms are wired to support the latest technology and high speed internet is free.  Every room can satisfy even the biggest geeks technological dreams, including IPod docking stations in very room.  They also have a huge gym for the number of rooms.
 
They are offering an introductory rate of 199.00.  It is centrally located and easy walking distance to most spots.  (2 blocks from Robson Street - for the shopaholics).

Club Med Ixtapa, on the southwest coast of Mexico - 60 miles north of Acapulco - is the perfect relaxed-busy resort for families, couples or friends to enjoy.

Club Med has matured from its original incarnation as a pop-bead drinks-as-you-go resort to an all-inclusive holiday destination.  It features a variety of excellent room types ranging from the more moderate large double rooms to family suites accommodating up to 4 persons and has very fine spacious beachfront suites with living room, separate bedroom, expansive bathroom with freestanding tub and double walk-in shower, large balcony overlooking a spectacular long beach.  The suites are concierge level service with complimentary laundry services, room service if wished, and a full-time concierge who can arrange tours in the area, make reservations at the two speciality restaurants on property (book by 1200 Noon the day prior) or arrange a private car and driver for a day trip.

The Club has both a Baby Club and a Kids Club for those families coming to the resort who wish some time for the kids to enjoy staffed activities while the parents and/or grandparents have some time separately.  The resort is spread out along one of the best beaches in the area with watersport activities such as sea kayaking, snorkeling, and catamaran sailing.  The Club also has many wide-ranging activities — circus school with trapeeze training, rock wall climbing, archery, tennis, snooker-billiards, fussball machines, soccer practice, in-line skating, mini-golf, and many exercise classes - yoga, stretch & tone, abbs class, and more.   All of these activities are included in the price of the stay as are all meals, snacks, drinks -alcoholic and non-alcoholic.  In the evening the Club presents a variety of entertainments and shows put on by the G.O. staff who are, during the day, the helpful folks who assist in your daytme activities.

Club Med is dedicated to your enjoyment — all the staff at the resort are willing, able and happy to let you enjoy all they have to offer.   Meal quality is excellent with a wide variety of choices at all meals.  There is one main restaurant which is self-serve buffet style but has table service for drinks, wines or other beverages.  During our stay the local Mexican staff could have not been more attentive and gracious.  By breakfast time on day 2, they already knew I liked caffe latté and it appeared at my table before I had returned with my plate of fresh fruit and a glass of juice.  The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there is a poolside and beachside restaurant to go to during the day for luncheon.  Two reservations-only speciality restaurants are available at dinnertime in addition to the main dining room.This resort is wonderful for a quick holiday of a few days or for a full week’s respite.  Here you do not have to think about what you want to do — it is on property with helpful staff to offer suggestions and a daily “menu of activities” is delivered to your room.   You could be busy all day if you wished but the pleasure of this resort is that you can ‘mix and match’ in whatever way you wish.

Club Med does the airport arrival and departure transfers for you.  These arrangements are smooth and easy .  On arrival at the Club you get a special bracelet which lets the staff know you are a Club Member wherever you are on the resort.    Before departure, you get a departure kit with information on the check out process, an 1100am check out time and luggage storage, but if the resort is not full, they are flexible and let you stay in room a bit longer.

Warm and sunny with a welcoming tropical feel, Zihuatanejo is a small local town along the West Coast of Mexico about 50 miles north of Acapulco.  September is the end of the rainy times along this coast so the air was full and warm.  The cozy town of Zihuatanejo, originally a fishing village at the outflow of a river valley located at the edge of the Bay, remains local and real in feel.   THE TIDES, a deluxe resort about 30 minutes walk south of town along the large bay, is located on a beautiful beach with sweeping views West towards the sunset.  Each evening we had  a magical light show of cloud-to-cloud lightning, thunder and relatively short but heavy downpours of rain ….  making all the greenery, flowers and plants lush and fresh for the morning. 
 
Quality is the underlying theme of The Tides.  Staff provides excellence of service, welcoming and discrete, and the cuisine in the restaurants along the beach as well as set back under an open air palapa is inventive, delicate and amusing both in presentation and taste.  Top level service all around.  Three bars, one at the beach, one nestled into the resort with table service for light meals and the third,  main restaurant,  with large pool with swim-up  bar alongside provided options to relax and enjoy.   Tennis courts, excellent private gym, water activities and a long beach gave more than enough options to relax or work out — depending on your wishes.     Dining at night provided top quality entreés, served with gracious and gentle subtlty by the local staff , was complimented by excellent wines, and even a ‘ bottled water menu’ which came accompanied by your choice of ginger, cinnamon, as well as lime, grapefruit or orange slices you could have placed in your  individual glass for an extra flavoring.  Very refined. 

The resort is top notch — adobe style two-story buildings with palapa roofs generously spaced amongst large fountained pools, woven between excellent landscaped and lawned areas ; most rooms had views of either gardens, the pools, the grounds or the sea.   Large, spacious rooms were done in muted tones and utilized local art works .  Each category of room had a special atmosphere and comfortable quality while providing  in-room amenities such as flat screen TVs, daily coffee/tea trays brought to your room as a wake-up gesture, in-room safes, minibars and twice-daily room service. 

From the moment you stepped through the main entrance into the reception area to the time you had to say farewell, there was no time that any request or wish was not fulfilled by the willing and warm staff at The Tides.