Amsterdam’s leading boutique hotel, The Dylan launches a completely unique Michelin dining concept aboard a specially built canal boat. Vinkeles on the Water offers guests the opportunity to experience the exquisite dishes of the hotel’s Michelin star restaurant Vinkeles while seeing Amsterdam from its canals.

Parties of four – six guests can enjoy lunch or dinner prepared on board in a live cooking session by executive chef Dennis Kuipers and served at the Chef’s table on the completely renovated 19^th century wooden salon boat, named The Muze. The culinary experience includes champagne with canapés followed by a six course menu, accompanying wines, water and coffee from €225 (£201) per person (excluding boat and captain hire).

Restaurant Vinkeles was first awarded a Michelin star in November 2009 for its delicate French cuisine that offers an excellent mixture between classic and contemporary styles. Executive Chef Kuipers is committed to using only the freshest seasonal ingredients for the menus he creates for both Vinkeles and Vinkeles on the Water, which showcase his dedication to delicate flavours and presentation.

The Dylan, commands one of Amsterdam’s most prestigious locations situated on the Keizersgracht, one of the city’s most famous canals. The hotel is perfectly located for guests wanting to explore the chic shopping district as well as some the city’s best museums including the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Hermitage. Following a full day exploring the city, guests can return to the hotel to enjoy the intimate atmosphere and personal service.

• Vinkeles on the Water is available for a hire charge of €925 (£820), which covers boat and captain for four hours. The six course menu with accompanying wines costs from €225 (£201) per person. Vinkeles on the Water can be reserved up to a week before the event date, subject to availability

• Rooms at The Dylan start from €325 (£291) per room per night excluding breakfast and 5% city tax

For further information, please call Mason Rose on +44 (0)20 7201 8060

To make a reservation enquiry, please contact The Dylan events department on events@dylanamsterdam.com / +31 (0)20 530 2010

With the proposal accepted and dreams of the dress well underway, it’s time to find the perfect location for the ‘I dos’ of the wedding day. Representing some of the finest luxury hotels around the world, the Mason Rose team has selected some of our favourite venues for tying the knot.

Evoke a taste of La Dolce Vita with a traditional Tuscan wedding at Castel Monastero or Castiglion del Bosco and be enchanted by the picturesque settings of medieval villages complete with private chapels, mouthwatering Italian cuisine and outstanding local wines.

For a wedding located in the heart of the UK’s capital city, The Hempel London offers a beautiful setting only minutes from the cosmopolitan Notting Hill district and famed Hyde Park. The hotel’s experienced weddings planners and caterers will help craft every detail of the special day. To add a truly unique element to a city wedding, why not choose the serene natural surroundings of the Zen Garden, the hotel’s exquisitely sculpted private grounds where the wedding scene from the film Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant was filmed.

Exquisite elegance is the order of the day with an intimate informal wedding or renewal of vows at the unique luxury Amirandes resort in Crete. With special touches including an Elixir Spa ‘Love Potion’ massage for two, scented rose petals decorating the Bride and Groom’s bed and bathroom and 10 photographs from hotel’s photographer to capture wedding moments, the special nuptials experience will be a truly unforgettable one.

Couples wanting classic glamour and impeccable service should look no further than Pera Palace Hotel in the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, where weddings are tailored personally around every desire of the husband and wife to be to ensure special memories that last a lifetime. And for that extra special touch the hotel’s wedding package, which includes a four course seated dinner, includes a complimentary wedding cake and one night stay in a suite for Bride and Groom.

For a wedding that ticks the boxes of gastronomy, style and location, The Dylan in Amsterdam offers a setting like no other. With its marriage licence, happy couples can make their vows in the hotel’s distinctive courtyard before enjoying a Michelin star feast created by Executive Chef Dennis Kuipers.

For further information, please contact the Mason Rose office on +44(0) 20 7201 8050

With the school holidays fast approaching, attentions turn to this year’s summer holiday plans. For a memorable trip away that offers more than just sun and sand, why not venture further afield and let the kids experience new sights and sounds in the captivating Vietnamese town of Hoi An at The Nam Hai, where kids stay and eat for free as part of its ‘Kids On Us’ package.

This outstanding offer means families can enjoy six nights’ accommodation for the price of four in a One-Bedroom Hotel Villa from $600 (£366) per villa per night including daily buffet breakfast for two adults and up to two kids at The Restaurant as well as complimentary daily lunch and dinner for up to two kids when dining with parents.

And there is plenty to keep everyone entertained over and above the daily kids club; why not start the day with daily complimentary family yoga classes? Or sign kids up to arts and crafts activities including conical hat-painting, Vietnamese kite-making, beginners Vietnamese language lessons and Vietnamese music workshop? For adventures outside of the hotel, there is a complimentary shuttle service to Hoi An heritage town.

The Nam Hai is a stunning all villa resort located on the pristine white sands of Hoi An Beach that boasts sixty one-bedroom villas and forty one-to-five bedroom pool villas. The resort successfully draws in the unique and gracious culture of Central Vietnam and delivers one of the world’s foremost luxury experiences. Featuring an array of first class facilities, such as a state-of-the-art serene spa, three swimming pools, tennis courts, health club, kids club and an impressive 18-hole Colin Montgomerie-designed golf course, it competes with the world’s finest hotels.

For more information, please contact the Mason Rose office on +44(0)20 7201 8060

If sitting around on a sun lounger isn’t really your thing, or if you’re holidaying with kids or a partner who doesn’t know the meaning of the word relax then why not head to a destination where you can swing a racket or kick a football to your heart’s content…

Gstaad Palace, Gstaad
If you’re keen to try your hand at tennis this summer, head to Gstaad Palace in Switzerland where you can take part in one if its ever popular tennis weeks. Taking place on selected dates from June to September and led by former tennis champion, Roy Emerson, coaching is available for adults of all levels, while special children’s tennis and multisport weeks are held with tennis stars Marc Rosset and Frédéric Bouvier. The combination of tennis pros, clear mountain air, glorious sunshine and the sheer luxury of the Gstaad Palace is sure to improve anyone’s game.

Hotel Puente Romano, Marbella
If spectator sports are more your thing, take a trip to Hotel Puente Romano from 25th – 27th August and enjoy a delicious cocktail while watching the Marbella Masters. The Tennis Club is a member of the ATP and has hosted numerous international tennis tournaments with past participants including John McEnroe, Serena Williams and Henri le Conte. One of the biggest names in tennis, Bjørn Borg is returning to the clay courts of Hotel Puente Romano for this year’s tournament after having previously managed the tennis club after it first opened in 1979.

Forte Village Resort, Sardinia
Junior rugby aficionados visiting Forte Village Resort can hone their rugby skills under the careful supervision of some of the world’s greatest rugby legends this summer. Led by ex-rugby professionals, Will Greenwood and Austin Healey and joined by Jason Leonard and Jason Robinson, guests aged 5 – 16 years old can enjoy the ultimate in rugby training. Football fanatics haven’t been overlooked either with a Chelsea Soccer School summer camp dedicated to allowing youngsters to discover football, run by players from Chelsea Football Club.

Vila Vita Parc Resort and Spa, Algarve
Vila Vita Parc in the Algarve is the ultimate holiday destination for golf enthusiasts and it’s offering guests two very special ‘Going for Gold’ and ‘Classic’ golfing packages, starting from 1,650 EUR (£1,465) per person for a seven night stay. Vila Vita Parc’s golf professional is on-hand providing practical and theoretical lessons for individuals or small groups in order to achieve a higher calibre of play. What better place to improve your game than on the lush undulating fairways and manicured greens, with superb views of the ocean and the Algarve coastline.

For further information, please contact the Mason Rose office on +44 (0) 20 7201 8050

Following the success of the first edition of its Literary Prize in 2010, La Mamounia is once again offering the opportunity to celebrate the best work of the year created by Moroccan writers in French.

La Mamounia’s Literary Prize will be awarded on Saturday 1st October 2011 and confirms La Mamounia’s commitment to the arts as well as being a celebration of Moroccan culture.

The Literary Prize judging panel comprises 10 highly esteemed representatives from across the French-speaking world, who will deliberate and decide which novel is most deserving of the MAD 200,000 (£15,300) prize.

The panel includes renowned French journalist Guillaume Durand who will chair the panel; novelist and song writer, Christine Orban; literary critic for Le Quotidian and Le Soir, Jacques De Decker; professor of comparative literature at the Faculty of arts of Meknès, Khalid Zekri and last year’s Literary Award winner Binebine Mahi.

The panel will carefully consider 10 works, created by Moroccan writers in French, including, Le Dernier Combat Du Captain Ni’mat by Mohamed Leftah, La Mecque Phuket by Safia Azzedine, Shamablanca by Sonia Terrab, L’Encensoir by Omar Berrada and Des Histoires De Grands by Myriam Jebbor.

The winner of the prize will be announced at a prestigious ceremony held at La Mamounia and attended by the most prominent movers and shakers from the Moroccan arts and cultural scene.

For more information, please contact the Mason Rose office on +44 (0)20 7201 8060

It is 8am and I am sitting high up on Anna looking down over the plains of the Limpopo Province, with grassy plains spotted with Acacia trees stretching as far as the eye can see.  Shambala Private Game Reserve covers almost 12,000 hectares of South Africa’s Limpopo Province situated in the picturesque central region of the Waterberg mountain range, and is home to the ‘Big Five’.

I am guest of Shambala Private Game Reserve, and Anna is a 5 year old elephant.  The sun has risen already and animals are going about their daily business in the Game Reserve surrounding us.  There is something profoundly beautiful about this serene space, where you feel entirely privileged to be ‘at home with the animals’.  Anna strolls on in line with her friends and gently moved forward by her trainer, and I watch her tugging at the grass looking completely content.  All the elephants here have been relocated from Zimbabwe where their existence was under severe threat, and the family has been brought to live in the exclusive Game Reserve.  We stroll on, the zebra and wildebeest are my favourites, and we learn that a lion has had a fresh kill over night nearby.  We arrive at Douw Steyn Dam, a 30 hectare reserve and engineering masterpiece that blends ancient earth wall techniques with modern scientific knowledge constructed in 2001 to provide watering points for wildlife,  and after jumping down, the elephants are left to play in their watering hole, and I stand close but not too close as I am told the crocodiles and hippos are close by.  This is nature at its best and truly an inspiring moment that you cannot fail to be impressed by.  Visitors to Shambala are treated to unique personal experiences of the bushveld and close-up wildlife viewing by qualified experienced game rangers with bush picnics, star gazing and sunset cruises laid on.

Later on our small group sits around a roaring camp fire at Zulu Camp with cocktails in hand to discuss our wildlife extravaganza before a mouthwatering dinner prepared by Chef who works closely with guests to create individual menus.   Zulu Camp at Shambala Game Reserve comprises of seven chalets constructed in traditional Zulu materials that blend with the landscape – if the Tibetan word ‘Shambala’ means ‘Paradise on Earth’ – this is my paradise.   Whether you discover it in the bush, the mountains, the silence or feel it in the air or see it in the wildlife, paradise is here.  It has been a very special day, and as I lie in bed looking forward to the next day, I hear a lion roar before my head hits the pillow. 

By Isobel Abel-Smith, PR Account Director

A world of ultimate splendor spread over 240 sq.m on the roof of the Gstaad Palace: welcome to the Penthouse Suite.
Every detail adds a little something special: space in abundance, the cozy atmosphere, the inviting fireplace, the relaxing dining and living rooms.

Special Features:

• 3 spacious bedrooms
• En-suite bathrooms and steam baths in each bedroom
• Private access with an elevator
• Surrounding terrace
• Sauna and Jacuzzi in the Palace tower

For each night you book the Penthouse Suite this summer receive, as an incentive, one night in a Double Superior Room with breakfast for complimentary use (either for clients or private travel; for example a booking of 7 nights at the Penthouse Suite will entitle you to a complimentary 7 night stay in a double room at the hotel)

Rates for the penthouse are from CHF8,700 per night on half board basis.

The above offer is valid from 16th June to 11th  September 2011; subject to availability.

For further information please contact Mason Rose on +44 (0)20 7201 8050

Villa Agave, part of Excelsior Hotel & Spa in Dubrovnik, is offering the following special offer inclusions over the Summer 2011:

Offer I includes:

Accommodation in a luxurious villa valid throughout the months of July and August 2011
Minimum stay of 7 days

Total Price: €4,500 per night

Offer II includes:

Accommodation in a luxurious villa valid throughout the month of September 2011
Minimum stay of 4 days

Total Price: €3,500 per night

Villa Agave’s Special Features:

• 3 luxurious bedrooms
• Large living room with a fireplace
• Charming dining room with table for 8 people
• Relaxation room
• Grill kitchen in the open
• 5 open terraces overlooking the Adriatic sea
• Outdoor pool overlooking the Old Town
• Outdoor Jacuzzi
• Private beach

Location:

City Centre: 5 min by foot
Dubrovnik Airport: 20 km
Split Airport: 3.5 hrs
Zagreb Airport: 50 min flight

For further information, please contact Mason Rose on +44(0)20 7201 8050