Hotel Girl

Travel Weekly editor Penny Wilson has been telling me about her visit to Le Chateau Japanais, a fascinating B&B in Hastings. Here are her impressions...

I paid £70 for an en-suite double complete with Japanese loo (one of those space ship things that virtually hoses you down), Japanese jacuzzi, frankly French furniture AND a heated, outdoor Japanese hot tub, more the size of a swimming pool than the usual hole in the ground. Full wet room adjoining. Its open all night! For a few extra pounds I could choose between a traditional English or Japanese breakfast. The place isn't finished yet but I'll return when it is. It is in a typical Hastings villa that would have been a posh Victorian summer getaway in its heyday.

For good measure I threw in dinner in the historic Old Town's George Street at the newly-opened Pomegranate restaurant where I over-indulged on Turbot caught that day by one of the country's last remaining fishing fleets. If this isn't a fine example of multi-cultural England, what is?

A fellow blogger and journalist has been having a good old moan about Scandinavian hotels that don't understand the needs of business travellers. Few hotels, she says, have tea and coffee making facilities or even ironing boards.

Kristine Lowe writes: So what do you get up in the wee hours to get out a few stories before the day starts and there's no way to feed your caffeine addiction. How do you wake yourself up enough to be productive - without having to run around town at 5am to find a place with coffee, electricity and wi-fi?

There's nothing worse than hotels skimping on little bits and pieces that are actually vital for guests. Which chains do you think are best or worst for business travellers?

Credit crunch? What credit crunch? The £800m luxury Dubai hotel opens today with rooms costing up to £13,000 a night.

Guests can enjoy an indoor ski slope and huge open air tank with dolphins flown in from the Solomon Islands. The mega wealthy can splash out on £13,000-a-night suites with a gold leaf 18-seat dining table.

Dubai's fairy tale world isn't completely sheltered from the global economic turmoil - the state is confident its tourism income will support the economy once the oil stops flowing. If not, surely they'll get a few quid for those gold leaf tables on eBay...