368 2 60-storey luxury Shangri-La Melbourne arriving in less than 12 months

Part of the Sapphire by the Gardens development in the Melbourne CBD, Shangri-La Hotel Melbourne CBD will take up residence in one of two 60-storey-plus skyscrapers when it opens in Q1 2024.

The five star hotel will occupy the taller 62-floor tower, spread across approximately 57,114 sq m gross floor area. The other tower will house 325 luxury apartments. The two towers overlook Melbourne’s World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens and will be connected by a Sky Lounge two-thirds of the way up.

Upon completion, Shangri-La Melbourne will incorporate an impressive range of luxury accommodation choices, including approximately 500 spacious guestrooms which will have a 50sq m average size and a couple of the bigger penthouses being about “six bays” – equating to about six guestrooms in size each. Some of the well-appointed guestrooms, will have exquisite family rooms – the first of its kind in Australia – with Horizon Club guestrooms, Premier and Presidential Suites on the upper levels.

Shangri-La Hotel Melbourne will feature a striking façade embellished with champagne gold fins. The facility will also deliver the largest ballroom space in the city’s CBD with elegant six-metre-high ceilings. Other amenities will include restaurants, a lounge and bar, spa, fitness centre with gym and yoga space, as well as both a roof garden pool and indoor heated swimming pool.

Shangri-La is one of my favourite brands for city stays. Shangri-La's newest Australian property is eagerly awaited.]]> https://www.pointsnplaces.com/media/website_posts/368/Shangri-la-logo.png none 2023-04-07 06:00:00 286 2 Travel + Leisure magazine taps into its readership and invites thousands to complete a survey that rates airlines, spas, hotels, islands and more on many factors. The detailed survey evaluation results in its readers' rankings of the best hospitality has to offer from around the world.

Participants in the survey collected data from late October 2021 through to the end of February 2022. They rated (with a maximum score of 100) hotels, airlines, cruise lines, tour operators, etc on numerous characteristics, with the option of rating excellent, above average, average, below average and poor. A minimum number of responses was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for Travel + Leisure‘s World’s Best Awards.

This year’s results spanned a whopping 120 categories among hotels, resorts and hospitality brands in cities, countries and regions globally; to spas, favourite global cities, and best islands, cruise lines, tour operators, safari outfitters, airlines, car rental companies and National Parks.

Some key observations:

The overall winner was the super-luxury Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco, Montalcino. Rosewood also had 2 other properties in the top 100.

Auberge and Shangri-La also both had 3 properties in the top 100.

The groups with the most properties in the top 100 both have Indian roots - Oberoi and Taj both had 6 properties in the list of top 100 hotels.

While Preferred Hotels owns no hotels of its own, it markets (and offers a loyalty program) for 5 of the top 100 hotels (Pendry Chicago #25, Riggs Washington D.C. #31, Finca Cortesín Hotel Golf & Spa, Málaga #44, Grand Hotel Tremezzo – Lake Como, #53 and Rancho Santana – Tola, Nicaragua, #56).

Multi-brand Marriott had 4 properties, while Capella, Hilton, Six Senses (IHG), Rocco Forte and Mandarin Oriental each had 2 properties rated in the top 100.

In terms of the Best 25 Hotel Brands in the World, the Accor stable rated very well, with 3 of its brands rated in the top 25 (Raffles #4, Sofitel Legend #6 and Banyan Tree #11). Global Hotels Alliance (GHA) also had 3 of its brands rated in the top 25 (Viceroy #10, Anantara #14 and Capella #17).

Of the major, multi-brand chains, IHG (Six Senses #19), Hilton (St Regis #24) and Marriott (Luxury Collection #25) each had 1 brand in the top 25.

If you'd like to know more about any of the hotels or brands, our associated Travel Agency is a specialist advisor for Langham, Shangri-La. Rosewood, Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria, Raffles, Preferred Hotels, Hyatt, IHG, Conrad and St Regis - able to offer free perks like room upgrades and property credits when you book.

Our congratulations to Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco and all category winners. Far too many to list here entirely, so we list below a selection of the results:

100 Best Hotels in the World

Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco (99.25),
Grace Hotel, Auberge Resorts Collection (99.22),
Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi (99.11),
Pickering House Inn, Wolfeboro (98.95) and
One&Only Reethi Rah (98.93).

25 Best Hotel Brands of the World

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts (97.50),
One&Only Resorts (96.20),
Oetker Collection (96.15),
Raffles Hotels & Resorts (95.5) and
Red Carnation Hotel Collection (95.32).

5 Best Resorts - South Pacific

Namale Resort & Spa, Savusavu, Fiji,
Conrad Bora Bora Nui,
St. Regis Bora Bora Resort,
Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora,
InterContinental Tahiti Resort & Spa.

Best Islands of the World

Ischia, Italy (94.61),
Maldives (94.44),
Bali (92.51),
Milos, Greece (92.50) and
Fiji Islands (92.38).

5 Best International Spas

Rancho La Puerta, Tecate, Mexico (95.76),
Sha Wellness Clinic, El Abir, Spain (95.20),
Therme di Saturnia (94.15),
Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat & Health Spa (93.26),
Chable Maroma, Punta Maroma, Mexico (89.90).

25 Best Cities in the World

Oaxaca, Mexico (92.96),
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (91.77),
Ubud, Indonesia (91.73),
Florence (91.06) and
Istanbul (90.97).

Best City Hotels - Europe

Hôtel Madame Rêve, Paris (98.73),
Rosewood Villa Magna, Madrid (98.67),
Portrait Firenze, Florence (98.25),
Raffles Istanbul (98.25) and
Shangri-La at the Shard, London (97.86).

Best City Hotels - Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific

The Langham, Melbourne (92.53),
Park Hyatt Sydney (90.40),
Four Seasons Hotel Sydney (88.30),
InterContinental Sydney (87.76) and
Shangri-La Sydney (86.40).

Best Islands - Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific

Fiji Islands (92.38),
Moorea, French Polynesia (90.24),
Bora Bora, French Polynesia (87.70),
Great Barrier Reef Islands (86.90) and
Tahiti, French Polynesia (83.33).]]> https://www.pointsnplaces.com/media/website_posts/286/falling_confetti_winner_210715_01.jpg url https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/worlds-best-2022 2022-07-17 07:00:00 261 2 Circle loyalty program changed effective from 28 April 2022 to have:

tier status qualification based on either qualifying nights or tier points earned (effectively amount spent).
more flexibility to earn points from stays, F&B, Spa, Wellness and Shangri-La merchandise
rewards points will have a fixed earning rate and redemption value.

A new Polaris invitation-only elite tier was also launched. Benefits include unlimited access to Shangri-La facilities worldwide (even without staying overnight), a dedicated global Polaris concierge, Polaris Discovery experiences, and the ability to gift Diamond status (the highest status tier able to be earned).

Shangri-La Circle has now added an additional benefit for all its members. The new Members Day will see the release of new offers that will only be available for 48 hours on the 6th day of each month, starting at 9am (Hong Kong Time) on the 6th and ending at 9am (Hong Kong Time) on the 8th.

For the inaugural Members Day, Shangri-La Circle will debut over 20 “staycation” packages bundled with curated dining and wellness experiences that allow guests to personalize their journeys. Members will be rewarded with 6 times the points when they book these offers through the dedicated Members Day website or Shangri-La Circle Mobile App. Additionally, Shangri-La Circle members in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei will receive six times the points when they shop at the Shangri-La Boutique during the 48-hour Members Day offer.

These points can later be used for their next dining experience, weekend getaway or wellness escape.

New members signing up will earn 300 bonus points with their first Shangri-La Circle experience and up to 1,500 additional bonus points with continued spending through July 31, 2022.

T&C's apply, so be sure to read them.]]> https://www.pointsnplaces.com/media/website_posts/261/Shangri-la-logo.png none 2022-06-07 07:30:00 187 2 Golden Circle to Circle.

The style of the program will also change. Rather than being a rewards program, it will become more revenue focussed:

tier status qualification will be based on either qualifying nights (the same number as currently with Golden Circle ) or tier points earned (effectively amount spent) replacing the current option of qualification based on number of stays. There will be more flexibility to earn points from stays, F&B, Spa, Wellness and Shangri-La merchandise
rewards points will have a fixed earning rate (receive 1 point per US$ spent) and redemption value (15 points = US$1 - no more award tables), making Circle more similar in nature to Accor ALL and GHA Discovery.
Golden Circle members' points and tier status will be transferred to the new Circle program
the new Polaris invitation-only elite tier will be launched.

The changes are to be effective from 28 April 2022.

In the interim, for current Golden Circle members, Shangri-La is holding a Less is More promotion for a Standard Room, a Club Room or an Executive Suite at any of its participating hotels.

Book an award stay before 21 April 2022 (Hong Kong Time) for stays completed by 22 April 2022, to receive a 50% reduction in the number of points required.

T&C's apply
]]> https://www.pointsnplaces.com/media/website_posts/187/Shangri-la-logo.png url https://www.shangri-la.com/en/landing/lessismore/ 2022-01-19 04:30:00 65 2 31 December 2022.

American Express Platinum (multiple jurisdictions) members had the Golden Circle Jade status benefit discontinued on 31 March 2021, so this tier extension is definitely welcome news. Golden Circle members typically need the following stays and nights to qualify or maintain their status in the year ahead - Diamond: 50 Nights or 25 Stays or Jade: 20 Nights or 10 Stays.

But the Shangri-La status does not just have benefits by itself, but also, it has many associated perks which come with it, including:

1. Short-cut to Star Alliance Gold status - Shangri-La Jade-tier and Diamond-tier members receive instant KrisFlyer Silver status once they join up their Shangri-La Golden Circle and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer accounts. After that, Shangri-La Jade Members need to take 3 flights on Singapore Airlines, or just 1 flight as a Diamond member to receive KrisFlyer Gold status.

Once you have KrisFlyer Gold status, you have the equivalent of Star Alliance Gold status, which means you unlock the associated benefits on flights on Star Alliance members across the globe.

2. Enjoy Taj InnerCircle Gold status - Under the terms of a strategic alliance between Shangri-La Golden Circle and Taj Inner Circle, there is an automatic status match between the tiers of the programmes. Golden Circle Jade members match to InnerCircle Gold and Golden Circle Diamond members match to InnerCircle Platinum (and vice-versa).

While Taj InnerCircle is mostly an Indian hotel company’s loyalty programme, Taj also has hotels in various countries worldwide, such as the US, UAE and UK.

Shangri-La will also waive the cancellation charges regardless of booking channel for all guests, if cancelled more than 24 hours prior to arrival date. The hotels reserve the right to contact all inbound international guests at least 30 days prior to their arrival dates to confirm or cancel their reservations.

These changes are part of the Shangri-La Cares program. ]]> https://www.pointsnplaces.com/media/website_posts/65/golden-circle-logo-dark.jpg none 2021-10-04 01:30:00