Since it was built in 1929, The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel has attracted rich and famous guests from around the world. To the general public the hotel is most famous for being used in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman. They have disappointed thousands of people by turning down requests from around the world who would like to stay in the same suite that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere had in the movie because it does not exist, it was filmed at the Walt Disney studio.

Julia Robert’s character in the film was not the only pretty woman who stayed there. In the 60’s the hotel became a swinging hangout for Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson, with parades of women going in and out of their rooms. A little old lady who stayed beneath Beatty constantly banged her ceiling with her broom, to try and get him and his lady friends to stop making so much noise.

Not everyone was having fun in the hotel. Michael Caine spent his honeymoon there with his beautiful wife Shakira. Caine was and is a favorite of the staff. In honor of Shakira they decided to give them the authentic Indian honeymoon suite. In India, the honeymoon beds hang from the ceiling with bells hanging from the bottom. The neighbors like to hear the bells go off for the happy couple, but in this case Shakira was already pregnant and Caine was jetlagged. All they wanted was to get some sleep but they couldn’t do it because of the blankety blank bells! The English actor ended up ordering four hamburgers from room service and stuffed the buns into the bells so that they could get through the night!

About The Author

Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says,” these two elaborate productions are exceptionally entertaining.” Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at www.hollywoodstories.com.

orgofhlly@aol.com

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Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by faison
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Staying at a resort for your next vacation can be a great way to pamper yourself and enjoy all the amenities that a fine resort has to offer. But did you know that you can also save money with all inclusive resort vacations? You can find these special deals by visiting your travel agent, but you can also find them fairly easily right online if you just look for them.

All inclusive resort vacations are not for everyone because many people like the freedom to be able to go where they want and see what they want to see once they arrive at their destination. They may like to go poking around a lot to get a real feel for the area once they get there. Or they may enjoy doing a lot of dining at different restaurants to sample local cuisine. For these folks, an all-in-one package where everything is on-site would probably not work at all.

But for those that want to just relax and have all the details taken care of for them, an all inclusive resort package can make a lot of sense. These packages often include pretty much everything you could want including airfare, accommodations, meals and drinks, resort activities, and more. Just as the name suggests these packages include just about everything.

Since they are offered by the resort where you stay, they tend to focus almost exclusively on what you will find at the resort itself, although some do also include some sightseeing packages outside the resort too. But if the resort has all the activities and entertainment that you could want to enjoy, you may not even want to leave anyhow.

The thing to do when shopping for all inclusive resort vacations is to make sure that you know what the package actually includes and also what it does not include. So think of all the things that you could want to do while you are there and ask plenty of questions beforehand to be sure that the package will meet your expectations. It may even be wise to actually call the resort and speak to someone in person who can give you all the information about the package that you need.

For many travelers there is nothing nicer and less stressful than to just pay one price for the whole vacation and have unlimited access to all the entertainment, food and drink that they could want while longing at a beautiful resort. If that describes you why not consider looking for all inclusive resort vacations the next time you are planning a getaway?

Thad Pickering writes on many consumer related topics including vacation travel. You can find out more about how to find all inclusive resort vacations and discount all inclusive vacations by visiting our Vacation Guide website.

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Posted on July 1st, 2008 by faison
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You are only going to have one major golf vacation with your pals per year. Make it the best possible by designing it yourself. Forget the standard golf package and do it yourself.

In our last article we got to the minus two months point of your schedule. You have researched and found the ideal location, picked out the perfect house, sent out the word to your pals, and settled on the dates. By this time, you should have a confirmed group, any of which would just as soon lose their right arm as miss the event.

Let’s lock in the rental house. You DO need to get this done as early as you can. If you are setting up your vacation during the off-season like I do, you are in the driver’s seat. Talk directly to the property manager and negotiate a better rate. Here is a summary of my discussion a few weeks ago.

“Hey, Tiffany. Randall here. It’s that time again but our group is smaller. We really like the house at … but it is more than we need. We will be staying a full week. I figured the owner would rather have a bird in the hand and rent the house for a full week instead of taking the chance of renting it for just a couple days or not at all. We can afford $xxxx. I can pay you today.”

The result of this little conversation was that she immediately lopped twenty percent off the advertised rate! You will never know until you ask. Shoot for about a thirty percent reduction and go from there. I slapped the deposit on my credit card and emailed the group. (Yes, I was looking for praise.) You can dust off the smaller details like arranging linens (if not provided in the rate) and final payment later.

Time to grab tee times. What I recommend is setting up early morning tee times for each day. You will have to get up earlier than you may like, but scheduling tee times around 8:00 to 8:30AM will accomplish several things, including:
Being close to first off the box on rain or frost delays (allowing a second 18).
Finishing your round early enough to grab a second 18 with lunch in between 18’s.
Allowing easier to change to later tee times if desired rather than to move them earlier.

Over the Internet and by talking with local pros on the phone, you have come up the courses you want to play. As with the house, you DO need to get this done as early as you can so that you can get the tee times you want. When scheduling tee times, I prefer talking directly to the head pro. In general, you will find more flexibility on prices. Other bonuses like getting a second set of tee times while only paying for a replay fee are easier. The head honcho is also more likely to bend the rules to allow advanced tee times if you are beyond the time window normally allowed.

Granted, this may be your first time in the location you picked, but you can use about the same language as I do. I have just locked in our tee times for February. I associate myself with a golf course to let them know I am a “player” and the pros seem to be more deferential in talking with a “player”. Here is a summary of a standard call:

“Hey Bucky, Randall from Snee Farm here. It’s getting to be that time of the year again for our annual golf vacation. You have always treated us so well and given us such a great rate in the past. The guys love the challenge of your outstanding spread. I was just wondering if you fit us in again on February 23rd. We are looking to play 36 and would appreciate anything you could do for us.”

With that or something similar as an opener, I forecast that you WILL get a great rate from most of the courses. Don’t make a second set of tee times at this point unless you get them for just the replay fee. If you are playing during the on-season and want to play 36, you may have to make and pay for a guaranteed set of afternoon tee times. Some of the courses may have events already scheduled when you want to play that particular course. You may have to juggle this slightly and change already made tee times, so complete your tee time set up within a couple days.

Now you have your group, your house and your tee times. It is time to get down to real business. Now is the time to get the financial commitment. Send an email spelling out the accommodations and the tee times. Ask for your troops to send you at least half of what the final cost per man will be. Our total per man is normally around $900 for all the lodging, transportation, golf, food and beverages for the week.

Dining. In general we fix whatever breakfast we personally want, make sandwiches to eat between rounds, and fix our own gourmet supper (with loads of snacks to wreck our appetites during the entire day and night). You can see our 2006 evening meals by clicking on 2006 Schedule at the sample website www.eye-mind-tricks.com/golf . To support all this, you will need to know what the group wants and prepare a shopping list. This year, I used a free survey website and built a fill-in-the-blank survey for the troops. You can see that at: www.surveymonkey DOT com/s.asp?u=256691624905 (remove the “DOT” and insert a “.” )

You can use surveymonkey like that or ask the same questions in an email. To give you an idea of what your shopping list will look like for a group of eight and assuming you follow our general plan, I put a close copy of last year’s shopping list at the above eye-mind-tricks website. Substitute the word “shop” for “golf” to see it. With your shopping list built, you will either grab the goodies before the flights of the group arrive if you live locally, or have the troops assist on the way to your house.

You are now at the minus one month point of building the perfect golf vacation. The next article will provide recipes, administration details, entertainment ideas, and odds and ends.

Randall Ulbricht is a retired Nuclear Submarine Officer. He currently works from home sharing information via several web sites, including:
http://www.article-outlet.com and
http://ezpromotes.com.

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Posted on June 27th, 2008 by faison
Filed under: sea-resort.info | No Comments »