Welcome to the Hotel Wrap. This week’s addition features some gobsmackingly wonderful properties which we warn could cause a severe case of FOMO.

Accor to partner with rideshare start-up Grab

Accor has announced a strategic partnership between its new lifestyle loyalty program, ‘ALL – Accor Live Limitless’, and South East Asia’s biggest rideshare platform, Grab.

The partnership will see ‘GrabRewards’ members use their points to access experiences through Accor’s 39 brands. While ALL members will soon be able to redeem their points for GrabRewards partner benefits.

ALL currently has 62 million loyalty members globally, including over 19.4 million in Asia Pacific.

The announcement of yet another partnership with Grab follows Booking.com’s deal with the company, announced in early January, which would see Grab’s rideshare service integrated into Booking.com’s mobile app.

Accor recently used its official partner status at the Australian Open to showcase ALL with a new advertising campaign around its lifestyle program.

Meliá Hotels International celebrates grand opening of first Thai property

Meliá Koh Samui Resort’s boathouse restroom

In partnership with Asset World Corporation, Meliá Hotels International has opened the doors of its first Thailand property, Meliá Koh Samui Resort, forming the start of a nationwide roll-out of hotels and resorts in the country.

Marketed as the “perfect home away from home” for Australian families, MICE travellers and honey-mooners alike, Melia Koh-Samui is nestled on Choeng Mon Beach, just 15 minutes from Samui International Airport.

The property features 159 rooms and 41 suites that offer a host of facilities, including two restaurants, an executive lounge, a stylish beach club and a swim-up bar as part of the largest swimming pool in Koh Samui.

Further offerings include the YHI Spa, a fitness centre and, for families, a kids’ club, outdoor playground and a mini water park.

COMO Culinary Journeys launches with five-day retreat at COMO The Treasury, Perth

Wildflower head chef Matthew Sartori, among others, will host COMO Culinary Journeys.

COMO Hotels and Resorts has announced a new collection of experiences for 2020, designed to blend the lines between travel and food by combining cooking classes and culinary experiences with relaxing stays at the brand’s luxury portfolio of hotels and resorts.

COMO Culinary Journeys, a series of retreats unique to their respective destinations around the world, will use food as a lens to explore the heritage and culture of a destination.

Whether through tastings, conversations with chefs or local market visits, the goal of the experiences is to leave each guest with a deeper understanding of how cuisine shapes culture whilst inspiring them to continue their own culinary journey at home.

A portion of the proceeds generated through the venture will be donated to the Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation (WIRES) to support wildlife rescue and rehabilitation efforts associated with Australia’s bushfires.

MGM agrees to sell MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay

A new joint venture between MGM Growth Properties LLC and private equity giant Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., will see the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay casino and resort in Las Vegas sold for US$4.6 billion ($6.7 billion), Skift reported.

MGM Resorts will reportedly continue to manage and operate the two properties on a day-to-day basis through a long-term master lease. The joint venture between both companies will own the properties and receive rent payments.

While MGM Resorts will pay a reported initial annual rent of US$292 million (around $425 million).

Rydges Sydney Airport unveils new restaurant, bar and lobby

Rydges Sydney Airport has unveiled its new signature restaurant, The Ascot, and bar, Smithy’s Bar alongside its new lobby and public spaces.

The fit out was led by globally recognised spatial communications practice, Akin Atelier, who re-created the lobby spaces to feature Porta’s sustainably sourced Tasmanian oak timber, earth-toned rendered walls and Australian sourced marble, to reflect the unique palette and landscape of the Australian environment, while utilising floor to ceiling windows to allow natural light to flood the space.

Experience Otahuna Lodge like royalty with ‘Lord of the Manor’ package

Otahuna Lodge, one of New Zealand’s most historic luxury lodges, is inviting guests to live like royalty with its ‘Lord of the Manor’ package.

Offering guests the chance to embrace the history of the property the same way its founder Sir Heaton Rhodes did 125 years ago, Lord of the Manor is the ultimate run of the lodge package where guests can enjoy the full luxuries of the estate entirely to themselves.

Guests can enjoy an endless array of activities both on and offsite including harbour cruises, wine tasting, helicopter tours, hiking, horse-riding, golf and garden tours, as well as on site facilities including swimming, croquet, tennis, cooking classes, bicycling and massage.

Inclusive in the package are pre-dinner drinks with canapes, nightly bespoke 5-course degustation dinners with local wine pairings, continental and cooked breakfast, laundry services, wireless internet, and use of the lodge’s equipment and facilities.

New five-star Pullman hotel opens in Rotorua

Accor introduced a sophisticated new property to the North Island of New Zealand with the launch of its newest premium hotel, the Pullman Rotorua.

As the first international five-star hotel to open in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty region, Pullman Rotorua is a hotel targeting high-end domestic and international travellers.

The new-build hotel provides guests with a choice of 130 rooms in five accommodation options:  superior king rooms, superior twin rooms, deluxe rooms, deluxe twin rooms and executive suites.

Citadines on Bourke Melbourne becomes dog-friendly

Having recently welcomed dogs to a selection of apartments at Somerset on Elizabeth Melbourne, The Ascott Limited is spreading the doggy joy to its sister property, Citadines on Bourke Melbourne.

Found in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD and comprised of spacious apartments with separate living and dining areas, Citadines on Bourke Melbourne offers guests and their companions the perfect base to stretch out, relax and explore the city’s many sights and sounds at an affordable price.

To ensure the experience is nothing less than “doggy-tastic”, The Ascot Limited explains, four-legged guests will be catered for with a bed fit for the furry traveller, water and food bowls, and a welcome pack including treats, toys and a special gift.

Featured image: Meliá Koh Samui Resort beachfront (Meliá Hotels International)