I have seen some cool and unique hotel pools, but the Rooftop Swimming Pool at the Hotel Elan in Dallas Texas is so cool that I thought it needed to be shared.

Erica Fischer Hotels, Travel Swimming Pool at the Hotel Elan in Dallas Texas

GoPlanit.com is a travel social network that assists you in planning your next trip. Your itinerary is completely personalized by taking into consideration important factors such as your preferences, budget, locations, hours of operation and friend’s recommendations to create the ultimate trip catered specifically to you. The recommendation engine suggests the most popular and highest rated items.

The extent of planning your trip can be simple or advanced (you choose this option in the beginning). The main difference between the two is that the Simple mode allows you to plan by day and the Advanced Mode allows you to plan by the hour. In the planning phase you choose the date and then you choose from several options to add activities, dining, lodging, your flight or you can add in your own custom item. Each activity, dining and lodging option has ratings for each choice that is presented to you to choose from which is pretty cool and useful. The flight feature allows you to enter your flight information which needs to be chosen by other means.

Once you are finished planning your trip you can export your itinerary into iCal/Outlook, a public URL or load into your Google Calendar.

Erica Fischer Hotels, Travel, Website Review GoPlanit, GoPlanit.com

jasonede Hotels, Travel Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort and Spa

Having seen hundreds of hotels over the years, it’s always nice to find one that stands out. The Hempel does just that. Located in the heart of Bayswater a few minutes walk to Queensway and Bayswater tube stations, a few mintues walk to the famous Hyde Park and only 10 minutes walk to Paddington station. This hotel is inconspicuous - you hardly know that it is there as you walk down this quiet Georgian terrace street in central London.

For those that like deluxe design with a very hip and contemporary feel, this hotel is for you - providing you have the cash! Also fortunate to own the typical London garden square that it is located on means that you can feel like you are not actually in central London - especially on a sunny day!

An iconic hotel, that is home to such events as the Brit Awards after show parties it really is the hotel to be seen in.

Rooms, suites and apartments are luxuriuosly decorated in a minimalist style with neutral tones and top quality furnishings and finishings. However, this is London so don’t expect too much space! Each and every one of the hotels bedrooms are individually designed by Anouska Hempel.

Even though this is a designer hotel many of the bedrooms actually have a very homely feel and some of the bathrooms are just amazing!

The hotel also has the H-Bar, I-thai restaurant and a few meeting rooms.

So if you have something to celebrate - or even if you don’t, treat yourself to a weekend break at The Hempel - you won’t be disappointed (and you may get to meet some celebrities!).

The Hempel Hotel is available to book on www.lastminutetravel.com

melissamountford Hotels, Travel The Hempel Hotel, The Hemple Hotel in London

San Alfonso de Mar The World’s Largest Pool

Located off the coast of Chile at the South American resort of San Alfonso de Mar is the world’s largest swimming pool. Containing 250,000 cubic meters of water and 1 km in length, this swimming pool was acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest swimming pool.

The mastermind behind this pool is Crystal Lagoons founder, biochemist and businessman Fernando Fischmann. By utilizing some very innovative technology to make the water crystal clear, Fernando’s pool actually uses recycled seawater which requires fewer additives, in fact it uses the same types of products for traditional pools, but 100 times less. Guests of the San Alfonso de Mar can swim and cruise around in small boats through this massive pool.

Here are some pictures of the pool courtesy of Reuters:

Learn more about LastMinuteTravel.com’s Chilean deals!

Erica Fischer Hotels, Travel San Alfonso de Mar, The World's Largest Swimming Pool

Everyone’s life can get a little hectic and things seem to pile up on us when we least expect it. We can not always plan a vacation for the times we need one the most. I found myself in this situation 2 months ago. I decided to escape right in my home town of Orlando. I took a long weekend at the Peabody and it felt like I was in a different country.

The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and the service is impeccable. They even had ducks inside the lobby. We ate dinner in the Capriccio grill and it was the best steak I ever had. Even the 24 B-Line Dinner has great food. I had buffalo for the first time, and the Sunday brunch is on point.

I even got my exercise in. It felt great to jump into their full size heated pool and get some laps done, then sit in the huge whirlpool and just relax.

If anyone is looking for a place to host their weekend getaway or a vacation The Peabody is the place to go!

danveenstra Hotels, Travel capriccio grill, the peabody orlando

The following is an insider tip on traveling through Germany’s history. I already stayed at this small castle hotel twice which stands out from the crowd of other similar hotels mainly because of its casual atmosphere in a yet sophisticated environment: Lütgenhof Castle in Dassow, close to the German shore at the Baltic Sea, an hour east of Hamburg.

So if you want to see more than the major German cities and willing to see the countryside and some historical sites but you are allergic to flocks of scuffling Japanese tourists in Neuschwanstein castle (think Cinderella Castle at Disney World) then this might be a less spectacular but more personal alternative. You can spend time on a quiet piece of land with a small river next to the building and a nature-sanctuary around it. You can go to rough beaches, other mansions and little castles, small villages or towns like Wismar with farmer’s markets, cafés, shops and old churches or to Lübeck with its picturesque Old Town which is a world heritage site.

Lütgenhof was built in 1839 and extended over the years in a neo-classical style by an aristocratic family. After WWII it made its way through the decades and became a children’s home then a school and then barracks for the boarder guards as it was in 1961 suddenly located directly on a borderline between East and West-Germany! Luckily the company Jägermeister bought it after the reunification of Germany and redeveloped and renovated with care.

Today it offers 23 rooms and suites equipped with no thrilling features (small simple TV, no internet access) but in a reserved and comfortable style: high quality materials, fine linen, fresh, bright, no frills.

You will see precious furniture with a slight modern accent in the public rooms without the typical baroque castle arrangements. This is a fact which in combination with the attentive but casual service helps to feel very comfortable – no matter if you drive up in Jaguar or on a touring bike.

There is a small gourmet restaurant in a hall with an impressive wooden coffered ceiling and a view over reed fields where you can enjoy fine dining. Guests interested in running or cycling will have the choice between countless tours and may complete the day in the hotel’s bio sauna or on the terrace with a local beer.

Altogether an excellent place to relax in a historic, natural, fine and comfortable surrounding, supported by grown up, professional and personal hotel service.

carsteng Destinations, Hotels, Travel castle hotel, luetgenhof

The Amora Jamison Hotel is fabulous! Right in the middle of Sydney city, close to Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, shopping, entertainment, transport and so much more. Lovely hotel, great service!

Sydney is perfect at this time of year (March), warm without being too hot, sunny days just perfect for wandering around. One of the highlights is to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge - you can do this during the day, or in the evening, both views are sensational. When looking for a great restaurant, try the Darling Harbour area, great range of restaurants of all cuisines.

Lynne

lynnejackson Hotels, Travel Amora Jamison Hotel, Sydney Australia

What does technology hold for the future of hotel rooms? X- Room in the University of Delaware Courtyard Hotel provides a sneak peak. This hotel room looks like an ordinary hotel room but the traditional features are very futuristic. I will break down each of these features into 4 main categories:

• Cool Features
• Useful Features
• Environmentally Friendly Features
• Safety Features

Cool Features
The traditional TV in X-Room has been replaced with a Microsoft Media Center. This media center features computer applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, Internet access, Live TV with all the features, full length music albums, and a hard drive that can hold 150 movies. The remote controlled digital picture frame allows guests to display their own pictures in the hotel room to make them feel more at home. The traditional alarm clock has been replaced with “clocky” the walking alarm clock. The guest sets clocky and activates clocky’s wheels. When the alarm goes off, clocky runs around and hides somewhere in the room. The guest has to physically get up and find clocky to shut the alarm off. With about 1 million algorithms clocky has a different place to hide each time.

Useful Features
The X-Room’s digital guest room assistant console features a do not disturb indicator, make up room indicator, climate control, lighting control, guest directory and telephone access. Anyfill universal battery charger can charge your cell phone battery, digital camcorder battery, digital camera battery and much more. The recharge time is less than a traditional charger for an added convenience.

Environmentally Friendly Features
The green technology shower head consumes 70% less water while delivering 70% more water pressure. Like most traditional hotel bathrooms the X-Room features a hair dryer which consumes 40% less energy than a regular hair dryer.

Safety Features
For added security, the X-Room’s peep hole is digital camera with a fish eye lens that enables the guest to see more than the traditional peep hole.

Erica Fischer Hotels, Technology, Travel Hotel Room of the Future, X-Room

You can now look up and book any hotel LastMinuteTravel.com has to offer on Google Maps! I am going to provide you with a step-by-step tutorial for adding this extremely useful application to your Google Maps.

Step 1: Go to Google.com and click on the Maps link at the top of the page.

Step 2: Click on the My Maps tab.

Step 4: Enter lastminutetravel into the search box and then click the Search Google Maps Content button.

Step 5: To select the LastMinuteTravel Hotels Google Mapplet, click the Add it to Maps button.

Step 6: You will now be prompted to sign into your Google account. If you do not have a Google account you can also create one at this time.

Remember to send it to your friends Enjoy!

Last Minute Hotel Deals Now Available on Google Maps

Erica Fischer Featured, Hotels LastMinuteTravel Hotels Google Maps