A greener Bristol in Brussels

The 4-star Bristol Stephanie in Brussels has been been given a 'Green Key' award for its good environmental practices. For example, instead of using chemicals for cleaning, it uses microfibre cloths and ionizers. Flow reducers have been added to shower heads and taps, guests are encouraged to re-use towels and sheets, and a €5 voucher is offered to guests if they do not want their rooms cleaned. 

The Bristol Stephanie is part of the Thon Hotel Group, which also owns the Bristol Hotel in Oslo. It has received the Belgian Green Key awards in previous years. Thon Hotel EU, for example, has bee hives on its roofs, which have produced 80kg of honey for guest breakfasts. 

New Russian Bristol

It’s always good to come across a new Hotel Bristol. This is just one more to emerge in Russia, at Krasnodar in North Caucasus, 140km from the Black Sea. The city is the capital of an agricultural region with a large output of wine. The three-star Hotel Bristol has 24 rooms and is furnished in classical style with 19th and 20th-century antiques.

L'HÔTEL BRISTOL, CANNES -- a likely story

Hotel Bristol often crops up in fiction. In Roald Dahl’s short story ‘Skin’ a man with a valuable painting tattooed on his back is offered free board and lodging for life by the owner of the Hotel Bristol in Cannes. The pay-off in the story is that there is no hotel Bristol in Cannes. 

Ah, but there was once. The archduke and archduchess Ranier of Austria stayed there in March 1911, and Arnold Bennett writes of lunching there in the 1920s with Sholto Johnstone Douglas — not the Sholto Douglas, son of infamous Norman. I have just come across this undated illustration of L‘Hôtel Bristol in Cannes, attributed to A. Advier.

Five star and alcohol-free

The Economist reports on Arab investment in Bosnia, where tourism from Arab countries has been booming. Among investors is the Al-Shiddi Group who built the recently opened Sarajevo City mall. “In summer the mall is packed with Arab families,” the report says, “some of whom may be staying in the company’s alcohol-free Hotel Bristol." The Bristol was built in 1973 and was bombed out in the Balkans conflict. In 2010 it reopened after a full refurbishment by the Al-shiddi group, founded in 1975 in Saudi Arabia, who made it alcohol free, declaring: “The jewel of our hospitality industry is Hotel Bristol, the first international five-star hotel in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Contemporary design, stylish dining and state of the art meeting facilities, are all carefully planned to provide memorable and cheerful experiences for our guests.”

A Bristol in Baku

Another one has popped up. The Hotel Bristol in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, is a 4-star, 32-room hotel on the two floors above a restaurant in this 19th-century building. It's in the pedestrianised area in the centre of town, and has attracted good TripAdviser reviews. The owners also run the better known Swan Hotel, which has just had a total makeover.

New Bristol on Poland

A new Hotel Bristol has just been brought to Hotel Bristol News' notice:  in Rzeszow, the main city in south-east Poland. Handsomely fitted out with fine wood finishing by Polish and Scandinavian designers, it has 72 room and three restaurants, including The Old Rzeszow Brewery, where beer is brewed on the premises, and traditional dishes are on offer.

Hôtel Bristol murderer jailed

The gruesome Hotel Bristol murder story came to an end today when the British businessman Ian Griffin was sentence to 20 years for the murder of his girlfriend Kinga Legg in the Paris five-star hotel four years ago. As reported here on Bristol News at the time, she was found dead in the bath of their £1,000-a-night room with more than 100 bruises on her body. At the Cour d'Assises in Paris, prosecutor Philippe Courroye said he failed to believe any of the versions Griffin offered for the murder, saying the case was a classic one of “violence against women.”