Here at
The Luxury Travel bible we love a good film location: The kind of travel backdrop that makes all those Hollywood stars look so good. In the case of the Fab Fashionista Foursome from
Sex and the City 2 the location has to be pretty good to put the actors in the shade. And it is. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and the girls desert the New York subway and take the Marrakech Express when the new movie hits our screens later this month (May). Well, actually, according to movie-fiction they take the Abu Dhabi Express, which doesn't have the same ring about it at all. Nevertheless the backdrop is actually Morocco. Trust us we know.
The Luxury Travel Bible has all the
secret locations.
Meanwhile hotels worldwide are going into overdrive to take advantage of movie tie-ins to promote their rooms. Manhattan is still a location in the film - how could there be a Sex and the City without
that City? So for all you potential NYC visitors here are some of the Parker-Packages on offer. Forgive us for the female-centric nature of this blog. All packages are perfect for girlie getaways; Cosmo cocktails and shopping obligatory.
The super stylish
Hotel Gansevoort has been a favourite place for SATC filming since the very beginning (the hotel's rooftop bar is also one of
The luxury Travel Bible's favourite cocktail spots) so it is no surprise that Gansevoort was one of the first hotels to offer a swanky
Sex in the City 2 Package. 'Strap on the stilettos, grab your clutch, and strut over to Hotel Gansevoort for a weekend fit for the chic ", says the hotel's publicity blurb. In celebration of the movie's release in May Hotel Gansevoort is offering a package complete with designer shopping discounts and most importantly - cocktails at that rooftop pool bar.
The package includes a deluxe room or suite accommodation, complimentary valet parking, pool access and two complimentary poolside Cosmopolitans and a late 2pm check-out. You also get discounts at Meatpacking District neighborhood boutiques including Completely Bare, Shelly Steffee, LuLu Guinness, Constanca Basto, Darling, Cynthia Rowley, Rebecca & Drew, Massimo Bizzocchi, Constantino Cafe, Abingdon 12, Bond No. 9, Lucy Barnes and La Cefetiere. Once you are shopped out the evening's entertainment is catered for with two VIP passes to a choice of NYC nightclubs including Provocateur at Hotel Gansevoort, PM, Cielo, Dirty Disco, Guest House, Marquee, or Pink Elephant,. To take home there is a Sex and the City book or DVD.
Prices start from $US545 for a deluxe room and $US785 for a suite. The package runs from now until 7 September 2010.
All five Affinia properties in New York (Affinia 50, Affinia Dumont, Affinia Garden, Affinia Manhattan, & Affinia Shelburne) have a Girls Getaway in the City packages to tie-in with the film. The packages include a Split of champagne (don't get too excited as The Luxury Travel Bible followers know a Split is only a quarter bottle. Now if they'd said Jeroboam...) and a double ticket for a Sex and the City tour from On Location Tours, including 40 classic SATC locations. Also included is 20 per cent off the price of specially designed Sex and the City lingerie at Cosabella (Live the dream girls, live the dream), a Sex and the City book and a canvas stiletto tote bag.
Prices vary between hotels: Affinia 50 from $US249 per night, Affinia Dumont from $US289 per night, Affinia Gardens from $US289 per night, Affinia Manhattan from $US219 per night, Affinia Shelburne - from $US249 per night. The package runs from 28 May - 6 September 2010. www.affinia.com
Even the grand old Waldorf Astoria in New York is succumbing to 'Sex'. It has a Sex and the City Movie Package which includes two nights in a suite in the Towers of The Waldorf Astoria, the boutique arm of the hotel with a discreet separate entrance on 50th Street between Park and Lexington. The package includes cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery waiting upon arrival (favourite sweet snack of the fab four), two 60-minute spa treatments, two tickets to see Sex and the City 2; and two Cosmopolitans at the hotel's Bull & Bear restaurant which happens to have been the site of one of Samantha’s rendezvous with Smith Jerrod during the TV show's sixth season. For an added cost you can also join one of On Location Tours SATC offerings.
Prices start at $US300 per room per night, based on double occupancy. The package runs from 1 May - 30 August. www.waldorfinnewyork.com
Meanwhile the owner of an up-market New York apartment rental company( NYC-JC) , Jarl Haugedal, has told www.hotelchatter.com that he is willing to act as your own your personal Stanford Blatch, (your best gay friend with whom you can go shopping, gossiping, dining and drinking in the coolest spots around NYC) as long as you book the special 2 night, 2 person rate for $US 950 ($US1320 for four), at one of his apartments. www.nyc-jc.com
Strangely not all the hotel's offering Sex and the City 2 packages are in New York. Two hotels in the prestigious Dorchester Collection portfolio have also launched Sex-y packages.
The elegant, red-canopied Hotel Plaza Athénée on avenue Montaigne has a Sex and the City Offer which includes a daily continental breakfast for two, a complimentary Cosmopolitan cocktail at the Bar du Plaza Athénée and what the hotel terms 'a delicious cake 'offered on arrival, presumably the French patisserie equivalent of the SATC girls beloved cupcakes. You also get a bright red Plaza Athénée umbrella to take home with you. The Luxury Travel Bible should also point out that Hotel Plaza Athénée is within a Louboutin shoe-stagger along avenue Montaigne of Paris's most exclusive designer shops including Christian Dior, Chanel, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Céline, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Hermès.
Prices for a Prestige Suite are from € 3800 and the Presidential Suite from € 4800. The package runs from 1 August - 1 September. www.plaza-athenee-paris.com
At The Dorchester on London's Park Lane in Mayfair they also have a package inspired by the film. But, as befits the British love of understatement, the hotel is simply calling the package Girls Weekend. Nevertheless it has a Sex and The City 2 theme The package is based on four friends booking into two interconnecting rooms 'for easy post shopping analysis' and according to The Dorchester, 'provides the perfect accessories for the fun, fashion and friendship' . Guests will benefit from the hotel's unique relationship with the store aficionados affectionately call' Harvey Nick' (Harvey Nichols) and be given an appointment with a personal stylist at the store. The idea is that guests will be shown a special collection of clothes based on the character whose style they most desire to emulate.
In addition the four guests will each receive a handmade corsage (pin, or bracelet) from Florist at The Dorchester, a lip gloss each from The Dorchester Spa, a lighted mirror for makeup touch-ups and a complimentary breakfast at The Promenade at The Dorchester . The Luxury Travel Bible also likes the fact that The Dorchester's legendary barman Giuliano Morandin, famous for his ability match a person with the perfect drink, will choose from a Classic Cosmo for those most like Carrie, The Casanova for Samantha, and a Perfect Ten for Charlotte or The Prickly Colada for Miranda. Prices are based on two double rooms priced from £425 each (ex VAT).
The package is available from 1 May 2010 until 30 April 2011. A complimentary second room is offered during UK holiday periods: Bank Holidays (28-31st May, 27-30th August inclusive). Subject to availability. www.thedorchester.com
We haven't yet found any special hotel packages in Abu Dhabi, where the film purports to be set or Morocco where it is really set but we'll keep you posted. In the meantime take a look at our
On Location: Sex and the City 2 story for the lowdown on all the places the SATC crew filmed.
