In a nutshell the TripAdvisor Trip Friends Feature allows travelers to tap into Facebook and find friends that can offer advice about a specific destination and what they should see, do and definitely avoid while they’re there.

This feature means that, for us in the industry, TripAdvisor is now even more important and more relevant.

Before this feature users (or TripAdvisor community members) were reading reviews by individuals who weren’t friends but who had personally experienced the destination, restaurant, hotel, wine farm and more that the user was looking to experience.

Now imagine how powerful it would be if these people reviewing their experiences weren’t strangers. Imagine if the people advising you were your trusted friends.

CC attribution soylentgreen23 on Flickr

That’s incredibly powerful and, as I mentioned before, it makes TripAdvisor reviews even more relevant to the individual.

What this means is that, as a brand affected by TripAdvisor, you can no longer afford to bury your head in the sand.

CC attribution Learning Futures Festival 2010 on Flickr

You need to recognize TripAdvisor and work out how you going to harness its phenomenal power and leverage your brand off its incredible reach.

If you’ve read Margot’s blog post, about our dinner at Noma, you’ll already know that it was fantastic. In fact it was so fantastic that I just had to write about it too.

The entire Noma experience is phenomenal but there are a few things that were standouts for me.

Image courtesy of paz.ca (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pazca/4065853316/)

The first standout – the décor:

Noma’s décor is minimalist. It showcases beautiful, simple Scandinavian design and there isn’t a tablecloth in sight! In many ways the decor is not what you’d expect from the best restaurant in the world. But it is very true to its heritage and, as we rediscovered throughout the night, Noma is all about being Nordic!
The second standout – the ingredients:

All the ingredients, used at Noma (which incidentally stands for Nordic Food), are from Nordic countries. So, for example, no olive oil is ever used! In fact René and his team (from 21 different countries) spend time foraging on the local beaches for natural and different ingredients.

The third standout – the food:

We indulged in Noma’s 12 course menu. What I experienced was a series of flavours and textures each more extraordinary than the last. From the moment you, as a guest, arrive at Noma you receive food starting with tastes from smoked quail eggs to chicken skin sandwiches. Then the courses start arriving and they ranged from crayfish tales, that have to be eaten by hand, to marrow bones wrapped in brown paper and filled with smoked toffee … all exceptional!

The fourth standout – the plating:

All tastes and courses, at Noma, are served in unusual containers including: old cake tins, felt and rocks from the sea-bed. At Noma the plating is as intriguing as the food. The cutlery, on the other hand, is simple. Only one style and size of knife and fork are used throughout the meal. Then there is the fantastic interaction that guests have with the chefs who come to the table and actually pour the sauce, they’ve created, into the plate. At Noma the artists don’t hide in the kitchen!

The fifth and final standout – the juice pairing:

As someone who doesn’t do wine pairings I find that I end up drinking glass after glass of water with a great meal. As you can imagine this can get a little boring so I absolutely loved the fact that I could have my 12 courses paired with different juices. This made me feel, like I too was experiencing something very special!

The trip was worth every minute and, if you get a booking at Noma, you have to go! This might be a feat in itself because after being named no.1 in the San Pellegrino World Top 50  Restaurant Awards their website crashed, their emails gave up and their phone stopped working. They could be fully booked for the next 3 years but, luckily, they only take bookings 3 months in advance. For more information visit the Noma website.

Just under a month ago we were in Brazil, South America. We were there to experience their culture and cuisine and introducing them to Franschhoek, South Africa.

One of the highlights of our trip was our meal at D.O.M. The unique cuisine offered at D.O.M is the brainchild of the incredible, Alex Atala. He’s a passionate man and, from the moment you set foot in D.O.M, you can feel his love for both Brazil and food.

Chef Alex Atala in his restaurant D.O.M. Photograph by Cristiano Madureira.

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D.O.M offers diners a menu that highlights indigenous Brazilian flavours. Ingredients, herbs and spices are used to showcase everything that is Brazil. When we dined at D.O.M we experienced Priprioca essence with amazing little squid and beetroot cream, liquid coconut risotto with Dendê oil and mint, Paca fried crispy with manioc and Madeira sauce, Brazil nut cake with dark chocolate whiskey sorbet and a dusting of curry and more.

It is an exceptional restaurant and one that, if you find yourself in South America, you simply have to try.

I recently read a short article – you’ll find it here – and it got me thinking.

As hoteliers I believe that we often forget what is really important and what adds real value to a guest’s experience. Somehow, and I think this happens in all industries (not just tourism), we believe that in the hallowed-halls of our own establishments the things that irritate us – when we are paying customers elsewhere – don’t apply.

When I’m a guest there are a few specific things that don’t work for me and I’ve worked hard to ensure that Le Quartier Français guests never have to experience them. Because, apart from the fact that they irritate me, I think that they have the ability to ruin a premium hotel experience.

I’m very interested to find out what your pet hotel peeves are? What has the ability to ruin your entire stay at a luxury establishment?

While I was in Paris I ate at the world’s 40th best restaurant – Le Chateaubriand – located in the 11th Arrondisment.

It was intimate, there were no pictures on the wall, the tables were wooden and packed closely together. There was only one menu – 5 courses – and absolutely no choice!

The only way to maybe have something changed or removed from the dish was for allergy reasons (and even this wasn’t guaranteed). Simple dislike of a food type i.e. tomatoes did not warrant it being removed from the dish.

Le Chateaubriand - image courtesy of Meg Zimback (http://www.flickr.com/photos/megzimbeck)

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I didn’t think I’d enjoy the inflexible menu as much as I did. I loved the fact that I did not have to choose my meal! It was really easy – the food was all very enjoyable – and we had a great evening.

Diner-proof menus are something I’ve noticed are appearing in a number of the top restaurants world-wide. Are they a trend or are they here to stay?

My personal opinion is that they’ll be around for a while. The customers that visit the top restaurants in the world all lead exceptionally busy lives and, when you’re that busy, it’s nice to have a few hours where you’re not required to made decisions. Plus when the menu has been diner-proofed the emphasis is placed on enjoying spectacular dishes the way they were meant to be enjoyed.

My stay in the heart of the Marrakech Medina was definitely enlightening.

The sights, sounds and smells are not for the feint hearted. Meat is displayed out on the street, offal on the tables and the motorbikes and donkeys all cruise by. As a pedestrian you just hope to get through it all without getting crushed in the oddly charming chaos.

The Riad we stayed in was situated down a dark alley flanked by piles of rubbish. Dan Hanan (that’s what the Riad was called), was in fact a surprisingly quiet retreat from all the Medina madness.  It was a three-star B&B, that could do with a bit of refurbishment, but it was comfortable and relatively inexpensive. The staff were great, very friendly and the rooftop terrace was amazing … you could spend forever here, just enjoying the sounds of the Marrakech night.

The majority of the Pure delegates and exhibitors chose to stay in Western hotels like the Sofitel, but I’m not sure there is a real authentic Marrakech experience to be had at the Sofitel. Then again how out of their comfort zone does the top end traveller really want to be? I’ve realised that it is one thing to say you’re looking to immerse yourself in a foreign culture, but it is quite another thing to actually enjoy it.

While I found my stay in the Medina enlightening I think that next year I will retreat to the sanctuary of the delightful Villa des Orangers – a Relais and Chateaux property that I love – situated outside the Medina walls. The Villa des Orangers have added new rooms since my last stay and a fabulous Hammam. Yes, I think the Villa des Orangers it will have to be!

Early evening at the Villa des Orangers

While I was attending Pure – The Life Experiences Show – I realised that experiences are creating big buzz in the tourism industry.

Experiences transform a travellers holiday into a journey, and specific people are now looking for travel experiences that add value to their lives and – in some cases – even change there lives. At Le Quartier Français we’ve seen this first hand, our Culinary Concierge programmes are all about the experience and our Mrs. Ndaba initiative has captivated the hearts and minds of countless individuals.

I think the important thing to note is that experience based tourism is aimed specifically at travellers not tourists. It focuses on people who go on travel adventures where there is always the possibility that they could fall in love, with their destination, and decide to stay forever. This type of travel experience aims to give individuals genuine insight into the people and places their visiting. It’s about the traveller immersing themself in a foreign culture rather than hanging out on the periphery.

I took this experience based approach to tourism to heart when I was in Marrakech. I decided to sink my teeth into the fabric of Morocco by staying in the heart of the Marrakech Medina. It was definitely an unforgettably colourful experience, one I’ll discuss in more detail in my next blog post.

The Marrakech Medina

I recently had dinner at the Sel de la Terre Back Bay restaurant – which presents its diners with very good, very simple food. One of the great things they had on offer was that you could choose to have one of each starter or a sampling of the whole lot.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this, restaurants seem to have become more flexible in terms of how their guests experience the menu. I wonder if this is just a USA trend or something that is starting to appear worldwide?

If you’re like me, and you like to try lots of dishes, you’ll love the new focus on plenty of small plates to share. Some of these dishes (to share) offer more homely cuisine – like the iCi style roast chicken for two – except over here it’s not chicken for two, but rather a 40oz rib eye to share.

Image Courtesy of jek in the box (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jek-a-go-go/3948329368/)

Charcuterie is very “in” in New York; so Bread & Wine, Neil Jewell and his charcuterie are right on trend. Great news for us in South Africa because it means we don’t have to mission all the way over to New York or Boston for the best!

Instead we can pop out to Maze, Caveau or iCi for a delicious Neil Jewell charcuterie fix.