I am in love with an Italian; sleek suave, sophisticated and very, very fast. The worrying thing is my husband is in love too – with the same Italian. I recently drove a 2010 Ferrari California down the East coast of Australia (proving the country isn’t all about 4WDs in the outback) with a company called Prancing Horse and I’ll never be quite the same again. Exotic car tours are available all over the world although some of them cost almost as much as actually buying the car – but what is more interesting is the trend for five hotels to include a serious ride with your room package. Personal butlers and inclusive champagne aren’t enough to tempt the wealthy any more – they need a decent set of wheels too.
Baglioni Hotels for example has joined forces with Red Travel Ferrari to operate six day driving tours staying in Rome (Regina Hotel Baglioni), Florence (Relais Santa Croce) and Milan (Carlton Baglioni ). Ferrari day trips from each of the hotels are also available.
Over in France Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris offers the use of an Aston Martin Rapide & its little brother the Aston Martin Cygnet (the name’s Bond, James Bond) for those staying in its Signature Suites. Which has to be the perfect way to drive down the Champs Elysées nearby, 007-style car chases optional.
The Peninsula hotels are of course famous for their Rollers. The Peninsula Hong Kong has a fleet of Rolls Royce Phantoms and I recently had an ultra-smooth transfer from The Peninsula Shanghai to the airport in their signature green Roller. However it is the custom MINI Cooper S Clubmans offered at The Peninsulas in New York and Beverly Hills that take my fancy,particularly since you have the option of being chauffeur driven, cosy but cute.
The Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, which bills itself as seven-star, has hotel-wide butler service and a vending machine that dispenses nothing but gold so it is no surprise that it has an impressive fleet of Mercedes Maybachs with drivers on tap.
Shutters on the Beach & Casa Del Mar, in Santa Monica expresses complete California cool with one of the newest cars on offer. Almost before the first cars rolled out of the factory the new 2011 Jaguar XJ was pulling up at the front of Shutters on the Beach. Guest can see the Sights of Santa Monica in chauffeur driven splendour in one of the world’s newest and most desirable automobiles.
My favourite hotel chauffeur of all? That has to be Winston from The Ritz, London (“named after Churchill madame”). Like the hotel, the Ritz Blue Rolls Royce Phantom is a reminder of more elegant times but under its beautiful bonnet is a far from old-fashioned engine (0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds). Sadly a traffic jam meant I’d never experience the acceleration (the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace meant a police checkpoint was stopping cars). Not us though. They saluted the car and Winston as we purred past and he saluted back. “They know me, I often take people to the palace”, said Winston. I was very tempted to give a royal wave.