This is what the press has said about us:
 Sunday Times Travel Magazine - Top Travel Websites
Best for Hotel Reviews:
Who should you trust to pass judgement on a hotel? If you belive in the 'wisdom of crowds' go to TripAdvisor.co.uk, which boasts some 20 million reviews. If, on the other hand, you think that professional reviewers make better judges, try i-escape.com ... which caters to the boutique hotel market.
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Accommodation in Madrid - WhatSheWears.ie
There are plenty of boutique hotels to be found in Madrid; i-escape offers the newest and funkiest ones.
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The Independent - summer breaks to Europe that won't bust the budget
Turkey
For a cosy holiday home with lots of character, book into one of the Terrace Houses, three 19th-century cottages in the hill town of Sirince, six miles from Ephesus. The little buildings have been carefully renovated with reclaimed marble basins, wooden sleigh beds and lovely lighting, including Chinese lanterns and wrought-iron chandeliers. A week in peak season costs £630, accommodation only, for a cottage sleeping up to four, with a local gift, for i-escape guests.
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Media Week - 10 cult sites to watch
4. www.i-escape.com
The site describes itself as "an independent, highly researched interactive travel guide and free online booking service". A user describes it as: "Everything Lastminute.com should have been - intimate, high-quality recommendations, a lovely brand experience."
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The Observer - Recession Chic
Think recession-busting holidays are all youth hostels and camping? Think again. i-escape.com has launched an online Recession-Chic guide featuring Europe's hottest hotels, villas and boutique B&Bs for under £100 a night. How about a stay at the charming Casa Sibarita, a 19th-century house in the town of Rafelguaraf near Valencia, Spain, for £47 per room per night? That even includes breakfast. Book any of the places on the list through i-escape.com and you could also receive discounts and gifts on arrival
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The Times Online - Boutique retreats in Europe for under £100
The website i-escape has cherry picked its favourite spots. It's such a good list, we've republished it here.
Holidaying in 2009 is all about getting the most for your money, but that doesn’t have to mean bunking down in a hostel, pitching a leaky tent or checking into a soulless budget hotel. Here's the pick from the larders of i-escape - all offers include a gift.
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Travel Notebook - Hotel Booking Sites, Loyalty Clubs and User Reviews...
I have my favourite hotel booking sites, namely Design Hotels, i-escape.com, Mr & Mrs Smith and Tablet Hotels. Why would I use a booking site and not just book direct with the hotel? I have booked direct before but some of the smaller properties don't have the best websites, or too much 'flash' for my liking, so it can be easier booking through one of the above, particularly when there are no booking fees.
Of all of these, I have in truth only ever booked with i-escape.com. Why? Well, I have always liked the personal reviews with both highs and lows listed. After using the booking system I found it extremely easy and enjoyed reading reviews from other people. Would I use them again? Yes, I don't have to pay to be in a club and there is usually an offer available on booking.
Lisa Corcoran,
Editor - Travel Notebook
Read her full posting
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The Independent - 50 Best Travel Websites
18. i-escape.com
A one-stop shop for tracking down independently owned, stylish and usually small places to stay around the world. Covering a wide spectrum, from budget self-catering properties to lavish boutique hotels, though more upmarket choices have been added as the site has developed, it's the quirky "hidden" choices that make i-escape's listing stand out from the crowd. All the properties it covers are rigorously and independently reviewed and it's gradually adding more destinations to its range.
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The Guardian - i-escape's UK collection
A sign of the times. i-escape.com, the website that specialises in small stylish boltholes anywhere from Amsterdam to Zanzibar, has found a selection closer to home. Its latest collection features 60 "hidden gems" in the UK, from townhouse B&Bs and city apartments to eco retreats. In London, if you don't mind not being in the centre, the Church Street Hotel, nicknamed the Camberwell casita thanks to its Mexican owners and design, has single rooms from £70 and doubles from £90. Many of the properties have special offers, such as Fronlas in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, which is £95 a night B&B but has a 10% discount for stays of three nights or more.
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Budget palaces - The Independent
If you fancy a palazzo but don't have a princely budget, there are some alternatives to the high-end hotel option. In Florence, Johlea and Johanna Residences offer comfortable B&B accommodation in five different palazzi in a quiet residential area just north of the Duomo...
This is one of several palazzi listed on i-escape.com. Another of its cheaper finds is Ca' della Corte, off Dorsoduro in Venice, a family run B&B in a 16th century palazzo with rates starting at €80 for a double...
BB22 in Palermo, Sicily, is a boutique B&B set in a restored palazzo, with six sophisticated guestrooms and a small roof terrace.
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The Telegraph - Greece 2009: accommodation options
www.i-escape.com is an excellent source for appealing hotels and apartments to suit all budgets, which are covered in detailed, helpful reviews; strongest on Crete, Mykonos, Santorini and in Athens.
Fred Mawer
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She Magazine - Stylish Self-catering
With many travellers now realising that you get more bang for your buck if you opt for city self-catering, the holiday rental industry is booming. Several upmarket chains have been launched over recent years, but it's also worth trying an independently owned place... i-escape.com has a collection of show-home apartments in European cities.
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Times Online - 10 hot travel websites for 2009
I've long been an admirer of i-escape for its boutique-style choice of accommodation
Steve Keenan
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The Sunday Times - Swanky hotels, bargain prices
Susan d'Arcy writes:
I love specialist hotel collections. These elite agencies scour the globe for the swankiest boutiques to put on their books, and - here comes the good bit - in return for being marketed by these prestigious companies, the hotels must pledge best-rate guarantees and pay commission for bookings that come via their websites.
We don’t pay a penny extra to use them. In fact, booking through these agencies often puts you first in line for perks such as a room upgrade. So, for a more civilised sort of saving, here are the companies to try.
www.i-escape.com (#2 of 8)
A management consultant, a private investigator and a travel writer combined to launch this clever website. Pithy reviews for its 1,000-plus properties helpfully supply the cons as well as the pros for each listing. You must register to book through the site, but that is free - and, as well as best-rate guarantees, you might get a complimentary bottle of wine or a massage thrown in.
You can ask for specific travel advice from its experts at no additional cost. It focuses on smaller properties (less than 30 rooms) and is particularly strong on budget digs and self-catering apartments in cities.
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The Telegraph: Spain 2009
Hotel Guide - Our Selection
The website www.i-escape.com stands out for its detailed reviews of carefully chosen boutique hotels and stylish B&Bs in Andalucia, Majorca, the Canaries, Barcelona and Madrid.
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Marie Claire - January 2009
Nikki Tinto, founder of hip travel website i-escape.com:
Want an easy break with sunshine, beaches and good wine? Then get yourself to Glen Beach, Cape Town. A 15-minute drive from the centre, it's close to upbeat Camps Bay. The beach is small enough to feel your own, yet also draws serious surfers. Few properties have direct beach access but two stand out. The fived-bedroom White Villa is a sleek beauty with a plunge pool and a private path to the sea. Another gem is Glen Beach Villas penthouse, sleeping four. Book at i-escape.com.
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Red Magazine - Autumn Escapes
i-escape.com has flagged up a trend for city pads designed by creative types that you can pass of as your own. We love the Riva Lofts in Florence: 10 studios transformed by Claudio Nardi (architect of stores for Dolce & Gabbana). There's also a pool, a lounge with honesty bar and a fleet of 1950's bikes to get you to the Uffizi.
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Travel + Leisure: Top Travel Websites of 2008
Boutique properties: Winner - www.i-escape.com
More than 1,000 reviews detail the high and low points of each listed property, from a bungalow in Bali to a château in Bordeaux. You’ll know what to expect, whether it’s a stellar menu or pesky highway noise.
 Read the list of winners
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The Sunday Times - South Africa
[On the Garden Route] keep an eye out for Hog Hollow Country Lodge, on the edge of the indigenous forests 9 miles east of Plettenberg Bay. And in Plett itself, right on the bluff looking across the lagoon to the rolling breakers of the Indian Ocean, you have the magnificent Bay Lodge, another of the reputable i-escape.com's recommendations for South Africa.
[In Cape Town], the best value hotels are the independent boutique B&Bs, not the Waterfront five-stars. For example, there's... the luxurious Hout Bay Hideaway, half a nice hour out of downtown in the leafy burbs, with just four rooms, pool, outdoor rolltop bath and gorgeous wild gardens. Or, if you want the full-on playboy lifestyle, the two-bedroom penthouse apartment of Glen Beach Villas, on the posh beach just up from trendy Camps Bay.
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Food & Travel - Show Homes
Tired of checking into the same old hotel? Try one of these more innovative options. Transformed by creative types, i-escape's new show homes are great places to bed down. With plush pads in some of Europe's most stylish cities, spend the night in a converted mill in Florence or serviced apartments in an 18th-century townhouse in Amsterdam.
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Brides Magazine - Best Villas For Two
The Beach Hut, Sri Lanka - through i-escape.com
You'll find the two-bed Beach Hut, with its polished floors, mosquito-net-swathed four-poster and private chef, 10 minutes from Galle near Unawatuna Bay. You enter the house by crossing a bridge of railway sleepers, the Indian Ocean is at the bottom of the garden and there's a pool to keep you cool, too.
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Red Magazine - Secret Winter Escapes
From a 3-hour hop to a long-haul adventure of a lifetime, the globe's savviest travellers tell you where to go to warm up - whatever your budget:
Red's travel experts include:
Michael Cullen, editor of i-escape.com, which helps independent travellers find ununsual places to stay.
Michael selects 2 of the featured properties:
Ras Mbisi, Tanzania
Farm 215, South Africa
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ELLE travel - Chic Shack Awards
Simple, sexy and stylish - our pick of the world's coolest hideaways... judged by our editor and a panel of travel-industry experts:
Nikki Tinto, co-founder of i-escape.com, selects 6 of the winning properties:
Anima, Brazil
Azulik, Mexico
Monte Velho Nature Resort, Portugal
Farm 215, South Africa
Puri Ganesha, Bali
El Cancho, Spain
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The Observer - Luxury in the rainforest
Christabelle Dilks is just back from scouring Costa Rica for the boutique hotel website i-escape.com... All of her favourite hotels can be booked at no extra cost through i-escape.com, with guests receiving added extras such as upgrades and flowers.
For the list of her top ten hotels, read the article online.
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The Guardian - i-escape.com launches Costa Rica collection
Costa Rica, the land of surf and turtles, has a swell of new boutique accommodation options, now available through i-escape.com. Best pickings include Luna Nueva Lodge, 10 miles from the Arenal volcano, on a biodynamic farm in San Ramon. There's a solar-powered hot tub, springwater pool and organic food, with wood-panelled rooms or a separate bungalow, from $80 per night. Those who check into the green room now and again (surf speak for riding barrels) will find like-minded souls at the Harmony Hotel in Nosara, on the Pacific coast. With sunrise yoga, eco credentials and a 50s Hawaiian theme, it's no grungy surf shack.
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Los Angeles Times - Web Buzz: Rooms with Verve
Chain hotels with cookie-cutter rooms are great if you don't want surprises. But what if you like the unexpected, a place with some panache and style? Such places take more digging to find, so check into www.i-escape.com.
A British site, it has a team of reviewers combing the world for one-of-a-kind hotels. [Some] are stylish. Some are rustic. Some are inexpensive. And some have crawly creatures traipsing through ...("not for those averse to wildlife", said one review). I like that it lists the "highs" and "lows" of the properties.
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The Guardian - Trips and Tips
One of our favourite accommodation websites, i-escape.com, has expanded its Asian section to include some fab new pads [in Indochina].
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Travel Mail - Website of the Week
i-escape is one of a growing band of on-line accommodation guides. It currently features around 900 places to stay across 35 countries; recently added destinations include Istanbul and Vietnam. Stylish, small-scale hotels and chic b&bs make up the bulk of the reviewed accommodation, though there are also some houses and apartments to rent.
Strengths
Properties are carefully chosen and thoroughly inspected by i-escape, and from my experience usually turn out to be very appealing. Reviews go in to exhaustive detail about the location, rooms, facilities and food, and are pretty honest. Drawbacks are pointed out - for example, the Ajia Hotel in Istanbul can be a bit rowdy at weekends, and doesn't have great air-conditioning.
Weaknesses
To check availability, you need to fill out a form, which i-escape emails straight on to the hotel - you can't just pick up the phone and book. Though coverage is gradually spreading, there are large chunks of the world -north America being one - where presently i-escape offers no recommendations.
Read full article and add comments
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Sunday Times Travel Magazine - Reader's Award 2008
Winner of the 'Best Travel Website 2008': There's a dark-horse winner here. You nominated i-escape.com in hefty numbers, even though it wasn't on our survey shortlist. A search engine featuring 'wonderful out-of-the-way hotels at 'a great variety of places and prices', it inspires real loyalty from voters. This testimonial speaks for many: 'It’s for people who like those special touches that make a holiday unforgettable – without feeling that you have to pay through the nose. And you can trust what they write.'
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Harper's Bazaar - July 2008
ESCAPE: BEST OF... SOUTH FRANCE
#13: The younger, hipper hotels - i-escape.com
Hi Hotel in Nice has music and design embedded in its DNA... some rooms have giant movie screens as room dividers, and tables that turn into beds or metamorphose into baths.
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The Guardian - The Great B&B Revolution
In 2008, British bed and breakfast is hot... Nikki Tinto, of trendsetting internet accommodation site i-escape.com, agrees. "What B&B stands for now is 'more bang for your buck'," she says. "A room in a new wave B&B is basically as good as, or better than, a hotel room - at half the price. What you're lacking is a restaurant, but if there's a good one down the road then it's worth the sacrifice."
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Red Magazine - 9 Ways to Think Outside the Hotel Room
Red has long been a fan of i-escape.com. Their focus is on the atmospheric, locally run and quirky, [both] hotels and self-catering; and someone from the company has visited every property they feature. Expect anything, from a boathouse in Amsterdam to a loft in Paris.
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The Guardian's 10 top city-break apartments
As a general rule, if i-escape gives somewhere the nod, you can take their word for it. Of their Parisian offerings, the Apartment Blanc, hidden within an 18th-Century apartment block is the best value; with two bedrooms, an open plan kitchen/diner and a roof terrace. Guests also have the added perk of being in the heart of the 11th arrondissement, with the boutiques of the Marais and the excitable cafes and bars of Oberkampf within walking distance.
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Grazia magazine - 10 Hot Hotels under £100
Credit crunch your holidays with these low-budget, yet high-chic hotels...
1. Laidback cool in Morocco
Marrakech doesn't have the monopoly when it comes to chic hotels in Morocco. If you're heading further south to do the kasbahs and gorges, book into the small but beautiful Jardins de Skoura, through i-escape.com.
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The Times: 10 travel websites to watch
We come across so many travel websites that amuse, inspire and impress us, that we thought it was about time we shared them with you.
1. If you really want to up the stakes at your next dinner party "guess where I'm off to next" exchange, check out the list of alternative hotels on i-escape.com. Book into one of these bizarre bolt holes and you'll out-do even the most intrepid of travellers with stories of your stay in the Brazilian hotel that's shaped like a spaceship, or perhaps the suite with a treetop hot tub in Zanzibar.
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Travel Notebook.net
i-escape.com is an independent, highly researched interactive travel guide and free online booking service.
Set up by Laila Ram and Nikki Tinto, the site features small hotels, guesthouses, retreats, eco-lodges and private rental properties all personally visited and reviewed in detail with photos to match.
It is this depth of review that I find so useful as it is independent and obviously 'personally visited' rather than a press release from the property in question.
Having used the website to book hotels myself, I can totally understand why it was recently awarded the best online booking service in the Guardian/Observer Travel Awards. i-escape.com finds the best places to stay and then makes booking them hassle free!
It continues to add stylish places to stay from around the globe and with a monthly newsletter to look forward to, I am inclined to agree with Liane Katz from the Guardian who writes "i-escape.com is one of my favourite websites for finding stylish hotels from around the world".
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The Times - 50 best travel websites of 2007
SLEEP AND SHOP: TOP 10
#2: i-escape.com
One of the original style hotel sites goes from strength to strength, adding an Argentina section this winter
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i-escape wins Guardian - Observer Award
"Earlier this year we asked readers of The Observer, Guardian and Guardian Unlimited to vote for their favourite travel firms and destinations. The results were revealed last week at a ceremony in Seville..."
BEST ONLINE BOOKING SERVICE 2007: i-escape.com
i-escape.com did not even appear in the top 20 last year; this year it's leapt to the number one position. Set up six years ago, it now features 700 stylish places to stay around the world, from a new collection of affordable boutique hotels in Argentina to barefoot luxury in Zanzibar. Every single property on the site has been visited by the i-escape team and features a review and a list of highs and lows, making it one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly accommodation sites on the web.
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The Sunday Times - Europe's Great Value Hotels
The hotel-review site i-escape.com, which has a reputation for unearthing well-priced wonders, recommends the Hotel Therese, a short walk from the Louvre, and the Hotel Verneuil, in a 17th century townhouse near the Musée d’Orsay.
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The Mail on Sunday: Best internet accommodation guides
To find a great little place to stay in Paris, or a top-notch country-house hotel in the Lake District, I refer to hotel guidebooks rarely these days. Why fork out for a book when just as good, if not better, advice is available on the internet, free of charge? [Many websites] provide assessments of hotels written by professional and experienced reviewers and writers. Some of these are free-to-access online versions of their affiliated hotel guidebooks, while others are internet-only ventures, where you can read hundreds of carefully crafted hotel reviews, again, I should stress, without having to pay anything.
So which of these websites are worth knowing about, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
www.i-escape.com
This internet-only operation features about 700 holiday properties in 35 countries. The places to stay, which include apartments, villas and B&Bs as well as hotels, are typically stylish and small scale, and many are affordable. A member of the i-escape team has visited every one of them.
Pros: The reviews are excellent. Not only do they go into great detail but they also have useful summaries of a hotel's low, as well as its high, points. So the website will tell you that the bedrooms and bathrooms at the Hotel Mayet in Paris are small, and rooms at the Neri in Barcelona are sometimes not made up until late afternoon.
Cons: i-escape's geographical coverage is growing but presently it is very patchy. Like many of its competitors, the company makes money from commission charges on bookings initiated through its website. For this reason, you won't find a hotel's phone number or website on i-escape. However, i-escape promises you will pay the same or less booking through them as you would do if you booked direct.
...AND THE VERDICT IS
Which is the most helpful really depends on what kind of hotel you're seeking. In terms of the reviews, i-escape's stands out for being consistently the clearest and most useful.
Fred Mawer, The Mail on Sunday
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The Observer - Pick of the Week
The Hotel Collection:
Choose from a series of gorgeous Argentinian boutique hotels at reasonable prices with www.i-escape.com. Hosteria de Iruya, a mountainside retreat with terracotta walls in Salta province, has rooms from £29 a night; the elegant new Krista Hotel in Buenos Aires, with dark wood panelling and white marble floors, costs from £54.
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The Guardian - The Gaucho Club
Christabelle Dilks scoured Argentina to compile a new guide to boutique accommodation for i-escape.com. Here she picks eight of the best value places to stay....
All hotels can be booked through www.i-escape.com/argentinaaccommodation.php
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The Sunday Times - Renting a City Apartment...
THE SPECIALISTS
For a quirky and stylish selection, try i-escape.com. It inspects all its properties, which include a spacious boathouse in Amsterdam, a loft in the Marais district of Paris and a two-bedroom penthouse in Ipanema. In the trendy El Born district of Barcelona, it has a modern studio that sleeps four from £78 a night.
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Liane Katz in The Guardian
i-escape.com is one of my favourite websites for finding stylish hotels around the world
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Brides Magazine - What's new: Buenos Aires
i-escape's new Argentina portfolio features some of South America's finest hotels, including the ultra stylish and supremely romantic Home in Buenos Aires. Book well in advance and be sure to delete the Evita soundtrack from her ipod.
Groom Supplement, Brides Magazine, May 2007
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The Independent - 50 best travel websites
"Aimed at discerning independent travellers looking for exciting and unusual places to stay in some of the world's most fascinating locations, i-escape is total travel eye candy. You can book through the site as well as getting inspiration for a dream holiday, and each place that is recommended is unique in some way, whether in its design, its natural setting, its owners or the activities on offer. A world away from the average travel agent."
The Information: #15 in the list of 50 best travel websites
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Body & Soul Escapes
To find healthy stopovers as well as places to hole up, the excellently researched i-escape.com features hotels with character around the world.
Body & Soul Escapes - Caroline Sylge, April 2007
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The Observer - Tunisia is the new Morocco
I am reliably informed by those in the know at i-escape that, having long lagged behind neighbouring Morocco when it comes to stylish places to stay, Tunisia may yet become the Noughties' hippest winter holiday destination. I can see why when I arrive in the picturesque coastal village of Sidi Bou Said.
Sidi Bou Said is the perfect weekend destination, only three-and-a-half hours from London, small enough to explore over two days, and just big enough not to grow bored in. The narrow streets that snake down from the hotel to the marina below are relatively empty in January and February, unlike spring and summer when they fill with day-trippers. Around the corner from the hotel, on the street of the same name, is the magical Cafe Sidi Chabanna, its layered white terraces, dotted with sky-blue tables, carved into a cliff overlooking the long semicircle of the bay. It's the perfect spot for a restorative mint tea before we wander down to nearby Rue Habib Thameur, where the shopkeepers selling trinkets, leather goods and sandals seem stoical-going-on-desultory about the lack of custom.
In the medina of Tunis we pass through the souks that ring the great mosque, housing quiet fez-makers and noisy silversmiths... Though not as exotic or as lively as its Marrakesh equivalent, the medina is huge and labyrinthine and can be a daunting experience. I much preferred the more restrained atmosphere of the ancient souks that fringe the medina.
Carthage, too, is a mind-blowing place even if, like me, you soon tire of ruins, statues and frescoes, however elaborate and well preserved.
Sean O'Hagan travelled to Tunisia with i-escape.com, and stayed in Dar Said, Dar el Medina and Villa Didon.
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The Observer - Cool Canaries
Pack away your preconceptions - the Canary Islands are reinventing themselves as a hip winter sun destination...
For an excellent choice of small, independent hotels in the Canaries, try the website www.i-escape.com
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The Guardian
Looking for a weekend away that's a little bit special? Then why not eschew the big online travel agents and opt for websites offering accomodation that's a little more bespoke?
[...] i-escape.com specialises in properties beyond the ordinary. The site features 600 places across 30 countries, from the Elephant House in South Africa to the Georgian elegance of Number Sixteen, a Georgian townhouse in South Kensington.
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Yorkshire Living
We found L'Orangeraie through the inspirational travel website www.i-escape.com, which lists amazing accommodation in Marrakech and throughout Morocco (in fact, all over the world).
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GQ Travel - Nearest far-away places
Miles of sandy coast, lush forest and dreamy deserts all within a three-hour flight of the UK. One thing Tunisia isn't known for is boutique hotels - unless you know where to look: www.i-escape.com.
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Company Magazine, Feb 2007
Log on to www.i-escape.com. A great site to plan your hols or just to dream of that girlie break in Brazil. Check out their newsletter!
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Viva Magazine (Holland)
Tussen alle sites die ontelbare hotels tegen de laagste tarieven aanbieden, is www.i-escape.com een welkome afwisseling. Verwacht hier geen supergoedkope overdaad aan standaard shabby hotelletjes, maar wel de leukste, hipste, nieuwste en voor idere-budget-wat-wils-hotels.
29 January-4 February 2007
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The Guardian
Still undecided about what to do for Valentine's? i-escape.com, an online collection of small hotels, riads, farmhouses and retreats has several last minute escapes.
January 2007
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The Independent - The complete guide to luxury safaris
Boutique safari lodges are essentially small luxury hotels where you can also do game viewing. Many offer striking architecture, daily yoga classes and food to rival a Michelin-starred chef. One of the most spectacular is The Outpost, in the northern reaches of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The work of Italian architect Enrico Daffonchio, it has just 12 suites. Developed with a view to providing a sustainable income for the Makuleke people, it's also a fine example of modern safari lodge design. To book visit www.i-escape.com.
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The Times - Feel at home in Argentina
i-escape has begun offering four boutique hotels, including Home Hotel, in Buenos Aires. "It's such an easy going place," said Nikki Tinto, co-founder. "There are so many boutiques and galleries. loft apartments are being done up all over town."
Tom Chesshyre, The Times, January 2007
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MSN Travel - Hot for 2007
Living Like a Local
With chic apartments and homes-from-home opening in some of the world's hippest cities, i-escape.com predicts living like a local will become increasingly popular in 2007. Some of their favourites include a funky two-bedroom penthouse apartment with 70's styling in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. There is also a family-owned Dutch canal boat (sleeps 2-6) offering novel, well-priced canal-side accommodation in the Oud West residential quarter; and chic apartments in Barcelona's trendy Born district plus quirky walking tours for foodies, designers and culture vultures.
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Red Magazine
"My tip is i-escape.com, for unbiased reviews of chic bolt-holes."
Amanda Morrison, 'Ask Amanda', October 2006
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Wallpaper
"i-escape.com, a website that markets small privately owned boutique properties is doubling its membership year upon year".
October 2006
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The Times - Cath Urquhart's Little Black Book
The hotel booking website i-escape.com was launched in October 2001 after its founders Ram, 42 and Tinto, 41 were overwhelmed by "the huge quantity, and poor quality, of information online". It now offers detailed reviews of more than 500 personally inspected hotels worldwide"
September 2006
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New York Times
There are a number of sites offering good rates for upscale rooms for short or longer stays. i-escape.com lists stylish hideaways in more than 30 countries outside the United States.
Roger Collis 'Questions and Answers'
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Market Watch (San Francisco) - Sustainable Tourism
"Sustainable tourism minimises impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income, employment and the conservation of local ecosystems," said Laila Ram, co-founder of i-escape.com, in an e-mail interview. The U.K.-based Web site details unique and unusual destinations worldwide, each reviewed personally by the site's authors.
Taking eco-tourism a step further Sustainable tourism is more than eco-tourism: If you have no desire to see a baboon in its natural habitat or raft down a remote whitewater rapid, but you like the idea of a swank resort that works hard behind the scenes to maintain the cultural and natural beauty of a place, you'll like sustainable tourism.
Here's an example of the difference, Ram said: Grootbos, in South Africa, is "a paradigm of ecotourism, having preserved over 1000 hectares of indigenous milkwood forest and the associated flora and fauna, and now offering expertly guided tours through it, as well as whale watching and horse riding."
Meanwhile, Kasbah du Toubkal, in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, "takes this a step further, by donating a portion of the room cost to village projects and employing only local staff (right up to the managerial level), in addition to the eco-aspect of offering hiking and nature trips," Ram said. See i-escape.com's page on Kasbah du Toubkal.
Resorts and tour operators which adopt these practices can, in theory, grow forever "without destroying the host environment," Ram said. "The coral reefs on St. Vincent have actually improved since the arrival of Petit Byahaut," a 50-acre retreat on the Caribbean island.
"Balanced travel: with sustainable tourism, both the traveler and the destination get pampered" August 2006
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The Sun
i-escape.com is a hotel guide that reviews some of the world's best kept secret hideaways, from chic B&Bs to boutique hotels. From the 5,000 hotels, guesthouses and villas visited in more than 25 countries, only 500 have made it onto i-escape.com
August 2006
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The Sunday Telegraph - Hot Stuff
Hot stuff - i-escape.com, a website specialising in small independent hotels,... has introduced a collection of stylish B&Bs in Rio
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Harpers Bazaar - Our Big Idea
Laila Ram and Nikki Tinto, co-founders of i-escape, met at Exeter University, and have been keen travelling companions ever since. But it was while planning a trip to Cape Town that their passion for travel ignited a business idea. "We trawled the internet looking for a place to stay," says Ram. "We really wanted unbiased, useful information, and helpful categories like the best places for friends, for family, for romance, as a bolthole." Creating a website provided the very tool they had been looking for.
The website, www.i-escape.com, is designed to give independent travel advice plus a wealth of accommodation reviews. Hotels do not pay to be on the site, nor does i-escape accept advertising. Instead it makes profits by taking commission on bookings made through the site. It was launched in November 2001, at a time when lots of dotcoms were going bust. "We grew the business on a shoestring," says Ram, "initially specialising in Morocco, India and Sri Lanka..."
They now employ five full-time and two part-time staff. But their passion for travelling, discovery and sharing secrets is still the greatest motivation. ""I'm always looking for that great hideaway where I can spend two weeks," says Ram.
June 2006
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The Good Web Guide
i-escape helps discerning independent travellers find small, stylish and special places to stay in some of the most beautiful places in the world. The owners of this website have visited hundreds of hip hotels, boutique B&Bs, beach villas, guest houses and retreats across five continents. They write detailed and honest reviews of each, include photographs, highs and lows and direct client feedback.
i-escape is a highly-tuned online travel guide, with a free booking service. It's not a travel agent: would-be travellers are connected directly with hotel owners and providers of holidays on this impeccably-designed site and given a great deal of excellent information along the way.
Good Web Guide Rating: 5*
June 2006
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The Times - Top 12 luxury tour operators
i-escape is an imaginative selection of boutique hotels worldwide.
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The Times - 100 Best Travel Websites
100 Best Travel Websites From bookings to blogs, Gareth Scurlock picks the essential sites:
"www.i-escape.com - If you are looking for a stylish hideaway you won't find a better site than this. You will want to book immediately."
April 2006
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The Bulletin (Australia) - Hottest Travel Sites
Miles Clarke lists the best sites for the traveller:
"www.i-escape.com - An inspirational site full of global hideaways and plenty of detail about the destinations’ advantages, pitfalls and political situations as relevant." April 2005
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The Times Online - The best travel websites
Steve Keenan selects "the best sites in online travel today":
www.i-escape.com - You won't find better if looking for a stylish, hideaway place to stay. Current specials look at Spring Escapes, Spain and the Canary Islands. I defy you not to want to book immediately. April 2005
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The Guardian - Best of the Net
Best of the Net: North Africa
"The excellent i-escape.com recommends 26 chic villas, hotels, riads and kasbahs." January 2005
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The Times - Five of the best
Five of the Best Websites to help you to escape from it all this Christmas: "i-escape.com - upmarket and worth a visit" December 2004
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The Times - Passion for Travel
Passion for Travel: "bright new travel companies that have been set up by people who have decided to let their passion for travel run free... why book with a dull mass market company when you can go with with one of the bright new kids on the block?
Nikki Tinto, 38, from London, a former corporate intelligence officer (a.k.a.
"industrial private detective"), is a hotel fiend. Planning a trip over Millennium Eve in Cape Town for herself and a group of friends, she discovered there were no guidebooks or websites that "got you excited" about the city's hotels. "I read loads of books, and spent weeks scouring the web," she said, "but it was hopeless." An idea formed. And on her three-week trip, she spent about half the time checking out Cape Town hotels, enjoying it immensely. "I could do something with this," she thought. The result was one of the best websites recommending stylish, fun, hand-picked hotels across the world. Nikki or one of her team, including Laila Ram, 39, her co-founder and a Columbia Business School graduate, visit each one and take great delight in "making a discovery". April 2004
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The Times - Website of the Week
Website of the Week - www.i-escape.com
This site has established itself as a leading source of style hotels, and its winter newsletter focuses on South Africa's safari lodges and vibrant properties in Brazil. There are special sections on Venice and Chile. Need a special place to stay? Look no further. January 2004
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The Times
Hot Hotels opening in 2004
Boutique in the African bush - and not a lot of people know about it (yet). Windermere Hotel (near Port Elizabeth, South Africa) is going to be the "gem", according to the people behind www.i-escape.com, one of the sharpest hotel webistes around. January 2004
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Esquire Magazine
10 Best Things in Travel for 2004
Sri Lanka - This enchanting island off the sourthern tip of India has become the latest trouble spot... to progress from "no-go" to "go now"... For the island's best-kept secrets, go to www.i-escape.com January 2004
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Politken (Denmark)
Top 10 Travel Websites
www.i-escape.com Det er en oversigt over de mest fantastiske og skønne og dejlige overnatningssteder i hele verden. Ikke almindelige hoteller, men oplevelser. Bare det at læse om de smukt præsenterede steder er en drøm. Derfor passer navnet! Sikkert dumt af mig at afsløre - men jeg har en enkelt gang været i kontakt med folkene bag, og de var så søde, at de fortjener meget trafik på deres site - som man kun kan være misundelig over, at man ikke selv har fundet på at skabe! Og jo, jeg har også besøgt et af stederne - det levede fuldstændigt op til beskrivelsen, overgik den faktisk! October 2003
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Harpers and Queen
Log on and take off... www.i-escape.com
Concept: Independent reviews on best-kept-secret hideaways, to help you avoid traditional package holidays. You can book hotels direct on the site, but you'll have to find your flights elsewhere.
Verdict: A huge range of destinations and activities for all budgets, with insider tips and advice on health and safety - all for free.
June 2003
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The Guardian - Best of the Net
Best of the Net: Dream Houses - www.i-escape.com "An insider's guide to the world's most irresistible hideaways." So far, so cliched, but i-escape.com is an awful lot better than the slogan suggests. It also draws attention to "family friendly" places.
June 2002
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Food and Travel Magazine
"i-escape.com has a great clutch of hand-picked places to stay for discerning travellers" May 2002
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Decanter Magazine
"logon to www.i-escape.com, a website put together by three travellers who couldn't find the offbeat destinations they were looking for. Limited to places they have visited, it has detailed descriptions of the properties and towns featured. My search turned up the tiny Riad Gyvo in Moroccan coastal town Essaouira, where rooms cost just £45-60 a night." May 2002
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Nine to Five
"If you prefer something a little more unusual, off the beaten track and in an unspoilt location, then i-escape.com should be your first stop this summer when booking a holiday. Combining the best of the traditional guidebook and a personal travel agent, it outlines some of the world's most irresistible hideaways. The i-escape.com team stay in all the recommended properties, offer unbiased information and advice and you book directly with the hotels to keep costs low. This is the true insider's guide aimed at independent travellers looking for hidden holiday gems." April 2002
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Brides Magazine
If you're getting goggle-eyed with information while researching that trip on-line, then rest your eyes on www.i-escape.com. Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, this independently run, informative website offers honest accounts of hotels, lodges, villas and retreats across all price ranges all over the world. Search by country or by interest, peruse sample itineraries, note insider tips on the best watering holes and book on-line straight with the property." March/April 2002
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Time Out
"If you're the sort of person who's allergic to bland chain hotels and touristy beach resorts, take a look at www.i-escape.com, a new site dedicated to small hotels and villas in unusual locations around the world which are sensitive to local nature and culture. Hotels don't pay to go on the site, so the selection can claim to be unbiased... plenty of practical info ... site membership is free and you can book online... well worth a look if you want to avoid the holidaying hordes." February 2002
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The Guardian - Best of the Net
Best of the Net: websites on Greece: "i-escape.com, still being built but looking very good already" February 2002
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Wanderlust Magazine
"You choose the destination and www.i-escape.com will find the place to stay. With a small but growing range of locations and carefully selected accommodation, i-escape features worldwide alternatives to suit all budgets and tastes... Alongside extensive details of lodgings and facilities, i-escape includes important travel essentials and links to useful travel sites... " February/March 2002
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Daily Express
Sites that will make a glorious getaway: "www.i-escape.com - ideal for planning a treat. Discover locations far from the package crowds." January 2001
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The Independent - 10 best websites
10 best websites of the week: i-escape.com: get away on some divine holidays - visit a rainforest sanctuary in the hills of Dominica, enjoy mind and body treatments in a "spiced garden" or embark upon a beach holiday on private islands in India, Sri Lanka, Morocco or the Caribbean. The site's range of exotic holidays caters for friends who just want to go on a holiday together, couples seeking romance, families, thrill-seekers and plain old singles just needing to get away from it all for a while." December 2001
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The Times
"If the thought of another British winter is too much, find your escape here - in rainforest sanctuaries and mind and body treatments in India." November 2001
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