Weekly round-up, 1-7 August 2011

Posted on August 5, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

This weekly feature offers a roundup of the content on our blog from the past week, in case you missed anything. Split into categories, it’s another way for you to easily find the posts of value to you.

Competition winners

Sea anemone

Have you won our name the sea creature competition?

We had a fantastic response to our ‘name the sea creature’ competition. After receiving hundreds of entries, we’ve announced the 3 winners. Find out who won.

Interview with the winner of our 5* holiday of a lifetime competition

Conny Jones has won the holiday of a lifetime to Constance Le Prince Maurice, Mauritius. Read about Conny and what the holiday means to her.

Culinary

Recipe: Curry flavoured peanut and cashew bread rolls

Want to create some of our chef’s amazing dishes yourself at home? Every Friday, we post some of the most amazing, delicious and popular recipes online. Try these easy-to-make nutty bread rolls from Mauritius.

Spa and sport

Oils and massage at Spa Constance

Stress relief with Bango Bango massage

At Spa Constance, we offer the ultimate in relaxation – the Hawaiian Bango Bango massage that aims to release deep-seated tension. Find out more about this deep massage treatment.

Behind the scenes

Luxury service from our staff

Our staff at Constance Hotels Experience have earned a reputation for excellent service, and a warm and genuine approach to guests. Read more about the luxury service provided by our staff.

Recipe: Curry flavoured peanut and cashew bread rolls

Posted on August 5, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

Dining at Constance Le Prince Maurice, Mauritius

Home-baked bread is far tastier than anything you can buy in the supermarket. Try these Mauritian nutty bread rolls – they’re easy to make, and best eaten warm.

Serves 8
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

500g flour + 50g for dusting
10g baker’s yeast
75g mild curry powder
10g salt
50g peanuts
50g cashews
1/4 tsp powdered red chilli

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, 30cl water and the curry powder.
2. Knead by hand for 15 minutes. Add salt, peanuts and cashews then knead for 5 more minutes.
3. Shape this dough into balls, about 50g each. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 220ºC. Place a bowl of water in the oven.
5. Lightly dust the rolls with sifted flour and red chilli powder. Using a sharp blade, make 3 slits on 3 sides of each roll. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

You can also purchase the Constance Prince Maurice recipe book from our online store.

Stress relief with Bango Bango massage

Posted on August 4, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

Bango Bango massage is an ancient Hawaiian massage technique, also known as Lomi Lomi (or ‘rub rub’).

Oils and massage at Spa Constance

At Spa Constance you can indulge with this utterly relaxing massage that will have you drifting off into a state of total relaxation.

Bango Bango is a deep massage that works on the basis that the body, as well as the mind, stores memories, patterns and behaviours.

Bango Bango massage aims to release any deep-seated tension caused by these habits that can cause stress, muscle pain, toxin build-up and poor posture.

The massage incorporates long, continuous strokes and the massage therapist uses oils and their fingers, thumbs, palms, elbows and arms to eek out any pain and discomfort. Bango Bango massage will set you back on course, instilled with a fabulous sense of well-being and calm.

Remember – you’ll get more from the treatment if you talk to the therapist about how much pressure you want them to use when giving you a massage.

Read our article about 5 massage therapies to soothe away stress.

Have you won our name the sea creature competition?

Posted on August 2, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

We recently ran a “Name that sea creature” competition and have received hundreds of entries. Thank you to everyone that has entered we have been overwhelmed by the response. We have read through each and every entry and after much deliberation we selected 3 winners. See below to see if you have won and we will be announcing a new competition soon.

Sea anemone, Maldives

Our winning name is Rannamaari by Alison E. “the name of the Maldavian supreme goddess of the sea. It’s a stunning creature and certainly looks regal.” Congratulations Alison please get in contact with us (see below) to claim you Serge Lutens Fragrance.

Ray in the Indian Ocean off Constance Halaveli, Maldives

Our winner is “Stray” as suggested by Sarah Kirk. We enjoy portmanteaus and we really enjoyed your entry. Congratulations Sarah get in contact with us (see below) to claim bottle of Art De Vignes wine

Bruuni Cleaner Shrimp

And the winner of our Facebook shrimp photo competition is “monsieur Sébastien crevette- rouge IV” as suggested by Lance van den Heever-Liebenberg. Well done Lance on winning a magnum of Deutz Champagne (see below for contact details).

Congratulations to all our winners please get in contact with us via email (community@constancehotels.com) Twitter or Facebook with your contact details.

Interview with the winner of our 5* holiday of a lifetime competition

Posted on August 2, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

Conny and Alan Jones, winners of our 5* holiday competition

Conny Jones, who lives in the UK, is the lucky winner of our 5* holiday of a lifetime to Constance Le Prince Maurice in Mauritius.

She’ll be heading out to Mauritius with her husband of 30 years, Alan. Find out what winning the holiday means to Conny and Alan.

Q: How do you feel about winning the competition?
A: I was absolutely stunned and over the moon. I’d just got home from work. I work long days as a ward sister and I usually check my emails when I get home to unwind. I nearly didn’t open the email because I thought it was nothing. I had to read it five times. Then I just screamed. My son said ‘what’s up’, and my husband was saying ‘no, it’s a timeshare’. We all looked at it again and again and said, ‘it’s real’. We couldn’t believe it.

Constance Le Prince Maurice, junior suites

Q: What does it mean to you to be going to Mauritius for your 30th wedding anniversary?
A: It’ll be amazing. We’ve just had our 30th anniversary. We’d wanted to go to Rome for a week but both our children are doing exams, AS and A levels. They’re 17 and 18 years old. So we went to North Devon for the weekend instead but it rained all the time so we thought we would have to do something else. Then this came along.

Luxury spa at Constance Le Prince Maurice, Mauritius

Indulgence at Spa Constance

Q: What are your hopes and expectations of Le Prince Maurice?
A: I’ve been looking at the little video of the hotel on the website, trying to imagine what it’s going to be like. I’m really looking forward to the feeling of being pampered. To feel rich and looked after. I think it’s just going to be amazing. All our holidays have been done on the cheap before. The sheer luxury, food, scenery, watersports… it will be amazing.

Q: How does your husband feel about the holiday?
A: My husband finally believes it. He’s really looking forward to it. At Christmas he works really hard in the Christmas tree trade, and in January he usually gets a bit depressed. Christmas will be easier this year knowing that we’ve got the holiday coming. Our children are teenagers and don’t really like sunshine holidays. They did ask ‘is it for 4 people’ but we said, no, it’s just for 2!

Q: Do you often enter competitions, and win!
A: For the last couple of years I’ve entered competitions but I got fed up with it and stopped altogether. It was only a couple of months ago that I started again, and now I only enter ones that I really want. I’ve won small things before like cosmetics. We won a family weekend in London once with tickets to the theatre. But I saw this competition on the Loquax competition site and thought it looked good. I’m still amazed I’ve won.

Read our Spotlight: Constance Le Prince Maurice. Mauritius

Luxury service from our staff

Posted on August 1, 2011 by constancehotelseditor

Chef with guests at Constance Le Prince Maurice

One of the things that makes the Constance Hotels Experience so special are the people who work there. So often the staff at Constance receive a special mention in the customer reviews we get on TripAdvisor, or in feedback sent by guests.

At Constance, we put a lot of time into training. Our Constance Hotels Training Academy, based in Mauritius is the hub for all staff training. Over the last 13 years, we’ve become a leader in the hospitality training sector.

Many of our staff come through our apprenticeship scheme, and have worked with us for over 10 years.

All this helps to make the Constance Hotels Experience so unique. When you stay at a Constance hotel, the staff very quickly come to know what you like, which makes you feel you’re being personally looked after.

Housekeeper decorating a bed

For many of our guests, that’s as much a part of the luxury experience as the hotel surroundings and decor.

Find out more about what it’s like to stay at a Constance hotel, or tell us your stories about staying with Constance and what made it stand out for you.

You can get in contact with us via Twitter, Facebook or the comments section below.

Constance Hotels

Elegance, Excellence and Extraordinary Places

Monthly Archives: August 2011