Claremont Club & Spa in Berkeley is a beautifully iconic luxury hotel located in the Oakland Hills, ideally just 12 miles from San Francisco.

Being a popular city escape for both business and leisure travellers, Oakland is the perfect destination to seek entertainment, as well as capture breath-taking scenery.

Here are some of the popular hotels the famous city homes:

Best Western Plus Bayside Hotel

Location: 1717 Embarcadero, Oakland, CA 94606

Being number-one-rated hotel in Oakland on TripAdvisor, this popular waterfront hotel makes quite an impression on its visitors. With the convenience of San Francisco being close-by, the hotel is in a perfect location for both business travellers and tourists.

The advantage of fast-to-catch flights from the nearby Oakland airport works in the favour of many residents at Best Western Plus.

From the particular area in which the hotel is placed, you’d expect to see glorious views of Oakland’s waterway – and the rooms do not disappoint. Each of the waterside rooms include either a patio or balcony, where you can often catch a glimpse of the densely populated San Francisco. A ferry ride or 12 minute ride on the BART will take you to downtown San Francisco – a great way to explore the surroundings.

Business travellers love the fact that they can reach San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Centre so quickly via the BART, and love the convenience of the hotel being centrally located in the Bay Area. Appealing destinations such as Oakland A’s Stadium, the Oakland Raider’s Coliseum and Warrior’s Arena are all easily reached from the hotel.

Best Western Plus has an outdoor swimming pool, fitness centre, business centre and hotel amenities include free high-speed wireless internet, free parking and dry cleaning/laundry valet services, along with multilingual, attentive staff to cater for your every need.

Oakland itself is an appealing city, being the largest and the county seat of Alameda Count, California. Being famous for homing a wide variety of unique restaurants and innovative takes on food and art, Oakland is praised for its character.

Waterfront hotel Joie de Vivre

Location: 10 Washington Street, Oakland, CA 94607

In the prime hotspot of Jack London Square, the hotel is close-by to endless opportunities to eat, watch a film at the cinema or experience the live nightlife on offer. Chances to rent a kayak or charter a boat are also a popular option for many visitors.

The Waterfront hotel is a convenient 20 minute ferry ride away from the city’s sights, five minutes away from the Amtrak station, as well as being near Interstates 80, 880, 580, 980 and Highway 24 – so, transport links are not to fault!

This popular stay for all types of visitor is a boutique hotel, so expect to witness the comfortable rooms, flushed with modern interior and polished furnishings to compliment the stylish surroundings in the vicinity. Waterfront views of San Francisco Bay add the luxury feel, making this hotel a perfect place to settle in this beautiful yet buzzing location.

Free Wifi, complimentary in-room coffee and tea, in addition to complimentary wine and cheese hour during the week are all on offer at the hotel.

Want to create an impression hosting an event? With 13 versatile event and meeting rooms at the hotel, of which several offering picturesque waterfront views, colleagues and clients are bound to be impressed by your choice of venue.

Quality Inn Oakland

Location: 8471 Enterprise Way, Oakland, CA 94621

With this newly-renovated, perfectly located hotel being nearby to Oakland International Airport and the Oakland Museum of California, you are not limited to experience the best of the surroundings.

More specifically, the pet-friendly hotel is off Enterprise Way which allows you to reach other popular destinations such as the Oakland Aviation Museum, Chabot Space and Science Centre, and East Bay Regional Park District.

Exploring doesn’t stop at Oakland as easily accessible San Francisco attractions such as Yosemite National Park and the Silicon Valley area are within an hour’s drive away from Quality Inn.

The hotel praise themselves on prioritising attentive service for their visitors, with amenities such as free Wifi, free airport transportation, complimentary deluxe breakfast and an outdoor pool and hot tub.

The rooms at Quality Inn offer a comforting stay with premium bedding and hotel room must-haves. With each room having a coffee maker, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, with selected rooms homing refrigerators and microwaves, you won’t be disappointed. Furnished beautifully makes the rooms even more appealing and many have revisited after having stayed before.

Business travellers love the accessibility of the hotel’s business centre which supplies copy, print and fax machines within, as well as a computer with internet.

You can fly in premium to Oakland California from £399 one way

The Levin Hotel is right in the heart of where you want to be as it is the closest hotel to Harrods, you are in the perfect spot to explore and shop to your heart’s content!

With its location in Knightsbridge, it also means that you are not far from Sloane Square, the Knightsbridge tube station and also the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The hotel is pastelled with pale duck egg blue walls, complemented with designer lighting by Sharon Marston that impressively hangs down through the stairway.” to read  “The hotel is pastelled with pale duck egg blue walls, that give a lovely contrast to some luxury engineered wood flooring by UK’s leading flooring retailer Stories Flooring. These striking features are complemented with designer lighting by Sharon Marston that impressively hangs down through the stairway.

The Levin Hotel is one of the most sophisticated townhouse hotels in London and is home to 12 bedrooms with many visitors regarding it as a ‘home-from-home’. The accommodation is the perfect stay for any discerning London visitors seeking a hotel with personality and great charm.

The Metro, The Levin Hotel’s restaurant, stands as a common favourite with locals. It uses the best of British produce to serve breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner to its visitors and is the perfect place to meet with friends for a bite to eat or evening beverage. Enjoy Happy Hour every week day between 5 – 7pm; two glasses of house wine and a bowl of nachos £8.00.

With 24 hour room service, complimentary WiFi and printing facilities, this is the perfect place for a business traveller as well as the more leisurely traveller. Services on offer also include iPads on request, in addition to the availability of car valet and parking for a set charge.

The Levin Hotel also copes well as a unique venue for celebration drinks, leaving party or client reception for up to 60 people with exclusive private hire packages being available from £1200 minimum spend.

Location: Knightsbridge, London

Pricing: Starting from £216 per room per night (single occupancy)

Ideal for: Business or leisure travellers

After being a guest at Le Royal Meridien, I can state first-hand that it is an undeniably faultless level of accommodation which certainly lives up to its five star rating.

From the moment you step out of your transfer/taxi, you are in the welcoming hands of the friendly and attentive staff who await your arrival at Le Royal Meridien. If you want to feel like royalty, this is the place to be! You are encouraged to relax as your cases are transferred to your room and the prompt access to your room creates a great impression.

The hotel itself is graced with amazing interior design, with quirky touches such as hanging chairs suspended from the ceiling in the main reception area and peculiar artwork scattered around the vicinity. Despite this modern persona throughout the hotel, in the rooms – the one in which I stayed in, they take a more traditional approach, featuring solid, wooden beds with intricate detailing. However, rooms still have your much needed electronic amenities; hairdryer, television, telephone.

Views offered from the rooms are truly spectacular.

I was lucky to stay in an elite room which enabled me to witness the picturesque landscape of the Persian Gulf being overlooked by the variety of glass panelled skyscraper buildings, and what a sight it was!

Offering three pools, one being an infinity, there is something for everyone, including guests with young families. Not to mention the fact that the hotel has its own private beach and well-manicured tropical gardens. It truly is a delight to see.

Le Royal Meridien is also home to eight restaurants offering an international choice of cuisine to suit a range of palates. ‘Zengo’ is particularly favoured by myself, which presents a variety of Asian favourites.

As well as this, there is a hair salon, jewellers and general shop within the hotel, in addition to the spa and gym facilities. If
you don’t fancy a shop, there is always a chance to wind down and relax to the optimum in the spa from access to haram pools, sauna and jacuzzi, or you can select a treatment from the wide selection on offer.

Business or leisure, the hotel accommodates for all with its eight meeting rooms and when I visited the hotel, the Sports Bar was a very popular choice for outside business meet-ups where people can talk over a coffee, breakfast or lunch in a warm and relaxed environment.

The 15th floor in the Tower Building is solely dedicated to events such as meetings, launches, etc. Being the top floor of the building, the views are likely to be the best you can witness from the hotel, which makes your business-related experience just that little bit better!

Off to New York but need a place to settle to be as productive as possible? Bat Haus coworking space in Brooklyn is open Monday to Friday 9am – 7pm, and is a great place to hot desk for the day for just $25 (10 hour access).

This gives you 10 hours access for the day along with high speed internet and access to conference rooms – 2 hours max per day. Additionally, you will have access to a printer/copy/scanner, which is always harder to find when travelling and of course, access to the kitchen, lounge and backyard areas.

Daytime bike storage is also available for any cyclists who tend to favour this form of transport.

If you believe you will be around the area fairly frequently too, by becoming a member by the end of your day, you will have the day pass free!

Due to the open-office layout of the space, members whose work involves frequent phone calling are not accepted as the space promotes a quiet, focused and productive atmosphere.

 While being your own boss has its bonuses, self employment can feel like a lonely undertaking at times. But in today’s digital world, there are plenty of apps and software options that can take some of the pain away. As 80 per cent of all New Year resolutions are expected to fail by February according to news reports,

Paul Bulpitt, head of accounting at Xero and co-founder of the Wow Company lists his top five apps for iOS and Android to help the self-employed to win this year.

HMRC

Cost: Free 

The official app from HMRC can help you get your ahead around your taxes if you feel like you are struggling. You can quickly and easily work out your tax, break down your income and show how much you can claim back as a self employed person. Download here.

Xero

Cost: from £10 a month

If numbers aren’t your forte, fear not. Cloud accounting solutions like Xero simplify your numbers, enabling you to send and receive invoices, track expenses and upload receipts – all on a beautiful interface. Plus, as it operates on the cloud, you can check your numbers, anywhere, anytime. Click here to try here for free for 30 days.

Evernote

Cost: Free

An idea can come to you at any time, so Evernote allows you to quickly save pictures, business cards, web links and notes to keep all in one place. Download here.

HelloSign

Cost: From free to approx £32 a month 

This app is a little unusual, but for people who are always on the move, HelloSign enables you to electronically sign and fill out forms, contracts and other documents before emailing back to the recipient and saving. Perfect for those times when you’re nowhere near a printer and scanner. Download here.

Harvest

Cost: From £10 a month

Harvest streamlines your entire billing process, from tracking your time to getting paid. From the web or your smartphone, simple and quick time entry means you will have the data you need to bill accurately and budget wisely. Click here to try it free of charge for 30 days. 

Paul is Head of Accounting at Xero and co-founder of The Wow Company. 

Location: Neukölln, Berlin, Germany

Pricing: 16€ day pass

If you’ve found yourself in Germany’s capital and in need of a place to concentrate in a relaxed but community-oriented environment, then AGORA is the perfect space to get your head down.

Being a popular hotspot for international and local freelancers, entrepreneurs, teams and artists, this spacious five floor working area is a great place for a productive working day. With coworking floors that accommodate professionals of all fields, it’s no surprised that AGORA is frequently noted as one of the best coworking spaces nationally and also on a global scale.

All five floors present a spacious, resplendent environment with silent and teams work spaces, as well as a multi-functional room and access to a café and garden.

When the good weather graces Berlin, working outside in the garden at AGORA is the perfect way to progress through the day.

Included within the pricing of your pass is internet and printing, as well as access to meeting rooms. Extra services are available at different additional prices such as mailbox and multi-floor access.

The coworking area is open Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm and you can visit the website for more information on getting a pass.

Hotel Vagabond is known as Singapore’s first music and art driven luxury boutique hotel. It’s the perfect stay for business or leisure, but is very popular with corporate travellers.

The hotel is fairly new, being officially launched a year ago in January 2016. In November last year, Hotel Vagabond became a member of the Marriott International family under the prestigious Tribute Portfolio brand, which includes some of the best independent hotels around the world.

Designed by the award-winning French designer Jacques Garcia, the 41-room hotel boasts outstanding service and is located near the Central Business District in Jalan Besar. Housed in a repurposed heritage Art Deco building from the island’s colonial era, the property is the best place from which to explore Singapore’s most authentic heritage neighbourhoods: Kampong Glam, and Little India.

Three times a week the well-loved Vagabond Salon is transformed to host an exciting line up of the most talented live musicians and DJs that range from up-and-coming to some of the hottest performers in the world.  No matter what your preferred genre of music, from jazz to indie, you will love the range of musical talents that grace these special nights.

Another popular vicinity in the hotel is the Executive Club Lounge. With a polished and luxurious appearance, your experience will mirror this impressively beautiful area. The lounge is the perfect place to hold memorable business meetings, with high speed WiFi – ideally convenient for the working individual.

However, if you’re more up for a relaxing time in the lounge, this can be arranged too. In the evenings you can indulge in a selection of cheese to compliment perfectly your wine or even order a drink from the bespoke gin and whiskey trolleys to fully take advantage of your experience.

Location: Syed Alwi Road, Singapore

Pricing: Starting from SGD 260 a night.

The majority of us are either a Summer or a Winter person and I’ve got to be a Winter one. I love the cosiness our clothes become, the amazing decorations and lights put up all around and of course, the food!

Travelling at this time of year can be a pain when snow is in the question, but if you’re able to you should make at least a couple of these destinations your mission to visit for the sheer festive experience they provide and ambience they project. Last minute, short stays are all you need to catch a glimpse of how Christmas and New Year is celebrated in different parts of the world.

London

Maybe I’m biased, but I would say not. Tourists travel from all over the globe to visit London and at Christmas time it is truly spectacular. The lights and decorations neatly scattered around the capital are beautiful and present the perfect opportunity for great picture taking.

The Christmas trees are amazing, and personally I think the one in Covent Garden is the best and made even better by the shopping!

Shops go all out with their window displays that show the great deals on offer, especially in Oxford and Bond street where shoppers are truly in their element. Ice Skating in Canary Wharf is always a winner and the glass roof means you’re not limited by the UK weather.

If you’re looking for spectacular views why not capture the best of London and jump on board the London Eye? The landscapes you will witness will provide you with a sight of the city as you’ve never seen it before.

New York, America

Typically featured in many Christmas films including Home Alone, New York is on the list for the top cities to visit during the festive season. If you think the hustle and bustle throughout the year is enough, wait until Christmas and New Year where New York is arguably at its busiest. Stores all around are pulling people in with their one-off deals and tourists can’t get enough of the atmosphere and sights as you witness a queue of selfie sticks peer out the crowds.

Sights to see from the Empire State building are priceless all year round, but with the addition of the festive decorations and the mesmerising lights that scatter the state, the views are truly at their optimum. We think the best time to head up is late at night, the lights of the city are beyond beautiful and it’s much quieter with less queues.

Central Park and Times Square are must-visits for this time of year and ice skating in Syracuse!

Lapland, Finland

Where better to settle for Christmas than where Santa Claus lives? Enjoy a true experience of Christmas spirit as you are pulled along on a sleigh by reindeer and accommodate in a small cosy cabin.

Visiting Lapland will ensure you feel you have genuinely experienced life in a winter wonderland. Being able to ‘drive’ your own team of huskies for a sledge ride as well as the option to ride a snowmobile leaves you with a definite once-in-a-lifetime experience. Of course, you can also meet Santa himself and request everything you’ve ever wanted – all in around minus 18 degrees!

Lanterns of burning logs line the snow covered roads and at this time of year it never gets lighter than dusk. So wrap up warm, grab a burger or a pancake and pick your tipple of choice. It’s a once in a life time experience not to be missed, and what makes it even better is that flying from the UK, you can even just visit for the day!

If you think you’re too late this year, then definitely try and book for next as the break is like no other you would have been on before.

Bruges, Belgium

A popular destination for winter tourists is Bruges where the fumes of freshly made chocolate invade your senses as you walk down the historic cobbled streets. If you have a sweet tooth, this is possibly one of the greatest places you could visit, as the chocolate is renowned for being the best. Perfect for the winter, the Belgian hot chocolate served round nearly every corner is exquisite and the best of the best.

A great way to witness the surroundings is to take a horse and carriage, complete with blankets, around popular areas such as Markt Square and Burg Square and discover what this historically rich place has to offer.

Bruges is not only famous for its chocolate and history, but also its Christmas markets. From food to clothing, the markets provide a selection of traditional goods on offer for swarming tourists and locals to buy.

Munich, Germany

Munich is one of the most beautifully decorated places at this time of year – the lights in-particular beautifully execute a festive landscape

The main Christmas market is a prime reason for why many visit here at this time of year. It roots all the way back to the 14th century and is located on the Marienplatz in the heart of the city. Dating back to such a great time ago, you can expect to find all types of traditional and authentic pieces of Munich history, as well as local luxuries.

Most museums found within Munich are open around Christmas and New Year and are a popular hit with tourists.

A lot of visitors tend to take a tour around the area in order to catch a glimpse of Munich’s main sites, however many also opt to take the bus or tram to a selection of locations stops and choose to get off when and where they want. Public transport is running all over Christmas time, so this is the perfect way to travel for some flexibility and exploration.