Latest news with #GoldPlus
The Sun
15-07-2025
- The Sun
Tiny Cornish village that's been called the UK's answer to Greece – and it has a holiday park from £6pppn
THE beautiful Cornish village of Polperro is so beautiful, it's even been compared to a Greek island. With white-washed cottages and in the summertime, a bright turquoise sea, Polperro has been compared to Santorini - and for anyone wanting to visit, it has a very affordable holiday park too. 5 5 Polperro is a tiny fishing village on the coast with a rich history and beautiful beaches. White cottages sit in the hillsides and fishing boats bob in the harbour which paints the image of Greece. In the village there are steep streets to amble down filled with charming houses, shops and galleries. The history of Polperro is smuggling, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries - and there's even a museum dedicated to it. The best beach near Polperro is generally considered to be Talland Bay - one person even called it the "most beautiful place in Cornwall." It's also where you'll find Polperro Holiday Park, which sits slightly inland - but it's just a six-minute drive to the harbour. The holiday park is surrounded by countryside with views across Talland Bay. Visitors can stay in chalets or caravans, which vary from bronze all the way to gold and platinum. The 'Gold Plus' caravan is the more luxurious with a spacious interior as well as a decking area to enjoy the summer sun. It also comes with super-fast internet and all the modern amenities needed for a holiday. 50 'coolest' places to live in the UK revealed & there's a surprise at the top 5 5 Some of the accommodation is pet-friendly, and all come with a kitted-out kitchen, TV, and entertainment passes (included with direct bookings). At Polperro Holiday Park there's a family bar, a restaurant and an indoor pool which has recently been refurbished. There's a children's play park, crazy golf course, amusement arcade, club house and a paddling pool. As for entertainment there are live stage shows, pottery, Bingo and shows for kids. From the holiday park, you can not only explore Polperro, but also get to the Eden Project and Land's End. The closest large town is Looe, which has seen a huge boost since the airing of BBC's Beyond Paradise. The beaches of Looe as well as Fore Street near the East Looe River are popular locations for filming. The Grade II listed Guildhall doubles as the Shipton Abbott Police Station. The Ten Miles Kitchen, is filmed in The Stables, Port Eliot House & Gardens, a cafe 20 minutes from Looe in the parish of St Germans. Sun Travel found prices from £6.20pppn in a Bronze Chalet that sleeps up to six. The stay was for seven nights in October 2025. Here's another pretty Cornish seaside village with 'secret' crescent-shaped beach and holiday park. And another award-winning UK holiday park with huge outdoor pool and nearby world-famous beach. 5
Times
30-04-2025
- Times
Our luggage was lost on holiday — but insurance won't cover it
✉ We travelled to Brazil in August and from there went on to visit the Atacama desert in Chile in early September, staying nearby in San Pedro de Atacama for four nights. We booked flights for the latter trip with Latam Airlines from Sao Paulo to Calama in Chile, with a stop in Santiago, the capital. When we arrived in Calama our suitcase wasn't on our flight from Santiago so we registered a lost baggage claim. Given the climatic conditions in the Atacama region — high temperatures during the day and very low temperatures at night — once the luggage had not turned up the day after our arrival (and with no information about when it would arrive), we bought some necessities and appropriate clothing, which cost about £300. The next day the case was finally delivered to our hotel. On our return to the UK we registered a claim for the cost of the items with Latam but this was rejected. We then turned to our AllClear Gold Plus insurance policy but the claim was rejected on the basis that the delayed baggage didn't occur on our initial outward journey from the UK but on a flight we took some days after this. It seems that even a top policy doesn't provide full cover while on holiday. Can you help?Peter Allen You'd assume that if you lost luggage at any point during a multi-leg outbound journey it would be covered, so your experience was worrying, but it seems your claim was rejected due to human error. A spokesperson for Zurich Insurance, AllClear's underwriter, said: 'We are pleased to confirm that Mr Allen's claim was fully settled this week. Following a full investigation, we identified that the claim was originally declined as it was incorrectly logged as a direct connection flight on their return to the UK and not a stop-off in Chile. While we strive to offer the highest standards of customer service, on this occasion it didn't happen. We apologise for the stress caused to Mr Allen as a result of this and will be in contact to offer a £100 gesture of goodwill payment for any inconvenience caused.' • Lost, delayed or damaged luggage? Your compensation rights explained ✉ My friend and I would like to spend a week travelling the Romantic Road in Germany from Würzburg to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria but I'm uncertain as to the best way to do this. Can you recommend any travel companies that have an organised tour or suggest the best towns to stay in along the route? Also, is it easy to travel by train or better to hire a car?Marian Garland Germany's Romantic Road is one of Europe's finest road trips and is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year with events and festivals in the 29 towns en route. For maximum flexibility it's better to drive and the route is best done from north to south (Würzburg to Füssen) so that the Bavarian Alps are the grand finale. Don't be in too much of a hurry to leave Würzburg, however, because it's the Franconian wine capital. If you travel in June you could time your visit to coincide with one of its wine festivals. The medieval Rothenburg ob der Tauber, said to have been the inspiration for the village in Disney's Pinocchio, is the most-visited town along the route and the traditional, half-timbered Hotel Reichs-Küchenmeister is a good base (B&B doubles from £113; Dinkelsbühl, with its baroque castle, and Nördlingen, home to Germany's only completely preserved town wall on which you can walk around, are also must-dos; you'll find the lowdown on all 29 on the route's official website ( • 10 of the best cities to visit in Germany If you'd rather do an organised tour, Great Rail Journeys has an all-inclusive seven-night Bavaria's Romantic Road trip from London St Pancras, based in Landenau, which includes excursions to Neuschwanstein Castle and the medieval island town of Lindau on Lake Constance. It starts at £999pp ( ✉ My husband and I are travelling to France in the middle of September for a month. We have the first half sorted, with stays in Amiens, Normandy and Poitiers before going south to Carcassonne for a few days. All of that is self-catering but we thought in the ten days left before returning from Dunkirk we'd like a short cruise of between five and seven days somewhere in eastern France. While there seem to be many river cruises, I'm struggling to find one of that length. Any ideas?Carol Bridgeman CroisiEurope is the go-to for shorter French cruises and one that ticks your boxes in early October is a barge trip from Strasbourg to Lagarde on the Marne-Rhine Canal. There are visits to the Villa Meteor, the oldest French brewery in operation, as well as to the Château du Haut-Barr and the Chagall trail in Sarrebourg. The six-night trip starts at £2,564pp. If that busts your budget, an alternative is a five-night voyage that ticks off all the must-see sites on the Rhône between Lyons, Provence and the Camargue, plus a splendid dinner at Paul Bocuse's Abbaye de Collonges restaurant. The October 4 departure starts at £1,614pp ( Just be aware that while all announcements and tours will be in French and English, you may well be the only English-speaking guests on board. ✉ It's my husband's 80th birthday on November 1 and I'm looking for a luxury family hotel for a weekend, which wouldn't be too far from Gatwick, Heathrow or Wimbledon, avoiding long taxi rides and our small granddaughters getting car sick. Any suggestions?Chantal Bull If you're prepared to splurge, Beaverbrook in the Surrey Hills sits nicely in that triangle and while it's hugely glamorous, it's also family-friendly: there are interconnecting rooms, a Sharky & George kids' club, indoor and outdoor pools plus a cinema, as well as 470 acres to roam. For adults, there's fabulous Japanese or modern European food, a swanky spa and excellent cocktails in Sir Frank's Bar. B&B doubles start at £699 in November ( Another possibility is the swish Coworth Park, a Georgian country house near Ascot in Berkshire, which has Michelin dining for the celebratory dinner (as well as casual dining in the Barn) and plenty of entertainment for children, including treasure hunts in the kids' club and riding in the equestrian centre. B&B Stable Superior rooms sleeping up to three start at £512 in November ( • Beaverbrook hotel review: a historic country manor house and spa in Surrey ✉ As a result of being involuntarily denied boarding by Ryanair, my partner and I arrived at Milan Bergamo eight hours later than originally planned. Our prebooked car hire had been cancelled due to our late arrival and so we had to arrange alternative car hire. We tried to claim a refund from Ryanair but it has refused. Is this correct?David Bainbridge Infuriating though it is to have your journey so significantly delayed, you can't claim for the new car you had to book because airlines are not responsible for consequential loss. The good news is that the denied boarding compensation you're entitled to for this trip — £220 each — should cover the extra cost. Have you got a holiday dilemma? Email traveldoctor@
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MGM Resorts International (MGM) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Revenues Amid Las ...
Consolidated Net Revenues: Record high for the year. Domestic Slot Win: All-time high record for annual performance. Hotel Revenue: Achieved record levels. Food & Beverage Revenue: Reached an all-time high. Las Vegas Revenues: Down 6% in Q4 year-over-year. Las Vegas Adjusted EBITDAR: Down 11% in Q4 year-over-year. Regional Properties Revenue: Increased by 7% in Q4. Regional Properties Adjusted EBITDAR: Increased by 21% in Q4. Macau Net Revenues: Grew 4% year-over-year in Q4. BetMGM Net Revenue from Operations: Over $2 billion for the year. BetMGM 2025 Revenue Forecast: Expected to grow to $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion. iGaming Revenue: Approximately $1.5 billion with over $400 million in contribution. MGM Digital Net Revenues: Grew 15% in Q4. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA: Approximately $2.4 billion for 2024. Capital Expenditures: Approximately $1.15 billion for the year. Share Buybacks: 3.4 million shares in Q4 and 8.4 million shares in 2025 thus far. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with MGM. Release Date: February 12, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) reported record results for consolidated net revenues, domestic slot win, hotel revenue, and food and beverage revenue for 2024. The company achieved an all-time high Net Promoter Score for Gold Plus customers, reflecting strong guest satisfaction. MGM's strategic investments in Las Vegas, including renovations at Bellagio and the integration of Cosmopolitan into MGM Rewards, are driving increased guest visitation and spending. BetMGM saw significant growth, with net revenues from operations exceeding $2 billion and expectations for continued momentum in 2025. MGM China achieved its best-ever full-year segment adjusted EBITDAR, with strong market share growth and successful non-gaming initiatives in Macau. Las Vegas revenues were down 6% and adjusted EBITDAR down 11% in the fourth quarter, partly due to the impact of F1 and hold variances. The company faces a $65 million year-over-year headwind in the first quarter of 2025 due to the absence of the Super Bowl event. MGM Grand renovations are expected to impact earnings throughout the year, adding to the challenges of overcoming the Super Bowl comparison. MGM Digital's EBITDAR losses are expected to remain consistent in 2025 due to increased spending related to the launch in Brazil. There is ongoing concern about potential increases in sports betting and gaming taxes in various states, which could impact profitability. Q: Can you provide more details on the scale of MGM's digital investment and the outlook for near-term returns? A: Gary Fritz, President of MGM Interactive, explained that MGM Digital has been building a distribution network and product platform, investing about $1 billion in the Leo business and acquiring Tipico's US betting technology. The integration of these assets is expected to be completed by mid-2025, with the first market launch imminent. The core business, including Leo and Push, is a $0.5 billion revenue business with high double-digit margins. Strategic investments in Europe and Brazil are expected to narrow operating losses in 2025, setting up for operational inflection in 2026. Q: Were there any business interruption (BI) proceeds in the fourth quarter? A: Jonathan Halkyard, CFO, stated that there were no meaningful BI proceeds in the fourth quarter. However, they resolved civil litigation during this period and expect to receive additional BI proceeds in 2025. Q: How do you view the impact of the Super Bowl on first-quarter results, and can you offset it throughout the year? A: Jonathan Halkyard noted that the Super Bowl had a significant impact, estimated at $65 million year-over-year. MGM aims to overcome this through organic growth and strategic programs. However, renovations at MGM Grand will also impact results, similar to the Super Bowl's effect. Q: Can you discuss the January performance in terms of non-gaming versus gaming, and any changes in room rates? A: Jonathan Halkyard highlighted that January set records for occupancy, ADR, slot handle, and restaurant revenue. The demand was strong, with mid-single-digit growth in ADRs expected for the year, except for February due to the Super Bowl comparison. Q: How is MGM Digital aligned with BetMGM in the US, and is there any content or information sharing? A: William Hornbuckle and Gary Fritz explained that while MGM Digital and BetMGM operate independently due to the joint venture structure, there is collaboration in content creation, such as MGM branded games. However, the businesses are distinctly operated. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
