Advantages: Splendid, comfortable and pure luxury
Disadvantages: None

...So for the second time in two months I am looking at a large framed portrait of Agatha Christie hanging in pride of place in the foyer of a luxurious hotel. The first time was in February 2004 in The Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, Egypt where Agatha Christie stayed while she wrote 'Death on the Nile'. The second time was in The Grand Hotel, Torquay in Devon – I wonder? Did she write a mystery thriller called 'Death on the English Riviera'? The Grand Hotel in Torquay is an architecturally beautiful large Victorian and Art-Deco white painted building set in its own gardens framed with the ubiquitous Torbay palms and only 100 yds from Torquay railway station. The hotel is situated on the sea front in the popular seaside resort of Torquay with wonderful views of Torbay, also rightfully known as the English Riviera. We arrived at 1.00 pm... Read review

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Advantages: Lovely Old Building. Fabulous View. Wonderful Food. Service.
Disadvantages: Shortage of Parking. Some dingy, scruffy stairs and passageways. Dirty Curtains.

...NOTE TO CIAO: Strictly speaking I myself have to regard this review as "Off Topic" as the Grand has not been part of the Best Western group for some years. However, as Ciao emailed me the following message, I see little alternative to publishing it here: "Hello RICHADA Thank you very much for your product proposal Grand Hotel Torquay, Devon. We haven't made a new entry because the product you have proposed already exists on Ciao. Please check the appropriate category again or try to find it with the search engine. There may have been a spelling error in your previous query. We hope that you'll continue helping us to build the best website ever! http://travel.ciao.co.uk/BestWesternTheGrandHotelTorquayTorq uay6386161 Best Regards The Ciao Team" ON WITH THE REVIEW! WHY DID WE BOOK THE GRAND HOTEL TORQUAY... Read review

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Advantages: A fascinating place to visit and so much to see
Disadvantages: One can get worn out just trying to explore the whole hotel

...I stayed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for 3 nights and 4 days in August 2008 and can honestly say I had a great time. Please let me warn you that this is a fairly lengthy review of my experience. We got a taxi from the airport to the hotel which cost about $7 which works out at less than £4. The first thing you notice about stepping out of the taxi and into the hotel is the fabulous air-conditioning. Vegas in August is VERY hot, well over 40o Centigrade! So it's really a relief to get out of that heat into the fabulously spacious lobby of the MGM and feel cooler straight away. On stepping inside the hotel (if you arrive by car) you are greeted by the large gold lion in the centre of the lobby in front of which it seems everyone who goes there for the first time rushes to have their photo taken in front of! As did I and my... Read review

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Advantages: Great to Look at. Good to Drive. A Quality Fiat.
Disadvantages: It May Well Depreciate More Than Most. Dealers

...WHAT IS IT? The aptly named 130bhp - 130 Mjet Sporting is the top of the range, three door "sporting" model in the new Fiat Grande Punto line up. Presumably Fiat added the title "Grande" in there to differentiate this from the last, rather less grand, Punto, the most basic model of which is still on sale. Grande in fact is actually a reference to the somewhat increased size of Fiat's latest super-mini offering. As with all of its' rivals in this sector, this could no longer be regarded as a small car. At 4030mm in length, the Grande Punto is precisely the same length as a new Peugeot 207 (probably its' closest competitor), and larger than a 1970 Austin Maxi, which in its day would have been regarded as a medium size car! The Fiat Grand Punto is very closely related to the new Vauxhall Corsa, they were co-developed by the same... Read review

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Advantages: The Bodywork and standard features
Disadvantages: My Passenger Electric Window!

...I have decided on a break from my normal Beauty product reviews. I have been considering writing a review on my Car for a while but the fact that I don't have a scrap of technical knowledge had put me off. Please do not be fooled into thinking this will be a Jeremy Clarksonesque review - It really won't be! Anyway I have decided to bite the bullet and fancied a challenge so prepare yourself for a girls guide to the Grande Punto! So why a Punto then? Several years ago I learned to drive and passed my test in a Punto. After passing my test and thinking I would be most comfortable driving a car I was already used to I decided to purchase a Punto. I also needed a reliable car which was fairly cheap to run and wanted a small model which had easily obtainable parts should the need arise. My first was the first basic three door shape. I... Read review

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Advantages: Everything you could want under one (massive) roof
Disadvantages: Located at the southern end of "The Strip" - so a bit of a walk to some attractions...

...We stayed at the MASSIVE MGM Grand for a few days this time last year. The MGM Grand, guarded by a 45-foot-tall bronze lion statue has 5,005 rooms and used to be the largest hotel in the world, a claim recently stolen by the Ambassador City Jomtien hotel in Thailand with 5,100 rooms. It's still the largest hotel in North America, although I think this will soon be stolen by George Clooney's Vegas hotel development... (While we're on the subject of large hotels, 17 of the 20 largest hotels in the world are in Las Vegas ! So even if you don't stay at The MGM Grand, odds are you'll be staying somewhere big...) The MGM Grand is part of the MGM Mirage group, that also owns, among others, The Bellagio, The Mirage, Treasure Island, New York-New York (just across the street) and Beau Rivage hotels/casinos in Vegas. The first thing... Read review

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Advantages: Excellent food, good facilities & comfortable beds
Disadvantages: Unfriendly staff, Take forever to clear the room service away & Prices

...I had never been to New York until the 29th December, so I had no idea were to stay and how much I would need to be paying. Lucky for me I was travelling with some relatives who booked the holiday so I didn't have to spend forever trawling the Internet. I would not have had a clue what hotel to book, as I didn't know were the best places were and how much I should be paying. I thought my family knew this sort of thing but turns out they went to this hotel when they were lost to have a drink and thought it would be a nice hotel to stay in and that's how we came around to staying at the Grand Hyatt. PRICE We booked our holiday with Virgin which included the flights, transfers and hotel so I cannot give a complete accurate guide to price but I would say from looking at their website and the amount we paid its safe to say its about... Read review

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Advantages: Mini MPV, ECO2 friendly, spacious
Disadvantages: None so far!!

...Well 1st of March is fast approaching and Renault will be launching the new Grande Modus so thought id give a review just to give others a little more information. The Grande Modus is a new mini MPV!! It will be available in the following models: 1.2 Expression Grande 1.2 TCE Expression Grand 1.5 dCi 86 Expression 1.2 TCE Dynamique Grand 1.5 dCi 86 Dynamique Grand 1.6 auto Dynamique Grand 1.5 dCi 106 Dynamique Grand Prices start from £9650 The fuel consumption across the ranges vary, but i'll give a few examples, Grande Modus 1.2 16v expression has a combined MPG of 47.9 and the Grande Modus 1.5 DCI Dynamique has a combined MPG of 60.1. So both offering very good consumption on fuel. All variations of the Modus are all from Renaults ECO 2 range, vehicles that are offering extra low emissions to help keep... Read review

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Advantages: Nippy around town
Disadvantages: Outclassed everywhere else

...Since the day they were first invented, a car has essentially been little more than a tin box on wheels. Admittedly things have changed quite a lot since the first mass produced cars and now some have nice alloy wheels and some look more like a bullet than a box, even some of the buses on the roads these days. But in the decade and a half since I became old enough to take control of such a vehicle, I have never driven anything that matches the description of "tin box on wheels" quite as closely as the Daihatsu Grand Move. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. After all, it was a former Mobility vehicle, which meant it was low mileage, well maintained and only £5000 for a four year old family vehicle with only around twenty thousand miles on the clock. It might have looked like a tin box on wheels, but as it was replacing a 1985... Read review

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Advantages: Gameplay and Graphics
Disadvantages: None

...Grand Theft Auto IV is arguably the best game of 2008. Problems are very difficult to spot. The only problem I encountered was towards the beginning of its release; multiplayer struggled to even load. This however, has been sorted by Rockstar and now online runs just as smooth as the offline experience. What has changed since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas? The obvious improvement is graphics. The new physics engine, RAGE has added much more to the game. Simply being ran over by a car makes you realise how much the physics have been developed. The new cover system really helps the combat side of the game. Instead of standing exposed to gunfire, the protagonist can simply take cover, which gives the game a more realistic edge than its predecessors. The police system has also been improved. The wanted stars do not play as big... Read review

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