West – The News Desk

Avanti West Coast partners with GoodMaps for accessible wayfinding – Business Traveller

16Dec

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Travel

Avanti West Coast partners with GoodMaps for accessible wayfinding – Business Traveller

Avanti West Coast has introduced new wayfinding technology to help visually impaired customers navigate stations independently. The rail operator has partnered with GoodMaps to offer the smartphone app at Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, and Rugby stations on the West Coast Main Line. Customers can download the free GoodMaps Explore app for step-by-step guidance to specific locations within the stations including the ticket office, toilets, taxi rank, platform and refreshments. The technology works through image recognition technology, which identifies the user’s position when they hold up their device, enabling it to provide accurate directions. There are also features catering for a range of disabilities, including support for screen readers and the option to select step-free routes. Avanti said...

6Dec

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World

DEI Drives Campus Antisemitism – WSJ

Tuesday’s House hearing on campus antisemitism ratcheted up the pressure on American universities: counter the anti-Israel vitriol that exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack or risk losing philanthropic and government support. The leading approach is sure to fail: doubling down on the ideologies and practices that led to the pro-Hamas fever in the first place. Bill Ackman, the hedge-fund manager leading a Harvard donor revolt, told CNBC on Nov. 6 that he hadn’t previously read Harvard’s DEI statement. Though he had assumed DEI was “for all marginalized groups,” once he read the statement, he realized that “the DEI program at Harvard is limited to specific groups and exploits others.” Instead, Mr. Ackman suggested, DEI should cover all minorities, including Jews and Asians.Copyrigh...

Avanti West Coast completes first phase of Pendolino upgrades – Business Traveller

14Sep

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Travel

Avanti West Coast completes first phase of Pendolino upgrades – Business Traveller

Avanti West Coast has provided an update on the refurbishment of its Pendolino trains, with all 11-carriage trainsets now upgraded. The operator inherited the 20-year-old trains from previous West Coast mainline operator Virgin Trains, and announced plans to renovate the fleet in July 2021. A total of 35 11-carriage trains have now been refurbished, equating to 385 carriages, 17,780 new seats, 3,010 new tables and 770 infotainment screens. The trains also now feature improved lighting, increased availability of power sockets, and new onboard shops. As part of this work Avanti increased the seat-count on its 11-car units by replacing one first carriage with standard class seating. Focus will now turn to the remaining 21 nine-carriage trains, with work expected to be completed by summer 20...

6Aug

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Travel

The Marker Key West Harbor Resort

1/16Named for Mile Marker 0 (the famous photo op that marks the end of U.S. Highway 1), The Marker Key West Harbor Resort is ideally located in a quiet cul-de-sac in Old Town, right along the historic seaport. The hotel is only three blocks from Duval Street, steps away from sunset sailings and fishing charters that leave from the harbor, and within walking distance of Mallory Square’s nightly Sunset Celebration.2/16Outside of the hotel, we spotted a series of colorful sculptures called the 5 Watchovers by artist Adam Russell of Key West Pottery, which showcases vigilant pelicans, each sitting atop a tower with a calm eye of protection for their surroundings (aside from the middle pelican who’s feasting on a fish). Each pelican (watchover) overlooks a different aspect of the island: navig...

5Aug

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Travel

Photos: The Capitana Key West

1/16The Capitana Key West’s facade features a 25-by-32-foot custom mural by marine artist K.C. Scott depicting an underwater scene with tarpons and spiny lobsters. The mural is considered part of the Key West Art in Public Places program, and it’s actually a black-and-white digital wrap of the same painting inside the lobby.2/16In The Capitana’s nautical-themed lobby, we saw shelves filled with vintage lanterns and bronze diving helmets, along with a full-color painting of the same K.C. Scott mural from the hotel’s facade.3/16The hotel’s grab-and-go shop in the lobby, Sundry Market, sells snacks, sodas, ice cream, and pool and beach essentials like sunscreen, as well as souvenirs, including Capitana-branded apparel and accessories.4/16A guest-favorite design feature in The Capitana's gues...