Mexico City Travel Guide
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Live Aqua Mexico City Officially Open
Although Mexico City’s Live Aqua Bosques did have a soft opening last October, it's now "officially" open and ready to dazzle guests. If you recognize the name it’s because this hotel is the sister property of Live Aqua resort in Cancun.
The main difference is that this 135-room property is primarily aimed at the business market, although it’s not your average cookie-cutter corporate set up. Hotelera Posadas, Mexico’s leading hotel company, designed and placed the five-floor hotel in the heart of Mexico city’s fast-moving business district, Paseo de los Tamarindos, in the exclusive neighborhood of Bosques de las Lomas. It’s also close to the important Santa Fe, Interlomas and Paseo de la Reforma areas.
Arriving guests won’t find a traditional check-in desk. Instead, it will be done on a one-to-one basis with a staff member using a tablet. The guest is then led to their sleek and polished room that follows the multi-sensory concept of Live Aqua Cancun. They’ll find in-room aromatherapy and pillow menus (with 18 options!) and customizable in-room lighting.
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The Craziest Cocktail of the Day is in D.F.
Mercy it's cold outside and your usual champers does nothing to warm them bones. We'll get into all the Hot Toddy and Chocolate goodness out there soon, but for now, we want to focus on El Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, Why? Because we need to distract the hell out of ourselves and these frigid temps.
Plus, we like nothing more to amuse y'all. So when you go to your favorite watering hole tonight (that is if you aren't the lucky SOB's already in Mexico) we challenge you to ask them to serve a lil something like this:
It's called "The Grasshopper" and it's barrel aged mezcal, accompanied by fresh orange and a trio of salts: hibiscus (sal de jamaica), grasshopper (sal de chapulines), and worm (sal de gusano). Yeah, two of these have your eyes crinkled, fo sho. But wait, it's actually good for you!
High in protein, vitamins and minerals content, grasshoppers, or chapulines have been used as a Mexican food source for centuries (we love 'em in guacamole!). If you order a mescal at El Bar, your drink will probably be accompanied by grasshopper salt. Buggin' out by this? Ok, perhaps Chef Edgar Kano's worm salt is a better fit. The savory blend is made from worms that live on the maguey plant, from which tequila and mezcal come from. And don't say you don't like your tequila! We know better. You'll find the salt in his tangy guacamole and sauces.
See? We distracted you from the cold for a few minutes. Job done.
[Photo: Four Seasons Hotels]
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Marriott’s Second JW Marriott Opens in Mexico City
The JW Marriott Mexico City Santa Fe recently opened in a primo location in the city’s newest upscale neighborhood. With 221 rooms, could it give the original JW Marriot Mexico City a run for its money? That hotel was, after all, voted “Best Overall Hotel in Mexico” by Condé Nast readers. Only time will tell....
The JW Marriott Mexico City Santa Fe has some great modern design features, but can best be described as quietly elegant. There aren’t any big, splashy features that scream “look at me” but everywhere you turn there's beautiful design. Rooms are decorated in warm neutrals with all the mod cons we would expect at the five-star level.
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Flight Attendants Change Hotels After Death at Mexico City Hilton
This is just the kind of awful news you don't want to wake up to on any morning let alone a Halloween Monday morning--a US Airways flight attendant was found dead in his hotel room at the Mexico City Airport Hilton.
The AP reports that Phoenix-based crew member Nick Aaronson, 33, was found early Saturday morning naked in his hotel bed with his hands tied behind his back. His body showed signs of a beating and the Daily Mail reported his luggage was scattered throughout the room. Mexico City police are investigating the incident, which they are treating as a homicide and there have been reports that Aaronson's mother said an arrest has already been made.
Meanwhile, AFA 66 flight attendants' union put a statement on their website saying they did not believe a security breach had happened yet they have moved their crews to another hotel for layovers until the matter is resolved.
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Westin Has One More New Hotel Up Its Sleeve, This Time in Mexico City
If our story yesterday on two sun-drenched but far-flung Westin Hotel openings this summer had you fantasizing about using your SPG points for a vacation, you may want to consider something a little closer to home (well, at least for us North America folks.)
The Westin Santa Fe Mexico City has opened today in the city's downtown Santa Fe neighborhood. Billed as a "chic urban retreat", the hotel is located close to the Expo Bancomer Convention Center, several corporate offices and the and shopping at Centro Comercial Santa Fe.
So it's not quite the resort getaway that we looked at yesterday in Greece and Thailand but the hotel does boast a counter current swimming pool, a Heavenly Spa and Pimzini, a formal Italian restaurant. And don't forget the Westin goodies that you always find up in the rooms. Currently rates are rather reasonable at $155 a night for a room with two double beds. King rooms are just $170 a night.
Hotel Hype / Edition Hotels / Hotel News / Mexico City Hotels / → All Tags
Edition Hotel to Open in Mexico City's New Business District, Santa Fe
Picture it--December 2009. HotelChatter was up late at night agonizing over our end of the year awards and when it came to Worst Hotel Hype, we had to go with Edition Hotels. That's because nearly two years after announcing the Bill Marriott-Ian Schrager partnership, no Edition Hotels had opened yet. Numerous locations had been tossed about but nothing seemed concrete.
Then all of a sudden, the Edition floodgates opened in 2010. Waikiki is on for September/October, Istanbul, Barcelona, Bangkok and Mexico City are all confirmed and a location has just been set for Miami. What a difference a new year makes! And the news doesn't end there. We've got a hot tip about the Mexico City Edition Hotel.
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What's Inside the Desks at Las Alcobas?
We've been geeking out over some high-tech amenities found in hotels such as 3DTVs, Mac minis and iPads but travel writer Peter Frank encountered some lo-fi amenities during a recent hotel stay in Mexico City that are just as geeky--desk supplies!
He writes of the amenities at the Las Alcobas, a new luxury hotel:
Open the desk drawer and, lo and behold, you'll find a small collection of useful office supplies: paper clips, rubber bands, tape, a glue stick, even a tiny stapler. The other drawer contained a cute little puzzle map of Mexico.
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Edition Hotels May Open in Mexico City Next
While we are eagerly anticipating the Waikiki Edition which is still on track for a July opening, we've just got word that the next Edition Hotel to open may be in Mexico.
A tipster let us know that the hotel is looking for a director of sales in Mexico City. Sadly, we don't have much more to go on but we've been hearing a lot of good things about the cosmopolitan hotel scene in Mexico City these days. So this destination is 1,000 times more exciting than Waikiki.
Keep it up Bill and Ian! We want to see even more exciting destinations opening soon!
Heard any news about Edition Hotels? Let us know because the wait is nearly killing us.
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Business Travelers, Take Note: Hilton Mexico City Reforma Coming Soon
Chalk this hotel opening up to some of the notable ch-ch-ch-changes of hotel goliath Hilton Worldwide (née Hilton Hotels). Following news of the company's logo and name change, and overall brand rebirth, comes what they are dubbing a "historic" announced opening in Mexico City.
The Hilton Mexico City Reforma—currently a Sheraton—is scheduled to open at the end of 2009 after a series of upgrades, making it the first full-service Hilton hotel in the city. Is it a happy coincidence that it happens to be located on the aptly named Reforma Avenue?
The announcement touts the future Hilton as being ideal for business and pleasure-seeking travelers, but their description is especially suit-and-tie formal: Hilton looks forward to building its "portfolio of brands throughout Mexico and Latin America;" it will strengthen their "presence in one of the most important markets with one of the most impressive products in Mexico City." Can we get a hedge fund with room service?
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The St. Regis Gets Some Mexican Flavor With New Hotel
Instead of getting that emergency dental surgery you so desperately need, head to Mexico, where the government will pay for your procedure and you can use your root-canal money on the newly opened St. Regis Mexico City.
And at $199 a night, you might have dough left over to treat yourself to a massage at the Remède Spa or to have a private dinner on the hotel's helipad (seriously). But be sure to save some money for Internet access, since it’s not free here.
Renowned architect Cesar Pelli -- whose credits include the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the World Financial Center in Manhattan -- designed this 492-foot luxe hotel, which boasts floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Plaza of Diana and the city's first panoramic indoor pool. But hotel officials say that the 189-room tower will retain some local flavor:
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Christmas in Mexico City? :: Consider the Marquis Reforma
In Tony Cohan's excellent travelogue, Mexican Days, he writes of a surreal Christmas spent in Distrito Federal, what the natives call Mexico City. He found the streets strangely, uncomfortably empty, cleared of the usual throngs. Everyone was home celebrating the festivities but him. (The passage starts on pg. 77.)
While the Mexicans are busy sequestering themselves with families and friends during the Christmas days, it might be a good time to try out The Marquis Reforma Hotel & Spa's "Winter Holiday" package, if you're not headed off to the Mexican beaches.
Starting at $170 a night (double occupancy required) and available between December 15 and January 6 (another major holiday, the celebration of "Rosca de Reyes"), the package comes with a tour of DF's most deck-out neighborhoods. And the hotel is close to some of the City's biggest sights: Chapultapec Park, and the Museo de Antropologia.
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Celebrate 'The Day of The Dead' at the Marquis Reforma
You might think the whole Halloween thing is over once November arrives, but down in Mexico, they spend a bit more time honoring the dead with the Day of the Dead. Their festivities to celebrate the lives of the deceased run over November 1 and 2, and the Marquis Reforma Hotel & Spa is offering a special Day of the Dead package that hooks up with the Mixquic Festival.
Book into the Marquis Reforma for two nights and the Day of the Dead package will actually let you do a lotta living. For $820 per room you'll get the two nights in a Junior Suite, a tour to Mixquic including lunch, a spa treatment, daily breakfast and transport to Santa Fe shopping center when you're done celebrating the dead.
In Mixquic, on the outskirts of Mexico City, you'll see some of the most authentic Day of the Dead celebrations around, including dancing, decorated graves and special pan de muerto (bread of the dead). If you indulge too much you'll be able to rest up in the Marquis Reforma which is rated pretty highly on the list of 5-star hotels in Mexico City, and is apparently the only Mexico City hotel to belong to the Leading Spas of the World group.
[Photo: hankmancini]
Related Stories:
· Mexico City Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Mexico Travel Stories [Jaunted]
