Philadelphia Travel Guide
Tags: Philadelphia Hotels / Baseball Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel News / 2009 World Series Hotels / → All Tags
The Phillies Win is Good News For Philly Hotels
*UPDATE* As of today, the Palomar is offering another introductory rate, and like last week’s, it starts at a very reasonable $119 per night, including continental breakfast. The special rate is for stays Thursday–Sunday until Feb. 28, 2010—but must be booked by October 30. The rate code to use online or on the phone is DINE1. (But it’s not available for those Phillies World Series dates—we checked.)
So the Phillies clinched their World Series spot, and now everyone awaits the Yankees to follow suit tonight. But it’s not just sports fans craving the drama of the big east-coast rivalry. The city of Philadelphia would love a Phillies-Yanks matchup, and all the money it could bring, partly through hotel-room taxes.
Which is great news for the new Hotel Palomar Philadelphia. During a quick trip to Philly yesterday, we popped into the city’s first Kimpton to have a peek at the lobby (small but, indeed, cozy as we predicted from the photos we saw last week.) There was plenty of activity and a front-desk clerk told us that the hotel had “hit the ground running” since its opening last Thursday. Rooms were fully booked for the first six nights, but you can snag one tomorrow night from $259 or this Sunday night from $159.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Philadelphia Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / → All Tags
Philly’s Hotel Palomar Opens This Thursday
While we wait patiently for a slew of hot new hotels to open in New York City, there is movement over in Philly, with the opening of the city’s first Kimpton property, the Hotel Palomar, this Thursday.
And we’re not the only ones excited about the opening. Just ask Ed Grose of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday:
“Having a property like Palomar by Kimpton come to Philadelphia confirms that we have made it as a city.”
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Philly Will Get Two More Kimpton Hotels
Philly’s new Kimpton property, Hotel Palomar, is still three weeks away from opening, but we’re already wondering about the status of another Kimpton project in the Illadel.
Developers ARCWheeler have been working to finalize the purchase of the city’s historic Boyd Theatre from concert company Live Nation, with a view to restoring the Art Deco movie palace to its former glory. (It opened in 1928 and is listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.) To help ensure the theatre’s future, ARCWheeler will partner with Kimpton and Martinez + Johnson Architecure to build a 287-room Monaco hotel on top of the theatre. According to reports on SkyscraperPage.com:
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Hotel Palomar Philadelphia to Open October 15th
In a move that makes us happy (hard to do on the day after a three-day weekend marking the end of summer), we've just heard that Kimpton Hotels will open their Hotel Palomar Philadelphia on October 15 in the City of Brotherly Love's Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.
Not only will the Palomar be the first Kimpton in Philly, but also the first Kimpton to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
By the looks of the room renderings we’ve seen so far, the décor will reflect the property’s green cred. The exterior looks pretty exciting too: the hotel is situated in the landmark Architects Building, built in 1929, and known as one of the city’s best examples of Art Deco architecture.
Tags: Top Chef / Hotel Restaurants / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Celebrity Cehfs / Jenny Carroll / Eric Ripert / → All Tags
The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia's Chef Getting Fancy on 'Top Chef'
Top Chef’s Season 6 in Las Vegas may have started out with two Jennifers, but the one left standing after two episodes is Jenny Carroll from the kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia. For those of you just catching up on the season, she’s the blond one, not the one with those scary earlobe-stretching rings.
This Philly native studied her craft at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in her hometown, and now works as the Chef de Cuisine at 10 Arts by Eric Ripert. That means she does the real work in the kitchen every night. Ripert handpicked her from his staff at New York’s famed Le Bernardin to lead his team at his new digs at the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton right across from City Hall.
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Le Meridien Philadelphia Pushed Back Until November 1
We were all excited the other month when we heard that the Le Meridien Philadelphia would be opening just before Labor Day Weekend on September 3rd but today when we went back in to check on the hotel's website, it gave us this message:
Accepting Reservations for Arrival on or After Nov 1, 2009
When we tried to make a reservation online for that date, the site said there were no rooms available for the date requested. Ditto for when we plugged in dates for the following week.
Looking around the rest of the site, we didn't find much news except that the restaurant will be called Amuse and the bar will be called Le Amuse. Also, no pets will be allowed. For shame! On the bright side, the hotel just nearly makes the cut-off for the new SPG Bonus Starpoints promotion which ends November 6.
[Photo via The Illadelph]
Tags: Hotel Contests / Hotel Packages / Hotel Promotions / Phildelphia Hotels / Baseball Hotels / → All Tags
'Tailgate Like a Champ' And Win Something Other Than a Hangover
Remember the old days of tailgating where even if your college (or favorite professional) sports team didn't win, you were still the proud winner of a terrible hangover and sometimes some incriminating photos of yourself doing keg-stands in a parking lot and — heaven forbid — maybe even some body paint was involved?
Yes, okay, well: The Doubletree in Philly is giving you a chance to win something other than those lovely things with the Philly Overnight Tailgating Package. So long as you act like a Phillies fan for a night, that is.
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Philly Hotels Try to Woo You With Love Letters and Packages
Philly's running a new ad campaign that is sorta like a collection of love letters signed, "With Love, Philadelphia." The idea here sorta echoes an ad campaign from '97 — "Philadelphia: The Place That Loves You Back" — and apparently everyone likes love and people respond to love letters best in the tougher economic times.
So as part of the new (officially-titled) "With Love, Philadelphia XOXO" campaign, there are 100-ish featured hotel packages on the gophila.com/withlove website, and anyone who books will score a "special gift" at check-in.
This is a shot of the Loews Philadelphia, who is participating in the campaign (obvs) and whose "As You Wish" package is being offered through September:
Enjoy up to a $500 credit on food and beverages at the Loews — and the longer you stay, the more credit you receive!
· Stay 2 nights, earn $50 credit
· Stay 3 nights, earn $100 credit
· Stay 4 nights, earn $150 credit
· Stay 5 nights, earn $200 credit
· Stay 6 nights, earn $300 credit
· Stay 7 nights, earn $500 credit
Rooms here are starting around $339 per night, but the GoPhila website has tons of packages at other hotels starting at $77.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Hotel Delays / Philadelphia Hotels / Waldorf-Astoria Collection / → All Tags
Philly Probably Won't Be Getting That Waldorf-Astoria After All
So, remember how we told you that Philly was going to get a Waldorf-Astoria? Yeah, well, maybe not.
The building — which was set to be all done in 2012 — was going to have 136 residences (starting at around $1 million) and 175 guest rooms, plus a 14,000-square-foot spa fitness center with an indoor pool, two cocktail lounges, two restaurants and a seasonal outdoor restaurant and cocktail terrace.
But the $420-million project, unsurprisingly, has been put on hold — with a pretty sad-looking future. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, construction was supposed to start in January but the folks behind the project realized there were "structural problems in the marketplace right now," there was a change in the hotel ownership and, no doubt also due to the dismal state of the luxury hotel market right now, things got put on hold — indefinitely.
Though Hilton says they're still "committed to the project" and the owners remain under a management contract with Hilton to fly the Waldorf-Astoria Collection flag at the hotel, we're not gonna be holding our breath on this one.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Hotel News / Jamie Foxx / AKA Hotels / → All Tags
Jamie Foxx Has a Security Issue at AKA Philly
We joke about stalking celebs 'round here quite a bit — but we promise we'd, like, never actually go stalk them. We're not nutjobs. Poor Jamie Foxx got quite a scare earlier this month when a stalker made his way into the actor's room at the luxury extended-stay AKA Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.
It all went down at the AKA Hotel in Philadelphia on March 22 -- sources say Jamie had to physically struggle to shove a 49-year-old perp out of his room, after the guy tricked Foxx into thinking he was Beyonce's producer.
We're told Jamie realized something was wrong as soon as he opened the door, but the suspect quickly tried to push his way inside. Fortunately, Jamie overpowered him and slammed the door in his face.
Ew. Who let that guy in, anyway? Hotel security, where were you on that one?
In other news, we have finally heard of someone who has stayed at an AKA Hotel. We'd contact him to see what he thought of the place, but, you know, maybe something sorta tainted the whole stay for him.
Tags: Escape the Economy Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel News / Philadelphia Hotels / Dollar Hotel Rooms / → All Tags
Alexander Inn Introduces 'Guest Stimulus Plan' with $1 Rooms
As if finding a way to Philly wasn't already rather cheap, now staying in the City of Brotherly Love is extremely, unbelievably, insanely affordable. And it's all thanks to the new Guest Stimulus Plan at the Alexander Inn which is offering limited rooms from Thursday through Sundays for $1.. No, that's not a typo. One George Washington is all you need.
Hotel owner Mel Heifetz said he decided to do the promotion to help out guests with their budgets but also to help out the city of Philly. Since folks don't have to spend so much on the hotel room, they can spend a little more on "art exhibits, show tickets, and in other neighborhood establishments." We couldn't agree more.
The promotion runs from March 10 to May 21. We suggest holding out until late April if you can as the hotel is going through a renovation which will see the arrival of new furniture in mid-April.
After the jump is the nitty gritty on the deal.
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Sheraton Philly Forces Guest To Charge Laptop in Bathroom
On any given trip, how many gadgets do you travel with? We'd be willing to bet you've at least got a cell phone every time, a laptop some of the time, perhaps an iPod, a curling iron, an electric shaver or even a little personal DVD player if you're into that sort of thing, right? And in your hotel, you'd probably be in need of an outlet or two to plug in said gadgets or at least recharge them overnight, correct? Correct.
And haven't we all been in hotel situations where we've had to crawl under desks or bedside tables or unplug lamps because of a shortage of outlet options or an illogically placed, inconveniently-located socket? It's the worst. You'd think your traveler-of-2009 needs would be considered when hotel rooms are being built or renovated these days — but, miraculously, sometimes they're not.
The next time you're crawling under your desk to plug in your laptop, just remember this photo and remind yourself that it could be worse: you could be faced with no outlets and all — and left with no choice but to plug your stuff into the bathroom wall.
This was posted to Flickr by cubemate, who seemed to have no other outlets in his hotel room at the Sheraton Philadelphia (tags for this shot included "rundown," "atrophy," "missing," and "smell.") He adds:
It was the "3V" floor. If someone of ill repute were to show up smelling of vice, vomit and vermin, I imagine this is where you would put them.
Wow, seriously? Looks like someone might need a renovation soon.
[Photo: Cubemate]
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