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New Reykjavik Hotel Is Bringing Wartime German Fixtures To a Cookie Factory

Where: Skulagata 28, Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik is getting a new place to stay, and for once it won't cost you every crown of your vacation budget. The Kex Hostel, set to open this April, will offer 138 beds on three floors, as well as private rooms with en suite bathrooms that make this an appealing place to stay even if you've given up your Rough Guide.

The name Kex is Icelandic for cookie, a fitting name for a place set in a retired cookie factory on the Saebraut waterfront. A release has more:

The owners, including Icelandic football stars Hermann Hreidarsson, a Portsmouth FC player and Eidur Gudjonssen, a Fulham FC player, aim to retain many of the factory's original features while adding a contemporary touch. Much of the hostel is even styled from original fixtures, with the furniture created from salvaged materials and objects.

Kex will offer more than just a bed, with a café and bar, breakfast buffet, lounge area, heated outdoor patio, laundry room, kitchenettes, free Wifi and a gym.

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Iceland Hotel Reviews / NYT Reviews / Frank Bruni / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Frank Bruni Namechecks The Hotel Borg in Iceland

Where: Posthusstroti 11, Reykjavik, Iceland

The New York Time’s resto critic Frank Bruni recently took some time away from critiquing NYC restaurants to spend 36 hours in Reykjavik, Iceland. Though he spent much of his time partaking in the local tradition of runtur (pub crawl) — and making more than a couple swipes at some drunken locals — his choice of bedpost, the Hotel Borg, was smart, if not particularly surprising.

Bruni says the 1930 Art Deco Hotel Borg sits on the Reykjavik’s “prettiest square” and is the “grande dame of accommodations.” We’d have to agree: This past fall, HotelChatter’s Tim Leffel described the hotel as “in most respects the best in the city.”

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Iceland Hotel Guide / Iceland Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel Packages / → All Tags

Iceland's Pain Is Your Gain at the Hilton Reykjavik

Where: Sudurlandsbraut 2, Reykjavik, Iceland

Last week we ran an Iceland Hotel Guide series and the prices we quoted have already dropped from there. Iceland is having a financial system meltdown that makes the U.S. one look like a minor annoyance. As a result, their currency has tumbled and what was once one of the most expensive destinations for Americans has become a great bargain.

Icelandair just dropped fares to Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, to $400 round trip from New York City or Boston, good for travel November through March.

Here's the real kicker though: if you travel there in November, Icelandair is offering a 3-night-stay at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica, with daily breakfast, for only $149 more per person double occupancy--total. That makes the whole three-day weekend only $549 (plus another $76 to $90 in taxes). You must book by October 21 at the promotion page of www.icelandair.com.

If you thought the land of geysers, bubbling hot springs, 10,000 waterfalls, and a giant glacier was out of your price range, here's your window of opportunity.

[VOX restaurant at the Hilton photo by tonwesseling]

Iceland Hotel Reviews / Iceland Hotel Guide / Sweet Suites / → All Tags

Iceland Hotel Guide: Sweet Suites at The Hotel Borg

Where: Posthusstraeti 11, Reykjavik, Iceland

HotelChatter contributing editor Tim Leffel is braving the erratic weather of Iceland and reporting on the local hotel scene this week. Most hotels are listed in euros or kroners, but prices have been converted into dollars, which are actually worth something there right now.

There are no frightening alien cyborgs at Reykjavik's Hotel Borg, which is in most respects the best in the city. When most hotels say they "combine old-time elegance with modern style" it means they couldn't afford a full renovation.

In this case, they really did marry the old with the new seamlessly. The 2006 renovations turned the entire 1930s building into a stylized Art Deco palace, but using updated leather furniture, new electronics, and modern plumbing.

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Iceland Hotel Reviews / Iceland Hotel Guide / Rude Staff / → All Tags

Iceland Hotel Guide: Given the Cold Shoulder at Hotel 101

Where: Hverfisgata 10, Reykjavik, Iceland

HotelChatter contributing editor Tim Leffel is braving the erratic weather of Iceland and reporting on the local hotel scene this week. Most hotels are listed in euros or kroners, but prices here have been converted into dollars, which are actually worth something there right now.

Hotel 101 in Reykjavik, Iceland has a reputation of being reminiscent of a velvet rope Studio 54 in the early 1980s. Staffers are condescending, fashion obsessed, aloof, and just plain rude. Even though nightly rates are the highest in the country, the service at this hotel is still quite frosty.

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Iceland Hotel Reviews / Iceland Hotel Guide / → All Tags

Iceland Hotel Guide: Hotel Reykjavik Centrum

Where: Adalstraeti 16 , Reykjavik, Iceland

HotelChatter contributing editor Tim Leffel is braving the erratic weather of Iceland and reporting on the local hotel scene this week. Most hotels are listed in euros or kroners, but prices here have been converted into dollars, which are actually worth something there right now.

The "centrum" in this hotel's name is the main selling point. Located a few steps from hot restaurant The Fish Market, Hotel Centrum is also just a few blocks away from other fine dining shrines like Orange, The Lobsterhouse, and The Seafood Cellar. It is two blocks from Tjörnin Lake and the National Gallery.

Otherwise it's your basic business hotel, with intermittent WiFi you have to pay for, predictable furnishings, and a minibar with prices fit for an expense account. The style is pseudo-Scandinavian, with showers meant for skinny people and what one guest described as "the smallest toilets I've ever sat upon." Floor space is also tight in the standard rooms, so you may want to book a "double double" or a junior suite if there are two of you.

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W Hotels / Ice Hotels / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags

A New Ice Hotel: W Reykjavik in Iceland

Tipster Kal B sent another Starwood hotels tip our way: plans for a W Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The W will be part of the Icelandic National Concert-Conference Center and Hotel which will house the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, according to this presentation report. (Note: The link opens a PDF).

There's not much here about the hotel except that it will have 400 rooms. The concert hall center is expected to open sometime in 2009. Somehow we are more excited for W Reykjavik then W Hoboken.

Iceland Hotel Reviews / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags

Iceland's 101 Hotel Has Nice Rooms but Frosty Service

Where: Hverfisgata 10, Reykjavík, Iceland, 101

In a country like Iceland where some parts of the year are simply drearily dark and cold, the interior of your hotel takes on a new importance. Which is why the entrance of capital city Reykjavik's first boutique hotel was a significant moment. The 101 Hotel also includes the 101 Bar and Restaurant, and the same owners are responsible for the nearby 101 Gallery. PR peeps try to explain that the 101 somehow captures the whole essence of Iceland:

The 38-room hotel adds extra appeal to the pure landscape of the land - the spouting geysers, active volcanoes, tumbling waterfalls, towering mountains, vast lava plains and stunning lakes ... 101 Hotel complements this natural Nordic coolness with the warmth of its heated oak floors, lounge fireplace and little spa Jacuzzi.

And while the designer aspect of being a boutique hotel has clearly been taken care of well, the service aspect might be a little lacking, if some of the guest reviews are to be believed: adjectives like "perfunctory" and even "horrendous" crop up when describing how hotel staff handled problems. For sheer building and room admiration purposes, however, it's a good stay. And at least the flacks never claimed to offer really great service.

[Photo: Curehead]

Related Stories:
· 101 Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Amazing Race 6: Check Out the 101 [HotelChatter]
· In Iceland All Your Worries Melt Away [Scotsman]

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50 Cent Does Iceland

Where: Sadurlandsbraut 2, Reykjavik, Iceland

50 Cent changed his name to Fiddy, flew to Iceland, checked-in to the Nordica Hotel in Reykjavik, and then began to tap into local culture, so to speak.

According to the NY Post, 50 kept such a long queue of Nordic blondes outside his suite, his G-Unit posse had to attend a show after party without their cash cow.

So how is the hotel you ask?

One recent guest quipped:

This hotel is well decorated with modern furnishings, but has poor soundproofing which makes a good night's sleep tough unless
you are a sound sleeper. I could hear the person next door...

Hope y'all like 50.

Related Stories:
·   Lining Up For 50 [NY Post]
·   Nordica Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Miscellaneous / → All Tags

Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Check out the 101

Where: Hverfisgata 10, Reykjavík, Iceland

Here we go again, cue the overly dramatic theme music, "oh hee ha".  The Amazing Race Six started last night, and we at HotelChatter are back to do our post episode hotel chronicle and post them in the Misc. section.

Here is a quick refresher: We watch Amazing Race, and let you know the dirt on the hotels the contestants are staying in, or properties that are involved in the show. At the request of our readers, if no hotels are featured during an episode, we take a look at hotels surrounding that weeks pit stop. Really, this isn't as complicated as it sounds.

First a comment on the overall race cast. While it is difficult to get a grasp on the cast during the first couple episodes, we still think it is safe to say the Amazing Race finally went totally Hollywood, or at least Surreal Life. Is everyone on the show a model, a wrestler or in show biz in one way or another? Maybe it was just the first episode blues. Anyway, on to this week's pit stop: Blue Lagoon Iceland.

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