Seattle Travel Guide
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Celebrate the Season with a Conscience at Hotel 1000
The commercialism of the holiday season isn’t even in full fa-la-la swing, and already, we wish we could click our weatherproofed boots together and fast forward straight to 2010. As soon as we were old enough to know better, materialism, Macy’s and a complete lack of religious convictions killed the seasonal merriment for us and we pretty much tune out the world from Thanksgiving until the New Year.
We make a few exceptions, especially for people/places/products that manage to celebrate the spirit of the season with a conscience – Hotel 1000 in Seattle. The hotel does it up Saint Nick style all month long (faux snow at front door, warm nuts for passerbyers, etc.), but it’s the 12 Days of Comfort, Joy & Cheer component of the festivities that benefits the local non-profit organization, Art With Heart.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Al Gore / Green Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Political Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags
Al Gore Keeps It Local at Hotel Vintage Park
If you watched "30 Rock" last night then you may have seen former Vice President Al Gore make a confusing cameo as an eco-concerned janitor for Rockefeller Center (above.) But if you were dining at Tulio Ristorante inside the Hotel Vintage Park in Seattle the other night, then you would have seen Al Gore live, in person.
The veep was in town for a town hall meeting to promote his new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. He stopped in at Tulio which serves authentic Italian cuisine, for some halibut washed down with cabernet. According to the hotel peeps, he was very gracious to the staff and shook everyone's hand who came by to said hi. Some girls also said he was quite handsome. Hmm, he did look slimmer on "30 Rock" last night.
Tags: Twilight Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Contests / Hotel News / Kristen Stewart / Robert Pattinson / → All Tags
Hotel Monaco Seattle is Hosting 'Twilight' Look-a-Like Contest
We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we can say in complete confidence that Edward and Bella mania is at full-tilt levels of bat sh*t crazy. You can buy a replica of the heart-shaped crystal charm Edward gives to Bella, dine on mushroom ravioli at Bella Italia and even visit the Forks Community Hospital where Dr. Cullen works.
We’ve even heard that some hotels in Port Angeles, Forks and La Push on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula (the center of "Twilight" activity) are whoring out rundown motel rooms at $150 and up – because they can take the tourism bucks and run.
We love these coastal towns for a daytrip or an afternoon of waves, but they’re kinda depressing. Then again, that's absolutely perfect for a vampire series.
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A Taste of Italy in Seattle for Recessionistas
We swoon for all things Italian (pasta, leather footwear, gelato, dark wavy hair...) but right now, our pocketbook is feeling more "stay domestic cheap" than "maxxed-out credit card European fabulous."
So, when the Seattle Art Museum opens its Michelangelo Public and Private: Drawings for the Sistine Chapel and other Treasures from the Casa Buonarroti exhibit on October 15th, we're thinking a stay at nearby Alexis Hotel with its "Art of Michelanglo" package will be a whole lot more economical than round-trip fare to Florence. And since SAM is the only place showing this collection in the United States, it looks like you just gotta come to Seattle to see it.
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Pepper Spray Goes Off at The Hotel Andra
If you travel with pepper spray, it goes without saying that you should be careful with how you use it but we bet you never thought the hotel housekeeper would accidentally set it off. That's what happened last night at the Hotel Andra in Seattle.
According to the KOMO-TV, a housekeeper accidentally tipped over a can of pepper spray while servicing a guest room and it went off. The entire fifth floor was evacuated and five people had to be treated at the scene for their symptoms.
The hotel, which belongs to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection, released a statement explaining the pepper spray mishap and said that once the hotel was all aired out, guests could return to their rooms. There were no injuries and no guests had to be relocated.
In case you were wondering, About.com says "Milk or sour cream, a baking soda paste or honey are decent pepper spray antidotes."
Tags: Break-Up Hotels / Divorce Hotels / Hotel Spas / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel 1000's Spaahh Can Put You 'Back on the Market'
When Lilo and Samantha Ronson split back in April, our favorite rehabber dyed her hair back to trademark red and got a new tattoo. When Kim Kardashian parted ways from her football boyfriend, Reggie Bush late this summer, the raven-haired beauty hit the peroxide bottle and went blonde. (Both couples seem to be back on again. For now.)
So, whether you’re rebounding from a nasty divorce or an unforeseen break-up (our condolences, we know how much break-ups suck), Spaahh at Hotel 1000 is on hand with its Back on the Market Package to help wash that man (or woman) right out of your hair.
Tags: Spa Packages / Hotel Spas / Seattle Hotels / Sports Widow Hotels / → All Tags
Another Hotel Offers 'Relief' for Sports Widows
It might seem sexist when hotels like the Four Seasons Chicago offer anti-football spa packages that automatically assume that women don't like pigskin. The Pan Pacific Seattle's not-so-subtly named "Sports Widows Package" is a more obvious example, but even the ladies who love the game might want to set the DVR on Sunday to avoid the boozing sports fans in their living room and take a break at the spa. And for everyone else, the only excuse needed to get pampered is that it's a day that ends in "y."
The Sports Widow’s Package features your choice of treatment from the hotel's Vida Spa: manicure and pedicure, massage or facial. You also get accommodations for one evening in a deluxe guestroom at the Pan Pacific, along with overnight valet parking. Instead of the usual football fare of beer and pizza, the hotel provides Champagne and strawberries, plus you get a cocktail in The Bar.
Tags: Deal or No Deal / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Deals / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
The Hotel Max Wants $100 Extra To Let You Kind Of, Sort Of 'Raid The Honor Bar'
Through the rest of the year Seattle's Hotel Maxis running a deal where visitors get to "Raid The Honor Bar" for 1/2 off normal prices. The honor bar, which we're proud to say isn't even on our radar except that's where the Hangover Water lives, tends to be particular well-stocked at boutique hotels like the Max. In addition to the usual mini-bar items the package comes with toiletry kits, a Hotel Max Robe, a t-shirt, and an "intimacy kit."
Minor problem: you'll be paying so much more over the usual hotel rate that it's quite unlikely you'll come out ahead. There's even an interpretation under which you'd be getting "ripped off."
Tags: Hotel Design / Hotel Industry News / Taste Envy / Hotel Restaurant / → All Tags
Have You Ever Wondered Who Designed That Hotel Restaurant Menu?
The Aquarius restaurant menu at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Usually we don’t even notice a menu design…unless it’s ugly, unwieldy or unappetizing. But if you're a hotel geek like ourselves then you've probably caught yourself staring at a menu before and wondering who did the design? Most likely, it wasn't someone at the hotel.
When we talk about design in the hospitality industry, we almost always mean décor. However, there is a whole world of materials that have to be designed, and that is where the design firm Taste Envy comes in.
Founded by husband-and-wife team Jason and Nadine Stellavato Brown, Taste Envy creates menu covers and other "branding materials for design-minded restaurants, hotels and hospitality brands." Jason formed a similar firm in 1994 called Lost Luggage, which designed and created folders and other supplies for clients, but it makes sense that the two branched out into menus—all you have to do is check out their blog to see what big foodies the two are.
Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Kimpton Hotels / Seattle Hotels / → All Tags
Things We Like: Free Lunch at Hotel Monaco in Seattle
We could tawk all the day long about the things we like about Hotel Monaco. For starters, it’s extremely dog friendly (the hotel's publicist has pix of pups on her business card.) The almighty F&B powers-that-be give us more days and hours than your standard Seattle happy hour--Monday through Saturday, 4 – 8 p.m.
And we know we’ll never be the next Kurt Cobain, but Hotel Monaco entertains our inner rock star with Guitar Hero on Fridays in the lobby from 5 to 6 p.m. during hosted wine hour. Wine + wannabe rock star antics = F-U-N.
Lastly, Chef Jason McClure hosts quarterly Little Bit of Lovin’ cooking classes. The next one is October 17th, $50 per person, theme to be determined.
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The Edgewater Hosts The 'Deadliest Catch' Send-Off Party
Fans of Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch can send off the crab fishermen aboard the Sea Star at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle on Sept. 13 as the crew prepares to set sail for the Bering Sea off of Alaska’s coast to shoot the show's sixth season.
The Sea Star became famous in 2004 after the Discovery Channel aired the documentary America’s Deadliest Season, starring Capt. Larry Hendricks and his crew. The doc was so successful—more than 100 million viewers worldwide tuned in—that a spin-off reality TV series was created following some crab boats during the fall and winter on the Bering Sea. The Emmy-winning show seems to have a cult following.
Tags: Killer View / Seattle Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
It's Worth It to Stay Way Up There at The Westin Seattle
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
HotelChatter Flickr Group member Kyle.Britten dropped in this shot from the Westin Seattle into our HotelChatter Flickr Pool to show us just how pretty the view can get from the 47th floor, room 4737 to be exact. When you're up that high, you can see nearly as much as you can from the Space Needle as well as the needle itself.
While we'd prefer a small boutique hotel over the massive Westin Seattle towers (891 rooms in total), sometimes riding that elevator high up into the sky is worth it.
Rooms start this weekend at $199 a night. A bonus shot of the hotel's two towers, shot during our recent trip to Seattle in May, is after the jump.
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