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Speaking of Hotel Cars, The V8 Hotel Offers Cars in the Guestrooms
So we got a little turned on this morning with our list of 10 Tricked Out Hotel House Cars but the reality is, we're not going to be able to afford a $1,000,000 stay at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi just so we can have exclusive access to a Maybach. Yet we've found a more affordable way to indulge in our gearhead fantasies--spending the night at the V8 Hotel in Germany's Meilenwerk Stuttgart, an international hub for car dealers.
The hotel opened last September on the old Böblingen airport field and it's entire inspiration is the automobile. There are 34 rooms inside the hotel and while the single rooms are rather bleak, the 10 themed rooms will satisfy most every auto fantasy you've ever had. Here are some of the stand-out themed rooms:
Autokino; The bed looks like a big red Cadillac and the room is designed to look like a night out at the drive-in movie theater from the 70s. All you need is a schmoopie in bed with you and you can be instantly transported to Lovers Lane.
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Berlin's Newest Hotel Balances 'Brutal Living' with iMacs and a Rooftop Pool
The Germans may only have won third place at the World Cup, but they take first in our book when it comes to the funkiest new design hotels. And—speak of the devil—the Design Hotels chain has just opened up a new property right in Berlin-Mitte, a walk away from the very hip Hackescher Markt area.
Called the Weinmeister Berlin-Mitte, the new property (which debuted on July 6) calls its aesthetic "Brutal Living/Luxury Punk," and yet all 88 rooms look pretty cozy from the photographs we've seen.
Perhaps the "brutal" refers to the main facade of the building, which is a flat, gold modernistic one. The Weinmeister hopes it'll be called the "golden cage" as a result, but we think the locals will think of far better nicknames than that.
Hotel Openings / Soho House Hotels / Berlin Hotels / → All Tags
Soho House Berlin and Its 'Tiny' Rooms are Now Open
It looks like Soho House and its hotel rooms are on a major expansion kick. The Soho House West Hollywood opened earlier this year (but without hotel rooms) as did two new annexes in London--Dean Street Townhouse and Shoreditch--and Soho Beach House in Miami is expected to open in September.
But back on The Continent, it looks like Soho House has opened a new club and hotel Berlin as well. This photo shows a Damien Hirst shark "painting" in the hotel's lobby.
The good news is that rooms are quite affordable here starting at 100 Euros a night for non-members (members can get it for 75 Euros.) The bad news is that rooms are tiny and indeed that is the name of the starting room category, "Tiny." These rooms are also on the top of the hotel in the attic and boast a "dormitory feel." (Other room sizes are Small, Medium, Large and Extra-Large.) There's also only 40 guestrooms at the hotel so chances for availability are slimmer.
Hotel Rants / Hotel WiFi Hell / Hotel WiFi / Frankfurt Hotels / Airport Hotels / Business Hotels / Germany Hotels / Sheraton Hotels / → All Tags
Beware: A Stay at the Sheraton Frankfurt Equals Hotel WiFi Hell
Even though many budget-friendly hotels have adopted free internet as part of the room rate, the fight for complimentary WiFi is far from over. Our latest battlefront is the Sheraton Hotel & Tower at Frankfurt Airport in Germany, which had the most appallingly bad internet policy and connection we've ever used.
Thankfully we got around paying $250 a night for this airport hotel by being a guest of Lufthansa, but we still had the pesky internet charge. And here's the policy: Guests get a free 30 minutes of internet per day in the lobby only. In the rooms, connectivity costs 8 Euro per hour, or a flat 19 Euro for 24 hours. You must create a user ID for your account.
After successfully hooking up to the free half-hour in the lobby on our iPhone at check-in, the situation looked manageable. That is, until we sat down in our room to begin the real work.
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Inside Düsseldorf's Breidenbacher Hof, a Five-Star That Loves Freebies
On Friday, we showed you a peek at a five-star hotel so comfortable with incorporating tech into the guestrooms, that their snazzy plug panels along qualify as sweet hotel porn. We recently explored this hotel, Breidenbacher Hof of the Capella Hotels group in Düsseldorf, Germany, and were quite impressed with everything that it offers—from free wifi to an expansive guests-only living room with refreshments bar.
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From Touchpanels to Free WiFi: This Luxury Hotel Loves Its Tech
Picture this: you've just arrived to your room in a luxury European hotel. You're tired, a little sweaty, and your phone is out of battery life. Because of the time difference, you've also got to start working on your computer right away, but you can't locate the electrical outlets. A quick, feverish look around the room don't reveal any and then—like a lightbulb going on over your head—you have the sudden idea to check the desk drawer, and there they are. A pair of polished-up glimmering outlets, an ethernet port and A/V cable ports are right there at easy reach and out of sight. It's brilliant.
It's what we found in the rooms at the 5-star Breidenbacher Hof, a Capella Hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany, and we've never seen a plug panel so advanced.
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Inside Frankfurt's Villa Kennedy: A Palace with a Past
The largest hotel suite in all of Germany, as we showed you yesterday, sits at the top of a palatial private villa turned 5-star hotel, in the ritzy neighborhood of Sachsenhausen in Frankfurt. This property, the Villa Kennedy of the Rocco Forte Collection, is a restored historical complex originally built for a banker family in 1904, and which also housed the Max Planck Institut for the Advancement of Science before becoming a luxury hotel.
These days, the expansive courtyard and sprawling suites are known more for housing celebs, politicians and CEOs than test tubes and scientists, but one thing remains the same: that this is an exclusive, pristine property.
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Inside the Largest Hotel Suite in Germany
Above the staircase where President Kennedy once stood during his famous visit to Germany to give his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, now sits the country's largest hotel suite. Villa Kennedy's Speyer Suite measures an impressive 3,509 square feet, has three bedrooms, a chef's kitchen with Gaggenau appliances, and completely bulletproof windows.
Chances are, since the Villa Kennedy (of the Rocco Forte Collection of hotels) is the best show in town when it comes to 5-star hotels in Frankfurt, that when the big celebrities and politicians are in town, they stay in this suite. It also helps that it's got a private elevator, panic buttons in the rooms (just in case), a massive entrance hall, and an impressive dining room inside one of the Villa's turrets, that lends itself well to interviews and photoshoots.
No, we didn't stay here, but just had a drool-tastic look around.
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Inside the Westin Grand Frankfurt: A Wannabe Five-Star
This is a tale of a traveler who blind-booked a European hotel on Hotwire only a few days before traveling, and actually got a serious deal. We told you all about our $105 night at the "5-star" Westin Grand Frankfurt yesterday, but now we've got to break out with the full review, including all the juicy details of this centrally-located property, and how a Hotwire customer is treated.
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Adventures in Blind Booking: The Westin Grand Frankfurt for $105
Have you seen the good news? Good for Americans and not-so-good for Europeans, though. The Euro has dropped significantly in value recently, making summer European trips very appealing and affordable. We just got back from Germany ourselves, and on top of reaping the benefits of better exchange rates, we also blind-booked a hotel for one night in Frankfurt, and majorly scored on the deal.
With a last-minute extra night in the city, we had to make a quick decision for a hotel that would ideally be luxurious, but not too expensive that we'd be traumatized at losing the room charge in case the Iceland volcano threw off our entire trip. Thus, we turned to Hotwire and spotted a 5-star for $105 per night. That's 105 dollars even.
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On the Frankfurt Hotel Stairs Where President Kennedy Once Stood
Inside the lobby atrium at the Villa Kennedy
Last time we popped into a Rocco Forte Collection hotel, it was nearly a year ago when we treated ourselves to tea on the rooftop terrace of Berlin's Hotel de Rome. But then, it is slightly difficult to hit all the Forte uber-luxury hotels; there are only 13 all around the world.
This week however, since we're back in Germany, we had to get ourselves all up in the Villa Kennedy, a 163-room 5-star property which was once a private family home and also a stop on President John F. Kennedy's trip to Germany for his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Although we didn't sleep here—just downed a cappuccino and toured the magical castle-like place—expect a full photo gallery and more early next week. Look—if a big name celebrity or official is in Frankfurt, then this is the place they're calling home temporarily. It's not completely out of range for regular travelers though, since weekend rates start at 220 Euro per night.
Photo: HotelChatter
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Radisson Blu's Revolving Door Unfairly Attacks Justin Bieber
The Radisson Blu Hotel in Cologne, Germany better watch its back. After its revolving door brutally attacked Justin Bieber--without reason!--Bieber fans will be on the warpath to take down anyone and anything that messes with the bodily perfection of Bieber and his lovely lady hair.
Ok, maybe we're exaggerating. After all, Justin hitting his head on a revolving door was entirely his fault (watch the video above.) But Bieber fans did send death threats to Kim Kardashian just for posing in a pic with the Biebster so you never know what they might do to a hotel.
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