HotelChatter

Tags: London Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags

Luxury London Hotel Gets Refurb But We Want War Secrets

Where: 2 Whitehall Court, London, United Kingdom, SW1A 2EJ

Spending £16.3 million (US$26.4 million) on a refurbishment sounds like a fair bit for a 280-room hotel but the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London does seem pretty special.

It's an eighteenth century heritage-listed building and the revamp will include doing up all the rooms with modern techy stuff like free Wifi, iPod docks and plasma TVs, as well as adding a new restaurant and a new lounge.

But it's not really the refurb that gets us going at the Royal Horseguards--we're more interested in checking in to the eighth floor. Apparently it was used by the Secret Service during World War One and we're definitely keen to find some leftover war secrets.

Rates average around $420 at the moment but no word yet on if they'll rise after the renos are finished in (they promise) early 2009.

[Photo: Lesw]

Tags: Hotel News / London Hotels / Celebrity Scoop / Paris Hilton / → All Tags

Paris Hilton Might Parade Her BFF's at The May Fair

Where: Stratton Street, London, United Kingdom

We wrote yesterday about The May Fair's new YouTube channel, and we watched footage from the general manager's little chitty-chat with Paris Hilton herself. In the vid, she says she would live in London if she could because it's her favorite city in the world (we say: please, by all means, GO).

And now we hear -- from a tipster, of course -- that she's sticking around the city for a little while now. While she's been gallivanting around London working on "Paris Hilton's British Best Friend," (unfortunately we're not kidding and yes, it is very, very real) she has moved from the Sanderson Hotel over to the May Fair today to stay there through the end of the month.

Our tipster also told us she's thinking of filming a segment of her show at the May Fair, too. Rumor has it that she has her eye on the super pink Schiaparelli Suite for the show. Um, like, would it involve her potential British besties standing in the room and helping her pick out an outfit for an event? Or do we smell a slumber party?

Tags: Escape the Economy Hotels / London Hotels / Hotel Bars / Royal Hotels / → All Tags

Escape the Economy Hotels :: London Gets In On the Game

All this week we will be running Escape the Economy hotel packages. We doubt this will make you feel better about your dwindling stash of money but you might actually have a good time.

The economic woes that we are all facing today aren't just limited to those in the States. Nay. Europe is having its own troubles too and London especially since so many major American banks have...er...had offices in London.

Thus The Metropolitan London and sister hotel, The Halkin are offering over £200 the normal rack rates now through May 31, 2009.

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Tags: New Year's Eve Hotels / London Hotels / → All Tags

New Year's Eve 2008: Your Private Party at London's Plaza on the River

Where: 18 Albert Embankment, London, United Kingdom, SE1 7TJ

Although it feels just way too early, it's probably time we all pinned down a plan for New Year's Eve this year. We haven't thought about it, but in London the Plaza on the River has and they've even put together a package. Yeah, they're more organized than we are.

The Plaza on the River is a pretty swanky place that is, as you'd expect, on the River Thames. Their suggestion is that you hold a private party in your suite there, and get one of the hotel's "in-room chefs" to prepare you all a gourmet meal. This idea definitely has something going for it, especially as you'll also be able to see the New Year fireworks over the London Eye from your suite.

Their New Year's Eve package involves a two-night stay (30 and 31 December, or 31 December and 1 January), a fruit basket, full breakfast, and champagne and canapés served at midnight on the big night. This'll cost you £1,100 (US$1,900) for a one-bedroom suite, plus VAT. So get planning--we don't really want 2009 to arrive too soon either, but at least you should be welcoming it in style.

[Photo: kzek]

Tags: Hotel Videos / London Hotels / YouTube / → All Tags

The May Fair's Youtube Channel is Actually Watchable

Where: Stratton Street, London, United Kingdom, W1J 8LT

In their everlasting, always admirable and at times embarrassing quests to reach out to the "Facebook Generation," hotels often venture onto the interwebs to create blogs and Twitters and what have you. On occasion, we rip on them when they're done poorly -- who wants to read a blog full of lame plugs for a hotel or watch a YouTube channel full of commercials? -- but sometimes they do it up right and warm our hearts.

The latter is the case with the May Fair Hotel's YouTube Channel (hooray! We're saying nice things!) You'll find all kinds of vids that a potential guest of the hotel might want to watch: an awesome foray into the penthouse suite, a one-on-one sesh with the hotel's personal trainer, and even an exclusive interview with the mindnumbingly boring Paris Hilton (fun to watch if you want to get a taste of the friendliness of the staff; exceptionally lovely even when faced with a Hilton sister).

We especially dug the video footage of the rooms -- like the Bamboo Suite, above.

Tags: England Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel du Vin Hotels / → All Tags

UK's Free WiFi-Loving Hotel Du Vin Chain Opens in Poole

Where: Thames Street, Poole, United Kingdom, BH15 1JN

Visitors to the (not-always-so-sunny) south coast of England will know the town of Poole, a hub for summer resort visits and beach swims--and even home to Lord of the Rings author Tolkien for a few years. The Hotel du Vin chain just opened the Hotel du Vin Poole a couple of weeks ago and although they can't claim a "Tolkien slept here" room, there still might be a few reasons to stop by.

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Tags: Holiday Inn Express / England Hotels / → All Tags

Holiday Inn Express Helps Out With Hull Dialect

Where: 80 Ferensway, Kingston Upon Hull, United Kingdom, HU2 8LN

Up in northern England in the town of Hull, some of the locals speak with a dialect that's a bit hard to understand. But don't let that stop you visiting--the Holiday Inn Express Hull has produced a handy English-to-Hull translation guide so you'll be able to get what you're after.

The current manager is Dutch and had a few problems of his own understanding the local lingo when he first arrived. Now he knows that an arfa larga is a half glass of beer, that bains are children and if someone shouts Gerrof! at you they want you to leave them alone.

Some of the locals are upset about the guide but we can definitely see the usefulness--we've been making such guides ourselves, like the Uganda hotel vocab lesson--that of the sleeping beer. Thumbs up to Hull for contributing to the linguistic wellbeing of hotel guests.

[Photo of "nowtinnit" (empty) room: robinhood_x]

Tags: Hotel Bars / London Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags

London Hotel Scene: Drinkin' at Whisky Mist

Where: 22 Park Lane, London, United Kingdom, W1K 1BE

Looking for a bar-inside-a-bar for a few (pricey) drinks in London? At the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane you can find the Whisky Mist bar inside the Zeta bar on Hertford Street.

It's only been open since June this year, and the owners said back then they were hoping to attract "bankers in their forties" for customers--no offence, rich bankers, but we find that idea a tad boring. Luckily it's turned out differently and apparently the current crowd includes packs of "It-girls" rapidly trying to make Whisky Mist one of the places to be.

If you're wanting a tip on what to drink, then the choice shouldn't be whisky, despite the name. Fruit-based cocktails is where life's at here, which is fine by us. Tasty and healthy, what more could we ask for?

[Photo: Alice J-T]

Tags: Airport Hotels / London Hotel Reviews / Sofitel Hotels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags

The Sofitel London at Heathrow Goes High-Tech on TV

Where: Terminal 5, London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom, TW6 2GD

We already figured out that the Sofitel London Heathrow T5 is pretty high on the high-tech side of hotel life, what with its complicated air-conditioner controls, referred to by tech-friendlier guests as "cool gizmos".

But now there is high-tech TV as well. The Acentic Panorama system just launched in the Heathrow Sofitel and this is meant to be a mix of on-demand and interactive TV services that should probably satisfy pretty much anyone. We're usually pretty fussy about this, but it certainly doesn't sound too bad to get this:

access to 500 international satellite TV channels and up to 250 movies - all available totally on demand and with the ability to pause, fast-forward and rewind the movies.

We were thinking that an airport hotel is not the place we're going to be spending a lot of time--mostly we just want to sleep there--but since many of the rooms at the Heathrow Sofitel include a TV in the bathroom, there's plenty of chance to watch the latest movie right to the end. Useful for some but not all, that's our final judgment.

Tags: Europe Hotels / UK Hotels / → All Tags

Top Ten Hotels in Britain List Gives Us New Ideas

So we got a bit freaked out when we read the headline at the UK Times about the top ten British hotels for 2009 -- we kinda thought 2008 only just started -- but now that we've calmed down, the list of ten independent hotels worth staying at, as picked by the Good Hotel Guide, is an interesting one.

Out of the ten hotels on the list, there are a few that sound especially interesting. The Star Castle Hotel on the Isles of Scilly (off the south-west corner of Britain) got us interested from the location alone--if you're lucky with the weather, this place sounds like the closest you can get to a tropical beach resort in Britain. Double rooms including two meals start from £144 (US$250) but it's also important to know that the Times reviewer complained about the dessert!

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Tags: Gordon Ramsay / Celebrity Scoop / Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Hotel Restaurants / → All Tags

Gordan Ramsay Shows Connaught Hotel How *&%#ing Mature He Is

Gordan Ramsay got into a bit of a %&*#ing spat (how unusual for him) with London's Connaught Hotel last year, which resulted in him closing his fairly successful restaurant on the property. And apparently it ain't over til it's over.

Yesterday's Page Six reported that his new restaurant concept York & Albany -- which will open on Monday and also feature 10 luxury hotel rooms (because running a restaurant kitchen and running a hotel can't be that different if you're a celebrity, right?) -- has a hot shout-out to the Connaught on its menu: he "tells the Times of London he'll serve a dish there called the 'Two Fingers to the Connaught.'"

We hope it's a flambéd dessert or something, because revenge is sweet and it's probably even sweeter if it's lit on fire. Or whatever.

Mature, though, G-dawg. Really.

Tags: London Hotel Scene / Hotel Rumors / → All Tags

Could a Fancy Hotel Replace the US Embassy in London?

London's fairly full of luxury (and expensive) hotels already, but there's speculation this week that there might be room for one more.

With the announcement that the United States Embassy is going to move out of its glamorous Grosvenor Square, Mayfair location, there's suddenly the potential of a luxury hotel snapping up the building. Many are speculating that a hotel is the obvious new owner. Apparently it's a building that's worth about £200 million (US$350 million) although there's also a bit of gossip that it might get heritage-listed and then the development potential wouldn't be too good.

The US Embassy is moving to more defendable territory on the south bank of the Thames and the move won't take place overnight, so don't start dreaming of booking a hotel room there yet--it could take a few years to get everything sorted.

[Photo: Dilettantio]