United States Travel Guide
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Marriott Hotels / Washington DC Hotels / → All Tags
Washington Marriott at Metro Center Gets Spiffed Up
In recent years, Washington DC's downtown has transformed into a destination you might actually want to hang out. Or at the very least, those safe-clean-friendly claims being made about it a few years ago are now much closer to being true! Think haute restaurants, quality theatre and galleries, and much, much more foot traffic. (There's even a trendier name for the 'hood: Penn Quarter.)
For Marriott's part, they've responded to the neighborhood's spiffier image with an $11 million renovation at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, just in time to celebrate the hotel's 15-year anniversary. The 459-room hotel recently unveiled its new contemporary look and feel, which includes 32-inch plasma screen TVs, tech-friendly plug-in panels, and check-in self-serve kiosks. In the lobby, "semi-private seating nooks" give comfortable spaces for guests to work or mingle, particularly thanks to the free WiFi.
Tags: Sneak Peek / Hotel Openings / Manhattan Hotels / Ascend Collection / → All Tags
Rooms at The Distrikt Not As Funky as the Hotel's Name Suggests
One of our favorite milestones when tracking a new hotel opening is the release of photos. Not renderings, not collages, but full color pictures of the guestrooms we’re so eager to check into. Today The Distrikt Hotel reaches that milestone by posting photos on its Facebook page.
We’ve been dying for a glimpse inside the hotel since the funky collages on the website--while arty and cool--left us without a clue as to room design. Now The Distrikt delivers and we’re both relieved and disappointed.
Relieved that the neighborhood theme is not an OTT mish-mash as it could have been, but a little sad that the décor plays it so safe. For all its savvy marketing, The Distrikt looks pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to design. The rooms look nice in these photos—but "nice" means a place your mom would be comfortable staying. (That is, if she isn’t scared off by the funky name.) And that’s just not what we were expecting here.
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: Room Rate Gimmicks / Miami Hotels / New Year's Hotels / Florida Hotels / Art Hotels / → All Tags
New Year, New Hotel Gimmick: $20.10 Rate at Miami's Hotel Urbano
Miami's soon-to-be-opened Hotel Urbano is pushing a Grand Opening gimmick that ranks low in creativity but high on the savings-o-meter.
Originally slated to open in October, as we reported, its unveiling will now take place in late December, just in time to receive an onslaught of travelers in the new year.
The themed deal offers guests who book two or more nights in January 2010 a rate of $20.10 for their first night. That's good enough for those who want to kick off 2010 in a snow-free climate, but just remember--the hotel is located in Brickell which is downtown Miami as opposed to Miami Beach and its party scene. But with regular room rates ranging from $115-230 per night, you're pocketing a lot of cash and should have plenty of cab fare to get back-and-forth with no problem.
Tags: Holiday Hotels / Hotel Ice Rinks / Winter Hotels / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags
Perfect Your Iron Lotus at These Hotels' Ice Rinks
The Pond at Bryant Park.
In anticipation of winter, we told you about five hotels where you can sleep and ice skate earlier this week. For those of you who are jonesing for some cold-weather fun, here are other hotels that have rinks nearby so you can lace up and hit the ice.
Find out three more skating-hotel picks after the jump.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Boston Hotels / Morgans Hotel Group / → All Tags
Watch Out W: The Ames Hotel Boston Is Now Open
UPDATE:Boston.com has some new interior pics of The Ames Hotel.
What a long way in such a short time The Ames Hotel in Boston has come. When we checked in on the hotel at the beginning of October, we were quite skeptical based on the construction work we saw going on.
But lo and behold, The Ames has gone ahead and opened itself up. Boston.com has the scoop on the hotel execs that made it out last night to the hotel's opening party:
The opening party for the Ames drew a long list of VIP guests including the project’s celebrated architect and designer David Rockwell, hotel partner Seth Greenberg, former “Top Chef’’ contestant Sam Talbot, who’ll be at the Ames restaurant, Woodward, until he moves on to another job in SoHo.
Congratulations, Ames! We're happy to see you made the opening date. And we're happy that Boston is getting some Morgans Hotel cool. No reason why NYC and Miami should have all the fun. But we bet the W Boston can't be too happy about this. Room rates at The Ames start at $225 a night for a 350-sq.ft. minimalist-designed superior room. If you use the special opening code we told you about--Spgrat--the rates come down to $180 a night. Meanwhile, the W Boston starts at $242 a night.
Tell us where you would rather stay--The W Boston or The Ames Hotel? Put your thoughts in comments below.
Tags: Snapshot / Do Not Disturb Signs / HotelChatter Galleries / Santa Monica Hotels / → All Tags
'Do Not Disturb' The Counting of The Sheep at The Hotel Oceana
So we continue to geek out about Do Not Disturb signs (as well as in-room coffee makers) and today we thought we'd show you this cute little DND sign from The Hotel Oceana in Santa Monica. No, it's not real lambswool but it is soft to touch. So you can totally forgive us for swiping this from the hotel, can't you?
Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Manhattan Hotels / Historic Hotels / Hotel Promotions / → All Tags
Inside The Roosevelt NYC: The Consummate Tourist Hotel
Like we said yesterday, you really can't beat winning a room rate of $19.24 on Twitter for three nights in a historic hotel property in the middle of Manhattan. That said, The Roosevelt has its ups and its downs, but it is most definitely the quintessential New York tourist hotel. Onto our experience, over Halloween weekend:
Check-in:
Although we live in New York, we came straight to The Roosevelt after flying into JFK at the end of a trip, so we were your typical tired, bedraggled guest. Friends who were visiting for the weekend would be staying in the room with us, and as they were arriving earlier, we directed to do the regular thing of asking the hotel front desk to hold the luggage until the person under whose name the reservations is (that'd be us) arrived. But the front desk clerk told us immediately that two others had been looking for us already and that it was a security risk to give out room numbers. Yes, we know this; just hold the luggage and don't act like it's some big scary, unusual service.
Tags: Thanksgiving Hotels / Boston Hotels / Taj Hotels / → All Tags
At the Boston Taj, Get a Three-Course Thanksgiving Dinner Plus Room for $150
The Martha Stewarts in our readership might find it sacrilege to think of eating out on Thanksgiving. But for the 98 percent of the rest of you (ourselves included), it can be quite tempting to hear about Turkey Day festivities at hotels (no slaving over the oven all day, no manic cleaning session minutes before guests arrive).
Last week we rounded up a few Thanksgiving dinners at major hotels around the country, but, of course, there are additions to make. Like the Taj Boston, which is offering a $75 three-course prix fixe chef’s menu at The Café. Bonus: The hotel is thanking its guests for their holiday patronage with a $75 per person guestroom rate (with purchase of dinner for two).
Tags: Hot Hotelier News / Celebrity Scoop / Barry Sternlicht / Molly Sims / Stephen Hanson / BR Guest Restaurants / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Barry Sternlicht Surfaces With Molly Sims On His Arm at The Postcard Inn
Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, celebrates the opening of Postcard Inn on The Beach in St. Pete Beach, FL with model/actress Molly Sims.
We're not sure what's happening with 1 Hotels but it looks like Barry Sternlicht has set his sights on more low-key projects.
Last weekend, he showed up for the opening of the Postcard Inn on The Beach which is a joint venture between him and Stephen Hanson, the founder of BR Guest Restaurants. Looking good BS! It doesn't look like the recession has aged you one bit.
As you can see, Molly Sims was there to celebrate the opening but she was also celebrate her new HSN jewelry line, Grace. While she dined at Wildwood BBQ & Burger with her family, new boyfriend Aaron Eckhart was not there.
The Postcard Inn on the Beach opened last month and its surf culture-inspired rooms start at $99 a night.
Photo: Peter Richardson/Red Eye Photo
Tags: Art Basel Hotels / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Why One Guest Won't Be Staying at The Delano For Art Basel
But it looks so pretty!
The Delano is on the list for Art Basel's preferred hotels and if you're interested in staying there during the art fair it will cost you $825 a night, before tax.
But given what happened there last year during Art Basel, one guest is not returning. A tipster wrote into us with her account of The Delano during Art Basel:
My stay at the Delano in '08 was anything but posh. Two mornings in a row I woke up to no hot water, to make matter worse I was at Art Basel for work.
The hotel said a pipe burst and after I complained they took 50% off one night. They assured me it would be fixed, but the next morning still no hot water. What did they give me that day, free breakfast, but no adjustment to the bill.
Needless to say, I will not stay there this year which brings me to my second tip for HotelChatter. There is a campsite available for use in Miami during Art Basel, does this mean the show has finally jumped the shark?
Tags: Standard Hotels / Hotel Awards / Andre Balazs / Hotel Architecture / → All Tags
The Standard Hotel is The Best Building of the Aughts, So Says Curbed
Curbed recently put out the first of what will be many lists across the internet universe, saying goodbye to the aughts. But this being Curbed, they focused on the The Best New Buildings of The Decade for New York City. And wouldn't you know it? The Standard Hotel is the #1 best building of the decade.
Yes, The Standard. Since we tracked the opening of this hotel pretty much from its inceptions, we're a little surprised to see it top this list. We say it looks way better from the inside looking out then just on its own. But we guess naked people in the windows helps.
Here are some of our favorite moments of the Standard NYC...through the years.
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