As summer nears, hotels are going to start up with the usual warm-weather offerings: rooftop bars, poolside cabanas, and those awkward tanning concierges. But as far as we're concerned, it all boils down to one question: where can we ride a bike for free? Unless otherwise noted, all of the...
April 25, 2013
Deals: you want 'em, and surprisingly, everyone has 'em. Today we're focusing on deals especially for Labor Day. If you haven't booked your hotel room yet, now maybe you can. And who knows? You might just find what you're looking for. (But don't forget to tell us about your...
August 22, 2012
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...One of the best ways to take in the sights of a new city is by bike. And thanks to these five hotels, finding a bike to ride is as easy as requesting one from the front desk...
July 06, 2012
Riding a bike in Manhattan can indeed be lethalyou've always got to keep your guard up, and you should never EVER assume a taxi driver has seen you (even if you're riding around in a neon pink unitard). But in the warmer seasons, like now, bike riding can be one...
April 06, 2012
Hows this for an Inception moment? There we were, yesterday, having lunch at the Top of the Mark in San Franciscos Intercontinental Mark Hopkins, looking idly at the view of the Transamerica Building, the Golden Gate Bridge and Twin Peaks when we cast our eyes southwest and noticed The...
September 13, 2011
We should probably tell you right off the bat: being the hotel geeks we are, the most exciting thing for us about staying at Clift Hotel some months back was nabbing a limited-edition T-shirt. It says 'I left my heart in San Francisco' and, in tiny lettering on the...
August 19, 2011
The best way to explore a city is on foot, but a bike works just as well. The Clift Hotel wants to make it easier for guests to get around San Francisco by offering free bikes. You won't have to worry about lugging around a heavy bicycle, since the...
April 12, 2011
Happy New Year! It's officially the year of the rabbit, and to celebrate that, China and the Chinatowns around the United States are making major celebrations today (watch for dancing dragons before crossing the road). Luckily for travelers who are San Francisco-bound, the city's hotels are in the spirit,...
February 03, 2011
Feeling sick on the road sucks. But despite our best efforts with vitamins and flu shots, it happens to us a lot when we travel. We're going to blame the recent NY chill for our latest bout of sniffles--which we may have beaten into submission thanks to a bowl of...
December 09, 2010
Looking for some holiday gifts for the hip hotel lover in your life? The Standard Hotels have their specially designed Pendleton blankets and now their equally cool frenemies, the Morgans Hotel Group, have their own t-shirts. Each Morgans Hotel will have their own t-shirt, very much like the W...
December 07, 2010
It's that time of year when all of the department stores are done up in sparkly holiday decorations, Christmas songs are creeping onto the radio and we start panicking because we've done zero planning. But us last-minute-shopper types can still snag a hotel room without blowing the budget. San...
November 17, 2010
We love scoping out the hotel scene in San Francisco because there's a ton of hotels there, particularly around the Union Square area. And these (most often small and boutique) hotels always have doable prices. We can't wait to put together our rankings list for San Fran--you may actually...
November 04, 2010
San Francisco Pride is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year on June 26-27, and its sponsor hotels across the city are throwing open their doors with deals that would make anyone proud. Though many of the Pride festivities take place around the Castro, sometimes its good to get a...
June 17, 2010
Shop 'till you drop, then toast to a job well done at The Clift's Redwood Room. You had us at free parking. Well, free parking, along with a bevy of discounts at major retailers in San Francisco's Union Square. With the holiday season steadily creeping upon us, we've been...
November 24, 2009
Ah, remember the days before the recession? Before swine flu swept the world, before Oprah was on Twitter and before Morgans Hotels were going for under $200? Those were the days. And those days are gone. If you're planning to hit the West Coast, it seems Morgans Hotel Group...
April 29, 2009
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face,...
January 15, 2009
So Easter weekend is upon us and if you are looking for a last-minute getaway, fake that you're Catholic and that you need to take off Good Friday for an Easter Vigil and head to San Francisco.We looked at rates on Expedia.com for Friday to Monday and rates are looking...
March 19, 2008
[Update: The charges were dropped against the hotel employee in this sexual assault case.]We've made note of the extremely bad year that the Morgans Hotel Group had in 2007, thanks to a shady CEO, dead rappers, celebrity vomit, and underwhelming renovations, and we're not so sure 2008 is going to...
March 03, 2008
In which, HotelChatter readers are treated to exclusive hotel deals dug up by us. All deals have a limited amount of rooms attached to them and may sell out quickly.We can all relive our college days again by taking advantage of these Spring Break deals, minus the keg stands,...
February 28, 2008
The NYT Sunday Business section has an in-depth article about Ian Schrager and his new unlikely partnership with Bill Marriott (along with scary photo of Ian in the lobby of Gramercy Park Hotel. Why is everything about this hotel so scary?)Anyways, Ian recalls the first time he heard Bill...
August 20, 2007
Craig Ferguson, host of CBS's Late Late Show, has been known to lace his opening monologues and stand-up routines with travel bits, like hating to fly and loving to dive (as in scuba). This past weekend, at a sold-out show at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Westhampton,...
July 23, 2007
We've decided to honor this Friday, July 20, 2007 as Renovation News Friday!Finally, the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood has had enough celebrity vomit and is undergoing a renovation of all its rooms. A tipster let us know that the hotel is doing a $20 million renovation of the rooms...
July 20, 2007
While checking out the recent TripAdvisor reviews of the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, we noticed something rather interesting. The hotel's general manager has replied to at least six of the recent reviews and dating back to August 2006.The responses tend to start off as a form letter, "Dear TripAdvisor...
May 04, 2007
As Ian Schrager was readying up the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, The Clift Hotel in San Francisco held its fifth anniversary party the other night with mayor Gavin Newsom in attendance, shown here with Morgans Hotel Group CEO Ed Scheetz. If you didn't know, Ian Schrager was the...
August 04, 2006
[Ed Note: Once again, we present our Good Rate/Bad Rate series where we scour the hotel prices in one town and decide which gets a gold star and which get to sit in the corner for the rest of the day without recess. Enjoy.] The Clift Hotel in San Francisco...
March 10, 2006
The other day HotelChatter Publisher, Mark Johnson, asked me about San Francisco hotels with a rooftop terrace. Here are some views worth noting: San Francisco Hotels with a Rooftop Terrace: The Clift Hotel: Rooftop terrace and conservatory The Ritz-Carlton: The Terrace Hotel Adagio: Seville Terrace Fairmont San Francisco ...
July 03, 2004
Ian Schragers Clift Hotel in San Francisco is a place to see and be seen, and the property is the perfect jumping off point to a weekend in San Francisco for the hipster extraordinaire. The Clift can be pricey, but with a little digging and good timing you might be...
October 26, 2003