HotelChatter

Maldives Hotels / Hotel Bars / Champagne Bars / → All Tags

The Hilton Maldives Opens a Dedicated Champagne Bar, The Bubble Lounge

Where: P.O. Box 2036, Noonu Atoll, Maldives

As if the Hilton Maldives Iru Fushi needed to get any more luxurious, the five-star resort has just introduced the very first dedicated champagne bar in the Maldives. And yes, it's in an over-water structure.

The Bubble Lounge offers the best of the best champagne and sparkling wines, stocking a minimum of 50 varieties at any times. Only ten of them are available by the glass but we're guessing if you can afford a room at the resort, you can afford champagne by the bottle.

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Valentine's Day Hotels / Concierges / Vancouver Hotels / Opus Hotels / Hotel Services / → All Tags

The Opus Hotel Has Been Hit by The Cupid Concierge

Where: 322 Davie St, Vancouver, BC, Canada

V-Day is now less than a week away and if you've planned on doing a romantical weekend in Vancouver with your honey but are clueless on everything else, then you should probably book a room at the OPUS Hotel where there's now a Cupid Concierge on staff. The cupid concierge even has their own email! (Cupid@OpusHotel.com)

This specialty concierge of love is a part of the hotel's Exclusively Yours romance package which has the standard love weekend amenities of bubbly at check-in, more bubbly in the guestroom, fresh flowers, breakfast in bed and a late check-out. The concierge will also set up a framed photo of you and your lovah along with a love note when you arrive in the room.

If you need help planning something a little more extravagant, the Cupid Concierge is the one to call whether it's to arrange a romantic experience about town, craft a handwritten love sonnet or plan a gourmet picnic with wine selected by a private sommelier.

The package starts at $295 a night (not including any costs associated with other romantic activities) and is available throughout the rest of the year. So any day can be V-Day at the Opus Vancouver.

Hotel Openings / Atlantic City Hotels / Casino Hotels / Hotel News / Revel Resorts / → All Tags

Revel in Atlantic City Will Open Hotel Reservations on March 5

Where: 500 Boardwalk [map], Atlantic City, NJ, United States, 08401

Gamblers and Jersey Shore lovers alike rejoice! Revel, the crazysexycool-looking casino-hotel complex on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, has just announced today that it will open up reservations for its 1,800 hotel rooms and suites starting March 5. The hotel will then soft-open on April 2 with the hotel fully functional and seven restaurants open.

But come May 25 and Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of summer for the Jersey Shore, all of Revel's restaurants, performance spaces, gaming, spa, nightlife and daylife will be open. And they sound freaking amazing, especially Revelry, located 61-feet above sea level and which will house restaurants, shops, nightclubs and a performance space for 700. Revel will also open The Mezz, a theater with a capacity for 5,500 people and we're betting the InOut Pool which begins inside near the lobby and flows outside, will be a big hit.

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Hotel Design / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Singapore Hotels / Design Thursdays / → All Tags

Now THIS is a Hotel Bedside Table

Where: 7 Raffles Avenue, Singapore, Singapore

Check it out. This is a bedside table found in the rooms of the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, Singapore. Technically there are two, one for each side of the bed, and though easily overlooked they are some of the most well-designed pieces of functional hotel furniture we've ever seen.

Tomorrow we'll take you further into a Deluxe room at the hotel, but for now, let's geek out over furniture design. Here's why we love this table:

· Control panel—for both the room lights and the shades—stashed in table, camo as a middle drawer.
· Drawer closest to bed has single universal outlet with plenty of room around it for Apple Magsafe adapters and cord storage.
· Double level means you're able to take all the hotel stuff (notepad, breakfast menu, alarm clock, phone) and put it underneath glass panel, meaning total space for putting your own things (laptop, magazines, Moleskine, guidebooks, water bottle) and have it all fit.
· Glass top means no worrying about cup rings and using coasters on wood
· Contemporary design with the light beaming through glass panel edges makes it look super cool

[Photo: HotelChatter]

Hotel News / Miami Hotel Mambo / New Orleans Hotels / Autograph Collection / → All Tags

Autograph Adds A Few Vintage Pieces in Miami and New Orleans

Where: United States

Well, if it isn't Autograph Collection, inching ever closer to its goal of world hotel domination. Last month saw the brand add a second NYC property to its portfolio (the lesser-known, but architecturally striking Carlton Hotel); meanwhile, yesterday, it was announced that Autograph has picked up an additional three hotels—two in Miami and one in New Orleans.

Each of the hotels has some sort of historical significance. For example, despite a very recent opening, The Saint Hotel has actually been around since the early 1900s, and indeed, that New Orleans jazz heritage plays a big role in the hotel's artwork, public spaces, and general "Southern classic" appeal.

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Hotel Delays / Hotel Openings / Hilton Hotels / Airport Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

In True Airport Fashion, Hilton JFK Makes Us Wait A Little Longer

Where: 144-02 135th Avenue [map], Jamaica, NY, United States, 11436

Though we thought we had the opening date of Hilton's new JFK hotel pegged, it looks like we'll be waiting a little bit longer. The airport hotel's opening has now shifted back a month and a half from Feb 15 to March 30.

Though tired and worn-out passengers still have their pick of beds (Best Western, DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn and Courtyard by Marriott, among others), we were excited for the opening of Hilton's glistening white block of 256 rooms, outfitted with a lounge and sports bar, 24-hour shuttle service, and pool.

Not that we'll be waiting around, twiddling our thumbs until April. Unlike an airport, which pretty much holds you hostage until your flight is deemed ready, we'll simply take our hotel-hopping selves into the city, where certain other properties still have openings planned for March 1.

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Hotel Gyms / Fitness Hotels / Westin Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags

Now What's Your Excuse? Westin Rolls Out New Guest-Approved Fitness Studios

Now it's almost mid-February, you may have forgotten all about those pesky little things called New Year's Resolutions. Especially if they involve sweating up a storm. But Westin Hotels hasn't!

Westin Hotels & Resorts is transforming the fitness centers at each of its 186 hotels around the world, based on research into what guests want in a hotel gym. The new design means new equipment, more floor space for stretching, yoga and other mat-based work, and something called blue-light therapy.

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Hotel Lobbies / Hotel Design / Hotel Libraries / Panama Hotels / → All Tags

Who Needs A Club Lounge When Your Hotel Has Its Own Mini Library?

Where: Gamboa, Panama

Wandering around Gamboa Rainforest Resort in Panama recently, we were excited to discover the hotel had its own private library, accessible via a small staircase leading up from the lobby.

Which is, in many ways, far superior to the usual "VIP" club lounge experience. For starters, all guests are welcome, it's always quiet and peaceful, and you can actually educate yourself about your surroundings with bookshelves full of texts on Panamanian history and wildlife. Plus, it kind of reminded us of the library scene from Beauty and the Beast—except way smaller. And in the middle of a rainforest.

Check out our photos after the jump!

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Jaunted / VegasChatter / → All Tags

Jaunted Tends an Airport Garden While VegasChatter Awaits The Nobu Hotel

Finding a hotel is often only one part of your trip. The other half is getting there. And our bro Jaunted does a bang-up job of covering the latest news and trends in the travel world. Out in Vegas, VegasChatter is keeping us informed on what's going down in Sin City.

JAUNTED
· Virgin Atlantic Has a New Sexy Clubhouse
· Skip the Zip Lines for the Aerial Tram in Panama
· Hanging Out at Singapore's Changi Airport: So Many Gardens
· Remembe When? JetBlue's Very First Website

VEGASCHATTER
· The Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace Now Set for a Fall Opening
· Take Home Original and Affordable Art at The Cosmopolitan
· PH Westgate About To Turn into the Elara (No Relation to Aria)

· Motley Crue is Now in Residence at The Hard Rock

JW Marriott Hotels / JW Marriott Marquis Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags

JW Marriott Marquis Dubai to Be Tallest Hotel in the World

Where: Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Well it looks like Marriott Hotels won't be relinquishing their title of "World's Tallest Hotel" anytime soon. Though that distinction belongs currently to the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong come later this year, it will be wrested away by the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai.

Marriott made the announcement today saying that the two towers of the 1,608-room hotel will stand 1,164 feet tall, making them just 85 feet shorter than the Empire State Building. And unlike other hotels in buildings this tall, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai will be entirely dedicated to hotel operations.

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Killer View / Tokyo Hotels / Peninsula Hotels / Hotel Breakfasts / → All Tags

Where to Score a Royal View in Tokyo

Where: 1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

A quick tip for a stay at the ridiculously well located Peninsula Tokyo: pay the extra to secure a Deluxe Park View, because that "Park" bit actually means Imperial Palace gardens. They may be out of focus in the photo above, but can you blame us for being far more focused on a large Japanese breakfast spread at the moment?

Rooms on the park side of the hotel have commanding views of the Imperial Palace and its acres—bring mini binoculars to watch the processions, full of pomp, without having to even venture outside and join the throng of photo-snapping tourists.

At night the view is just as pleasant, since having all of these private gardens next door means it's one of the only areas in the metropolis to get truly dark—a luxury on its own.

[Photo: HotelChatter]

Anti-Valentine's Day Hotels / Valentine's Day Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags

Where Not to Celebrate Valentine's Day This Year

Last week we rounded up some hotels for lovers this Valentine's Day but if you're not currently attached, that doesn't mean you can't hit up a hotel for V-Day. Quite a few hotels have put together some fun packages and events for singletons. In fact, we're kind of jealous. These are waaaay more exciting than champagne and rose petals. Here's where you can let your single flag fly high and proud.

· Four Seasons Miami: The downtown Miami hotels is hosting a "Lonely Hearts Club group dinner on Valentine's Day. Served in a communal table in the Hotel’s new restaurant, Edge Steak and Bar, the prix fixe dinner will serve singletons Love Sucks (stacks of east coast seafood), Burnt Bitter and Bleu (bitter greens salad, burnt almond praline, blue cheese and balsamic), Home Alone TV Dinner (whole roast prime rib, truffle macaroni and cheese and vegetable succotash) and the Broken Hearted Napoleon with passion (less) fruit sauce. The cost is $65 per person but the hotel says in case a love match is made at the dinner, rooms are available starting at $469 per night. Call 305-358-3535 for reservations.

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