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Tags: Australia Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

Pearls Plus Japan Equals Broome's New Resort

Where: 10 Murray Road, Cable Beach , Broome, Western Australia, Australia, 6725

Way up in the far north-west corner of Australia--a long way from any big city--the town of Broome already has a great reputation for its gorgeous Cable Beach. This May, a new resort is opening and with cheaper flights up there just taking off, we're tipping the Pinctada Cable Beach Resort could be a big hit.

Apart from the nearby Cable Beach Club Resort there's not really another resort alternative up in Broome, and Pinctada is already promoting itself as being the finest accommodation in town. It will be a 71-room resort with architecture influenced by the old pearlers' homes that once littered Broome. There are also smaller studio rooms named for the Japanese influence, like the "Shinju" or "pearl" studios. Nice combo of history and culture here, and we approve.

One of the few ways to get to Broome is a flight from Perth, and this distance means we're not talking a stop on everyone's Aussie itinerary. Not yet, anyway. But we've got our eye on Pinctada. They're now taking bookings from May onwards, with no opening specials to speak of--nightly rates starting from A$420 ($265).

Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Justin Timberlake / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags

Jessica Biel Throws JT a Bday Bash at the Hollywood Roosevelt

Where: 7000 Hollywood Blvd [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90028

While the Standard LA was pumping something very unsexy back into the air, the Hollywood Roosevelt was playing host to a party for Justin Timberlake (see what we did there? Unsexy back?)

According to E Online, actress Jessica Biel threw a surprise birthday bash for her her longtime boyf Justin in the penthouse suite of the ultra-trendy Roosevelt yesterday — and we bet she was happy she hadn't made that rezzie at the Standard:

The party kicked off in the afternoon just before the championship game with a menu that included buffalo wings, pizza, mini sliders and homemade cupcakes.

"Justin was completely blown away when he walked in," a source said. "He thought they were just checking into the hotel and heading to another Super Bowl party. He stopped dead in his tracks when he opened the door and then gave Jessica a kiss."

Adorable. Reportedly, there were 100 guests in the massive suite, including the lovely Leona Lewis and a few family members of the couple, and everyone stuck around for the Super Bowl festivities all day. Um, that's probably where we would have wanted to be yesterday instead of fighting crowds in Tampa or drinking Miller on our couch, but maybe we'll score an invite to next year's soiree.

[Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, Brian Zak / Sipa Press Via AP]

Tags: Brooklyn Hotels / NYT Reviews / → All Tags

NYT Retreats to Brooklyn to Check Out the Nu Hotel

Where: 85 Smith Street [map], Brooklyn, NY, United States, 11201

We know it’s unflattering to be too smug, but we could have saved the New York Times the hassle of retreating to Brooklyn — if only they had read our coverage of the outer borough’s Nu Hotel.

But alas, such was not the case, and this past weekend the NYT checked in to the downtown Brooklyn boutique hotel, which you might remember opened last August. The experience produced obvious results (well, obvious if you’ve been eyeing the place as closely as we have been): bright, modern rooms; cork floors and hammocks (in three of the rooms); views of the Brooklyn House of Detention across the street; a fantastic location but noisy traffic from Atlantic Avenue.

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Tags: Hotel Sick / Hotel News / Dubai Hotels / Westin Hotels / → All Tags

Guests Fall Ill After Checking Out of Westin Dubai

Where: Al Sufouh Road, Dubai International Marine Club, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

You hear about it happening on cruise ships or at cheap hotels, but the most recent outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease may have come from a luxury hotel in Dubai. Last week, a British cricket broadcaster who had just returned from staying at the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort fell ill with this serious form of pneumonia and subsequently died. Two other guests are also currently battling it, although tests for the Legionella bacteria in the hotel have all so far been negative.

Bacteria don't care how much you spend on your hotel room, especially ones like Legionella, which is spread through infected water droplets in air conditioning or plumbing. This is not a warning for guests to wear masks over their nose and mouth constantly, but for hotels to be constantly vigilant when it comes to cleanliness; the Westin has only been open slightly more than six months. As it is, only 5-15% of Legionnaire's cases prove fatal. The hotel has contacted all other guests to inform them of the situation, but it hasn't yet been proven that the Westin is at fault.

[Room photo via the Westin Dubai; Legionella image via Lueven University]

Tags: Hotel Contests / Hotel Deals / LastMinuteTravel / Hotel News / Dollar Hotel Rooms / → All Tags

Hong Kong or Bust, Thanks to LastMinuteTravel's 'World for $1'

Warm up your fingers for some fast typing and do some breathing exercises to keep from hyperventilating, because now begins the second and final week of LastMinuteTravel's "World for $1" promotion. Last week saw some serious chatter around the net as to how to best nab these deals, available for a random 15 minutes each day, and it looks like the tip sharing helped as LMT has announced that already almost 1,000 reservations have been made. They've broken down the winnings further on their blog:

Since the beginning of The World for $1 sale, 928 reservations have been made for less than the cost of a movie ticket! And 48% of these reservations were for high-end, luxury hotels! The 2,197 people going on these vacations are headed to 224 different destinations with Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, Cancun and Honolulu topping the list!

That's quite a lot of exclamation marks, but all well-deserved as this is one contest you can actually win. In fact, we're living proof of it. All the stars aligned perfectly for us last week, and we ended up booking 7 nights in a 5-star hotel in Hong Kong. Pairing it with Cathay Pacific's airfare deal, we're amazed and delighted to say that we're doing a week in HK for under $1000, all-in. And we leave today. Good luck with all the clicking, and even though we'll be on another continent in less than 15 hours, we'll still be rooting for you from over there.

Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Super Bowl Hotels / Hotel Parties / Hotel News / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags

Celebs Party The Weekend Away at The Seminole Hard Rock

Where: 5224 N Orient Dr [map], Tampa, FL, United States, 33610

As we reported last week, Entourage star Kevin Dillon (aka Johnny Drama) was hosting a pretty serious pre-Super Bowl party Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock's Floyd's nightclub. While the scheduled "celeb" appearances were not necessarily anything to be too excited about beforehand — think Khloe Kardashian — the roster of celebs that turned up at the hotel for the party and the big names who crashed at the hotel for the Super Bowl were pretty impressive.

An insider on the scene relayed some of the more notable the celeb sightings from the Friday evening soiree: unsurprisingly, Khloe, Kourtney, and Kris Kardashian showed up and their party stamina outlasted many of the other guests (the party kept going til 6 in the morning, which was totes legal since the hotel's got a casino) — and will.i.am, Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Paris Hilton also showed up to the shindig.

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Tags: Hotel Hell / Standard Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel News / AB Hotels / Andre Balazs / → All Tags

Standard LA Charged With Illegally Disposing Of Hazardous Waste

Where: 550 S. Flower St [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States

This is what happens when you cut out early for the weekend--a hip hotel gets charged with illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

While Andre Balazs might be the hottest hotelier around these days, something not so pretty was going down at the Standard Downtown LA.

Andre Balazs' hotel management company has been charged with one felony count of disposing hazardous waste without a permit, according to a federal complaint which made the news today. AB Hotels could be fined up to $500,000 if convicted. So what was the hotel doing with the hazardous waste? This:

The complaint alleges that hotel employees poured acid and chlorine down a roof drain beside the hotel pool at The Standard on Jan. 19. The chemicals snaked down to a street-level storm drain, and the fumes caused people to start vomiting at a subway station two blocks away.

"They thought initially it was a terrorist incident," said Johns. "You get a report of chlorine gas in the subway, and everyone starts thinking nerve gas a la Tokyo."

"We are sorry for this employee mistake involving diluted swimming pool chemicals," Nadine Johnson, a spokeswoman for The Standard, said in a statement. "We will continue to assist the government."

The complaint singles out a hotel supervisor who instructed an employee to run water down the drain as he pumped chemicals out of two 50-gallon tanks. The water supposedly was to used to not make the chemicals "so hazardous." Except people started vomiting in the subway. Hotel Hell indeed.

Tags: Suite-Hostel / Sweet-Hostile / → All Tags

Andre Balazs Burns It Up, The Wynns Break It Up

SUITE:
	Renovated Vegas Hotel Rooms: : This week we've been sleeping around town. As in staying in different hotel rooms each night in Las Vegas and filming it all for you to enjoy.
	Hotels Along the 33rd Parallel South: Our featured series this week came from Eric Rosen who mapped out where to stay along the 33rd Parallel South in South America.
	Andre Balazs: Hotelier hottie now a magazine centerfold. ALSO: Super Bowl Hotels, Gvoort South Gets NYT Approval
HOSTEL:
	Sleeping in a Billboard: It might be free but it's creepy.
	The Worst Hotel in Britain: Avoid the Cromwell Crown in London.
	Wynns Losers at Love: Steve and Elaine Wynn are getting divorced. Again. ALSO: Problems at the Zetter?, Socialista at the Jane Hotel folds.

Tags: HotelChatter Comments / → All Tags

Do You Think Donny Osmond Is Sexy?

· Live from Las Vegas: A few of you still have questions for us and we promise, we'll answer 'em all on Monday. But we have one for you now. Do you think Donny Osmond is sexy? This is a scientific poll we are working on so you're answer will remain anonymous. Maybe.

· People sound off on Last Minute Travel's $1 hotel room deal.

· "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Extended Check-out wouldn't mind being rejected from Rose Bar at GPH.

· The Hyatt Abu Dhabi is not even built yet and it's already scaring some people away.

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Tags: W Hotels / Hotel Construction / Manhattan hotels / → All Tags

W NYC Downtown Gets Stop Work Orders and Drunk Disorderlies

Where: 123 Washington St [map], New York, NY, United States, 10036

Ha! The W New York Downtown, which is being built down in Manhattan's Financial District, was handed a nice little stop work order by the Buildings Department this week, Curbed reports. The infractions that led to the construction halt were numerous: "unsecured material near the edge of the building, unprotected holes in the floor, inadequate overhead protection and smoking materials found."

Perhaps some of those smoking materials were the property of this one particular drunk construction worker, who had apparently enjoyed a little booze (and what goes better with booze than ciggies?) before showing up to work on the W project on Thursday. Yes, this gentleman arrived at his construction job all liquored up and "made his way up the building... The worker then jumped off the 36th floor of the building into protective netting one floor below."

Nobody said how he got down from there, but apparently he got back to street level somehow and managed to run off the site before he could be arrested (but not before he could be fired!)

So, ladies and gents, that is how your W Hotels sausage gets made: lovingly crafted by drunk dudes who think they're Spiderman.

[Photo: Downtown Express]

Tags: Hotel Woes / Baccarat Hotels / Barry Sternlicht / → All Tags

Baccarat Wailea Gets Postponed -- Hopefully Not Cancelled

Where: 3550 Wailea Alanui Dr [map], Wailea, HI, United States, 96753

While Barry Sternlicht and Co are busy starting up their new hotel management company, SH Group, another one of the initial Baccarat Hotel and Resorts has been postponed joining the Baccarat projects in Atlanta, Anguilla, and Water Cay which have also been postponed or canceled.

The Baccarat Wailea Hotel & Residences was originally scheduled to open in 2010, but currently they have not even started tearing down the existing hotel on the property - the former Renaissance Wailea Beach, and Starwood Capital came out with a statement this week stating that:

"We are going to take some time and pause to determine the proper course of action for our properties and evaluate some additional possibilities."

The Baccarat Wailea website has been deactivated and all mentions of Baccarat Wailea have been removed from BaccaratHotels.com.

In the mean time it's been reported that over $300 million in sales have been made since the project was first announced, but somehow that still didn't make the project successful enough.

No word yet if those who committed to a pre-sale are being let out of their contracts or if they are expected to wait for more news on the project; the General Manager of the Wailea Community Association said he expects an announcement within three weeks on the status of the project.

Even though most of their hotel development projects have been scaled back or canceled - the Baccarat Hotels brand (along with 1 Hotels and Crillon) will continue under SH Group, but when a location from one of these brands will actually open is another story. The formation of the management group can't come fast enough!

Tags: Hotel Games / Hotel News / → All Tags

How to Become a Virtual Bill Marriott

It looks like Christmas is coming a little late this year for budding hoteliers; the popular video game for PCs and Nintendo DS is releasing a sequel, Hotel Giant 2, in mid-February. We reported on this release way back in last summer, but it was sadly delayed and to get the hype back up, they've released the above preview video.

It's like an obsessive, business-minded kid's dream! Improving on the first edition of Hotel Giant, the follow-up features 26 new locations (think Munich and Phuket) for building your dream hotel and working toward the magical 100% approval rating. We're most intrigued by the concepts of building your own pool as large as you want and being able to fire staff for indiscretions.

Now all they need to do is add a Second Life-like element to this game, whereby you'd get to interact with other player's hotels and guests, and we'd never leave the house again in favor of becoming the virtual Bill Marriott. On second thought, we'll just wait until it comes for out for the Wii.