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Kicking Off The New Year
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HotelChatter 2008 Awards: This year's best and worst showings in the hotel world. |
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50 Percent Off in South Beach: The Riviera South Beach opens with a 50 percent discount. |
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New Year's Eve 2009 Hotels Who was doing what where at which hotel.
ALSO: Marriott Islamabad re-opens after bomb blast, Inauguration "escape route" in Amelia Island |
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Jay-Z Hotel No More: The proposed J Hotel from developers and rapper Jay-Z is no longer, thanks to the crappy economy. |
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Hotel Delays: Smyth from Thompson Hotels is not opening in January despite our reservation through Quikbook. |
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Starwood Leaves Tahiti: Starwood pulls out of managing the Sheraton Tahiti, The Sheraton Moorea and the Bora Bora Nui Resort. ALSO: Power outages in Waikiki, Questionable Cooper Square reviews. |
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Where in the Hotel World is Whitney Port?
· With the debut of The Hills spinoff The City, everyone had their guesses about which hotels the show's star, Whitney Port, might hit up. So far she's spent no time at any hotel bars, but we're only one episode in. But we got a spoiler: Shiralevine says she spotted Whitney and LC filming on the roof of 60 Thompson.
· We'd booked a room through Quikbook for January 11th at the Smyth Tribeca — whose Jan 6th opening was delayed until further notice — so not only did Quikbook email and call us to let us know that we'd be rebooked to the Thompson LES, but they also left us a comment apologizing:
We know hotel open-dates are notoriously optimistic and we always pad the dates by several days to account for delays. Our efforts didn't help in your case, though. Again, maximum apologies. Fingers crossed that the hotel will be worth the wait once it does open.
Meantime, yes, we are offering our guests the option of moving to the Thompson LES. And we are indeed trying to get them all upgrades.
· While Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi nabbed the award for Best International WiFi, a few of you made sure to weigh in on the decor of the place. We won't judge a book by its cover...and we'll try not to judge a hotel by its WiFi.
· And finally, HighOccupancy is pretty sure those glowing TripAdvisor reviews of the Cooper Square are total BS:
Clearly a shill. CSH's management / PR team needs to try harder - these two are shameless! Just another example of why tripadvisor is worthless. As long as you understand that most reviews are from random cranks or blatant self-promoting fake reviews from hotel staff, don't even bother looking.
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[Photo: Curbed]
[Photo: Sheryl Nields / MTV.com]
Tags: Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Hotel Spas / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Services / → All Tags
Get Put to Sleep at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
Rest easy, insomniacs of the world, for the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong has heard your prayers; they've just introduced a "Sleep Ritual" treatment to their extensive list of spa offerings, as they believe modern living detracts too much from healthy sleep patterns. We have to agree, especially since Hong Kong thrives on its round-the-clock vivacity.
Head to the Mandarin Oriental, where for $180 you will be soothed with 90 minutes of music, aromatherapy and massage in the hopes of providing a "sedating effect." The treatment even caters to your stomach with a massage to "release negative emotion" and these refreshments to keep you satisfied through a nap: "a soya milk drink (containing the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan), oats (to promote relaxing sleep) and nutmeg (an Ayurvedic remedy for restful sleep)."
The seriously restless have the option to add-on a "Shirodhara" treatment for $90. This is the typical ayurvedic move involving warm oil being poured onto the center of your forehead. We highly doubt we'd need this addition since simply being told to go to sleep at the Mandarin Oriental would be enough for us to zonk out. Still, it's comforting to know that someone out there aside from our mother is concerned about our sleep habits.
[Image: Mandarin Oriental]
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A Room With a View of Gehry's Goldfish
The Telegraph UK recently spent a night at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona near the beach, which has a spectacular view of Frank Gehry's bronze fish sculpture (located in the Olimpic park area.)
The hotel is actually a Ritz-Carlton hotel and has 483 rooms including 56 executive suites in its 44-storeys. This makes it one of the tallest skyscrapers in Barcelona. Inside the rooms you will find:
Spacious, cosseting, high-tech, sand-coloured affairs: expect a bedside control panel for lights and window blinds, a pillow menu, and a deep bath and separate power shower in a swish marble bathroom. For those with money to burn, there are also very stylish split-level duplex apartments.
Also on-site at the hotel are five restaurants, a fitness center, an outdoor pool, fashion boutiques and a jewelry store, and a Hediard delicatessen.
What sounds the most heavenly? The Six Senses Spa on the 43rd floor. What doesn't sound relaxing? The fact that you can't open the windows and the Ritz-y prices being charged like €16 for a chicken sandwich. Still, the paper rated the hotel 4 out of 5 Ts (equivalent to stars we reckon.) Room rates start at €287.
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The Closest Hotel to The Louvre
Anyone who's ever attempted to tour the Louvre Musuem in Paris will tell you that there is no way to see the entire museum in a day. In fact, it might take you an entire week or two, especially if you are one of those people who stop and read everything. Or if you like those audio tours.
So if the Louvre is high on your To Do list for Paris, you can get no closer than the Hotel Regina which is located on Rue di Rivoli directly across from The Louvre. Most rooms even have views of the museum and the Tuileries.
Most of the TripAdvisor reviews on the hotel are positive with, of course, the hotel's excellent location getting top billing.
What we liked actually can be found on the hotel's own website. On the homepage is a video so you can see what the hotel is really like from the moment you enter the lobby to inside your room. You get to see staffers hard at work to service you and you can see the interiors of the hotel. And it's not just freeze frames either. You can really get a good look inside the hotel. This is a good and a bad thing. We like the video but we are a little concerned about those thin pink blankets on the bed. Still, we give this hotel an "A" for embracing technology on their website.
Room rates start around 375 Euros a night.
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Is the Hotel Penn Finally Dunzo?
The day we've all thought was coming for a long time may finally be upon us: The NY Observer is reporting that a realty trust has filed an application with the New York City to rezone Hotel Pennsylvania's property, ostensibly to pave the way to demolish the hotel to build a planned office tower where the hotel now stands. Could it be?
The company interested in knocking down the hotel is Vornado Realty Trust, the same one who got us excited about the demolition of the old run-down hotel this time two years ago.
But it's all a bit more complicated than it seems:
Some preservationists — though not the main preservation advocacy groups — have been pushing for the designation ... Hotel Penn as a city landmark, a move that would likely bar its destruction. However, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in early 2008 issued a letter saying it would not take action on the building as it did not find it to meet the qualifications. Ultimately the rezoning will need approval from the City Planning Commission and the City Council.
While we respect historic landmarks, the Hotel Penn is in dire need of an overhaul. We can only hope that something good will happen here.
[Photo: Matt Stratton]
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The Hotel Hype Machine Will Keep On Chugging in 2009
Every year around this time we put together a New York City openings preview where we round up the newest hotels set to open that year in New York. 2008 was actually a big year for the Big Apple with most of the city's anticipated hotels opening fast and furious in the last months of the year.
But looking ahead to 2009, we realize there are a lot of new hotels coming online this year and they aren't all clustered in New York. So starting next week we'll be taking a closer look at a few cities and regions that will be home to cool, new hotels in 2009. That is, if everything goes right. We'll do our best to give you precise opening predictions but we've misplaced our Magic 8 Ball and you know how those marble-stealing guerillas in Colombia can ruin things. Oh yeah, and the economy sucks.
For now, here's a little something to whet your hotel hype appetite.
A full list of hotels we've got our eyes on after the jump.
Tags: London Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / Hotel Renovation / Hotel Pets / Hotel Art / → All Tags
The Savoy London's Most Famous Guest is a Cat
London's iconic Hotel Savoy may be under renovation until May 2009, but that doesn't mean the stories of its legendary past must be put on hold. Since the hotel's opening in 1889, it has served as more than just a temporary home, but as inspiration, to many luminaries including Monet, Oscar Wilde, Bob Dylan, Marilyn Monroe and Frank McCourt.
It was in the 1920s, however, that the hotel's most famous resident checked in and never left. Kaspar the Cat, a 3-foot-high wood sculpture of a regal feline, was expressly created to ward off any superstitions of guests dining at the hotel's Savoy Grill. Apparently, to dine with only thirteen guests is ominous, and the first to rise from the table will soon meet with tragedy. Kaspar's role is to be the official fourteenth guest, served with every course as normal, should anyone unknowingly hit upon the unlucky number of diners.
Tags: New Years Eve 2009 Hotels / Hotel Parties / Perez Hilton / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
Perez Hilton Reflects on His "A-List Status" at the Gansevoort
Apparently celebrities are smarter that we suspected. Anyone with any weather-related intelligence got the freezing cold out of New York heading south or west. For once, New York was quiet, but that meant a lone blogger called Perez and his party at the Hotel Gansevoort could emerge from the bone chilling cold as an A-list star within the hottest spot of the night-- with Madonna apparently on-hand to vouch for his coolness. (She wasn't there unfortunately, so we'll have to take P-Nasty's word.)
While Chloe Sevigny and T.I. kept things sizzling at Miami's Gansevoort South, the slimmed down Perez was the celeb of the mo at Gansevoort New York. The adorable former lover of E on Entourage, Emmanuelle Chriqui, was there too, but somehow Perez stole all the thunder.
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Base Jumpers Caught Bragging at the W Hotel Foshay Tower
Busted. That's what happened to three party-goers at the W Minneapolis on New Year's Eve who were arrested for base-jumping 32 stories off the Foshay Tower, the 80-year-old building which houses the W Hotel.
Investigators said David Juntunen, 36, of Minneapolis and three other men took the elevator up to the 30th floor around 1 p.m. Wednesday and bought tickets to the observation deck. Officials said the men then walked up one floor higher and used a wrench to unbolt a ceiling gate. That is where police said Juntunen jumped more than 400-feet with a parachute. The group video taped the jump and left without incident.
Apparently these base-jumpers didn't know the first rule of committing a crime (if indeed base-jumping is a crime.) The trio partied in the hotel's living room bar with a laptop and were overheard bragging about the jump, even showing some video they took to other peeps at the bar. Hotel security called the police, who arrived to arrest the trio. They resisted arrest and are now cooling their heels in jail, accused of obstructing the legal process.
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Hotel Jerome Evacuated After New Year's Eve Bomb Threat
New Year's Eve celebrations were majorly derailed in Aspen, CO this week when bomb threats forced the resort town to virtually shut down. According to the NY Times, two homemade gasoline bombs with threatening notes were found at two banks and two more were found in an alley, left by "a longtime Aspen resident who an acquaintance said was bitter because he had not profited from the community’s transformation from a rural mining town into a luxury resort town."
The bomb threat forced downtown restaurants and bars to close and a NYE fireworks display was canceled, sending would-be partiers back to their hotels to party with a bottle of champagne and televised celebrations — except for the Hotel Jerome guests, who were evacuated from their hotel.
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Cincinnati Bearcats Can't Blame Loss on The Fontainebleau or Diddy
Well, the Cincinnati Bearcats lost yesterday's Orange Bowl to Virginia Tech — and they officially cannot blame the loss on P. Diddy or anything else that could have been distracting players at the shiny and newly-renovated Fontainebleau Miami...at which the team did not stay before the game.
The New York Times' Pete Thamel reports that while the team was scheduled to stay over at the resort, there a little bit of a pre-bowl scramble to switch hotels after coaches realized exactly how glitzy and potentially-distracting the place was:
I noticed a large contingent of Cincinnati Bearcat players were waiting outside [the Fontainebleau]. That wasn’t the only thing I noticed, as the swanky digs were filled with scantily clad women returning form the pool, loud conversations in all sorts of foreign languages and just a wild medley of people.
But it was moving day for the Bearcats because Coach Brian Kelly knew that his desire for New Year’s peace and quiet wouldn’t likely happen. Diddy, the star rapper whose fame transcends his many name changes, was hosting a New Year’s party at the Fountainbleau.
We're not hating, but we're just saying: all of this pre-game scrambling could have been prevented if someone had just read a bit of HC before checking the team into one of the most hyped-up hotels in recent memory. Not that it would have helped anyone win an Orange Bowl, really.
[Photo: Fontainebleau Miami Beach Flickr]
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