The criteria for being a true geek hotel includes loaner iPads and smart-card check-ins. Or, as is the case with this new boutique hotel, simply being Where The Geeks Are. And you can't get much geekier than Palo Alto, home of Stanford University, AOL, Google, Facebook ... and the new Hotel Keen.

With just 42 rooms, the hotel is pretty small--and from the photos, it looks pretty no-frills and no fuss. But it's the little things that should reel in the geeks. The Free WiFi, the bagged lunch you can grab on your way out to a pitch meeting, and the whiteboard surfaces for late-night brainstorming sessions.

]]> MsRebecca 2010-10-11T09:30:25-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/8/16/203653/393 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6193/Cougars.jpg" class="top"> <p>Of course this would have to be held at a hotel... <p>Attention cougars and the buff young men who love them: the <b>First Annual Cougar Convention</b> takes place this month at <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Dinah'S+Garden+Hotel+&+Trader+Vic'S/ian/126318">Dinah's Garden Hotel</a></b> in Palo Alto, CA. <p>There will be booze since the hotel boasts a <b>Trader Vic's</b> bar, there will be women in revealing cheetah-print and lace tops, and there will be a <b>Miss Cougar America</b> beauty competition. If this sounds up your alley, then we recommend making reservations as soon as possible since all of this merriment goes down on August 28. <p>Wondering exactly what the definition of "cougar" is? Luckily for all of this, the convention is based on a book by JetSetCD 2009-08-17T09:25:54-05:00 37.4073680 -122.11990 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/15/152529/302

Bigfoot hunters are speaking live in Palo Alto at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel about their Bigfoot discovery. We just started watching and one of the guys is saying that all the disbelievers are just "jealous." Also, the Bigfoot corpse smelled "like something dead." We'll be updating. Again...let's hope the Bigfoot DNA is kept away from the kitchen.

Update: No DNA evidence was presented. That's good news for hotel guests...bad news for Bigfoot hunters trying to attain credibility.

Update, 8.21.08 Just a joke! Like, duh.

If anyone is on the scene at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel let us know what's going on.]]> juliana 2008-08-15T15:32:27-05:00 37.4062596 -122.12011 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/8/15/01049/7496 <![CDATA[<p><img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/fakebigfoot.jpg" class="imgborder">Guess what folks--people have found the elusive Bigfoot! And he's totally dead! And some guys in Georgia who found him in the woods are holding a press conference in California today to announce their discovery!<p>Yes, that is all true, according to <a href="http://www.searchingforbigfoot.com/">Searching for Bigfoot</a>.<blockquote><p>The creature was found by Matthew Whitton (AKA Gary Parker) and Rick Dyer (residents of Georgia) in the woods in northern Georgia. (The exact location is being kept secret to protect the creatures.)<br> </blockquote></p><p> DNA testing was done on the body of Bigfoot, which looks like "it is part human and part ape-like." Bigfoot also walks upright. Apparently, the Bigfoot hunters spotted several more creatures on the day that they found this dead juliana 2008-08-15T09:15:10-05:00 37.4062596 -122.12011 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/7/3/953/63738 <![CDATA[<img align="right" src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/icon_small_hell.gif"> <p>For at least 21 people who visited the <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Crowne+Plaza+Cabana,+Palo+Alto/ian/135847">Crowne Plaza Cabana</a></b> hotel, this holiday weekend is going to be extra-special because they now have "a diarrheal illness" to keep them company. <p>While the exact cause of the illness has yet to be determined, the outbreak seems to have only affected people at the Cabana, so the hotel invited the Health Department over to check things out. <p>The <a href="http://sanmateodailynews.com/article/2008-7-3-hotel-sick">San Mateo Daily News</a> reports the Cabana is safe for public use again (even though they didn't know what was wrong in the first place) and they're making sure some changes are made: <blockquote><p>they've put together a program for the hotel to prevent future incidents, including sanitizing walls, Jenna 2008-07-03T09:30:10-05:00 37.406270 -122.12009 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/