We love us some wine travel—the tastings, the food, the activities, and especially the long naps. That’s why it’s important to find just the right place to stay wherever we go wine-tasting in the world, and why HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen fills us in on a boozy B&B he visited on a recent trip to Chile.

Since it’s #WineWednesday, we got to thinking about some of our recent wine adventures including a visit to Chile’s famous Colchagua Valley, where we happened upon a little Relais & Chateaux property at one of the area’s best-known wineries: Casa Lapostolle. ]]> EricRosen 2011-06-08T14:18:37-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/5/29/17915/8090 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/santacruzdreaminn.jpg" class="imgborder"><p>Hotelier <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/chip%20conley"><b>Chip Conley</b></a> of JDV Hospitality, has a new hotel opening on June 1 in Santa Cruz. <p>Originally known as the Central Coast Hotel, JDV wanted to re-christen the place, <b>The Dream Inn</b> which was once the hotel's name in a former lifetime. Unfortunately, there were some trademark issues there. (Hmm...<a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/vikram%20chatwal">Vikram Chatwal</a> perhaps?)<p>But JDV managed to work out an agreement so that the property will be called <b>The Santa Cruz Dream Inn</b>. You can read all about the "Naming Contest" the hotel held with locals <a href="http://keepdreaminn.com/names.php">here.</a><p>According to <a href="http://www.gtweekly.com/news/new-look-same-style-1">Good Times Weekly</a>, the hotel will open in phases. On June 1 the renovated 100-room tower will open. On July 1, a secondary low-rise building will open.<p>So juliana 2008-05-29T17:19:07-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/6/20/165124/442 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/galapagoshotels.jpg" class="imgborder"/><p>It's hardly a state secret that there are hotels in the Gal&#225;pagos, thanks to very occasional travel articles like this in the New York Times, from, yikes, November 1993. Just last year, Hotel Chatter reported that <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Finch+Bay+Hotel/local/658"><b>The Finch Bay Hotel</b></a>, one of the Galapagos' finest, had won a World Travel Award as Ecuador's Best Resort. <p>Yet somehow, when people talk of Gal&#225;pagos goings, we think first of yachts, cruises, anything but landlubber lodgings. Maybe that's because the very idea of hotels, apparently several dozen of them, seems a bit untoward for this pristine and protected archipelago. But the thought of staying on terra firma in the Gal&#225;pagos has a certain appeal, tug as it might at our barbarab 2007-06-21T10:13:48-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/10/26/13021/117 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/icon_small_hell.gif" align="right"> We understand that if a hotel is doubling as a dorm that it has challenges that others would never dream of. But that's no excuse for them to let themselves go--they are still hotels!<p> The <a href="http://www.ucscinn.com/"><b>UCSC Inn</b></a> in Santa Cruz plays the dual role and plays it...not so well. They claim that they're the perfect hotel for business travelers and vacationers alike but, looking into the past guest reviews we have to beg to differ:<p> <blockquote><p>We chose this hotel because we thought it would be nice since it is supposedly affiliated with the university, but we were wrong. The room was pretty gross. It looked like a typical furnished dorm room from the seventies. The walls Courtney 2006-10-26T15:44:46-05:00 36.976782 -122.02118 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2006/4/20/1747/58747 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/compassionflower_inn.jpg"><p>Today is April 20 which is like Christmas for ganja-lovers and Kevin Federline. So we thought we should <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2005/4/18/124750/025/hotels/Hotel_High">check in</a> on the <a href="http://www.compassionflowerinn.com/"><b>Compassion Flower Inn</b></a> in Santa Cruz, Calif. <p>This &nbsp;"joint" praises all things marijuana and allows smoking on premises if you have a medical permit to do so.<p>If you don't smoke weed, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g33048-d74138-Reviews-Compassion_Flower_Inn-Santa_Cruz_California-m10559.html">that's ok too:</a><blockquote><p> The pot theme is VERY understated-- if you aren't a smoker, you don't really have to worry about it.</blockquote></p><p> Yes, understated except for the marijuana leaf wallpaper. Also there's only four guestrooms so it's more of a B&amp;B than a hotel and chances are you might get a contact high. <p>We wonder, if you do smoke pot, will they <a juliana 2006-04-20T17:11:32-05:00 36.969329 -122.02559 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/