HotelChatter - in

This Week in Hotel Lust: The Leela Kempinski Goa

Heidi Atwal — 2009-11-13T15:24:13-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/32083/leelagoa.jpg" class="top"> Goa, India is an attractive resort state associated with equal parts bohemianism and luxury frills. Spirituality seeking backpackers enjoy it just as much as their richer-than-rich counterparts, who have a good number of opulent hotels to choose from as the tourism industry has taken off over the years. The Leela operates a family of high-end hotels in some of the country's most popular destinations, among them Bangalore, Udiapur, and Goa, of course. It's the latter that we're focusing on in this installment of "This Week Hotel in Lust," with plenty of near-royal touches to qualify among the ranks of last week's <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Villa+D+Este/ian/109341">Villa D'Este</a> in Italy. And we do mean "royal"they've had the audacity to include the

Jessica Simpson Checks Into The Taj Mahal Palace

juliab — 2009-10-28T11:23:14-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/jsimpindia.jpg" class="top"> Good old Jessica Simpson. Fresh from <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/10/16/105759/35/hotels/Jessica_Simpson_Serenades_Guests_at_the_Kampala_Serena_Hotel">serenading guests</a> at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Kampala+Serena+Hotel+/local/995">Serena Hotel</a> in Kampala, shes moved on to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotels/city/in/MAHARASHTA/Mumbai">Mumbai</a> to film the next episode of her <a href="http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/7/85716/9384/travel/And+The+Next+New+Travel+Show+Will+Be+Hosted+By...Jessica+Simpson">new show</a>, The Price of Beauty. She stayed at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Taj+Mahal+Palace+Mumbai/ian/198398">Taj Mahal Palace & Tower</a>, which reopened last December after the devastating terrorist attacks, and had a party thrown for her by Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia at the Vie Lounge bar on Juhu Beach. According to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1223370/Jessica-Simpson-gets-henna-tattoo-bindi-films-Indian-TV-documentary.html">Daily Mail</a>, she fitted right in with Indias fashion elite. Wonder if she cracked out the guitar as well? Having gone down a storm and impressed everyone with her henna tattoo and bindi, she left Mumbai for London

The Park Hyderabad Takes Its Pool to Another Dimension

amandak — 2009-06-18T09:31:51-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/The_Park_Hotel_Hyderabad_Pool.jpg" class="top"> We keep hearing that The Park Hotels chain is doing the real, five-star luxury thing right in India. They've got a new 285-room property opening up sometime this fall in Hyderabad, which sounds like it fits the promise of being a "design hotel".But what intrigues us more than the main architecture of the hotel its unusual shape has been computer-modeled to maximize the natural light that gets in, for example is the pool. Although these renderings make it look like just a large, slightly-oddly shaped pool, there's apparently a lot more to it than that: in fact it's<blockquote>a three-dimensional horizon pool, with a stair tube connecting the hotel's night club to The Veranda through the

Vikram Chatwal Wants Us Floating On a Cloud at Dream Cochin

amandak — 2009-04-07T09:38:36-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/dreamcohinbig.jpg" class="top"> While the opening of the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/3/16/101453/910/hotels/Dream_Downtown_NYC_Delayed_to_2010_">Downtown Dream Hotel</a> in New York is, pardon the pun, still just a dream, <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/vikram chatwal">Vikram Chatwal's</a> VCH group seems to have managed to get their act together with another Dream hotel at least: the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Dream+Cochin/ian/308798">Dream Cochin</a> in Kerala is now up and running.Per <a href="http://www.luxist.com/photos/dream-cochin/1470961/">Luxist</a>, The Indian tourism ministry has apparently already awarded the Dream Cochin five stars, although the Dream gang seem to think their new hotel is even better than that; they promise it "offers a glimpse of the future of deluxe accommodations." The future is apparently going to be blue in color, which the Dream people think will give us the feeling of floating on

Leela Kempinski Gurgaon Lets You See What's Cooking

amandak — 2009-03-17T05:15:50-05:00

There are a few Leela resorts around India but the very first in northern India has just soft-opened: the Leela Kempinski Gurgaon near Delhi, close to the Indira Ghandi International Airport. But hotel delays even happen to the best of the best in India. The hotel's website is currently boasting a planned opening date of January 15, so it's a couple of months late and not everything's up and going yet.

However this hotel's unique selling point is that it's the only hotel or resort in the region that's got a full range of accommodation choices, from rooms and suites through to three-bedroom residences.